Gorm the Old
Encyclopedia
Gorm the Old also called Gorm the Sleepy , was the first historically recognized King of Denmark
Monarchy of Denmark
The monarchy in Denmark is the constitutional monarchy of the Kingdom of Denmark, which includes Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.As a constitutional monarch, the Queen is limited to non-partisan, ceremonial functions...

, reigning from to his death . He ruled from Jelling
Jelling
Jelling is a village in Denmark with a population of 3,248 , located in Jelling Parish approx. 10 km northwest of Vejle. The city lies 105 metres above sea level.-Location:...

, and made the oldest of the Jelling Stones
Jelling stones
The Jelling stones are massive carved runestones from the 10th century, found at the town of Jelling in Denmark. The older of the two Jelling stones was raised by King Gorm the Old in memory of his wife Thyra...

 in honour of his wife Thyra
Thyra
Thyra was the consort of King Gorm the Old of Denmark. She is believed to have led an army against the Germans. Gorm and Thyra were the parents of King Harald Bluetooth....

. Gorm was born before 900 and died .

Ancestry and reign

Gorm is the reported son of semi-legend
Legend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...

ary Danish king Harthacnut. Chronicler Adam of Bremen
Adam of Bremen
Adam of Bremen was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. He is most famous for his chronicle Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum .-Background:Little is known of his life other than hints from his own chronicles...

 tells that Harthacnut came from Northmania to Denmark and seized power in the early 10th century. He deposed the young king Sigtrygg Gnupasson
Sigtrygg Gnupasson
Sigtrygg Gnupasson was a king of Denmark of the Swedish House of Olaf who ruled in the 10th century, according to Adam of Bremen and Sweyn II of Denmark....

; reigning over Western Denmark. When Harthacnut died, Gorm ascended the throne.

Heimskringla
Heimskringla
Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...

 reports Gorm taking at least part of the kingdom by force from Gnupa
Gyrd and Gnupa
Gyrd and Gnupa were kings of Denmark in the 10th century according to Sweyn II of Denmark and Adam of Bremen. They were the sons of the Swedish chieftain Olof the Brash who had conquered Denmark and they ruled together according to Swedish tradition.Gnupa is mentioned on the two Sigtrygg...

, 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
Unni (archbishop)
Saint Unni was an archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen . He died as a missionary in Birka in Sweden, where he tried to continue Ansgar's work....

 of Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 and Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...

 in 936. According to the Jelling Stones
Jelling stones
The Jelling stones are massive carved runestones from the 10th century, found at the town of Jelling in Denmark. The older of the two Jelling stones was raised by King Gorm the Old in memory of his wife Thyra...

, Gorm "won all of Denmark", but it is speculated he only ruled Jutland
Jutland
Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...

 from his seat in Jelling
Jelling
Jelling is a village in Denmark with a population of 3,248 , located in Jelling Parish approx. 10 km northwest of Vejle. The city lies 105 metres above sea level.-Location:...

.

Marriage to Thyra

Gorm married Thyra
Thyra
Thyra was the consort of King Gorm the Old of Denmark. She is believed to have led an army against the Germans. Gorm and Thyra were the parents of King Harald Bluetooth....

, 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
Jelling
Jelling is a village in Denmark with a population of 3,248 , located in Jelling Parish approx. 10 km northwest of Vejle. The city lies 105 metres above sea level.-Location:...

 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 Knud and Harald, later King Harald Bluetooth
Harald I of Denmark
Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson was the son of King Gorm the Old and of Thyra Dannebod. He 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...

.

His wife, Thyra, is credited with the completion of the Danevirke
Danevirke
The Danevirke The Danevirke The Danevirke (modern Danish spelling: Dannevirke; in Old Norse Danavirki ; in German Danewerk ; is a system of Danish fortifications in Schleswig-Holstein (Northern Germany). This important linear defensive earthwork was constructed across the neck of the Cimbrian...

, a wall between Denmark's southern border and its unfriendly Saxon neighbors to the south. The wall was not new, but it was expanded with a ditch and earthen foundation topped by a timber stockade above it. The Danevirke ran between the Schlei
Schlei
The Schlei is a narrow inlet of the Baltic Sea in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. It stretches for approximately 20 miles from the Baltic near Kappeln and Arnis to the city of Schleswig. Along the Schlei are many small bays and swamps...

 and the Treene river, across what is now Schleswig
Schleswig
Schleswig or South Jutland is a region covering the area about 60 km north and 70 km south of the border between Germany and Denmark; the territory has been divided between the two countries since 1920, with Northern Schleswig in Denmark and Southern Schleswig in Germany...

.

Death, burial and reburial

According to dendrochronological
Dendrochronology
Dendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree-rings. Dendrochronology can date the time at which tree rings were formed, in many types of wood, to the exact calendar year...

 studies of the wood in his burial chamber, Gorm died in the winter 958-959. Arild Huitfeldt
Arild Huitfeldt
Arild Huitfeldt was a Danish historian and state official, known for his vernacular Chronicle of Denmark.-Life:...

 explains how in Danmarks Riges Krønike:

The three sons were Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

s in the truest sense, departing Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 each summer to raid and pillage. Harald came back to the royal enclosure at Jelling
Jelling
Jelling is a village in Denmark with a population of 3,248 , located in Jelling Parish approx. 10 km northwest of Vejle. The city lies 105 metres above sea level.-Location:...

 with the news that Canute had been killed in an attempt to capture Dublin, Ireland. Canute was shot with a coward's arrow while watching some games at night. No one would tell the king in view of the oath the king had made. Queen Thyra ordered the royal hall hung with black cloth and that no one was to say a single word. When Gorm entered the hall, he was astonished and asked what the mourning colors meant. Queen Thyra spoke up: "Lord King, You had two falcon
Falcon
A falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The genus contains 37 species, widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America....

s, one white and the other gray. The white one flew far afield and was set upon by other birds which tore off its beautiful feathers and is now useless to you. Meanwhile the gray falcon continues to catch fowl for the king's table." Gorm understood immediately the Queen's metaphor and cried out, "My son is surely dead, since all of Denmark mourns!" "You have said it, your majesty," Thyra announced, "Not I, but what you have said is true." According to the story Gorm was so grieved by Canute's death that he died the following day.

This account would contradict information on the Jelling Stones which point to Queen Thyra dying before Gorm. Historians have always suggested that Gorm was buried first in Queen Thyra's grave mound at Jelling, and later moved by his son, Harald Bluetooth, into the original wooden church in Jelling. His skeleton is believed to have been found at the site of the first Christian church of Jelling. During the reign of Gorm, most Danes still worshipped the Norse gods
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...

, but during the reign of Gorm's son, Harold Bluetooth, Denmark officially converted to Christianity
Christianization of Scandinavia
The Christianization of Scandinavia took place between the 8th and the 12th century. The realms of Scandinavia proper, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, established their own Archdioceses, responsible directly to the Pope, in 1104, 1154 and 1164, respectively...

. Harald left the hill where Gorm had originally been interred as a memorial.

Legacy

Gorm was "old" in the sense that he has always been considered the traditional ancestral "head" of the Danish monarchy. The custom at the time was to give nickname
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....

s to individuals since surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...

s were not formalized until the mid-19th century in Denmark. Nicknames fell into several categories: names based on an event, names based on a physical characteristic, names based on a pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...

, and names listing a characteristic that was the opposite of the character of the person given that name, in essence, a joke nickname. For example, Gorm the Sleepy was not at all sleepy; he was watchful. Gorm the Old did not live an especially long life, but his rule of 40 years, from c. 900 to c. 940, is the longest of any Danish Viking monarch. Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus also known as Saxo cognomine Longus was a Danish historian, thought to have been a secular clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, foremost advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author of the first full history of Denmark.- Life :The Jutland Chronicle gives...

 in the Gesta Danorum
Gesta Danorum
Gesta Danorum is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus . It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history...

asserts that Gorm was older than other monarchs and having lived so long was blind by the time his son Canute was killed. Records of earlier kings either were not available or discounted by royal historians. Gorm's name appears on the Jelling Stones and that was the definitive proof historians of the past needed.

Further reading

  • Birkebæk, Frank (2003). Vikingetiden i Danmark. Viborg: Sesam. ISBN 87-11-13718-5
  • Hybel, Nils (2003). Danmark i Europa: 750-1300. København: Museum Tusculanums forlag. ISBN 87-7289-882-8
  • Johannessen, Kåre (2001). Politikens bog om Danmarks vikingetid. Politikens håndbøger. København: Politikens forlag. ISBN 87-567-6456-1
  • Sawyer, P. H. (1999). The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-285365-1
  • Thiedecke, Arendse, and Thiedecke, Johnny (2003). De danske vikinger: samfund, kongemagt og togter ca. 700-1050. Valby: Pantheon. ISBN 87-90108-21-3
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