trator Canute was excelled
only by Alfred. He possessed in an eminent degree the royal gift of
recognizing greatness, and the still more useful faculty of conciliating
enemies. No English king before him had levied such heavy taxes, yet
never were taxes more cheerfully paid; because the people felt that
every penny of the money was used for the benefit of the country.
According to the _Knytlinga Saga_ King Canute was huge of limb, of great
strength, and a very goodly man to look upon, save for his nose, which
was narrow, lofty and hooked; he had also long fair hair, and eyes
brighter and keener than those of any man living.

See _Danmarks Riges Historie. Old Tiden og den aeldre Middelalder_,
pp. 382-406 (Copenhagen, 1897-1905); Freeman, _Norman Conquest_
(Oxford, 1870-1875); Steenstrup, _Normannerne_ (Copenhagen,
1876-1882). (R. N. B.)

CANUTE VI. (1163-1202), king of Denmark, eldest son of Valdemar I., was
crowned in his seventh year (1170), as his father's co-regent, so as to
secure the succession. In 1182 he succeeded to the throne. During his
twenty years' reign Denmark advanced steadily along the path of
greatness and prosperity marked out for her by Valdemar I.,
consolidating and extending her dominion over the North Baltic coast and
adopting a more and more independent attitude towards Germany. The
emperor Frederick I.'s claim of overlordship was haughtily rejected at
the very outset, and his attempt to stir up Duke Bogislav of Pomerania
against Denmark's vassal, Jaromir of Rugen, was defeated by Archbishop
Absalon, who destroyed 465 of Bogislav's 500 ships in a naval action off
Strela (Stralsund) in 1184. In the following year Bogislav did homage to
Canute on the deck of his long-ship, off Jomsborg in Pomerania, Canute
henceforth styling himself king of the Danes and Wends. This victory
led two years later to the voluntary submission of the two Abodrite
princes Niklot and Borwin to the Danish crown, whereupon the bulk of the
Abodrite dominions, which extended from the Trave to the Warnow,
including modern Mecklenburg, were divided between them. The concluding
years of Canute's reign were peaceful, as became a prince who, though by
no means a coward, was not of an overwhelmingly martial temperament. In
1197, however, German jealousy of Denmark's ambitions, especially when
Canute led a fleet against the pirates of Esthonia, induced Otto,
margrave of Brandenburg, to invade Pomerania, while in the