HAVELOK AND THE DANES IN ENGLAND: HISTORY, LEGEND, AND ROMANCE

The thirteenth-century poem Havelok stands alone among medieval English romances in its unusual interest in the process of Danish settlement in Anglo-Saxon England and its positive presentation of Danish rule. Its attitude to Danish settlement has often been interpreted as a deliberate refutation of contemporary narratives about Viking violence in hagiography and chronicles, representing an attempt to integrate this negative view of the Danes with the Scandinavian heritage of the poem's East Midlands audience. However, the Havelok legend is only one among a number of historiographical narratives from the East Midlands which reflect a more nuanced interpretation of Anglo-Danish interactions in the pre-Conquest period, exploring various reasons why the Danes might have come to settle or rule in England. This article considers the place of Havelok within this tradition of historical and legendary narratives about the Danes, looking at the poem's connections to English legends about the sons of Ragnar, the conquest of Svein, and the reign of Cnut.