Hardicanute definition
King of England (1040–1042) and of Denmark (1035–1042). The legitimate son of King Canute, he claimed the English throne after the death of Harold I, Canute's illegitimate son.
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After the king's death Emma became the wife of Canute the Great, and after his death in 1035 she struggled hard to secure England for her son, Hardicanute.
In 1037, however, when Harold Harefoot became sole king, she was banished; she went to Flanders, returning to England with Hardicanute in 1040.
While together they held Wessex for Hardicanute, the atheling iElfred, son of Emma by her former husband 'Ethelred II., landed in England in the hope of winning back his father's crown; but falling into the hands of Godwine, he and his followers were cruelly done to death.
On the death of Hardicanute in 1042 Godwine was foremost in promoting the election of Edward (the Confessor) to the vacant throne.
After an interregnum consequent on the death of Healfdene the kingdom passed in 883 to one Guthred, son of Hardicanute, who ruled till 894, when his realm was taken over by King Alfred, though probably only under a very loose sovereignty.