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{{Short description|Legendary Danish hero and chieftain of the island of Fyn}}
[[Image:Palnetoki.jpg|right|150px|thumb|''Palnatoki prepares to kill King Harald Bluetooth''  by [[Jenny Nyström]] (1895).]]'''Palnatoke''' or '''Palnatoki''', sometimes written '''Palna-Toki''' or '''Palna Toki''' ([[Old Norse]]: {{lang|non|Pálnatóki}} or {{lang|non|Pálna-Tóki}} {{IPA|non|ˈpɑːlnɑˌtoːke|}}), was a legendary [[Denmark|Danish]]  hero and chieftain of the island of [[Fyn]]. According to the ''[[Jómsvíkinga saga]]'', Palnatoki founded the brotherhood of [[Jomsvikings]] and established its laws.<ref>Influentially P.A. Munch, ''Samlede Afhandlinger'', Christiania: Storm, 1876.  See for example Laurence Marcellus Larson, ''Canute the Great: 995 (circ.)-1035 and the rise of Danish Imperialism During the Viking Age'', New York: Putnam, 1912, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xH-ZxCwCHt4C&q=Palna+Toki+founder+and+chief&pg=PA40 p. 155]: "the castle probably existed before Toki became prominent in the garrison, if he ever was a member". Gwyn Jones, ''A History of the Vikings'', Oxford University Press, 1973, [https://books.google.com/books?id=lD74bDG3O5oC&dq=Jomsborg+Gwyn+Jones+market-place+imposed+on+the+Wends&pg=PA127 p. 127], doubts Jomsborg was ever more than "a market-place with its Danish garrison" "imposed" on the Wends by Harald Bluetooth.</ref>

According to the Jómsvíkinga saga, he was the son of Pálnir Tókason and his wife Íngibjörg who was the daughter of the [[Geat]]ish earl [[Ottar Jarl]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=  http://heimskringla.no/wiki/Jomsvikingarnas_Saga
|title=  Jomsvikingarnas Saga 
|publisher=     Heimskringla.no. 
|access-date= January 20, 2016}}</ref> Palnatoke raised king [[Harald Bluetooth]]'s son [[Sweyn Forkbeard]] and was a staunch supporter of the old [[Norse pagan|pagan]] faith. Harald Bluetooth had allowed Christian missionaries from the [[Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen]] missionary in Denmark and the king himself was baptized once between 960 and 965. Palnatoke  convinced Sweyn to wage war on his father.  In the mid-980s, Sweyn revolted against his father and seized the throne. Harald was driven into exile and died shortly afterwards. According to some accounts, Palnatoki himself slew Harald.<ref>[[Saxo Grammaticus]]' {{Lang|la|[[Gesta Danorum]]}} and ''Jómsvíkinga saga''; see Samuel H. Cross, "Scandinavian-Polish Relations in the Late Tenth Century" in ''Studies in Honor of Hermann Collitz ...: Presented by a Group of his Pupils and Friends on the Occasion of his Seventy-Fifth Birthday, February 4, 1930'', 1930, repr. Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries, 1969, pp. 114-40, [https://books.google.com/books?id=UpACUSSrBB4C&q=accounts+of+Harald%27s+death&pg=PA122 p. 122, note 25].</ref> In addition to religious motives, he may have been taking revenge for the death of his grandfather, Jarl Ottar, who was killed when Harald invaded [[Götaland]].

[[Saxo Grammaticus]] relates how Palnatoke (Toko) was forced by King Harald to use a single arrow to shoot an apple from his own son's head as the boy ran downhill. The legendary motif of  [[Shooting an apple off one's child's head|the great archer forced to shoot an apple from his son's head]] appears among other Germanic nations, as the story of [[Agilaz|Egil]] in the ''[[Þiðrekssaga]]'', [[Adam Bell|William of Cloudesley]] in an [[England|English]] ballad, Hemming Wolf in [[Holstein]], Puncher in an Upper Rhenish legend in ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]'', and most famously [[William Tell]] in [[Switzerland]].<ref>For a full discussion, see [[Jacob Grimm]], ''[[Deutsche Mythologie|Teutonic Mythology]]'', 4th ed. tr. James Steven Stallybrass, vol. 1, London: Bell, 1882, pp. 380-83.  Also John Fiske, ''Myths and Myth-Makers: Old Tales and Superstitions Interpreted by Comparative Mythology'', Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1900, repr. BiblioLife, 2009, {{ISBN|1-110-87842-7}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zSnbK-UvHpIC&q=Saxo&pg=PA1 pp. 3-6]. [[George Webbe Dasent]], ''Popular Tales from the Norse'', 3rd ed. Edinburgh: Douglas, 1888, repr. BiblioBazaar 2005, {{ISBN|978-1-113-45357-0}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Il6X4N0GcvAC&dq=Popular+Tales+from+the+Norse+Dasent+Palnatoki&pg=PA403 note 5, pp. 403-04] has translations of the passages in [[Saxo Grammaticus]]' {{Lang|la|[[Gesta Danorum]]}} Book X, ''[[Þiðrekssaga]]'' (which he calls ''Wilkina Saga'' and Grimm calls ''Vilkinasaga''), and ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]''.</ref>

The name has been interpreted in two different ways. The first is as an alternate Old Norse patronymic meaning "Palni's (or Palnir's) (son) Tóki".<ref>Max Keil, ''Altisländische Namenwahl'', Leipzig: Mayer & Müller, 1931, [https://books.google.com/books?id=rgwVAQAAIAAJ&q=Palna-Toki+Sohn p. 127] (German) and a writer in ''Acta Philologica Scandinavica'', Volume 5 (1969), p. 146 (Danish) both cite as a parallel Mána-Ljótr, "Ljótr, Máni's son", in [[Sturlunga saga]].</ref> The other is as a nickname meaning "Shaft-Toki" or "Toki the Archer".<ref>"''Kenningarnafn'' (Bezeichnungsname)", ''Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste in Alphabetischer Folge'', ed. J.S. Ersch and J.S. Gruber, Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1838, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6cx-OAmzdAEC&dq=Toki+der+Pfeilen&pg=PA191 p. 191] (German); ''Toki the Archer'' (?)", ''An Icelandic-English Dictionary'', Richard Cleasby, revised, enlarged and completed by [[Gudbrand Vigfusson]], Oxford: Clarendon, 1874, [https://books.google.com/books?id=HkJXAAAAMAAJ&dq=Toki+the+Archer+P%C3%A1lnir&pg=PA475 p. 475 under "Pálnir"].</ref><ref>However, A.G. Moffatt, "Palnatoki in Wales", ''Saga-Book of the Viking Club'' 3 (1902), 163-73, [https://books.google.com/books?id=V_8aAAAAYAAJ&q=Palnatoki+family+name&pg=PA172 p. 167] takes "Tuke, or Toke" to be "the family name".</ref>

==Adaptations==
Palnatoki was the subject of works by two influential Danish authors of the early nineteenth century.  [[Adam Oehlenschläger]] wrote a tragedy called ''Palnatoke'' in 1809. [[N. F. S. Grundtvig]] wrote a tale called ''Palnatoke'' in 1804 and in 1809–11 a two-volume work of poetic drama, ''Optrin af Kæmpelivets Undergang i Nord'' ("Episodes of the Downfall of the Giants life in the North"), which deals with Palnatoki and [[Sigurð]] and was intended as part of a massive poetic work projected to consist of dramatised historic episodes and retellings of sagas spanning a thousand years from the coming of [[Odin]] and "[[Norse pagan worship|Asatru]]" to Scandinavia through the legends of the Völsungs and Nibelungs until the fall of the Jomsborg with Palnetoki's death, and the victory of [[Christianity]].<ref>[http://www.adl.dk/adl_pub/fportraet/cv/ShowFpItem.xsql?nnoc=&ff_id=31&p_fpkat_id=fskab N.F.S. Grundtvig, Forfatterskabet] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716022737/http://www.adl.dk/adl_pub/fportraet/cv/ShowFpItem.xsql?nnoc=&ff_id=31&p_fpkat_id=fskab |date=2011-07-16 }}, Arkiv for Dansk Litteratur: ''et kolossalt digterværk, som . . . skulle bestå af dramatiserede historiske optrin og sagabearbejdelser og i stof og handling række fra guden Odins og dermed asatroens ankomst til Norden over Vølsunge- eller Nibelungensagnene til Jomsborgs undergang ved vikingehøvdingen Palnatokes død og kristendommens sejr. . . . altså godt 1000 år.'' Accessed January 7, 2010.</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=9OtSutSW5uoC Jómsvíkíngasaga ok Knytlínga] 1828 edition.
* [[Saxo Grammaticus]]' {{Lang|la|[[Gesta Danorum]]}}, Book X chapter [http://www2.kb.dk/elib/lit//dan/saxo/lat/or.dsr/10/7/index.htm 7], online at [[Royal Danish Library]].

{{owl}}
{{Norse mythology}}
{{Portal|Mythology}}
[[Category:Legendary Danish people]]
[[Category:Heroes in Norse myths and legends]]
[[Category:Jomsvikings]]

[[de:Jómsvíkinga saga#Pálna-Tóki]]