| Dan I of Denmark | |
|---|---|
 | |
| King of the Danes | |
| Successor | Humblus |
| Consort | Grytha |
| Issue | Humble Lother |
| House | Scylding |
| Father | Humble |
| Religion | Pagan |
Dan I was the progenitor of the Danish royal house according to Saxo Grammaticus's Gesta Danorum . He supposedly held the lordship of Denmark along with his brother Angul, the father of the Angles in Angeln, which later formed the Anglo-Saxons in England.
| Gesta Danorum, 1.1 [1] | The Danish History, Book One [2] |
|---|---|
| Dan igitur et Angul, a quibus Danorum coepit origo, patre Humblo procreati non solum conditores gentis nostrae, verum etiam rectores fuere. Quamquam Dudo, rerum Aquitanicarum scriptor, Danos a Danais ortos nuncupatosque recenseat. Hi licet faventibus patriae votis regni dominio potirentur rerumque summam ob egregia fortitudinis merita assentientibus civium suffragiis obtinerent, regii tamen nominis expertes degebant, cuius usum nulla tunc temporis apud nostros consuetudinum frequentabat auctoritas. Ex quibus Angul, a quo gentis Anglicae principia manasse memoriae proditum est, nomen suum provinciae, cui praeerat, aptandum curavit, levi monumenti genere perennem sui notitiam traditurus. Cuius successores postmodum Britannia potiti priscum insulae nomen novo patriae suae vocabulo permutarunt. Magni id factum a veteribus aestimatum. Testis est Beda, non minima pars divini stili, qui in Anglia ortus sanctissimis suorum voluminum thesauris res patrias sociare curae habuit, aeque ad religionem pertinere iudicans patriae facta litteris illustrare et res divinas conscribere. Verum a Dan (ut fert antiquitas) regum nostrorum stemmata, ceu quodam derivata principio, splendido successionis ordine profluxerunt. Huic filii Humblus et Lotherus fuere, ex Grytha summae inter Theutones dignitatis matrona suscepti. | Now Dan and Angul, with whom the stock of the Danes begins, were begotten of Humble, their father, and were the governors and not only the founders of our race. (Yet Dudo, the historian of Normandy, considers that the Danes are sprung and named from the Danai. And these two men, though by the wish and favour of their country they gained the lordship of the realm, and, owing to the wondrous deserts of their bravery, got the supreme power by the consenting voice of their countrymen, yet lived without the name of king: the usage whereof was not then commonly resorted to by any authority among our people. Of these two, Angul, the fountain, so runs the tradition, of the beginnings of the Anglian race, caused his name to be applied to the district which he ruled. This was an easy kind of memorial wherewith to immortalise his fame: for his successors a little later, when they gained possession of Britain, changed the original name of the island for a fresh title, that of their own land. This action was much thought of by the ancients: witness Bede, no mean figure among the writers of the Church, who was a native of England, and made it his care to embody the doings of his country in the most hallowed treasury of his pages; deeming it equally a religious duty to glorify in writing the deeds of his land, and to chronicle the history of the Church. From Dan, however, so saith antiquity; the pedigrees of our kings have flowed in glorious series, like channels from some parent spring. Grytha, a matron most highly revered among the Teutons, bore him two sons, HUMBLE and LOTHER. |
| Characters of Gesta Danorum |
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| Danish kings |
| Foreign rulers |
| Other men |
| Women |
Gesta Danorum is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus. It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history. It is also one of the oldest known written documents about the history of Estonia and Latvia.
Saxo Grammaticus, also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author of the Gesta Danorum, the first full history of Denmark, from which the legend of Amleth would come to inspire the story of Hamlet by Shakespeare.
Lotherus (Lother) was one of the earliest kings of Denmark according to Saxo Grammaticus's Gesta Danorum.
Chronicon Lethrense is a small Danish medieval work from the 12th century, written in Latin.
Palnatoke or Palnatoki, sometimes written Palna-Toki or Palna Toki, was a legendary Danish hero and chieftain of the island of Fyn. According to the Jómsvíkinga saga, Palnatoki founded the brotherhood of Jomsvikings and established its laws.
The Angers Fragment (Angersfragmentet) are four parchment pages from dating from the 12th-century. They are one of the four fragments remaining of the original Gesta Danorum written by Saxo Grammaticus. This the only fragment attested to be of Saxo's own handwriting. It consists of four pages with 8 written sides.
Glæsisvellir was a location in Jotunheim in Norse mythology. It is mentioned in sources such as Bósa saga ok Herrauds and Hervarar saga.
Humblus was one of the earliest kings of Denmark according to Saxo Grammaticus's Gesta Danorum.
Skjöldr was among the first legendary Danish kings. He is mentioned in the Prose Edda, in Ynglinga saga, in Chronicon Lethrense, in Sven Aggesen's history, in Arngrímur Jónsson's Latin abstract of the lost Skjöldunga saga and in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum. Under the name Scyld he also appears in the Old English poem Beowulf. The various accounts have little in common.
Gram was one of the earliest legendary Danish kings according to Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum. His history is given in more detail than those of his predecessors. Georges Dumézil argued that Gram was partially modelled on the god Thor, in particular his defeat of Hrungnir and subsequent encounter with Gróa.
Dan II is one of the legendary Danish kings, the son of Offa of Angel, described in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum.
Dan III is one of the legendary Danish kings described in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum.
Frotho II is one of the legendary Danish kings described in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum.
Frotho I is one of the legendary Danish kings in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum, where he has a substantial biography. He succeeds his father Hadingus to the throne and replenishes the war-drained treasury by slaying a dragon and winning its treasure. He uses the money to finance expeditions into the Baltic, where he wins victories with clever strategems. After some trouble at home he campaigns successfully in Britain and captures London. He finally dies in a war against the king of Sweden.
Hadingus was one of the earliest legendary Danish kings according to Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum, where he has a detailed biography. Georges Dumézil and others have argued that Hadingus was partially modelled on the god Njörðr.
Fridlevus I is one of the legendary Danish kings described in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum.
Harðgreipr is a jötunn in Norse mythology. In Gesta Danorum, she is the daughter of the jötunn Vagnophtus and the nurse of the Danish hero Hadingus.
Webiorg, Wigbiorg or Veborg, was a legendary Scandinavian shieldmaiden who, according to the sagas, participated in the Battle of Bråvalla, which occurred in Sweden in approximately 750. She was of Swedish or Danish origin.
Angul is a figure in Nordic mythology who, according to the Gesta Danorum was the ancestor of the Danes, along with his brother Dan. He was also the ancestor of the Angles in Denmark, who later migrated to Great Britain, forming the land that became known as England.
Rusla, also known as the "Red Woman" from Middle Irish Ingean Ruagh, was a legendary Norwegian shield-maiden mentioned in the Gesta Danorum or "History of the Danes" of Saxo Grammaticus and in the Irish annals. According to Saxo, Rusla was the daughter of a 5th or 6th century king of Telemark called Rieg, and sister of Tesandus (Thrond), who was dispossessed of his throne by a Danish king named Omund. Rusla formed a pirate fleet to attack all Danish ships as revenge for the affront to her brother. Rusla was always accompanied by another woman Stikla, who was her deputy in all raids. Stikla turned to piracy to avoid marriage, and her name is the origin of the Norwegian city Stiklestad.