Sweyn Forkbeard conquers England

1013

This time the Danish king came not to plunder but to take the throne. London held out, but the rest of the country submitted. By Christmas, Ethelred had fled to Normandy and Sweyn was acclaimed king. His reign would last barely five weeks before sudden death at Gainsborough. The Norman exile of Ethelred's sons planted the dynastic seeds that would bear fruit in 1066.