Jelling Vejle Denmark

Gorm the Old (also called Gorm the Languid, is the first historically recognized ruler of Denmark, reigning from c.  936 to his death c.  958.

He rules from Jelling, and makes the oldest of the Jelling Stones in honor of his wife Thyra.

Gorm was born before 900 and dies around 958.

His rule marks the start of the Danish monarchy and royal house.

Gudfred, King of the Danes, known for his successful raids and wars against Charlemagne's Frankish empire and against the Abodrites, had been assassinated in 810 by one of his own sons, and his nephew and successor Hemming had made peace with Charlemagne.

Hemming did not last long.

His brother Horik and another of Gudfred's sons had taken power in 811, later expelling a rival named Harald Klak, who took refuge at the court of Charlemagne's son and successor, Louis the Pious.

Louis in 819 had forced Gudfred's sons to accept Harald as co-ruler.

Harald in 826 had converted to Christianity, with Louis standing as his godfather, but Harald had been driven out of Denmark for the second and final time one year later.

Horik was by then the only son of Gudfred's still alive, making him the sole king of the Danes.

Danish raids against Frisia had continued.

The Franks lack an effective fleet, so the Danes can raid more or less with impunity.

The Danes had in 834, 835, and 836 sacked the silver minting center of Dorestad, and in 837 plundered Walcheren.

King Horik seems to have disapproved of these raids, for successful raiders constitute possible rivals.

Horik even punishes raiders occasionally.

Horik in 836 had sent an embassy to King Louis declaring that he had nothing to do with the raids on Frisia, and that he had executed those responsible.

The Viking warlord Ragnar had attacked Paris and extorted just a few hundred pounds short of six tons of gold and silver, but many Vikings had died in the plague during the siege of the city.

According to a story originating from a member of Cobbo's embassy, Ragnar, having attacked the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, then in the outskirts of medieval Paris, and which Cobbo later visited, attributed the plague to the power of Saint Germain of Paris.

Ragnar had lived to return home to King Horik.

While Ragnar showed the gold and silver he had acquired to Horik and boasted about how easy he thought the conquest of Paris had been, he reportedly collapsed, crying, while relating that the only resistance he had met was by the long deceased saint.

As Ragnar and several of his men die not long after, the king is so frightened that he orders the execution of all the survivors, and the release of all his Christian captives.

This event, in part, leads Horik to receive Archbishop Ansgar, "Apostle of the North", on friendly terms in his own kingdom.

King Horik I is killed in 854 by a nephew whom he had driven into exile.

While in exile, the nephew had become a successful raider.

Civil war ensues.

Gorm is the reported son of semi-legendary Danish king Harthacnut.

Chronicler Adam of Bremen tells that Harthacnut came from Nortmannia to Denmark and seized power in the early tenth century.

He deposed the young king Sigtrygg Gnupasson; reigning over Western Denmark.

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 in 936 as the host of Archbishop Unni of Hamburg and Bremen.

According to the Jelling Stones, Gorm "won all of Denmark", but it is speculated he only ruled Jutland from his seat in Jelling.

Harald Bluetooth succeeds his father, Gorm the Old, to become king of the Danes in 958.

Denmark’s King Harald “Bluetooth” Gormson, baptized in 965, is the first Scandinavian monarch to actively promote Christianity.

Although Harald's predecessors had adopted Christianity at the instigation of the Frankish Carolingian kings in 826, paganism would remain predominant among Danes and northerners for centuries.

However, the prominent part the Germans had in these achievements as well as the lofty idea of the Roman Empire currently prevailing had led Otto I “the Great,” to require Harald to recognize him as advocatus, or lord protector of the Danish church, and even as "Lord Paramount".

The king of the Danes had replied to this demand with a declaration of war, and the emperor seeks to force his "vassal" into subjection.

The devastating expeditions, which are pushed as far as the Limfjord, enable the emperor to beat down all opposition by 972 and to compel Harald not only to conclude peace but to accept baptism.

Henceforth paganism will steadily lose ground.

Haakon goes to Denmark around 973-974 to help Harald Bluetooth in his defense against the Emperor Otto I, whose forces successfully oppose an attempt by Harald to throw off the German yoke.

After this, Haakon pays no taxes to Denmark.

When Haakon is in Denmark, Harald Bluetooth forces him to accept baptism and assigns him clergymen to take to Norway to spread Christianity.

When a favorable wind comes for Haakon to leave, he commands the clergymen to return ashore.

Sweyn Forkbeard, the son of Harald Bluetooth, revolts against his father and seizes the throne.

Harold is driven into exile and dies shortly afterwards in November 986 or 987.

The Danes had been united and officially Christianized in 965 by Harald Bluetooth Gormson, the first of the Scandinavian kings to officially accept Christianity, the story of which is recorded on the Jelling stones.

The exact extent of Harald's Danish Kingdom is unknown, although it is reasonable to believe that it stretches from the defensive line of Dannevirke, including the Viking city of Hedeby, across Jutland, the Danish isles and into southern present day Sweden; Scania and perhaps Halland and Blekinge.

Furthermore, the Jelling stones attest that Harald had also "won" Norway.

Harald had died in 985 or 986, having ruled as King of Denmark from around 958 and king of Norway for a few years probably around 970.

Some sources state that his son Sweyn Forkbeard had forcibly deposed him as king.

According to Adam of Bremen, an eleventh century historian, Sweyn had been baptized Otto, paying tribute to the German king Otto I, considered the first of the Holy Roman Emperors.

Forkbeard is never known to have officially made use of this Christian name though.

Sweyn mounts a series of wars of conquest against England.