| Sigfred | |
|---|---|
 Sigfred as depicted in 1710 | |
| King of the Danes | |
| Reign | c. 770–c.798/804 |
| Predecessor | unknown (Harald Wartooth?) |
| Successor | Gudfred |
| Born | 8th century Denmark |
| Died | c.798/804 Denmark |
| Dynasty | Sigfredian |
| Religion | Norse paganism |
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.
King Sigfred is first mentioned in 777 when the Saxon chief Widukind, leader of the resistance against Charlemagne, fled Saxony in the face of the Frankish onslaught. Widukind found refuge with Sigfred, but the Frankish annals do not say in detail what kind of assistance the Danish king may have provided. At any rate, Charlemagne made no attempt to subordinate or threaten the Danes during his Saxon campaigns. [1] German chronicles, to better espouse the family tree of Widukind's heirs, stated that he was married to Sigfred's daughter Geva. [2]
In the summer of 782, Charlemagne led his armed forces to the sources of the Lippe River, staying there for some time. On this occasion he received envoys from Sigfred, although the details of the negotiations are not disclosed. Shortly after, Widukind left his Nordic refuge and returned to Saxony where he successfully egged the population to rebel against the Frankish king. [3] He then led the Saxon resistance until 785 when he finally submitted to Charlemagne. For several years there is no mention of the Danish king, but in 798 Charlemagne sent one of his trustees, Godeskalk, on a diplomatic mission to Sigfred. On his return, Godeskalk was slain by the rebellious Saxons living to the north-east of the Elbe. When the Franks put down the rebellion they were helped by the prince of the Obotrites, Drozko, who would later on be dealt with by Sigfred's successor Gudfred. [4] Poems by the Lombard literati Peter of Pisa and Paulus Diaconus convey a very negative image of Sigfred. Peter wrote that Charlemagne had let him choose between being fettered, imprisoned, or sent to convert Sigfred. In a poetic reply, Paulus castigated the Danish king as a wild beast who ruled over other wild animals; an uncouth pagan who would nevertheless be unable to stand up against the mighty Frankish ruler. If he dared molest Peter and his entourage and refuse Christianisation, he would quickly be led before Charlemagne's throne in fetters, abandoned by Odin (Waten) and Thor (Thonar). [5] It is interesting that the characterization is similar to that accorded to Ongendus, one of Sigfred's predecessors in the early 8th century. [6] The poems also indicate that the Danes had started to draw some attention from the Carolingian elite by this time. The reign of Sigfred had ended by 804 when another ruler, Gudfred, is mentioned in the Frankish annals.
Nothing is known about Sigfred's relationship to Gudfred, who succeeded him as king of Denmark c. 804–810, or later kings such as Hemming (810–812), Harald 'Klak' Halfdansson (812-813, 819–827) and Horik I (813–854). Since the name Sigfred was borne by a nephew of Gudfred, he is often taken to have been the father of Gudfred, since children were often named after their grandfathers. [7]
The approximate dates of Sigfred's reign, and references to a King Harald who may have been either a predecessor, co-ruler or immediate successor of Sigfred, has led to speculations about a link with the legendary Swedish and Danish ruler Sigurd Hring. [8] According to the sagas, Sigurd Hring defeated the Danish ruler Harald Wartooth at the Battle of Brávellir 2-3 generations before the first Danish conquest of England but the historicity of Hring, Wartooth and the battle are uncertain. According to the Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok saga, Sigurd Hring was the father of the legendary Viking leader Ragnar Lodbrok. Modern scholarship is in agreement that part of the genealogy of the early Viking Age kings of Denmark is of High medieval era documentation. [9]
It has been theorized that Sigfred's father was Ongendus, or Angantyr, which is problematic because there is more than half a century between them. The two kings may nevertheless have been related since a Danish prince Angantyr is known to have flourished in 811, and the name is extremely unusual. [10] The recurrence of the names Angantyr, Sigfred, Harald and Gudfred throughout the 8th and 9th centuries suggests that the kings of the early Viking Age were mutually related.
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and Emperor of the Carolingian Empire from 800, holding all these titles until his death in 814. Charlemagne succeeded in uniting the majority of Western Central Europe, and was the first recognized emperor to rule in the west after the fall of the Western Roman Empire approximately three centuries earlier. Charlemagne's rule saw a program of political and social changes that had a lasting impact on Europe in the Middle Ages.
Year 777 (DCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar, the 777th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 777th year of the 1st millennium, the 77th year of the 8th century, and the 8th year of the 770s decade. The denomination 777 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Ragnar Lodbrok, according to legends, was a Viking hero and a Swedish and Danish king.
Widukind, also known as Wittekind and Wittikund, was a leader of the Saxons and the chief opponent of the Frankish king Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 777 to 785. Charlemagne ultimately prevailed, organized Saxony as a Frankish province, massacred thousands of Saxon nobles, and ordered conversions of the pagan Saxons to Christianity. In later times, Widukind became a symbol of Saxon independence and a figure of legend. He is also venerated as a blessed in the Catholic Church.
Hemming I was a king in Denmark from 810 until his death. He was the successor of King Gudfred, his uncle.
Gudfred was a ninth century Danish king who reigned from at least 804 to 810. Alternate spellings include Godfred (Danish), Göttrick (German), Gøtrik (Danish), Gudrød (Danish), and Godofredus (Latin). He stands at the threshold of the History of Denmark in the sense that he is the first ruler about whom there is substantial knowledge from contemporary sources. He waged offensive war against the Carolingian Empire with some success, but was murdered under murky circumstances before a major confrontation had taken place. There is no unambiguous trace of Gudfred in the later Norse sagas, and his history can only be traced from the hostile Frankish texts which makes an assessment of his role problematic. His paternity is unknown but he may have been closely related to Sigfred, who preceded him as king of Denmark c. 770–804. He was the uncle of the later Danish King Hemming (810–812) and the father of King Horik I (813–854).
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.
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.
Sigurd Snake-in-the-eye or Sigurd Ragnarsson/Aslaugsson 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.
Harald 'Klak' Halfdansson was a king in Jutland around 812–814 and again from 819–827.
Nordalbingia was one of the four administrative regions of the medieval Duchy of Saxony, the others being Angria, Eastphalia, and Westphalia. The region's name is based on the Latin name Alba for the Elbe River and refers to an area predominantly located north of the Lower Elbe, roughly corresponding with the present-day Holstein region. Situated in what is now Northern Germany, this is the earliest known dominion of the Saxons.
Horik I or Hårik was a king of the Danes. He was co-ruler from 813, and sole king from c. 828 until his violent death in 854. His long and eventful reign was marked by Danish raids on the Carolingian Empire of Louis the Pious, son and successor of Charlemagne.
Horik II, also known as Hårik or, in late sources, Erik Barn, was King of the Danes from the fall of Horik I in 854 to an unknown date between 864 and 873. During his reign the Danish kingdom showed tendencies of breaking up. After his demise under unknown circumstances, Denmark entered a long period of obscurity, until the rise of the Jelling dynasty in the 10th century.
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.
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.
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.