Folke the Fat | |
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Spouses | Ingegerd Knutsdotter of Denmark |
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Folke the Fat (Swedish : Folke den tjocke), according to Gesta Danorum by the 12th century Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus, was the most powerful man in Sweden around 1100. He married Ingegerd Knutsdotter of Denmark, daughter of the Danish king Canute IV [1] [2] who was murdered in 1086. [1] Folke and Ingrid had the sons Knut and Benedict according to Saxo. [2] The chronicler furthermore reports that Folke was the paternal grandfather of Birger Brosa, [1] who was still alive at the time of writing. [2]
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.
Ragnar Lodbrok, according to legends, was a Viking hero and a Swedish and Danish king.
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.
Fróði is the name of a number of legendary Danish kings in various texts including Beowulf, Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda and his Ynglinga saga, Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum, and the Grottasǫngr. A Danish king by this name also appears as a minor character in the Middle High German epic Rabenschlacht. The name is possibly an eponym for the god Freyr.
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.
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.
Chronicon Lethrense is a small Danish medieval work from the late 12th century, written in Latin.
Christiern Pedersen was a Danish canon, humanist scholar, writer, printer and publisher.
Gyrd and Gnupa were kings of Denmark in the 10th century according to Sweyn II of Denmark and Adam of Bremen. They were the sons of the Swedish chieftain Olof the Brash who had conquered Denmark and they ruled together according to Swedish tradition.
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.
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. He also appears in the Old English poem Beowulf. The various accounts have little in common.
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.
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.
Wihtlæg, Whitlæg, Wighlek, Wiglecus, Wiglek, Witlac or Viglek is a legendary king of either Denmark or Angeln in Germanic legends. He is known in Saxo's kings of Denmark by the name of Vigletus.
Feng was a legendary Jutish chieftain and the prototype for William Shakespeare's King Claudius. He appears in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum.
Runamo is a cracked dolerite dike in Sweden that was for centuries held to be a runic inscription and gave rise to a famous scholarly controversy in the 19th century. It is located 2.7 km from the church of Bräkne-Hoby in Blekinge, in South-Sweden. For hundreds of years people said it was possible to read an inscription, and learned men referred to it.
Lagertha, according to legend, was a Viking ruler and shield-maiden from what is now Norway, and the onetime wife of the famous Viking Ragnar Lodbrok. Her tale was recorded by the chronicler Saxo in the 12th century. According to the historian Judith Jesch, Saxo's tales about warrior women are largely fictional; other historians wrote that they may have a basis in tales about the Norse deity Thorgerd.
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, naming the land they settled 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 fifth or sixth 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 of Stiklestad.