Guthorm

Last updated
Guthorm
King of the Danes
Predecessor Svipdagr
Successor Svipdagr
House Scylding
Father Gram
Mother Groa
Religion Pagan

Guthorm or Guthormus was one of the earliest legendary Danish kings according to Saxo Grammaticus. He was a son Danish king, Gram and Swedish princess, Groa.

Contents

History

His father was slain by his uncle, the Norwegian king, Svipdagr. After the incident, his uncle installed him as the puppet king of the Danes. However, his half-brother, Hading refused the offer and entered exile, later he returned and retook his father's kingdom, but lack of mentions of Guthorm implies that his half-brother died before his return. [1]

Text

Gesta Danorum, Book One
GUTHORM and HADDING, the son of Gram (Groa being the mother of the first and Signe of the second), were sent over to Sweden in a ship by their foster-father, Brage (Swipdag being now master of Denmark), and put in charge of the giants Wagnhofde and Hafle, for guard as well as rearing.
Swipdag, now that he had slain Gram, was enriched with the realms of Denmark and Sweden; and because of the frequent importunities of his wife he brought back from banishment her brother Guthorm, upon his promising tribute, and made him ruler of the Danes. But Hadding preferred to avenge his father rather than take a boon from his foe.
Legendary titles
Preceded by King of the Danes Succeeded by

Related Research Articles

Harald Greycloak was a king of Norway from the Fairhair dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnus the Good</span> King of Norway (1035–1047) and Denmark (1042–1047)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gudrun</span> Legendary figure in Germanic lore

Gudrun or Kriemhild is the wife of Sigurd/Siegfried and a major figure in Germanic heroic legend and literature. She is believed to have her origins in Ildico, last wife of Attila the Hun, and two queens of the Merovingian dynasty, Brunhilda of Austrasia and Fredegund.

An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of a person with a better claim to the position in question. This is in contrast to an heir apparent, whose claim on the position cannot be displaced in this manner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hrólfr Kraki</span> Semi-legendary Danish king

Hrólfr Kraki, Hroðulf, Rolfo, Roluo, Rolf Krage was a semi-legendary Danish king who appears in both Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian tradition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hrothgar</span> Legendary Danish king

Hrothgar was a semi-legendary Danish king living around the early sixth century AD. Many years later, Hrothgar paid money to the Wulfings to resolve a blood feud they had with Ecgtheow, Beowulf's father.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yrsa</span> Tragic heroine of early Scandinavian literature

Yrsa, Yrse, Yrs or Urse was a tragic heroine of early Scandinavian legend. She is typically characterized as the wife of Swedish king Eadgils and mother of Danish king Hrólfr Kraki.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Styrbjörn the Strong</span> Legendary pretender to the Swedish throne

Styrbjörn the Strong according to late Norse sagas was a son of the Swedish king Olof, and a nephew of Olof's co-ruler and successor Eric the Victorious, who defeated and killed Styrbjörn at the Battle of Fyrisvellir. As with many figures in the sagas, doubts have been cast on his existence, but he is mentioned in a roughly contemporaneous skaldic poem about the battle. According to legend, his original name was Björn, and Styr-, which was added when he had grown up, was an epithet meaning that he was restless, controversially forceful and violent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Healfdene</span> Danish king (450 - 557)

Halfdan was a late 5th and early 6th century legendary Danish king of the Scylding (Skjöldung) lineage, the son of king named Fróði in many accounts, noted mainly as the father to the two kings who succeeded him in the rule of Denmark, kings named Hroðgar and Halga in the Old English poem Beowulf and named Hróar and Helgi in Old Norse accounts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Halga</span>

Halga, Helgi, Helghe or Helgo was a legendary Danish king living in the early 6th century. His name would in his own language (Proto-Norse) have been *Hailaga.

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

Sigurd Snake-in-the-eye or Sigurd Ragnarsson 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 to Völsung in order to create an ancestry between Harald and his descendants and Odin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nibelung</span> Norse/German clan name

The term Nibelung (German) or Niflungr is a personal or clan name with several competing and contradictory uses in Germanic heroic legend. It has an unclear etymology, but is often connected to the root Nebel, meaning mist. The term in its various meanings gives its name to the Middle High German heroic epic the Nibelungenlied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haakon Ericsson</span> Earl of Lade and governor of Norway

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William of Winchester, Lord of Lunenburg</span> Lord of Lunenburg

William of Winchester, also called in English William of Lunenburg or William Longsword, a member of the House of Welf, was heir to his family's allodial lands in the Duchy of Saxony after the deposition of his father, Duke Henry the Lion in 1180.

<i>The Lords of the North</i> 2006 historical novel by Bernard Cornwell

The Lords of the North is the third historical novel in The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell published in 2006. The story is set in the 9th century Anglo-Saxon kingdoms Wessex and Northumbria. Uhtred wants revenge against his uncle, and falls in love. He fights for both the Danes and for Alfred.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ragnhild Sigurdsdotter</span> Daughter of Sigurd Hart, King of Ringerike in Norway

The name Ragnhild Sigurdsdotter may refer to two different figures from Old Norse literature, an amalgam of them, or a purely fictitious figure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigurd</span> Fictional character in Germanic and Norse mythology

Sigurd or Siegfried is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend, who killed a dragon—known in some Old Norse sources as Fáfnir—and who was later murdered. In both the Norse and continental Germanic tradition, Sigurd is portrayed as dying as the result of a quarrel between his wife (Gudrun/Kriemhild) and another woman, Brunhild, whom he has tricked into marrying the Burgundian king Gunnar/Gunther. His slaying of a dragon and possession of the hoard of the Nibelungen is also common to both traditions. In other respects, however, the two traditions appear to diverge. The most important works to feature Sigurd are the Nibelungenlied, the Völsunga saga, and the Poetic Edda. He also appears in numerous other works from both Germany and Scandinavia, including a series of medieval and early modern Scandinavian ballads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Svipdagr (king)</span> Legendary king of the Swedes, Norwegians and Danes

Svipdagr or Swipdag was a legendary Swedish king and important figure in Book One of Gesta Danorum. The realm of his father was invaded by a Danish prince, Gram in to order marry, Svipdagr's sister, Groa. The prince was eventually successful and Svipdagr's father, Sigtryg was killed. Svipdagr escaped to Norway and carved himself a kingdom of his own. Later, Gram's act to dishonor his wife compelled Svipdagr to invade Sweden. After Gram murdered the King of the Saxons many Saxons joined Svipdagr's side. The war continued many years and during this time Gram tried to rape Svipdagr's daughter. Finally, Svipdagr was able to kill Gram in battle and took over Sweden and Denmark.

Guthormr or Guttormr was according to traditions current in Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, a noble of Danish origin operating in Norway and the maternal uncle of Norway's first king, Harald Fairhair. By various sources he is said to have been the son of Sigurd Hart, brother of Ragnhild Sigurdsdotter and the descendant of Ragnar Lodbrok. Several sources gives him the title dux and hertỏga both meaning "duke".

References

  1. "The Danish History, Book One". www.sacred-texts.com.