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Gorm the Old
Gorm the Old (Danish: Gorm den Gamle; Old Norse: Gormr gamli; Latin: Gormus Senex), also called Gorm the Languid (Danish: Gorm Løge, Gorm den Dvaske), was ruler of Denmark, reigning from c. 936 to his death c. 958 or a few years later. He ruled from Jelling, and made the oldest of the Jelling stones in honour of his wife Thyra. Gorm was born before 900 and died perhaps around 958 or possibly 963 or 964.
Gorm's name is agreed to be a contraction of a traditional Germanic dithematic name (i.e. a name made by compounding two nouns). The contraction Gormr may have originated as a hypocorism (a nickname) and thus may not have been the most formal form of Gorm's actual name. Suggested origins include Old Norse goð ("god") + ormr ("snake") and goð ("god") + *þormr ("deity").
Gorm is the reported son of semi-legendary Danish king Harthacnut. Chronicler Adam of Bremen says that Harthacnut came from "Northmannia" to Denmark and seized power in the early 10th 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 as the host of Archbishop Unni of Hamburg and Bremen in 936. According to the Jelling Stones, Gorm's son, Harald Bluetooth, "won all of Denmark", so it is speculated that Gorm only ruled Jutland from his seat in Jelling.
Gorm married Thyra, who is given conflicting and chronologically dubious parentage by late sources, but no contemporary indication of her parentage survives. Gorm raised one of the great burial mounds at Jelling as well as the oldest of the Jelling Stones for her, calling her tanmarkar but ("Denmark's Salvation" or "Denmark's Adornment"). Gorm was the father of three sons, Toke, Knut and Harald, later King Harald Bluetooth.
According to Saxo Grammaticus, Thyra was responsible for the construction of the Dannevirke fortification in the southern part of the Jutland peninsula (today South Schleswig). This tradition gained great national romantic significance for Denmark in the 19th century, where Thyra was seen as the guardian of the southern border.
Danevirke was a wall between Denmark's southern border and its unfriendly Saxons neighbours to the south. The Danevirke ran between the Schlei and the Treene river, across what is now Schleswig.
Excavations that began in 2010 by archaeologists from the Archäologisches Landesamt Schleswig-Holstein and Museum Sønderjylland show however that there were 4-5 phases of the Danevirke rampart. The oldest is from 500 AD or earlier, i.e. over at least 400 years before Thyra's time. Further expansions were on the other hand build at the time of Harald Bluetooth's reign i.e. a long after Thyra's death. However, Danish historian da:Adam Wagner believes that it is probably a bit too early to completely conclude that Queen Thyra could not have had an influence on the expansion of one or more parts of the Dannevirke.
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Gorm the Old
Gorm the Old (Danish: Gorm den Gamle; Old Norse: Gormr gamli; Latin: Gormus Senex), also called Gorm the Languid (Danish: Gorm Løge, Gorm den Dvaske), was ruler of Denmark, reigning from c. 936 to his death c. 958 or a few years later. He ruled from Jelling, and made the oldest of the Jelling stones in honour of his wife Thyra. Gorm was born before 900 and died perhaps around 958 or possibly 963 or 964.
Gorm's name is agreed to be a contraction of a traditional Germanic dithematic name (i.e. a name made by compounding two nouns). The contraction Gormr may have originated as a hypocorism (a nickname) and thus may not have been the most formal form of Gorm's actual name. Suggested origins include Old Norse goð ("god") + ormr ("snake") and goð ("god") + *þormr ("deity").
Gorm is the reported son of semi-legendary Danish king Harthacnut. Chronicler Adam of Bremen says that Harthacnut came from "Northmannia" to Denmark and seized power in the early 10th 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 as the host of Archbishop Unni of Hamburg and Bremen in 936. According to the Jelling Stones, Gorm's son, Harald Bluetooth, "won all of Denmark", so it is speculated that Gorm only ruled Jutland from his seat in Jelling.
Gorm married Thyra, who is given conflicting and chronologically dubious parentage by late sources, but no contemporary indication of her parentage survives. Gorm raised one of the great burial mounds at Jelling as well as the oldest of the Jelling Stones for her, calling her tanmarkar but ("Denmark's Salvation" or "Denmark's Adornment"). Gorm was the father of three sons, Toke, Knut and Harald, later King Harald Bluetooth.
According to Saxo Grammaticus, Thyra was responsible for the construction of the Dannevirke fortification in the southern part of the Jutland peninsula (today South Schleswig). This tradition gained great national romantic significance for Denmark in the 19th century, where Thyra was seen as the guardian of the southern border.
Danevirke was a wall between Denmark's southern border and its unfriendly Saxons neighbours to the south. The Danevirke ran between the Schlei and the Treene river, across what is now Schleswig.
Excavations that began in 2010 by archaeologists from the Archäologisches Landesamt Schleswig-Holstein and Museum Sønderjylland show however that there were 4-5 phases of the Danevirke rampart. The oldest is from 500 AD or earlier, i.e. over at least 400 years before Thyra's time. Further expansions were on the other hand build at the time of Harald Bluetooth's reign i.e. a long after Thyra's death. However, Danish historian da:Adam Wagner believes that it is probably a bit too early to completely conclude that Queen Thyra could not have had an influence on the expansion of one or more parts of the Dannevirke.
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