Gorm

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Gorm (disambiguation) .

Runestone Gorm, obverse

Runestone Gorm, back

Gorm the old receives news of the death of his son Knut ( August Carl Vilhelm Thomsen , 19th century)

Gorm the Old , Danish Gorm den Gamle , (* before 900 ; † approx. 958/964) was a Danish leader who is often regarded as the first king of Denmark . The two burial mounds in Jelling are named after him and his wife Thyra . His nickname “the old man” can be traced back to the old age he is said to have reached.

Mention in the sources

The sources for the period around 900 for Denmark, especially the areas that are far from the Danish border, are extremely poor.

“Post Olaph… Sueonum principem, qui regnavit in Dania cum filiis suis, ponitur in locum eius Sigerich. Cumque parvo tempore regnasset, eum Hardegon, filius Suein, veniens a Nortmannia privavit regno. "

“After the Swedish Jarl Olaf, who ruled Denmark with his sons, Sigtrygg took his place. But after a short time, Hardeknut Svensson, who came from Normandy, robbed him of his rule. "

- Adam von Bremen I, 52.

"Abud Danos eo tempore Hardecnudth Vurm [addition in manuscripts B and C: filius Hardewigh] regnavit ..."

"At that time Hardeknut Vurm [son of Hardewigh] ruled over the Danes ..."

- Adam von Bremen I, 55.

It says on the Jelling stones

"King Gorm erected this monument for Thyra his wife, the ornament of Denmark."

and

King Harald ordered this stone to be erected in memory of Gorm, his father, and Thyra, his mother. Harald, who submitted to all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes into Christians.

In addition, the rune stone "Haddeby 4" in Gottorp should be mentioned:

"Ásfríðr gerði kuml þessi, dóttir Óðinkárs, ept Sigtrygg konung, son sinn ok Gnúpu. Gormr travels rúnar. "

“ Asfrid , Odinkar's daughter, built this stone for King Sigtrygg, her and Gnupa's son. Gorm scratched the runes. "

- Birkmann p. 359

Gorm in research

According to Adam's report, Sigtrygg was ousted from the throne by Hargedon, Sven's son. The unusual name "Hargedon" is usually seen as a misspelling for "Hardecnudth", a name that Adam used for the progenitor of the Gorm family. It is considered that Hardecnudth and Gorm are not father and son, but rather the same person because of the addition "Vurm" = "Gorm". This is supported by the contraction of the names to “Hardecnudth Vurm”, where “Vurm” stands for “Gorm”, and the fact that Archbishop Unni von Bremen already found Gorm as ruler in 936.

According to Sven Estridsson , the Gorms came from "Northmannia", which Adam rarely means Normandy, but usually Norway. The origin of the family from Norway is not considered improbable, because some key names in the royal line also appear in the Harald Fairhair family . It is also possible, however, that it is a side branch of the Danish royal family, which, after winning large booty on Viking trains, recaptured the throne at home. It is also possible that the Gorms family had existed for a long time in a center of power in northern Jutland, for example near Vejle , where the Jelling stones are also located.

But the transition from the Olaf dynasty to the Jelling dynasty is uncertain, especially how the relationship between Gorm the Old from the Danish sources and Hardegon with Adam von Bremen is. There is a loophole that seems to go back to the informant Sven Estridsen, because Harald Blauzahn , the son of Gorms, is no longer used for the time between Hardegon and the last few years . This gap cannot be filled with the Olaf Tryggvasons saga from the 14th century, where Gorm's many victories over the Danish petty kings and chiefs are described, as this is too unreliable as a source. The historian Johannes Steenstrup considered “Hardegon” to be a misspelling of “Hardecnudth”, so that Hardegon was identical to Gorm. Curt Weibull took the addition "filius Hardewigh" from manuscripts B and C of Adam's church history, which he considered to be a misspelling for "filius Hardecnudth", indicating that another generation of the Jelling dynasty had been inserted here. Where B and C have "filius", the handwriting A has a lacuna .

But Adam's description that Hardegon / Hardecnudth Vurm / Gorm ousted Sigtryg is also uncertain. Because according to Widukind's Saxon Chronicle, it was King Heinrich I who defeated the Danes in 934 and forced their King Chnuba to be baptized. If Chnuba was still alive in 934, Sigtrygg would have to have become king immediately afterwards and then immediately be defeated by Gorm, because Bishop Unni found Hardecnudth Vurm / Gorm on the Danish throne in 936. But Widukind , for his part, took his information from the Corveyer Annalen. There Heinrich's campaign is mentioned, but not the name of the Danish king. It is therefore possible that Widukind took over the name "Chnuba" by chance, perhaps from a rune stone. As a result, it remains to be seen when and under what circumstances the Olaf dynasty was replaced by the Jelling dynasty and also whether the Jelling dynasty really ruled over all of Denmark. If Adam Sven Estridsen was also convinced of this, it cannot be ruled out that other chiefs ruled in parts of the country.

It is doubtful whether Gorm continued to recognize the sovereignty of the German king, which Chnuba had to grant. Because the victory of Henry I over Gorm, handed down to Adam, is not historical. Heinrich did not undertake a second campaign against Denmark in the last year of his life.

In the literature

Gorm and his wife Thyra were the models for the literary characters of the "grim king" Gorm and his wife Thyra Danebod in Theodor Fontane's ballad Gorm Grymme from 1864.

See also

• Family table of the Danish kings

literature

• Adam of Bremen: Bishop history of the Hamburg church . Translated by Werner Trillmich. Freiherr vom Stein memorial edition. (= Selected sources on the German history of the Middle Ages. Volume 11). Darmstadt 1978, ISBN 3-534-00602-X , pp. 137-499.
• Thomas Birkmann : From Ågedal to Malt. The Scandinavian runic inscriptions from the end of the 5th to the end of the 9th century . (= Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, supplementary volume 12). de Gruyter, 1995, ISBN 3-11-014510-3 .
• Sture Bolin : Danmark och Tyskland under Harald Gormsson. In: Scandia. Volume IV (1931), pp. 184-209 .
• Erich Hoffmann: Contributions to the history of the relations between the German and the Danish empire for the period from 934 to 1035. In: 850 years St. Petri Cathedral to Schleswig 1134-1984. (= Writings of the Association for Schleswig-Holstein Church History. Series I, Volume 33). Schleswig 1984, ISBN 3-88242-086-3 , pp. 105-132.
• Janine Köster: death inscriptions on Viking Age rune stones. de Gruyter. 2014, ISBN 978-3-11-034198-0 .
• Inge Skovgaard-Petersen, Aksel E. Christensen, Helge Paludan: Danmarks Historie Volume 1 . Copenhagen 1977, ISBN 87-01-53441-6 .
• Marie Stoklund: The inscriptions from Ribe, Hedeby and Schleswig and the importance of the Swedish rule . In: Klaus Düwel, Edith Marold, Christiane Zimmermann (eds.): From Thorsberg to Schleswig. (= Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Supplementary volume 25). de Gruyter, 2001, ISBN 3-11-016978-9 , pp. 111-126.
• Marie Stoklund: Jelling § 2 Runological. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Volume 16. de Gruyter, 2000, ISBN 3-11-016782-4 , pp. 56-58.

Remarks

1. ↑ Sven Rosborn / Pilemedia : "Föreläsningar från min fåtölj 4. Romantiserade vikingar.", June 30, 2020 ( YouTube video )
2. ↑ Bolin p. 190.
3. ↑ Hoffmann p. 109.
4. ↑ Hoffmann p. 109.
5. ↑ Hoffmann p. 109.
6. ↑ Danmarks historie p. 162.
7. ↑ Hoffmann (p. 109) also thinks this is possible.
8. ↑ Danmarks historie p. 162.
9. ↑ Danmarks historie p. 163.
10. ↑ Hoffmann p. 109 f.

predecessor	Office	successor
Sigtrygg or Chnob	King of Denmark	Harald Blue Tooth