Harthacnut of Denmark

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Most Danes know that the official line of Danish kings begins with Gorm the Old, the father of renowned king Harald Bluetooth, who ruled Denmark in the 950s. In reality it ought to start with Harthacnut, his father.

In the 890s Denmark was conquered by Swedes and king Helge was deposed by Olaf who founded the House of Olaf in Denmark. According to clergyman Adam of Bremen, who came from Germany to record the history of the Archbishop of Bremen and was allowed to "interview" king Sweyn Estridsson, Olaf and two or more of his sons took the realm "by weapons and violence". When Olaf died, two of his sons seem to have ruled simultaneously, and around 915 a son of Olaf's son Gnupa and Danish noblewoman Asfrid became king. This young man, whose name was Sigtrygg, is remembered on two runestones erected by his mother after his death.

And this is where Harthacnut enters the picture. Probably born in the 880s, he was either the son of an otherwise unknown "Sweyn", or, as presented by Ragnarssona þáttr, of the semi-mythic viking chieftain Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, himself one of the sons of the legendary Ragnar Lodbrok. It has also been suggested that Harthacnut was a grandson of Sigurd rather than a son; both claims are impossible to verify.

Adam says that Harthacnut (Danish: Hardeknud) came from "Northmannia", the "land of the Northmen", by which he may mean either Norway or Normandy, which had recently been colonized by Danish vikings. But it is also likely that Harthacnut was brought up in the Danelaw territories in East Anglia.

He must have been a full-grown man with a certain reputation when he came (back?) to Denmark around 916, and according to Adam and his star witness king Sweyn, Harthacnut immediately deposed the young king Sigtrygg. This happened "in the last days of archbishop Hoger", says Adam, and Hoger died around 917. Harthacnut then ruled unopposed for approximately thirty years, and while some researchers have used a somewhat dubious single source, the Saxon chronicles of Widukind, to establish that Sigtrygg's father Gnupa was still king in 934 when the Danes had an altercation with German king Henry, there can be little doubt that the king who was supposedly forced to pay a tribute to the German ruler was in fact Harthacnut. Claims that king Heinrich I forced the "heathen" Danish king to be baptized are almost certainly erroneous.

In 948, the archbishop of Bremen appointed three bishops to Denmark, and that probably signifies a change in government...Harthacnut is usually portrayed as indifferent or hostile towards Christianity, and while that may only be the church's interpretation, it seems likely that a new and more open-minded king had ascended to the throne around 947 or 948.

[edit] The primary source

The only primary source about Harthacnut of Denmark are two clauses from Adam of Bremen (1,52 and 1,55).

1,52 says king Sveins son, Hardegon in the oldest manuscript which was later changed to king Sveins son, Harthacnut but also changed to king Sveins son, Athelstan.

1,55 says Hardecnudth Vurm, a double name not uncommon in that era, later changed to Hardecnudths son, Vurm but also changed to Athelstan Vurm.

The "interview" by king Sweyn Estridsson is fiction.^[1]