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    "title": "CANTU",
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    "verified_text": "cantu, cesare (1804-1895), italian historian, was born at brivio in lombardy and began his career as a teacher. his first literary essay (1828) was a romantic poem entitled _algiso, o la lega lombarda_ (new ed., milan, 1876), and in the following year he produced a _storia di como_ in two volumes (como, 1829). the death of his father then left him in charge of a large family, and he worked very hard both as a teacher and a writer to provide for them. his prodigious literary activity led to his falling under the suspicions of the austrian police, and he was mixed up in a political trial and arrested in 1833. while in prison writing materials were denied him, but he managed to write on rags with a tooth-pick and candle smoke, and thus composed the novel _margherita pusterla_ (milan, 1838). on his release a year later, as he was interdicted from teaching, literature became his only resource. in 1836 the turinese publisher, giuseppe pomba, commissioned him to write a universal history, which his vast reading enabled him to do. in six years the work was completed in seventy-two volumes, and immediately achieved a general popularity; the publisher made a fortune out of it, and cantu's royalties amounted, it is said, to 300,000 lire (l12.000). just before the revolution of 1848, being warned that he would be arrested, he fled to turin, but after the \"five days\" he returned to milan and edited a paper called _la guardia nazionale_. between 1849 and 1850 he published his _storia degli italiani_ (turin, 1855) and many other works. in 1857 the archduke maximilian tried to conciliate the milanese by the promise of a constitution, and cantu was one of the few liberals who accepted the olive branch, and went about in company with the archduke. this act was regarded as treason and caused cantu much annoyance in after years. he continued his literary activity after the formation of the italian kingdom, producing volume after volume until his death. for a short time he was member of the italian parliament; he founded the lombard historical society, and was appointed superintendent of the lombard archives. he died in march 1895. his views are coloured by strong religious and political prejudice, and by a moralizing tendency, and his historical work has little critical value and is for the most part pure book-making, although he collected a vast amount of material which has been of use to other writers. in dealing with modern italian history he is reactionary and often wilfully inaccurate. besides the above-mentioned works he wrote _gli eretici in italia_ (milan, 1873); _cronistoria dell' indipendenza italiana_ (naples, 1872-1877); _ii conciliatore e i carbonari_ (milan, 1878), &c. (l. v.*) canusium (gr. [greek: kanusion], mod. _canosa_), an ancient city of apulia, on the right bank of the aufidus (ofanto), about 12 m. from its mouth, and situated upon the via traiana, 85 m. e.n.e. of beneventum. it was said to have been founded by diomede, and even at the time of horace (_sat._ i. 10. 30) both greek and latin were spoken there. the legends on the coins are greek, and a very large number of greek vases have been found in the necropolis. the town came voluntarily under roman sovereignty in 318 b.c., afforded a refuge to the roman fugitives after cannae, and remained faithful for the rest of the war. it revolted in the social war, in which it would appear to have suffered, inasmuch as strabo (vi. 283) speaks of canusium and arpi as having been, to judge from the extent of their walls, the greatest towns in the plain of apulia, but as having shrunk considerably in his day. its importance was maintained, however, by its trade in agricultural products and in apulian wool (which was there dyed and cleaned), by its port (probably cannae) at the mouth of the aufidus, and by its position on the high-road. it was a _municipium_ under the early empire, but was converted into a _colonia_ under antoninus pius by herodes atticus, who provided it with a water-supply. in the 6th century it was still the most important city of apulia. among the ancient buildings which are still preserved, an amphitheatre, an aqueduct and a city gate may be mentioned. see n. jacobone, _ricerche sulla storia e la topografia di canosa antica_ (canosa di puglia, 1905). (t. as.) canute (cnut), known as \"the great\" (c. 995-1035), king of denmark and england, second son of king sweyn forkbeard and his first wife, the daughter of the polish prince, mieszko, was born c. 995. on the death of his father he was compelled to quit england by a general rising of the anglo-saxons, on which occasion in a fit of rage, for he was not naturally cruel, he abandoned his hostages after cutting off their hands, ears and noses. in the following year, 1015, he returned with a great fleet manned by a picked host, \"not a thrall or a freedman among them.\" he speedily succeeded in subduing all england except london, now the last refuge of king aethelred and his heroic son, edmund ironside. on the death of aethelred (23rd of april 1016) canute was elected king by an assembly of notables at southampton; but london clung loyally to edmund, who more than once succeeded in raising the western shires against canute. edmund indeed approved himself the better general of the two, and would doubtless have prevailed, but for the treachery of his own ealdormen. this was notably the case at the great battle of assandun, in which by the desertion of eadric an incipient anglo-saxon victory was converted into a crushing defeat. nevertheless, the antagonists were so evenly matched that the great men on both sides, fearing that the interminable war would utterly ruin the land, arranged a conference between canute and edmund on an island in the severn, when they agreed to divide england between them, canute retaining mercia and the north, while edmund's territory comprised east anglia and wessex with london. on the death of edmund, a few months later (november 1016), canute was unanimously elected king of all england at the beginning of 1017. the young monarch at once showed himself equal to his responsibilities. he did his utmost to deserve the confidence of his anglo-saxon subjects, and the eighteen years of his reign were of unspeakable benefit to his adopted country. he identified himself with the past history of england and its native dynasty by wedding emma, or aelgifu, to give her her saxon name (the northmen called her alfifa), who came over from normandy at his bidding, canute previously repudiating his first wife, another aelgifu, the daughter of the ealdorman aelfhem of deira, who, with her sons, was banished to denmark. in 1018 canute inherited the danish throne, his elder brother harold having died without issue. he now withdrew most of his army from england, so as to spare as much as possible the susceptibilities of the anglo-saxons. for the same reason he had previously dispersed all his warships but forty. on his return from denmark he went a step farther. in a remarkable letter, addressed to the prelates, ealdormen and people, he declared his intention of ruling england by the english, and of upholding the laws of king edgar, at the same time threatening with his vengeance all those who did not judge righteous judgment or who let malefactors go free. the tone of this document, which is not merely christian but sacerdotal, shows that he had wisely resolved, in the interests of law and order, to form a close alliance with the native clergy. those of his own fellow-countrymen who refused to co-operate with him were summarily dismissed. thus, in 1021, the stiffnecked jarl thorkil was banished the land, and his place taken by an anglo-saxon, the subsequently famous godwin, who became one of canute's chief counsellors. the humane and conciliatory character of his government is also shown in his earnest efforts to atone for danish barbarities in the past. thus he rebuilt the church of st edmundsbury in memory of the saintly king who had perished there at the hands of the earlier vikings, and with great ceremony transferred the relics of st alphege from st paul's church at london to a worthier resting-place at canterbury. his work of reform and reconciliation was interrupted in 1026 by the attempt of olaf haraldson, king of norway, in conjunction with anund jakob, king of sweden, to conquer denmark. canute defeated the swedish fleet at stangebjerg, and so seriously injured the combined squadrons at the mouth of the helgeaa in east scania, that in 1028 he was able to subdue the greater part of norway \"without hurling a dart or swinging a sword.\" but the conquest was not permanent, the norwegians ultimately rising successfully against the tyranny of alfifa, who misruled the country in the name of her infant son sweyn. canute also succeeded in establishing the dominion of denmark over the southern shores of the baltic, in witland and samland, now forming part of the coast of prussia. of the details of canute's government in denmark proper we know but little. his most remarkable institution was the _tinglid_, a military brotherhood, originally 3000 in number, composed of members of the richest and noblest families, who not only formed the royal bodyguard, but did garrison duty and defended the marches or borders. they were subject to strict discipline, embodied in written rules called the _viderlog_ or _vederlag_, and were the nucleus not only of a standing army but of a royal council. canute is also said to have endeavoured to found monasteries in denmark, with but indifferent success, and he was certainly the first danish king who coined money, with the assistance of anglo-saxon mint-masters. of his alliance with the clergy we have already spoken. like the other great contemporary kingdom-builder, stephen of hungary, he clearly recognized that the church was the one civilizing element in a world of anarchic barbarism, and his submission to her guidance is a striking proof of his perspicacity. but it was no slavish submission. when, in 1027, he went to rome, with rudolf iii. of burgundy, to be present at the coronation of the emperor conrad ii., it was quite as much to benefit his subjects as to receive absolution for the sins of his youth. he persuaded the pope to remit the excessive fees for granting the _pallium_, which the english and danish bishops had found such a grievous burden, substituting therefor a moderate amount of peter's pence. he also induced the emperor and other german princes to grant safe-conducts to those of his subjects who desired to make the pilgrimage to rome. canute died at shaftesbury on the 12th of november 1035 in his 40th year, and was buried at winchester. he was cut off before he had had the opportunity of developing most of his great plans; yet he lived long enough to obtain the title of \"canute the wealthy\" (i.e. \"mighty\"), and posterity, still more appreciative, has well surnamed him \"the great.\" a violent, irritable temper was his most salient defect, and more than one homicide must be laid to his charge. but the fierce viking nature was gradually and completely subdued; for canute was a christian by conviction and sincerely religious. his humility is finely illustrated by the old norman poem which describes how he commanded the rising tide of the thames at westminster to go back. the homily he preached to his courtiers on that occasion was to prepare them for his subsequent journey to rome and his submission to the holy see. like his father sweyn, canute loved poetry, and the great icelandic skalder, thorar lovtunge and thormod kolbrunarskjold, were as welcome visitors at his court as the learned bishops. as an administrator canute was excelled only by alfred. he possessed in an eminent degree the royal gift of recognizing greatness, and the still more useful faculty of conciliating enemies. no english king before him had levied such heavy taxes, yet never were taxes more cheerfully paid; because the people felt that every penny of the money was used for the benefit of the country. according to the _knytlinga saga_ king canute was huge of limb, of great strength, and a very goodly man to look upon, save for his nose, which was narrow, lofty and hooked; he had also long fair hair, and eyes brighter and keener than those of any man living. see _danmarks riges historie. old tiden og den aeldre middelalder_, pp. 382-406 (copenhagen, 1897-1905); freeman, _norman conquest_ (oxford, 1870-1875); steenstrup, _normannerne_ (copenhagen, 1876-1882). (r. n. b.) canute vi. (1163-1202), king of denmark, eldest son of valdemar i., was crowned in his seventh year (1170), as his father's co-regent, so as to secure the succession. in 1182 he succeeded to the throne. during his twenty years' reign denmark advanced steadily along the path of greatness and prosperity marked out for her by valdemar i., consolidating and extending her dominion over the north baltic coast and adopting a more and more independent attitude towards germany. the emperor frederick i.'s claim of overlordship was haughtily rejected at the very outset, and his attempt to stir up duke bogislav of pomerania against denmark's vassal, jaromir of rugen, was defeated by archbishop absalon, who destroyed 465 of bogislav's 500 ships in a naval action off strela (stralsund) in 1184. in the following year bogislav did homage to canute on the deck of his long-ship, off jomsborg in pomerania, canute henceforth styling himself king of the danes and wends. this victory led two years later to the voluntary submission of the two abodrite princes niklot and borwin to the danish crown, whereupon the bulk of the abodrite dominions, which extended from the trave to the warnow, including modern mecklenburg, were divided between them. the concluding years of canute's reign were peaceful, as became a prince who, though by no means a coward, was not of an overwhelmingly martial temperament. in 1197, however, german jealousy of denmark's ambitions, especially when canute led a fleet against the pirates of esthonia, induced otto, margrave of brandenburg, to invade pomerania, while in the following year otto, in conjunction with duke adolf of holstein, wasted the dominions of the danophil abodrites. the war continued intermittently till 1201, when duke valdemar, canute's younger brother, conquered the whole of holstein, and duke adolf was subsequently captured at hamburg and sent in chains to denmark. north albingia, as the district between the eider and the elbe was then called, now became danish territory. canute died on the 12th of november 1202. undoubtedly he owed the triumphs of his reign very largely to the statesmanship of absalon and the valour of valdemar. but he was certainly a prudent and circumspect ruler of blameless life, possessing, as arnold of lubeck (c. 1160-1212) expresses it, \"the sober wisdom of old age even in his tender youth.\" see _danmarks riges historic. oldtiden og den aeldre middelalder_ (copenhagen, 1897-1905), pp. 721-735. 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