Knud II den Store (995-1035) was the king of England (reigned 1014-1035), Denmark (reigned 1018-1035), and Norway (reigned 1028-1035).
The pirate empire developed by Danish kings throughout history, namely the North Sea Empire, finally reached its peak in the hands of Knut.
He is the grandson of King Harald Bluetooth and the second son of King Sifan with the Eight Character Beard. In 1014, King Sven the Bearded conquered most of England and became the first Danish to be recognized as king by the English.

Knut was the hegemon of Northern Europe at that time, who brought Denmark's power to its peak and was known as the 'King Knut' in history.

Harald and Knut, brothers divided their father's empire, Harald became the king of Denmark and Knut became the king of England.
But the descendants of Alfred the Great, who were revered by the English people, rejected the Danish man Canute as their king, and Canute was forced to return to Denmark.
In the second year (1015), with the support of his brother, he led a fleet of 200 pirate ships to England and received help from the Yums Viking warriors. The two sides engaged in fierce battles, with both sides winning and losing.
Due to the bravery and bravery of Danish pirates, they finally defeated the English, but were unable to completely subjugate them.
In 1016, he reached an agreement with the British:
England was divided into two parts by the River Thames, and he and Edmund II, the descendant of Alfred, were divided. The one who passed away first between the two monarchs had to give his land to the other living monarch, whose descendants would rule the entire England.
This is also the last large-scale expedition in the history of Danish pirates.
In November of the same year, Edmund II, who was seriously injured in the war, passed away, and Canute became the only king of England.
Knut had just consolidated his rule in England. In 1018, King Harald of Denmark suddenly passed away, and Knut returned to his home country to succeed him as king of both Denmark and England.

Young Canute became the ruler of a vast empire, but he was not satisfied with it.
The blood that has been passed down from generation to generation, advocating for the use of force, beats within his body.
He established a small elite unit. He called this unit the 'Imperial Forest Army'. The Imperial Forest Army is composed of wealthy children and young aristocratic descendants. They always follow around Emperor Canute, eating and living in the palace. They have strict discipline, just like the pirates in Jomsburg, where life is extremely harsh, discipline is strict, combat effectiveness is strong, and they are loyal to King Canute. This army plays a significant role in maintaining the empire of Canute.

Just as Knut's reputation was soaring, the rule of Norwegian King Olaf II was in crisis, and Norwegians were greatly dissatisfied with him.
In 1028, with the support of Norwegian nobles, Knut took the opportunity to march into Norway and defeated Olaf. Olaf fled abroad, and Knut became the king of Norway while ruling over the southern region of Sweden. In 1030, he defeated Olaf II's counterattack and caused Olaf to die on the battlefield.
In this way, Canute established a great empire that included most of present-day Denmark, Norway, England, Scotland, and southern Sweden, and was revered as the "Canute Emperor". His empire was also known as the "North Sea Empire" and was the only emperor in history to almost unify the coastal areas of the North Sea.
In his great empire, Canute preferred England and lived there for most of the year.
In England, he initially ruled strongly as a conqueror, but gradually switched to appeasement policies, donating large amounts of money to temples and gaining the trust and support of local churches.
He also worked hard to eliminate the differences between Danish and English people. Since his grandfather, King Bluetooth, the Danish royal family has governed the country as Christians. Canute sent pastors to Denmark multiple times to preach and preach, and during his reign, Christianity in Denmark developed rapidly.
When Knut lived in England, he had his brother-in-law, Count Ulf, serve as Vice King in Denmark.
Ulf attempted to exploit Danish dissatisfaction with Knut and plotted to seize power. After hearing the news, Emperor Canute quickly returned to Denmark and foiled the conspiracy.

Ulf fled into a church. He thought the church was a holy place and Canute wouldn't come to kill him. However, Knut's soldiers captured Ulf in the church and killed him in front of the altar.
Although Canute paid a large fine to his sister and church for this, it can still be seen that there is a Christian repentance aspect in Canute's thoughts, as well as a brave and fierce aspect of Odin God, which reflects the complexity of the transition between the two religions in Denmark at this time.

Emperor Canute had two queens:
He had two sons with Æ lfgifu, the first queen of Northampton:
Sweyn Knutsson (1016-1035); Harold Harefoot, also known as the Rabbit footed King.
She had a son and a daughter with the second queen, Emma of Normandy
Harthacnut (1018-1042, King of England, reigned 1040-1042); Gunhilda of Denmark.

Canute was a resourceful ruler who established the Canute Code and publicly punished himself for violating discipline.
There is a story that has been widely circulated. One of Canute's courtiers flattered that Canute was the ruler of the ocean, and even the ocean would obey the orders of Canute the Great. Canute then ordered the chair to be placed by the seaside and commanded that the sea water should not wet the legs of the chair. However, he rebuked the minister's nonsense and claimed that God was the ruler of the sea and that the king's power was only a small fraction.
Knut presided over the compilation of the Knut Code, which explicitly stipulated the powers of the king.
At the same time, in order to win over the hearts of the people, Canute established four principalities in England, among which the Kingdom of Wessex was ruled by the Danish man Godwin, and all four counts were vassals with great power. Among the four principalities, Godwin, the Earl of Wessex, had the strongest influence.
It should be noted that at this time, Britain had already been unified, so the Kingdom of Wessex was granted to ministers by the British king, which was completely different from the previous independent Kingdom of Wessex.

In 1035, Knut passed away, and his North Sea Empire quickly disintegrated, becoming a flash in the pan in history.
His rule was the last glory of the Vikings, and since then, the pirate kingdom has never achieved any impressive results.
The inclusion of Canute in the "Top 100 Emperors Who Influenced the World" is mainly due to the impact of his conquests and rule on the countries along the North Sea coast.
As an emperor who almost unified the North Sea, his rule greatly promoted exchanges among the countries along the North Sea coast. One example is the accelerated spread of Christianity in Nordic countries.
In contemporary times, numerous similarities can still be found between the language and culture of England, Scotland, Denmark, and Norway.