or Knut, king of England, was the son of Sweyn, king of Denmark, whom he succeeded A.D. 1014, and, by the conquest of England, was the first monarch that united in his own person the undivided sovereignty of the two kingdoms, after the assassination of Edmund Ironside by Edric the brother-in-law of Canute, in 1017. He married Emma, widow of King Ethelred, and put to death or banished several persons whose legitimate claims to the throne he had reason to dread. Having thus confirmed his power in England, he crossed over to Denmark, in order to resist the attacks of the king of Sweden; and he carried along with him a great body of English under the command of Earl Godwin. This nobleman had there an opportunity of performing a service by which he both reconciled the king's mind to the English nation, and gained to himself the friendship of his sovereign. He was stationed next to the Swedish camp; and observing a favourable opportunity, he suddenly attacked the enemy in the night, drove them from their trenches, threw them into disorder, and obtained a decisive victory. Next morning, when Canute saw the English camp entirely abandoned, he imagined that the troops had deserted to the enemy; but was agreeably surprised to learn that they were then engaged in pursuit of the discomfited Swedes. He was so pleased with this success, and the manner of obtaining it, that he bestowed his daughter in marriage upon Godwin.

In another visit to Denmark, Canute attacked Norway, and expelled the just but unwarlike Olans from his kingdom, of which he took possession. Canute, who was become one of the greatest sovereigns in Europe, now began to feel the unsatisfactory nature of worldly greatness; and, weary of the glory and turmoils of this life, he began to turn his thoughts upon that which is to come. Unfortunately the spirit which prevailed in that age gave a wrong direction to his devotion; and, instead of making atonement to those whom he had formerly injured by his acts of violence, he devoted himself to those exercises of piety which monkish superstition represented as most meritorious. He built churches, endowed monasteries, enriched ecclesiastics, and bestowed revenues for the support of chantries at Assington and other places, where he appointed prayers to be said for the souls of those who had there fallen in battle against him. He even undertook a pilgrimage to Rome, where he sojourned a considerable time; and, besides obtaining from the pope some privileges for the English school erected there, he engaged all the princes through whose dominions he passed to desist from those heavy impositions and tolls which they were accustomed to exact from English pilgrims. By this spirit of devotion, no less than by his equitable and politic administration, he gained the affections of his subjects. A well-known and beautiful story shows that he had learned to bear his honours meekly. Some of his courtiers, desirous of serving their own interests by flattering their royal master, extolled his greatness as if nothing were now too great for him to resist or overcome. The monarch, it is said, caused his chair to be placed at the sea-side when the tide was flowing; and when the waves approached his feet, by a feigned assumption of that power which his obsequious attendants declared his own, commanded the rising waters to respect the voice of him who was lord of the ocean, and retire. The result was a practical rebuke to those sycophants, and, on the part of Canute, a humble ascription of omnipotence to God alone. From that time, it is said, he never wore a crown. He died at Shaftesbury, A.D. 1036, in the twentieth year of his reign, and was buried in the monastery at Winchester.

CANVAS (French *canvres*; Greek *σάρπας*, hemp); a strong kind of cloth made of hemp or flax, and used for tents, sails, &c. Also a clear unbleached cloth, woven regularly in little squares used for working tapestry with the needle.

Canvas, among painters, denotes the prepared cloth on which pictures are drawn.

*Canvres*, among the French, signifies also the rough draught of the words to which an air or piece of music is composed, and which serves merely to indicate the measure and style of writing required of the poet who is to complete the work.