King Canute
King Canute was an 11th-century Danish king who ruled England, Denmark, and Norway.
He appears most often in the story of Canute and the tide, where he commanded the sea to retreat—either to demonstrate the limits of royal power or, in popular mistellings, as an act of foolish arrogance.
A King Canute moment now describes futile attempts to halt unstoppable forces: The senator's resistance to the bill was pure King Canute.
- VikingMedieval Nordic raider
- DenmarkScandinavian constitutional monarchy
- EnglandLargest British country
- medieval EnglandBritain's feudal centuries
- throneCeremonial chair for sovereigns
waves · tide · sea · crown · Anglo-Saxon · monarch · Norse · conquest · shoreline · humility · legend · hubris · sovereignty · royal decree · courtiers · beach · command · folly
- Anglo-SaxonsBeowulf, Mercia, Wessex, Northumbria, East Anglia
- 11th CenturyBattle of Hastings, Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror, First Crusade, Domesday Book
- Medieval Royaltyqueen, prince, princess, crown, throne
King CanuteXerxes
Achaemenid king of kings
Caligula · Nero · Nebuchadnezzar · Louis XIV · Napoleon
King CanuteIcarus
Mythical overreacher who fell
Prometheus · Nimrod · Dr. Frankenstein · Captain Ahab · Ahab
king, kings, kingly, kingship, kinghood, kingless, kinglike, kingdom, kingdoms