Later historians repeated the story, most of them adjusting it to have Canute more clearly aware that the tides would not obey him, and staging the scene to rebuke the flattery of his courtiers. '" He then hung his gold crown on a crucifix, and never wore it again "to the honour of God the almighty King". Then the king leapt backwards, saying: 'Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings, for there is none worthy of the name, but He whom heaven, earth, and sea obey by eternal laws. Yet "continuing to rise as usual dashed over his feet and legs without respect to his royal person. In Huntingdon's account, Canute set his throne by the sea shore and commanded the incoming tide to halt and not wet his feet and robes. Henry of Huntingdon tells the story as one of three examples of Canute's "graceful and magnificent" behaviour (outside of his bravery in warfare), the other two being his arrangement of the marriage of his daughter to the later Holy Roman Emperor, and the negotiation of a reduction in tolls on the roads across Gaul to Rome at the imperial coronation of 1027.
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