This is a book covering the life of Cnut the Great, the Danish prince who won the throne of England in 1016 after years of Viking activity in northwestern Europe. He later became King of Denmark in 1018 and Norway in 1028, uniting the three kingdoms under his rule, known as the North Sea Empire. Cnut sought to unite Danes and English under cultural bonds of wealth and custom, and his possession of England's dioceses and the continental Diocese of Denmark gave him leverage within the Catholic Church and among the magnates of Christendom. A masterful leader, Cnut was deemed "King of all England and Denmark and the Norwegians and of some of the Swedes".

Jac Conradie se intreerede as professor aan die Universiteit van Johannesburg het as titel ?Die tand van die tyd? gehad. Die bydraes in hierdie bundel weerspie‰l iets van Jac se veelsydigheid en van sy impak op die akademie. Bydraes uit Europa, Noord-Amerika en Afrika deur taalkundiges, letterkundiges en historici getuig van die respek wat Jac oor ?n wye akademiese front afdwing. As die huldiging van ?n loopbaan, van ?n wetenskaplike, maar ook van ?n wellewende mens, kan hierdie bundel nie genoegsaam wees nie, maar dit is ?n aanduiding van die waardering en ho‰ agting wat akademici die wˆreld oor vir Jac het