Gorm the Old

Gorm the Old (Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx<ref name="Zoega 1797 p. 338" /><ref name="Torfaeus 1711 p. 557" />), also called Gorm the Languid (Template:Langx), was ruler of Denmark, reigning from Template:Circa to his death Template:Circa<ref name="Kongehuset" /> or a few years later.<ref name="Jellingkongerne">Lund, N. (2020), p. 147</ref><ref name="Fyrisvallarna">Pilemedia: "Om slaget vid Fyrisvallarna" (in Swedish), 25 October 2020</ref> He ruled from Jelling, and made the oldest of the Jelling stones in honour of his wife Thyra. Gorm was born before 900 and died perhaps around 958<ref name="Kongehuset" /> or possibly 963<ref name="Jellingkongerne" /> or 964.<ref name="Fyrisvallarna" />

Ancestry and reign

Gorm is the reported son of semi-legendary Danish king Harthacnut. Chronicler Adam of Bremen says that Harthacnut came from Northmannia to Denmark and seized power in the early 10th century.<ref name="Den Store Danske" /> He deposed the young king Sigtrygg Gnupasson, reigning over Western Denmark.<ref name="Kongehuset" /> When Harthacnut died, Gorm ascended the throne.

Heimskringla reports Gorm taking at least part of the kingdom by force from Gnupa, and Adam himself suggests that the kingdom had been divided prior to Gorm's time. Gorm is first mentioned as the host of Archbishop Unni of Hamburg and Bremen in 936.<ref name="Den Store Danske" /> According to the Jelling Stones, Gorm's son, Harald Bluetooth, "won all of Denmark", so it is speculated that Gorm only ruled Jutland from his seat in Jelling.<ref name="Den Store Danske" />

Marriage to Thyra

Gorm married Thyra, who is given conflicting and chronologically dubious parentage by late sources, but no contemporary indication of her parentage survives. Gorm raised one of the great burial mounds at Jelling as well as the oldest of the Jelling Stones for her, calling her tanmarkar but ("Denmark's Salvation" or "Denmark's Adornment"). Gorm was the father of three sons, Toke, Knut and Harald, later King Harald Bluetooth.<ref name="Danmarks Konger" />

According to Saxo Grammaticus, Thyra was responsible for the construction of the Dannevirke fortification in the southern part of the Jutland peninsula (today South Schleswig). This tradition gained great national romantic significance for Denmark in the 19th century, where Thyra was seen as the guardian of the southern border. <ref>"Rigets modige forsvarer" på jelling.natmus.dk Template:Webarchive</ref>

Danevirke was a wall between Denmark's southern border and its unfriendly Saxons neighbours to the south. The Danevirke ran between the Schlei and the Treene river, across what is now Schleswig.<ref name="Huitfeldt 1977" />

Excavations that began in 2010 by archaeologists from the Archäologisches Landesamt Schleswig-Holstein and Museum Sønderjylland show however that there were 4-5 phases of the Danevirke rampart. The oldest is from 500 AD or earlier, i.e. over at least 400 years before Thyra's time. Further expansions were on the other hand build at the time of Harald Bluetooth's reign i.e. a long after Thyra's death.<ref>Thyra Danebod, død ca. 950</ref> However, Danish historian da:Adam Wagner believes that it is probably a bit too early to completely conclude that Queen Thyra could not have had an influence on the expansion of one or more parts of the Dannevirke.<ref>Nordisk fortidsformidling: "Thyre Danebod - del 2 (v. Adam Wagner)", 3. oktober 2023</ref>

Death, burial and reburial

One theory is that Gorm died in the winter of 958–959,<ref name="Danmarks Konger" /> this is based on dendrochronology that shows that the burial chamber in the northern burial mound in Jelling was made from wood felled in 958.<ref name="Sawyer Sawyer 1993 p. 6" /> Arild Huitfeldt relates one legend of his death in Danmarks Riges Krønike:<ref name="Huitfeldt 1977" />

Runic stone for Thyra, front side

This account would contradict information on the Jelling Stones which point to Queen Thyra dying before Gorm. Some archaeologists and historians have suggested that Gorm was buried first in Queen Thyra's grave mound at Jelling, and later moved by his son, Harald Bluetooth, into the original wooden church in Jelling.<ref name="Kongehuset" /> According to this theory it is believed that the skeleton found at the site of the first Christian church of Jelling is in fact Gorm the Old, though the theory is still much debated. During the reign of Gorm, most Danes still worshipped the Norse gods, but during the reign of Gorm's son, Harald Bluetooth, Denmark officially converted to Christianity. Harald, accordingly, left the hill where Gorm had originally been interred as a memorial.

Legacy

Gorm was "old" in the sense that he was considered the traditional ancestral "head" of the Danish monarchy. Saxo Grammaticus in the Template:Lang asserts that Gorm was older than other monarchs and, having lived so long, was blind by the time his son Canute was killed.<ref name="Grammaticus Grundtvig 1855 p. 419" />

See also

• Gorm's Cup

Further reading

• Birkebæk, Frank (2003). Vikingetiden i Danmark. Viborg: Sesam. Template:ISBN
• S. Otto Brenner: Nachkommen Gorms des Alten (König von Dänemark -936-) I.-XVI. Generation. Personalhistorisk Institut, Kopenhagen 1964
• Hybel, Nils (2003). Danmark i Europa: 750–1300. København: Museum Tusculanums forlag. Template:ISBN
• Johannessen, Kåre (2001). Politikens bog om Danmarks vikingetid. Politikens håndbøger. København: Politikens forlag. Template:ISBN
• Lund, Niels (2020). Jellingkongerne og deres forgængere, Gylling: Vikingeskibsmuseet i Roskilde. Template:ISBN
• Sawyer, P. H. (1999). The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Template:ISBN
• Thiedecke, Arendse, and Thiedecke, Johnny (2003). De danske vikinger: samfund, kongemagt og togter ca. 700–1050. Valby: Pantheon. Template:ISBN