Sweyn II of Denmark

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Coin struck for Sweyn II of Denmark, ca. 1050

Sweyn II Estridsson Ulfsson. (c. 1019 – April 29, 1076) was the King of Denmark from 1047 to 1076. He was the son of Ulf Thorgilsson and Estrid Margarete Svendsdatter, daughter of Sweyn I of Denmark and sister of Canute the Great.

He is known in Denmark as Svend Estridsen. His first name is also spelled as Sven, Svein and Swen and his last name as Estridson, Estridsson or Estridsøn.

Because of his relationship to Canute the Great he was a pretender to the throne from his early years. When king Harthacanute died in 1042, he claimed the Danish throne, but lost to Norway's King Magnus, who made Svend a jarl (earl or viceroy) instead.

He soon rebelled against Magnus and had the Danish nobles crown him king, but was defeated by Magnus and fled to Sweden. The war between Magnus and Sweyn lasted until 1045, when Harald Hardråde returned to Norway from exile. Harald and Sweyn joined forces and forced Magnus to share the throne with Harald.

In 1047 Magnus died, having stated on his deathbed that his kingdom would be divided up: Harald would get the throne of Norway, while Svend would be king of Denmark. Harald, unwilling to relinquish Denmark, now attacked Sweyn and fought a long war which dragged on until 1064, when Harald relinquished his claims to Denmark.

After Harald was defeated and killed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge and William the Conqueror in turn defeated Harold Godwinson, Sweyn turned his attention to England, once ruled by his uncle Canute the Great. He joined forces with Edgar Atheling, the last remaining heir of the Anglo-Saxon royal house, and sent a force to attack King William in 1069. However, after capturing York, Sweyn, accepted a payment from William to desert Edgar, who then returned into exile in Scotland.

Sweyn's first marriage was to a girl to whom he was distantly related, and the pope ordered that he dissolve the union, which he did, only to take one mistress after another during the rest of his life. Sweyn fathered at least 19 children, probably more, and while none of them were born in wedlock, and none of their mothers are known, five of his numerous sons became kings after their father, beginning with Harald III Hen in 1076 and ending with King Niels of Denmark, who was murdered in 1134.

[edit] Legacy

Sweyn is often considered to be Denmark's first medieval king. He founded a dynasty that sat on the Danish throne until 1448. His line of male descendants effectively died out in 1375 when King Valdemar IV died, and the new king had to be found among the sons of his female descendants. His skeleton shows him to have been a tall, powerfully built man who walked with a limp.

Sweyn built a strong foundation for royal power through cooperation with the church. He completed the final partition of Denmark into dioceses, and corresponded with the pope. Sweyn seems to have been able to read and write, and he is the source of much of our current knowledge about Denmark in the 9th and 10th centuries, having told the story of his ancestry to historian Adam of Bremen around 1070.