HARDECANUTE, här-dė-kạ-nūt', HARDICANUTE or HARDY CANUTE, king of England and Denmark; son of Canute the Great (q.v.): b. about 1017; d. 8 June 1042. At the time of his father's death in 1035 he was in Denmark, where he was immediately recognized as king. His half-brother, Harold, however, who happelied to be in England at the time, laid claim to the throne of that part of their father's dominions. For a time the mother of Hardecanute succeeded in holding Wessex in his name, while Mercia and Northumbria were held by Harold, such an allotment having been made by a witenagemote held at Oxford. Hardecanute was about to make an armed descent upon England, when Harold died (1040), and his brother peacefully succeeded him. He reigned till 1042, but his reign was not marked by any important event. He left the government almost entirely in the hands of his mother and the powerful Earl Godwin (q.v.), while he gave himself up to feasts and carousals.