Gorm - part 3 of 3
Stewart Baldwin
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COMMENTS
The runestones and Widukind's chronicle show us that the account
of Adam of Bremen contains some kernels of truth. However, the
archaeological finds at the Jelling graves tell us that Adam's
chronology is suspect. If, as seems likely, the burial chamber
which was built in or shortly after the year 958 was that of Gorm
(and it is difficult to see who else it could be, for given the
runestone monuments that appear there, the only other reasonable
candidate would be Gorm's wife Thyre, whom Gorm survived, and
other chronological considerations make it difficult to place
Gorm's death significantly later than that), then it is difficult
to reconcile a death date of ca. 958 for Gorm with some of the
statements made by Adam. For example, in the passage describing
Harald's death [Book 2, Chapter 36, not quoted here], Adam states
that Gorm's son Harald ruled for fifty years. Since Harald died
between 985 and 987, this would place Harald's ascension in the
930's.
As the Christian son of a pagan father, we may suspect that Adam
has magnified the length of Harald's reign to a significant
extent. Adam was more than a hundred years removed from the
events he described, so it would seem that preference needs to be
given to the ca. 958 date of the burial chamber. Thus, the
outline given here will assume that Adam was mistaken about the
length of Harald's reign, and that the ca. 958 date of death for
Gorm which is indicated by the dendrochronolocal evidence is
accurate.
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ROYAL SUCCESSION
As Adam of Bremen admitted in Book 1, Chapter 54, we do not know
whether or not the kings named by him form a consecutive
sequence, or show dynasties that were reigning in two different
parts of Denmark at the same time. As a result, we can come to
few chronological conclusions based on the meager evidence that
we have, namely that the year 934 occurred during Gnupa's reign,
that Gorm probably died about 958, and the less secure one that
Gorm's reign probably began before the death of Unni (936). If
we assume, as is usually done, that the Sigerich of Adam is the
same person as the king Sigtryg, son of Gnupa and Asfrid, then we
have three basic groupings, first the reign of Helge, perhaps in
the last years of the nonth century or the first years of the
tenth, either followed by or partly contemporaneous with Olaf and
his sons and grandson in Haddeby, who in turn were either
followed by or partly contemporaneous with Hardegon/Hardeknud and
Gorm. The consecutive scenario seems very unlikely from the fact
that we would then have to place the reigns of both Sigtryg and
Hardeknud in the period 934 to 936. Thus, it seems very likely
that the Haddeby and Jelling dynasties were at least partially
overlapping with each other, ruling in different parts of
Denmark. In that case, since Harald claimed on his runestone
that he was the one to unite Denmark, we must even leave open the
possibility that Sigtryg lived until after the death of Gorm.
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Danish Kings ca. 890-985
Unknown dynasty:
Helge
Haddeby dynasty:
Olaf
Knuba, living 934
Gyrd (order unknown)
Sigtryg
"Jelling" dynasty:
Hardegon (probably Hardeknud)
Gorm, before 936 - ca. 958
Harald, ca. 958 - between 985 and 987
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GENEALOGICAL TABLES
No genealogical information for Helge is known from the early
sources, so he is left off of the tables. For the Haddeby kings,
the information from Adam, combined with the runestone data, give
us the following outline genealogy. For the Jelling kings, the
key point is whether or not to accept the word "filius" which
appears in some of the manuscripts of Book 1, Chapter 57 of
Adam's work (see above). Since the passage is awkward without
this word, this suggests that Adam was making Gorm/W[u]rm the son
of a certain Hardeknud/Hardecnudth. The other question is
whether this Hardecnudth is to be considered the same person as
the king Hardegon of Book 1, Chapter 54. While it seems quite
likely that he is, this has been left ambiguous in the table
below.
[As usual, a constant-width font and a line length of at least
sixty characters is needed to view this table correctly.]
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Kings at Haddeby (Hedeby, Haithabu)
Olaf, king at Haddeby
__________|___________
| |
Knuba, living 934 Gyrd, king at Haddeby
king at Haddeby,
md. Asfrid, daughter
of Odinkar
|
Sigtryg
king at Haddeby
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Danish kings of the "Jelling Dynasty"
Svend (from Normandy?)
|
Hardegon - - - - - - - - Hardeknud
king of (same?) |
Denmark Gorm, d. ca. 958
(or part king of Denmark
thereof) md. Thyre, who
d. bef. 958
|
Harald, d. 1 Nov.*
between 985 & 987,
king of Denmark
and Norway
|
later Danish kings
[*Note: Adam, Book 2, Chapter 26, states that Harald's death
occurred on All Saint's Day (1 November), but the exact year is
undertain.]
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
AB = Adam of Bremen, History of the Archbishops of
Hamburg-Bremen, translated with introdiction and notes by Francis
J. Tschan (Columbia University Press, New York, 1959)
Andersen = Harald Andersen, "The Graves of the Jelling Dynasty",
Acta Archaeologica 66 (1996), 281-300.
Christiansen-Krogh = K. Christiansen & K. J. Krogh,
"Jelling-højene dateret", Nationalmuseets Arbejdsmark (1987),
223-31. [Note: I have not seen this source, which is cited by
Andersen as the source of the dendrochronological date of 958 for
the burial chamber at Jelling.]
Krogh = Knud J. Krogh, "The Royal Viking-Age Monuments at Jelling
in the light of recent Archaeological Excavations. A preliminary
report", Acta Archaeologica 53 (1982), 183-216.
Moltke = Erik Moltke, "Runes and their Origin - Denmark and
Elsewhere" (Copenhagen, 1985).
PL = Migne, Patrologiae (Latin series)
Storm = A. V. Storm, "Pages of Early Danish History", Saga-Book
of the Viking Club 2 (1897-1900): 328-347.
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Stewart Baldwin
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End part 3 of 3