List of legendary kings of Denmark

Last updated

The legendary kings of Denmark are the predecessors of Gorm the Old, a king who reigned ca. 930s to 950s and is the earliest reliably attested Danish ruler. Historicity of the earlier legendary kings are thus half legend and half history. The accounts of the Danish kings of the Dark Ages are confusing and contradictory, and so this article tries to separate the various sources from one another. Different sources do sometimes mention the same kings.

Contents

Multiple sources

Many kings are mentioned by multiple sources, but are for various reasons still considered more legendary than historical kings of Denmark

Rig and Scylding line

Early kings of the Rig and Scylding lines, mentioned by multiple sources

After Hrólf Kraki no two sources give the same succession.

Adam of Bremen

Adam of Bremen mentions several kings from the 10th century preceding Gorm the Old. He claims Svend Estridson as his source. Many of these are also confirmed by other sources.

Gesta Danorum

Humbling family tree.svg

The kings from Saxo Grammaticus' chronicle Gesta Danorum ("Deeds of the Danes").

NameConsort(s)ClaimNote(s)
Dan I Grytha Title createdDid not actually rule as a king, but merely as a governor.
Humble Son of Dan I Elected as a king after the death of his father, however, he proved a weak ruler and was soon deposed by his brother.
Lother After deposing his brother, he resorted to tyranny and was killed while fighting a rebellion.
Skiold Alfhild Son of Lother Became king when younger than fifteen, renowned hunter and fighter, extraordinarily tall. Subjugated the Alemanni in order to marry a Saxon princess.
Gram Groa

Signe

Son of Skiod While his father was still alive, he invaded Sweden, and his father rewarded him by crowning him as co-ruler. Later, he was killed by Svipdagr, king of the Norwegians.
Svipdagr Daughter of Gram and Groa Son-in-law of Gram After Gram slew his father, he retired to Sweden and made peace with Gram when he agreed to marry his sister. Later, Gram abandoned his sister in favor of a Finnish princess, this prompted Svipdagr to continue the war, which eventually led to his victory, thus he took over Sweden and Denmark.
Guthorm Son of Gram
Nephew of Svipdagr
Puppet king of Svipdagr.

Other Danish kings include:

Chronicon Lethrense and Annales Lundenses

The kings from the Chronicle of Lejre .

Other manuscript have a supplementary list, following the name of Hartwar: [2]

Beowulf

The kings in epic poem Beowulf

Gróttasöngr

The kings in the poem Gróttasöngr

Skjöldunga saga (partial list)

The kings of the saga of the Scylding family.

Sögubrot

Sögubrot or Sǫgubrot af nokkrum fornkonungum Dana ok svíaveldi is an Old Icelandic saga fragment which is believed to be a part of the original Skjöldunga saga. The fragment begins in the middle of a discussion between the Scanian king Ivar Vidfamne and his daughter Auðr.

Kings of the whole of Denmark or individual Danish regions, which appear in Sögubrot:

Ynglinga saga

The kings of the saga of the Ynglinga family.

Other sources

For later Danish monarchs whose existence is verified, see List of Danish monarchs

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ragnar Lodbrok</span> Legendary king of Denmark and Sweden

Ragnar Lodbrok, according to legends, was a Viking hero and a Swedish and Danish king.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hemming of Denmark</span> King of the Danes

Hemming I was a king in Denmark from 810 until his death. He was the successor of King Gudfred, his uncle.

Ivar Vidfamne was a semi-legendary king of Sweden, who originated in Scania. He apparently died circa 700 CE, in Karelia, at a place called Karjálabotnar, which may have been the modern Kurkiyoki, in Lakhdenpokhsky District of Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigurd Ring</span> King of the Swedes and later Denmark

Sigurd Ring according to legend was a king of the Swedes, being mentioned in many old Scandinavian sagas. According to these sources he was granted rulership over Sweden as a vassal king under his uncle Harald Wartooth. Later he would take up arms against his uncle Harald in a bid to overthrow him and take the crown of Denmark, a conflict which Sigurd eventually won after the legendary Battle of the Brávellir, where it is said that Odin himself intervened and killed Harald. In the Sagas, Sigurd is also known for being the father of the Norse Viking hero and legendary king of Denmark and Sweden, Ragnar Lodbrok. According to Bósa saga ok Herrauds, there was once a saga on Sigurd Ring, but this saga is now lost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harald Wartooth</span> Legendary kings of Denmark

Harald Wartooth or Harold Hiltertooth was a semi-legendary king of Denmark who is mentioned in several traditional sources. He is held to have (indirectly) succeeded his father as king of Zealand and to have expanded his realm. According to different sources, he may have ruled over Jutland, part of Sweden and the historical northern German province of Wendland. He is said to have been finally defeated and killed at the legendary Battle of Bråvalla.

Randvér or Randver was a legendary Danish king. In Nordic legends, according to Sögubrot and the Lay of Hyndla, he was the son of Ráðbarðr the king of Garðaríki and Auðr the Deep-Minded, the daughter of the Danish-Swedish ruler Ivar Vidfamne. In these two sources, Auðr had Randver's brother, Harald Wartooth, in a previous marriage.

Sögubrot af nokkrum fornkonungum is a fragmentary Icelandic text dealing with some legendary Swedish and Danish kings. It is thought to be based on the lost Skjöldunga saga and perhaps represents a late state of that work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye</span> Legendary kings of Denmark

Sigurd Snake-in-the-eye or Sigurd Áslaugsson was a semi-legendary Viking warrior and Danish king active from the mid to late 9th century. According to multiple saga sources and Scandinavian histories from the 12th century and later, he is one of the sons of the legendary Viking Ragnar Lodbrok and Áslaug. His historical prototype might have been the Danish King Sigfred who ruled briefly in the 870s. Norwegian kings' genealogies of the Middle Ages name him as an ancestor of Harald Fairhair and used his mother's supposed ancestry the Völsung to create an ancestry between Harald and his descendants and Odin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harthacnut I of Denmark</span> Semi-legendary king of Denmark

Harthacnut or Cnut I was a semi-legendary King of Denmark. The old Norse story Ragnarssona þáttr makes Harthacnut son of the semi-mythic viking chieftain Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, himself one of the sons of the legendary Ragnar Lodbrok. The saga in turn makes Harthacnut the father of the historical king, Gorm. It has been suggested he is to be identified with the Hardegon of Northmannia whose early-10th century conquest of Denmark was related by Adam of Bremen.

Valdar was the name of several legendary Danish kings.

Sigurd Hart or Sigurd Hjort was a legendary king of Ringerike, during the late 9th or early 10th centuries. he is mentioned in Ragnarssona þáttr and in Halvdan Svartes saga.

Hrœrekr Ringslinger or Ringscatterer was a legendary 7th-century king of Zealand or Denmark, who appears in Chronicon Lethrense, Annals of Lund, Gesta Danorum, Sögubrot, Njáls saga, Hversu Noregr byggðist, Skjöldunga saga, and Bjarkarímur. Connection with such historical figures such as Horik I, who ruled Denmark around 854 for a dozen or so years, or the founder of the Rurik dynasty is fraught with difficulty.

Guðröðr was a legendary Scanian king who, according to the Ynglinga saga, was the brother of Halfdan the Valiant, Ivar Vidfamne's father. He is only known from late Icelandic sources dating from the 13th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigfred</span> King of the Danes

Sigfred was an eighth century Danish king who is known to have reigned from before 777 to after 798. Fragments of his reign can be traced via Frankish sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Álfheimr (region)</span> Minor kingdom in ancient Norway

Alfheim is an ancient name for an area corresponding to the modern Swedish province of Bohuslän.

Sigfred and Halfdan were two brothers who figured as Kings of the Danes in 873. Little is known about them; they are the last Danish rulers recorded by contemporary sources before the 930s.

Helge was a Danish king who ruled at the end of the 9th century. There is no contemporary evidence for his existence, since he is only mentioned in a source from the 11th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigfred (Danish king 812)</span> King of the Danes

Sigfred was a competitor for the Danish throne in 812. His brief appearance inaugurated a period of throne struggles in Denmark which lasted until 827.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anulo</span> King of the Danes

Anulo or Ale was a pretender-king who vied for the Danish throne in 812. He represents the appearance of the House of Harald which competed with the House of Gudfred for power in Denmark until c. 857 and possibly longer.

References

  1. Saxo Grammaticus, ed. Hilda Ellis Davidson, p. 165.
  2. The Chronicle of the Kings of Lejre, ed. Peter Tunstall.