The later phase of these wars was characterised by the competition among three claimants: Sweyn III, Canute V and Valdemar I, the son of Canute Lavard, whose murder had precipitated these events. Over the following twenty years, several scions of the Kyntling dynasty would vie for power in a series of wars. The rebellion against Niels set the now-inevitable events into motion. Niels’s unjustified lenience towards this heinous act of kin slaying would trigger a rebellion against him the incumbent king was soundly defeated at Fotevik in 1134, and was murdered by the townspeople of Schleswig. Niels’s son was notoriously involved in the murder of one of his opponents, Canute Lavard, in 1130. By 1130, cracks had started to appear on its relatively stable surface, as Sweyn’s grandchildren began scheming against each other in order to ensure their eventual succession. The delicate balance of fraternal succession, however, was not destined to last. Successful reforms included the introduction of the formula dei gratia rex – king by the grace of God – which strengthened the kings’ status as divinely sanctioned rulers, and the establishment of a Scandinavian ecclesiastical province centred on Lund in 1104. Canute IV, for instance, attempted to introduce a tax for neglecting military obligations to the Crown this reform was poorly received, and the ensuing rebellion would lead to Canute’s murder in 1086. Very few offensive expeditions were launched during this period, but the Danish kings began to slowly cement their power. While Sweyn’s reign was fraught with conflict – most notably a protracted war against Norway and an unsuccessful expedition against Anglo-Norman England in 1070 – he managed to ensure Danish independence against Norwegian magnates and German bishops.īetween 10, five of Sweyn’s sons – none of them legitimate – would succeed each other: Harald III, Canute IV, Oluf I, Erik I and Niels. He descended from Estrid, Sweyn Forkbeard’s daughter, and curiously chose to use a matronym – thus taking his mother’s name – as a way to project legitimacy. Following Magnus’s own death, Sweyn Estridsen became king in Denmark. After his death in 1042, the Danes conclusively lost control over England, and Magnus of Norway reigned over Denmark until 1047. The Norwegian magnates elected a local king, Magnus the Good, and Canute’s son Harthacnut, attempting to hold onto both his English and Scandinavian domains, scarcely managed to do either. During this period, the Danish Church broke from its metropolitan diocese of Hamburg-Bremen, and appointed English bishops, thus taking the first steps towards an ecclesiastical administration outside German control.įollowing Canute’s death in 1035, the North Sea Empire came crashing down. Anglo-Saxon legislation and ecclesiastical structures became well known to the Danish kings, who attempted to reproduce these innovations in Denmark. Somewhat contradictorily, the conquest of England had consequential effects in the strengthening of the Danish kingdom. In 1013, the year before his death, Sweyn managed to bring England under his control after several unsuccessful attempts Canute followed his father’s example, and conquered the English kingdom himself in 1016. Sweyn allied himself with Norwegian and Swedish aristocrats and, by 1000 CE, he had established himself as the undisputed king of Norway, which would be ruled by his allies, the jarls of Lade Danish control over Norway – albeit with a few interregna – would last until Canute the Great’s death in 1035. The reigns of Sweyn and his son, Canute the Great, were even more expansionist and successful than Harald’s. Sometime in the mid-980s, Harald’s son, Sweyn Forkbeard, rebelled against his father and drove him out of Denmark. Harald Bluetooth’s successes had primarily hinged upon his standing with the realm’s magnates and his martial prowess his power, therefore, was reliant on continued successes, rather than on a well-established ideology of kingship. During his reign, an impressive network of circular fortified camps – known as the Trelleborg fortresses – were built across Denmark. His power, moreover, was not limited to proselytising activities Harald received tribute from the Norwegian kings and magnates, as well as wielding control in Denmark. Harald was not simply a convert himself, but he also persuaded – or forced – the Danish magnates to support the recognition of Christianity as the official religion. It is certain that Christianity had entered the Scandinavian stage before the 980s, but the runestone’s intent to correlate increased political control and the emergence of the new religion is nevertheless significant. The Jelling runestone, raised near the royal complex of the same name, tells us that Harald Bluetooth ‘united all of Denmark under him and made the Danes Christian’. As elsewhere in Scandinavia, unification and Christianisation went hand-in-hand in Denmark.
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