Knut I. (Denmark)

Knut was a legendary king in Denmark in the 10th century, who is later listed as Knut I in Danish histories. Its historical identity and whether it is identical with the small kings with similar names Chnob, Chnuba, Cnuto, Hörða-Knútr = Harthaknut, mentioned in other medieval chronicles , is controversial, but it is mostly accepted.

Mention in the sources

One of Haithabu's rune stones , the little Sigtrygg stone, mentions a king named Gnupa

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

"Successit illi Olaph, qui veniens a Sueonia regnum obtinuit Danicum vi et armis, habuitque filios multos, ex quibus Chnob et Gurd regnum obtinuerunt post obitum patris."

“He [the Danish King Sven] was followed by Olaf, who came from Sweden and took the Danish Empire by force and arms. He had numerous sons, from whom Knuba and Gurd received the kingdom after the death of their father. "

- Adam von Bremen I, 48

"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.

In Widukind's story of the Saxons it says in I, 40: “After he [King Heinrich ] had subjugated all the peoples around, he attacked the Danes, who plagued the Frisians with piracy, with his army. He defeated them, made them subject to interest and caused their King Knuba (regem eorum Chnubam) to receive baptism. "

Thietmar von Merseburg writes in his Chronicle I 17: "He [King Heinrich] also forced Normans and Danes to obey with arms, and brought them together with King Knut (cum rege eorum Cnutone) from their old erroneous beliefs ..."

"Sigurðr ormr í auga átti Blæju, dóttur Ellu konungs. Þeira sonr var Knútr, er kallaðr var Hörða-Knútr, er ríki tók eptir föður sinn í Selund, Skáni ok Hallandi, en Víkin hvarf þá undan honum. "

“Sigurd Snake Eye married Blæja, the daughter of King Ella. Their son was Knut, who was called Hardi-Knut, who took over the rule from his father in Zealand, Scania and Halland. But Vík [the area around the Oslofjord] broke away from his rule. "

- Þáttr af Ragnars Sonum ("Story of Ragnar's Sons") Chapter 3 at the end

In addition, the rune stone "Haddeby 4" in Gottorf 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

Theories

After Adam von Bremen , who refers to Sven Estridsson , after 891 Olaf from a Swedish dynasty took over the rule of Denmark. The sons Chnob and Gurd are said to have followed him, after which Sigerich / Sigtrygg took over the rule. This had been ousted by Hardegon, a son of Svein, who had come from Nortmannia. "Nortmannia" can mean Normandy for Adam, but is more often used for Norway. However, Adam admits that he is unsure of the various kings. After reproducing Sven Estridsson's report that Sigtrygg had been ousted by Sven Hardeknut / Hardegon, he admits that it is uncertain whether some of these Danish kings ruled at the same time or whether they followed one another very quickly. Adam divides the time according to the years of office of the bishops of Bremen. For example, he describes for the time of Bishop Unnis (918–936) that Hardecnudth Vurm ruled Denmark at that time. It was founded by King Henry I, defeated. The fact that he wanted to incorporate the area around Schleswig into his empire in this way is controversial. There is some evidence that it was only an offensive border guard to show that Lorraine , which also includes Friesland, which had only joined the Frankish Empire since 923/925 and was attacked by Gnupa in 933, shows that it was part of the country could provide effective protection. “Vurm” is equated with “Gorm”. This is known from the inscriptions on the Jelling stones .

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 Sigtrygg 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 should have become king immediately afterwards and then be defeated by Hardegon / Hardecnudth Vurm / Gorm, because Bishop Unni found 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 Swedish 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 has even recently been questioned whether the dynasty before the Jelling dynasty was Swedish. The prevailing doctrine of the Swedish rule in Hedeby / Haithabu is based on an interpretation of the two Haitabu rune stones Asfrid, Sigtrygg's mother, one in memory of her son, the other in memory of her son and her husband Gnupa. Due to the dialect used, the former comes from a Swedish scribe of the Swedish king and testifies to the Swedish rule in Haithabu under the kings Olaf, Gnupa and Sigtrygg. This thesis put forward by Ludvig A. Wimmer in 1892 has formed the undisputed basis for the assumption of Swedish rule in Haithabu up to the present day. Adam's formulation "Olaph, qui veniens a Sueonia" says nothing about nationality. The evidence that Swedish rule was given in the Schleswig / Haithabu area was too weak. Rather, it is considered that Olaf was a member of the Danish royal family living in exile in Sweden. That was not uncommon back then. Rimbert tells of the Danish royal sons who fought as sea kings in England and France in the 9th century and who have now made claims to the Danish throne. Asfrid's father, who had the memorial stone erected for her husband and son, Odinkar, is also associated with two Odinkars whom Adam mentions as bishops from a princely or even royal family, one of whom was missionary in Sweden. Odinkar the Elder may have been Asfrid's father.

Nevertheless, it is also believed that Olaf was a representative of a Swedish dynasty. But when he fought as a sea king in England and northern France, it was not with a Warsaw crew. At that time, the followers of the Sea Kings in the North Sea region were predominantly Danish. The rule of a sea king from the Swedish royal line over the Danish empire with the help of a multinational, but predominantly Danish followers, did not have to be perceived as Swedish rule at that time in Denmark. Olaf and his family are referred to in the German chronicles as "Kings of the Danish Empire". Whatever the size, it was not limited to the Haithabu area.

literature

• Adam of Bremen: Bishop history of the Hamburg church . (= Selected sources on the German history of the Middle Ages. Volume 11). Translated by Werner Trillmich. Freiherr vom Stein memorial edition: Darmstadt 1978, ISBN 3-534-00602-X , pp. 137-499.
• Hellmuth Andersen: Svend Estridsen's bidrag til 900-tallets historie. In: Mette Iversen (Ed.): Mammen. Grav, art and samfund i vikingetid. (= Viborg Stiftsmuseums række 1. Jysk Arkeologisk Selskabs Skrifter 28). Højbjerg 1991, ISBN 87-7288-571-8 , pp. 329-333.
• 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.
• Wolfgang Laur: On the rule of Sweden in Haithabu and more recent considerations on the early history of the Schleswig area . In: Contributions to the history of the city of Schleswig. Vol. 28, 1983. pp. 9-25.
• Thomas Riis: From the Land synnan aa to the Duchy of Schleswig. 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. 53-60.
• 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.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Bolin p. 190.
2. ↑ Danmarks historie p. 161.
3. ↑ Adam v. Bremen I 52.
4. ↑ Hoffmann p. 115.
5. ↑ Danmarks historie p. 162.
6. ↑ Hoffmann also thinks this on p. 109 is possible.
7. ↑ Danmarks historie p. 162.
8. ↑ Riis dates p. 54 fn. 8 the campaign to 931. The continuation of the Chronicle Regino by Adalbert von Weißenburg puts the campaign on 931, what he took from the Annales Augienses [“931: Henricus Rex reges Abodritorum et Nordmannorum efficit christianios et profectus est in Galliam. "]. In addition, Liudprand reports from Cremona that Henry I made the Danes subject to tribute and later mentions a treaty of 931 and that Henry was admired in Italy at that time for his victory over the Danes. Riis thinks that the mention of the year 931 in the Annales Augienses should be given priority because of its temporal proximity to the event.
9. ↑ Danmarks historie p. 163.
10. ↑ Stoklund p. 112 f.
11. ↑ Hoffmann p. 107.
12. ↑ So the youngest son of Harald Fairhair , Håkon the Good , who came from England, ousted his brother Erich Blutaxt .
13. ↑ Hoffmann p. 108.
14. ^ Adam of Bremen II, 26.
15. ^ Adam of Bremen II, 36.
16. ↑ Trillmich fn. 112 in his translation of the 2nd book by Adam von Bremen.
17. ↑ Hoffmann p. 108.
18. ↑ Hoffmann p. 107; Iversen p. 329.