Sweyn Forkbeard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Sweyn I of Denmark)
Jump to: navigation, search
"King Sweyn" redirects here. For other monarchs by that name, see King Sweyn (disambiguation).
"Sweyn of Norway" redirects here. For his grandson, see Svein Knutsson. For his regent ruler in Norway, see Sveinn Hákonarson.
Sweyn Forkbeard
King of Denmark, Norway, and England
Sweyn Forkbeard.jpg
King of Denmark
Tenure 986–1014
Predecessor Harald Bluetooth
Successor Harald II
King of Norway
Tenure 986–995
Predecessor Harald Bluetooth
Olaf I
Successor Olaf II
King of England
Tenure 1013–1014
Predecessor Æthelred
Successor Æthelred
Spouse Świętosława / Sigrid/ Gunhild (detail)
among others...
Harald II of Denmark
Cnut, King of Denmark, Norway and England
Estrid Svendsdatter
Full name
Old Norse: Sveinn Tjúguskegg
Danish: Svend Tveskæg
Norwegian: Svein Tjugeskjegg
Swedish: Sven Tveskägg
House House of Denmark
Father Harald Bluetooth
Mother Gunhild or Tove
Born c. 960
Died 3 February 1014
Gainsborough, Lincolnshire
Burial Roskilde Cathedral or St. Trinity in Lund
Religion Roman Catholicism

Sweyn Forkbeard (Old Norse: Sveinn Tjúguskegg; 960 - 3 February 1014) was king of Denmark and England, as well as parts of Norway. His name appears as Swegen in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.[1] He was the son of King Harald Bluetooth of Denmark. He was the father of Cnut the Great.

In the mid 980s, Sweyn revolted against his father and seized the throne. Harald was driven into exile and died shortly afterwards in November 986 or 987.[2] In 1000, with allegiance of the Trondejarl, Eric of Lade, Sweyn was ruler over most of Norway. After a long effort at conquest and shortly before his death, he became, in 1013, the first of the Danish Kings of England.

The Church and currency[edit]



Life and legacy[edit]

Many details about Sweyn's life are contested. Scholars disagree about the various, too often contradictory, accounts of his life given in sources from this era of history, such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Adam of Bremen's Deeds of the Bishops of Hamburg, and the Heimskringla, a 13th-century work by Icelandic author Snorri Sturluson.[6] Conflicting accounts of Sweyn's later life also appear in the Encomium Emmae Reginae, an 11th-century Latin encomium in honour of his son king Cnut's queen Emma of Normandy, along with Chronicon ex chronicis by Florence of Worcester, another 11th-century author.





Ruler of England[edit]

The "Chronicle of John of Wallingford" (ca. 1225–1250) records Sweyn's involvement in raids against England during 1002–1005, 1006–1007, and 1009–1012 to revenge the St. Brice's Day massacre of England's Danish inhabitants in November 1002. Sweyn was believed[by whom?] to have had a personal interest in the atrocities, with his sister Gunhilde and her husband possibly amongst the victims.[10]


Sweyn campaigned in Wessex and East Anglia in 1003–1004, but a famine forced him to return to Denmark in 1005. Further raids took place in 1006-1007, and in 1009-1012 Thorkell the Tall led a Viking invasion into England. Simon Keynes regards it as uncertain whether Sweyn supported these invasions, but "whatever the case, he was quick to exploit the disruption caused by the activities of Thorkell's army".[11]

Some scholars have argued that Sweyn's participation may have been prompted by his state of impoverishment after having been forced[by whom?] to pay a hefty ransom. He needed revenue from the raids.[9] He acquired massive sums of Danegeld through the raids. In 1013, he is reported to have personally led his forces in a full-scale invasion of England.[12]



But the Londoners put up a strong resistance, because King Æthelred and Thorkell the Tall, a Viking leader who had defected to Æthelred, personally held their ground against him in London itself. Sweyn then went west to Bath, where the western thanes submitted to him and gave hostages. The Londoners then followed suit, fearing Sweyn's revenge if they resisted any longer. King Æthelred sent his sons Edward and Alfred to Normandy, and himself retreated to the Isle of Wight, and then followed them into exile.[13] On Christmas Day 1013 Sweyn was declared King of England.

Based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Sweyn began to organise his vast new kingdom, but he died there on 3 February 1014, having ruled England for only five weeks. His embalmed body was returned to Denmark for burial in the church he had built himself. (Tradition locates this church in Roskilde,[11] but it is more plausible that it was actually located in Lund in Scania (now part of Sweden).[14]) Sweyn's elder son, Harald II, succeeded him as King of Denmark, but the Danish fleet in England proclaimed his younger son Cnut king. In England, the councillors had sent for Æthelred, who upon his return from exile in Normandy in the spring of 1014 managed to drive Cnut out of England. But Cnut returned and became King of England in 1016, eventually also ruling Denmark, Norway, parts of Sweden, Pomerania, and Schleswig.

Sweyn's son Cnut and Cnut's own sons Harold Harefoot and Harthacnut ruled England for 26 years. After Harthacnut's death, the English throne reverted to the House of Wessex in the person of King Edward the Confessor (reigned 1042-1066).

Sweyn's descendants through his daughter Estrid continue to reign in Denmark to this day. One of his descendants, Margaret of Denmark, married James III of Scotland in 1469, introducing Sweyn's bloodline into the Scottish royal house. After James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne in 1603, Sweyn's descendants became monarchs of England again.


Coin of Sweyn Forkbeard.



Sweyn was tolerant of paganism while favouring Christianity, at least politically. By allowing English ecclesiastical influence in his kingdom, he was spurning the Hamburg-Bremen archbishop. Since German bishops were an integral part of the secular state, Sweyn's preference for the English church may have been a political move. He sought to pre-empt any threat against his independence posed by the German kings.[15] Contrary to Adam's writings, Sweyn did not appear to have re-established paganism. There is no evidence of reversion to pagan burial practices during Sweyn's reign.[16] Whether King Sweyn was a heathen or not, he enlisted priests and bishops from England rather than from Hamburg.[15] This may have been another reason for Adam of Bremen's apparent hostility in his accounts. Numerous converted priests of a Danish origin from the Danelaw lived in England, while Sweyn had few connections to Germany or its priests.



By Świętosława of Poland:

  1. Harald II of Denmark
  2. Cnut
  3. Gytha
  4. Gunnhild
  5. Santslaue
  6. Thyra
  7. Estrid
  8. unknown daughter

In literature[edit]


Popular culture[edit]


  11. ^ a b Keynes, Simon (2001). "Swein Forkbeard". In Lapidge, Michael; Blair, John; Scragg, Donald. The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. London: Blackwell Publishing. p. 437. ISBN 0-631-15565-1. 
  14. ^ http://www.medievalhistories.com/sweyn-forkbeard/

External links[edit]

Regnal titles
Preceded by
Harald I/III
King of Denmark
985/ 986–1014
Succeeded by
Harald II
King of Norway
Succeeded by
Olaf I
Preceded by
Olaf I
King of Norway
Succeeded by
Olaf II
Preceded by
Æthelred the Unready
King of the English
Succeeded by
Æthelred the Unready