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- The 12th-century historian, Henry of Huntingdon, in his Historia Anglorum, relates that when Siward was attacked by dysentery, fearing to die "like a cow" and wishing rather to die like a soldier, he clothed himself in armour and took to hand an axe and shield. Ennobled in such a manner, Siward died.
Siward was probably of Scandinavian origin, perhaps a relative of Earl Ulf, and emerged as a powerful regional strongman in England during the reign of Cnut ("Canute the Great", 1016-1035). Cnut was a Scandinavian ruler who conquered England in the 1010s, and Siward was one of the many Scandinavians who came to England in the aftermath of that conquest. Siward subsequently rose to become sub-ruler of most of northern England. From 1033 at the latest Siward was in control of southern Northumbria, that is, present-day Yorkshire, governing as earl on Cnut's behalf.
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