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SWEYN I

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 224 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SWEYN I ., See also:

KING OF See also:DENMARK ( -1014), son of Harold Bluetooth, the christianizer of Denmark, by his See also:peasant See also:mistress Aesa, according to the Jomsvikinga See also:Saga, though more probably his See also:mother was See also:Queen Gunild, Harold's See also:consort. The lad was a See also:born See also:champion and buccaneer. His first military expedition, in See also:alliance with the celebrated Jomsborg See also:Viking, Palnatoke, was against his own See also:father, who perished during the struggle (c. 986). Six years later he conducted a large See also:fleet of warships to See also:England, which did See also:infinite damage, but failed to See also:capture See also:London. During his See also:absence, Denmark was temporarily occupied by the See also:Swedish king, See also:Eric Sersel, on whose See also:death (c. 994) Sweyn recovered his patrimony. About the same See also:time he repudiated his first wife Gunild, daughter of See also:duke Mieszko of See also:Poland, and married King Eric's widow, Sigrid. This See also:lady was a fanatical See also:pagan of a disquieting strength of See also:character. Two viceroys, earlier wooers, were burned to death by her orders for their impertinence, and she refused the See also:hand of See also:Olaf Trygvesson, king of See also:Norway, rather than submit to See also:baptism, whereupon the indignant monarch struck her on the mouth with his See also:gauntlet and told her she was a worse pagan than any See also:dog. Shortly afterwards she married'Sweyn, and easily persuaded her warlike See also:husband to unite with Olaf, king of See also:Sweden, against Olaf Trygvesson, who See also:fell in the famous See also:sea-fight off Svolde (r000) on the See also:west See also:coast of See also:Rugen, after a heroic resistance immortalized by the sagas, whereupon the confederates divided his See also:kingdom between them. After his first See also:English expedition Sweyn was content to See also:blackmail England instead of ravaging it, till the ruthless See also:massacre of the Danes on St Brice's See also:day, the 3rd of See also:November 1002, by See also:Ethelred the Unready (Sweyn'ssister was among the victims) brought the Danish king to See also:Exeter (1003).

During each of the following eleven years, the Danes, materially assisted by the universal and shameless disloyalty of the Saxon ealdormen, systematically ravaged England, and from 991 to 1014 the wretched See also:

land is said to have paid its invaders in ransoms alone 158,000. Sweyn died suddenly at See also:Gainsborough on the 13th of See also:February 1014. The data See also:relating to his whole See also:history are scanty and obscure, and his memory has suffered materially from the fact that the See also:chief chroniclers of his deeds and misdeeds were ecclesiastics. It was certainly unfortunate that he began See also:life by attacking his own father. It is undeniable that his favourite wife was the most stiff-necked pagan of her day. His most remarkable exploit, Svolde, was certainly won at the expense of See also:Christianity, resulting, as it did, in the death of the saintly Olaf.. Small wonder, then, if See also:Adam of See also:Bremen, and the monkish See also:annalists who follow him, describe Sweyn as a grim and bloody semi-pagan, perpetually warring against See also:Christian states. But there is another See also:side to the picture. Viking though he was, Sweyn was certainly a Christian viking. We know that he built churches; that he invited English bishops to See also:settle in Denmark (notably Godibald, who did See also:good See also:work in Scania); that on his death-See also:bed he earnestly commended the Christian cause to his son Canute. He was cruel to his enemies no doubt, but he never forgot a benefit. Thus he rewarded the patriotism of the Danish ladies who sacrificed all their jewels to pay the heavy See also:ransom exacted from him by his captors, the Jomsborg pirates, by enacting a See also:law whereby See also:women were henceforth to inherit landed See also:property in the same way as their male relatives.

Of his valour as a See also:

captain and his capacity as an See also:administrator there can be no question. His comrades adored him for his liberality, and the frequent visits of Icelandic skalder to his See also:court testify to a love of See also:poetry on his See also:part, indeed one of his own strophes has come down to us. As to his See also:personal See also:appearance we only know that he had a See also:long cleft See also:beard, whence his See also:nickname of Tiugeskaeg or See also:Fork-Beard. See Danmarks riges historie. Oldtiden og den celdre middelalder, pp. 364—381 (See also:Copenhagen, 1897—1905). ( R. N.

End of Article: SWEYN I

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