Sweyn Forkbeard was King of Denmark from 986 until his death, King of England for five weeks from December 1013 until his death, and King of Norway from 999/1000 until 1013/14. He was the father of King Harald II of Denmark, King Cnut the Great, and Queen Estrid Svendsdatter.
Cnut, also known as Canute and with the epithet the Great, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway from 1028 until his death in 1035. The three kingdoms united under Cnut's rule are referred to together as the North Sea Empire by historians.
Magnus Olafsson, better known as Magnus the Good, was King of Norway from 1035 and King of Denmark from 1042 until his death in 1047.
Olof Skötkonung, sometimes stylized as Olaf the Swede, was King of Sweden, son of Eric the Victorious and, according to Icelandic sources, Sigrid the Haughty. He succeeded his father in c. 995. He stands at the threshold of recorded history, since he is the first Swedish ruler about whom there is substantial knowledge. He is regarded as the first king known to have ruled both the Swedes and the Geats, and the first king in Sweden to have minted coins. In Sweden, the reign of Olof Skötkonung is considered to mark the transition from the Viking Age to the Middle Ages. He was the first Christian king in central Sweden. Norse beliefs persisted in parts of Sweden until the 12–13th century, with some keeping the tradition into modern times.
Sigrid the Haughty, also known as Sigrid Storråda (Swedish), is a Scandinavian queen appearing in Norse sagas. Sigrid is named in several late and sometimes contradictory Icelandic sagas composed generations after the events they describe, but there is no reliable historical evidence correlating to her story as they describe her. She is reported by Heimskringla to have been wife of Eric the Victorious of Sweden, sought as wife by Olaf Tryggvasson, then married to Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark, but elsewhere author Snorri Sturluson says that Sweyn was married to a different woman.
The Battle of Stiklestad in 1030 is one of the most famous battles in the history of Norway. In this battle, King Olaf II of Norway was killed. During the pontificate of Pope Alexander III, the Roman Catholic Church declared Olaf a saint in 1164.
Anund Jacob or James was King of Sweden from 1022 until around 1050. He is believed to have been born on 25 July, in either 1008 or 1010 as Jakob, the son of King Olof Skötkonung and Queen Estrid. Being the second Christian king of the Swedish realm, his long and partly turbulent reign saw the increasing dissemination of Christianity as well as repeated attempts to influence the balance of power in Scandinavia. Throughout his reign, he tried to subvert the rising Danish hegemony in Scandinavia by supporting the Norwegian monarchy. He also supported the reign of his brother-in-law Yaroslav the Wise in Kievan Rus. He is referred to in positive terms in German and Norse historical sources. His reign was one of the longest in Sweden during the Viking Age and Middle Ages.
Thorkell the Tall, also known as Thorkell the High in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, was a prominent member of the Jomsviking order and a notable lord. He was a son of the Scanian chieftain Strut-Harald, and a brother of Jarl Sigvaldi, Hemingr and Tófa. Thorkell was the chief commander of the Jomsvikings and the legendary stronghold Jomsborg, on the Island of Wollin. He is also credited as having received the young Cnut the Great into his care and taken Cnut on raids. The Encomium Emmae, a document aimed at the movers and shakers of the Anglo-Scandinavian court in the early 1040s, describes Thorkell as a great war leader and warrior.
Haakon Ericsson was the last Earl of Lade and governor of Norway from 1012 to 1015 and again from 1028 to 1029 as a vassal under Danish King Knut the Great.
Świętosława was a Polish princess, the daughter of Mieszko I of Poland and sister of Bolesław I of Poland, who married two Scandinavian kings. According to some chroniclers, this princess, whose name is not given, was married first to Eric the Victorious of Sweden and then to Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark, giving the former a son, Olof, and the latter two sons, Harald and Cnut. Because a documented sister of Cnut seems to have borne the Polish name Świętosława, it has been speculated that this may also have been the name of their mother, the Polish princess of the chroniclers.
Dag Ringsson was a Norwegian chieftain from Oppland who participated in the Battle of Stiklestad during 1030 which resulted in the death of King Olaf II of Norway
The Battle of Helgeå, or Battle of the Holy River, was a naval engagement which took place in 1026 between joint Danish and English forces and a combined Norwegian and Swedish force, at the estuary of a river called Helge in Sweden or Denmark.
Svein Knutsson was the son of Cnut the Great, king of Denmark, Norway, and England, and his first wife Ælfgifu of Northampton, a Mercian noblewoman. In 1017 Cnut married Emma of Normandy, but there is no evidence that Ælfgifu was repudiated, and in 1030 Cnut sent her and Svein as regents to rule Norway. However, their rule was considered oppressive by the Norwegians. They imposed new taxes and harsh laws that made them unpopular and they were expelled in 1034.
Bjørn Stallare was an 11th-century Norwegian diplomat and civil servant during the reign of King Olaf II of Norway.
Gunhilda of Wenden was a Polish princess, daughter of Mieszko I of Poland according to Chronicles of Thietmar of Merserburg, Adam von Bremen and Acta Cnutonis regis princess and Danish Viking Age queen consort, the supposed spouse of 10th-century King Sweyn I of Denmark. The sources about the wife or wives of Sweyn are contradictory, and historians have debated whether she is the Polish Świętosława given another name in Norse sources.
Events from the 1010s in England.
The North Sea Empire, also known as the Anglo-Scandinavian Empire, was the personal union of the kingdoms of England, Denmark and Norway for most of the period between 1013 and 1042 towards the end of the Viking Age. This ephemeral Norse-ruled empire was a thalassocracy, its components only connected by and dependent upon the sea.
The Danish House of Knýtlinga was a ruling royal house in Middle Age Scandinavia and England. Its most famous king was Cnut the Great, who gave his name to this dynasty. Other notable members were Cnut's father Sweyn Forkbeard, grandfather Harald Bluetooth, and sons Harthacnut, Harold Harefoot, and Svein Knutsson. It has also been called the House of Canute, the House of Denmark, the House of Gorm, or the Jelling dynasty.
In the autumn of 1016, the Danish prince Cnut the Great (Canute) together with the Norwegian fleet of Eiríkr Hákonarson successfully invaded England. Cnut's father, Sweyn Forkbeard, had previously conquered and briefly ruled England for less than five weeks.
Events from the 11th century in Denmark.
