Gorm - part 2 of 3
Stewart Baldwin
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
ADAM OF BREMEN
The only other source prior to the year 1100 which gives direct
information on the Danish kings of this period is Adam of
Bremen's "Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum" (History of
the Archbishops of Hamburg[-Bremen]), probably written during the
peiod 1072-1085. As such, it falls between one hundred and two
hundred years later than the event which are of interest to us
here, and the reliability of the information must therefore be
judged in that context. However, there is also the advantage
that he had the Danish king Svend Estridsen as an informant, and
some of the information given is attributed directly to this
king. About 1076, Adam presented Archbishop Liemar with a copy
of his history. After that, however, he continued to make
revisions to the original manuscript of his work, and both
versions were then copied and recopied. This, and the fact that
the earliest manuscripts do not survive, has resulted in a
complicated manuscript tradition [see AB xxiv ff.].
The Latin texts of Adam's work below are taken from PL, and the
English translations are adapted from Tschan's translations in
AB. When I say "adapted from", I mean that Tschan "translated"
the personal and place names to a "standard" form, which tends to
obscure what the original manuscript said. I have left these
names as they were in the Latin text (minus the Latin
declensions), but have otherwise given Tschan's translation as it
was given by him.
------------------------------------------------------------
Adam of Bremen, Book 1, chapter 50
Latin text (from PL 146: 492):
Audivi autem ex ore veracissimi regis Danorum Suein, cum nobis
stipulantibus numeraret atavos suos, Post cladem, inquit,
Nortmannicam Heiligonem regnasse comperi, virum populis amabilem
propter justitiam et sanctitatem suum. Successit illi Olaph, qui
veniens a Sueonia, regnum obtinuit Danicum vi et armis, habuitque
filios multos, ex quibus Chnob et Gurd regnum optinuerunt post
obitum patris.
English translation (adapted from AB: 44):
But I have heard from the mouth of the most veracious king of the
Danes, Svein, when at our request he named over his forefathers:
"After the overthrow of the Northmen," he said, "I have learned
that Nortmannia was ruled by Heiligo, a man beloved by the people
for his justice and sanctity. He was succeeded by Olaph, who,
coming from Sweden, obtained the Danish kingdom by force of arms,
and he had many sons, of whom Chnob and Gurd possessed the realm
after their father’s death."
[Note: Tschan translates Nortmannia as Norway, which seems false
from the context of the next sentence, so I have left the term
untranslated above.]
------------------------------------------------------------
Adam of Bremen, Book 1, chapter 54 (part)
Latin text (from PL 146: 495-6):
... Aliqua vero recitavit nobis clarissimus rex
Danorum ita rogantibus: Post Olaph, inquit, Sueonum principem,
qui regnavit in Dania cum filiis suis, ponitur in locum ejus
Sigerich. Cumque parvo tempore regnasset, eum Hardegon, filius
Suein, veniens a Nortmannia, privavit regno. Tanti autem reges,
immo tyranni Danorum, utrum simul aliqui regnaverint, an alter
post alterum brevi tempore vixerit, incertum est. Nobis hoc
scire sufficiat, omnes adhuc paganos fuisse, ac in tanta regnorum
mutatione vel excursione barbarorum Christianitatem in Dania, quæ
a sancto Ansgario plantata est, aliquantulam remansisse, non
totam deficisse. ...
English translation (adapted from AB: 47):
... Some things, too, the illustrious king of the Danes told us
when we asked. He said that after Olaph, the Swedish prince who
ruled in Denmark with his sons, Sigerich was put in his place.
And after he had reigned a short time, Hardegon, the son of
Svein, came from Nortmannia and deprived him of the kingdom. How
many Danish kings, or rather tyrants, there were indeed, and
whether some of them ruled at the same time or lived for a short
time one after the other, is uncertain. It is enough for us to
know that to this day they all were pagans and that, in spite of
so many changes in rulers and so many barbarian inroads, there
was left in Denmark a little of the Christianity which Ansgar had
planted and which did not entirely disappear. ...
[Note: Here, Tschan renders Nortmannia as Normandy.]
------------------------------------------------------------
Adam of Bremen, Book 1, chapter 57:
Latin text (from PL 146: 497):
In diebus suis Ungri non solum nostram Saxoniam aliasque cis
Rhenum provincias, verum etiam trans Rhenum Lotharingiam et
Franciam demoliti sunt. Dani quoque Sclavos auxilio habentes,
primo Transalbianos Saxones, deinde eis Albim vastantes, magno
Saxoniam terrore quassabant. Apud Danos eo tempore [filius]
Hardecnudth[,] Wrm regnavit, cruselissimus, inquam, vermis et
Christianorum populis non mediocriter infestus. Ille
Christianitatem, quæ in Dania fuit, prorsus delere molitus,
sacerdotes Dei a finibus suis depulit, plurimos quoque ille per
tormenta necavit.
[Note: It is apparent that the word "filius" (in brackets above)
has been lost in the transmission of one group of manuscripts.
Other manuscripts give, e.g., "filius Hardewigh Gorm", "filius
Hardewich Gwrm", etc., in which the name "Hardecnudth" has
suffered considerable corruption in the transmission of the
manuscript, but the word "filius" appears. The context suggests
that the word "filius" should be included.]
English translation (adapted from AB: 49):
IV (57). In his [i.e. Archbishop Unni’s] days the Hungarians
devastated not only our Saxony and the other provinces on this
side of the Rhine but also Lotharingia and Francia across the
Rhine. The Danes, too, with the Slavs as allies, plundering
first of all the Transalbingian Saxons and then ravaging the
country this side of the Elbe, made Saxony tremble in great
terror. Over the Danes there ruled at that time [the son of]
Hardecnudth[,] Wrm, a savage worm I say, and not moderately
hostile to the Christian people. He set about completely to
destroy Christianity in Denmark, driving the priests of God from
its bounds and also torturing very many of them to death.
[Note: The words in brackets show the reading if the word
"filius" is to be accepted, as discussed above. The translation
without this word can be seen by ignoring the part in brackets.]
------------------------------------------------------------
Adam of Bremen, Book 1, chapter 59:
Latin text (from PL 146: 498):
Deinde cum exercitu ingressus Daniam, Wrm regem primo impetu adeo
perterruit, ut imperata se facere mandaret et pacem supplex
deposceret. Sic Heinricus victor apud Sliaswich, quæ nunc
Heidiba dicitur, regni terminos ponens, ibi et marchionem statuit
et Saxonum coloniam habitare præcepit. Hæc omnia referente
quondam episcipo Danorum, prudenti viro, nos veraciter ut
acceptimus, sic fideliter ecclesiæ nostræ tradimus.
English translation (adapted from AB: 50):
Then he [King Henry the Fowler of Germany] invaded Denmark with
an army an in the first battle so thoroughly terrified King Wrm
that the latter pledged himself to obey his commands and, as a
suppliant, sued for peace. The victorious Henry then set the
bounds of the kingdom at Schleswig, which is now called Haddeby,
appointed a margrave, and ordered a colony of Saxons to settle
there. All these facts, related by a certain Danish bishop, a
prudent man, we transmit to our Church as faithfully as we have
truthfully received them.
------------------------------------------------------------
Adam of Bremen, Book 1, chapter 61:
Latin text (from PL 146: 498):
Postquam vero confessor Dei pervenit ad Danos, ubi tunc
crudelissimum Worm diximus regnasse, illum quidem pro ingenita
flectare nequivit sævitia; filiam autem regis Haroldum, sua
dicitur prædicatione lucratus. Quem ita fidelem Christo
perfecit, ut Christianitatem, quam pater ejus semper odio habuit,
ipse haberi publice permitteret, quamvis nondum baptismi
sacramentum percepit.
Ordinatus itaque in regno Danorum per singulas ecclesias
sacerdotibus, sanctus Dei multitudinem credentium commendasse
fertur Haroldo. Cujus etiam fultus adjutorio et legato, omnes
Danorum insulas penetravit, evangelizans verbum Dei gentilibus,
et fideles quos invenit illic captivatos in Christos confortans.
English translation (adapted from AB: 51):
Thereafter the confessor of God [Archbishop Unni] came to the
Danes over whom, as we have said, the most cruel Worm then held
sway. The latter, indeed, he could not win over on account of
his inborn savagery, but he is said by his preaching to have won
the king’s son, Harold. Unni made him so faithful to Christ
that, although he himself had not yet received the sacrament of
baptism, he permitted the public profession of Christianity which
his father always hated.
And so, after the saint of God had ordained priests for the
several churches in the kingdom of the Danes, he is said to have
commended the multitude of believers to Harold. Seconded also by
his aid and by a legate, Unni went into all the islands of the
Danes, preaching the Word of God to the heathen and comforting in
Christ the faithful whom he found captive there.
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
End part 2 of 3