CANUCK. 160 CANVAS. tims, it was first applied by the French to the English, and is a corruption of Comiaught. Some scholars, however, believe it to be of Indian origin. CAN'TJLE'ItJS, Gaius. A Roman tribune of the people, lu B.C. 44.5 he proposed the Lex Canuleia, a law establishing the right of inter- marriage between the patricians and plebeians. He also proposed that one of the two consuls should be chosen annually from among the plebe- ians, but this proposal was not carried, and it was resolved instead that military tribunes with consular power should be elected from either the jjatricians or plebeians in place of the consuls. Consult Livy, iv. 3; and Cicero, De Republica, ii. 37-63. CANUN, ka-noon' (Arab, qdiiuii, borrowed from Gk. Kavdiv, kanon, straight bar, rule, norm ) . A Turkish musical instrument, provided with gut strings — a variety of the dulcimer or zither. The sounds are produced by striking the strings by means of plectra — tortoise-shell thimbles end- ing in pointed pieces of cocoamit. This instru- ment is a great favorite in the seraglios. CANUTE, ku-nut', or CNUT, knUot (c.994- 103o). King of the English, Danes, and Nor- wegians, and known as the Great. He was the son of Sweyn, King of the Danes, and on the death of his father, in 1014, was proclaimed King of England by the warriors of the Danish Ueet who were then ravaging the country. The Witan, however, summoned the old King, Ethel- red, from his exile in Normandy, where he had been driven by Sweyn, and Canute was forced to flee to Denmark. He returned in 1015 with a powerful fleet and within a year made himself master of all England, save London, being chosen King by a rumj) Witan after the death of Ethel- red in lOlG. The citizens of London proclaimed Edmund Ironside, son of Ethelred, King, and a fierce contest ensued in which six battles were fought and London was twice besieged, the de- cisive engagement occurring at Assandun in 1016. Though Edmund was defeated, Canute, to avoid further resistance on his part, agreed to share the sovereignty with him, the south of England going to Edmund and the north to Canute, with the stipulation that on the death of either the full power as to revert to the survivor. Edmund Ironside died in 1017, not without the suspicion of foul play on the part of Canute, who lost no time in securing his position as sole ruler of England. He had always been noted for his excessive cruelty, and now, to remove all poten- tial rivals out of his way, he entered upon a rapid but systematic course of murder and perse- cution. By 1018 he had thoroughly pacified the country and considered himself strong enough to dispense with the support of the fleet, which he sent home to Denmark, keeping only the crews of forty ships as a sort of bodyguard. The character of Canute's rule now underwent a re- markable change. Mildness was substituted for severity, and respect for the laws for violence. The ancient customs of the country were con- firmed and elaborated, and the administration of justice was securely founded. Englishmen were admitted to the highest offices in the land, this being the time when the Saxon Earl Godwin (q.v. ) laid the beginnings of his great power. Canute showed himself especially kindly to the clergy, whose rights he scrupulously respected and whose favor he gained by numerous benefac- tions to churches and monasteries. With the mass of the people he was popular on account of his liberality and an air of blutV good-nature which he knew well how to assume. In 1026-27 he made a ])ilgrimage to Rome, describing the events of his journey in a letter to his people replete with moral exhortations and expressions of relig- ious humility, which may be the result either of great naivete or of fine histrionic skill. Canute had become King of Denmark after the death of his brother Harold in 1018, and in 1028 he be- came ruler, also, of Norway. Together with his conquests in the Wendic lands of Germany, he was, therefore, the master of a powerful north- ern empire, which, however, fell to pieces at Ids death. This occurred at Shaftesbury, November 12, 1035. As King of England, Canute had dis- played high talents for rule. By nature cruel and violent, he knew how to subordinate his pas- sions to the interests of liis government and his people; and, though practically a heathen at the time of his accession to the throne, he succeeded in winning the favor of a Church which has asso- ciated one of the most beautiful of mediieval legends, that of the King and the rising tide, with his name. Consult: Freeman. The Xorman Conquest, Vol. I. (Oxford. 1870) ; and Green, Ihe Conquest of England (London, 1883). CANUTE IV., The S.«.VT ( ?-1086). King of Denmark after 1080. He was distinguished as a warrior and a builder of churches. He attempted to invade England ni 1085, but was murdered by rebels, on July 10. 1086, and was canonized in 1100. He is the patron saint of Denmnrk. CANVAS (OF. canevas, Med. Lat. canneva- Slum, from Lat. cannabis, hemp). A strong, coarse cloth made of cotton, flax, or hemp. Can- vas is used ( 1 ) on board ship for sails, awnings, hatch-hoods, boat-covers, tarpaulins, etc. Flax canvas is used for the sails of large vessels, it is woven in cloths 24 inches in width and 40 yards long, and is of several weights, denotc<l by numbers from 1 to 9, The heaviest, which is called number 1, is used for storm-sails, courses (foresail and mainsail of square-rigged vessels), and topsails, but numbers 2 and 3 are also used for all of these except the storm- sails. The lighter weights are used for jibs, upper staysails, topgallantsails, royals, etc. Cotton canvas is used for boat-sails, hammocks, etc. The term canvas is used in a figurative sense for the sails of a ship, under canvas sig- nifying under sail — i,e. under way, propelled by sails. See .Sail. (2) The canvas used by artists is commonly of linen, varying in density and thickness accord- ing to the size of the painting to be made. This is stretclied upon a wooden mortised frame, which is called a stretcher, in the four inside corners of which are slits for receiving triangxdar wooden wedges. These wedges are called keys, and after the canvas is stretched they may w driven in. in order to tighten the canvas itself. Certain sizes of canvas, being in greater request than oth- ers, are kept ready stretched on frames. Those used for portraits are known by the names of hit-cat. winch measures 28 or 29 inches by 36: ihree-qunrters, 25 by 30 inches; half length. 40 by 50: Bishop's half length, 44 or 45 by 56; Bishop's whole length, 58 by 94, I
