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TheDanes were aNorth Germanic tribe inhabiting southernScandinavia, including the area now comprisingDenmark proper, northern and easternEngland, andthe Scanian provinces of modern-day southern Sweden, during theNordic Iron Age and theViking Age. They founded what became theKingdom of Denmark. Thename of their realm is believed to mean "Danish March", viz. "themarch of the Danes", inOld Norse, referring to their southern border zone between theEider andSchlei rivers, known as theDanevirke.
The origin of the Danes remains undetermined, but several ancient historical documents and texts refer to them and archaeology has revealed and continues to reveal insights into their culture, cultural beliefs, beliefs organization and way of life. A 2025 study inNature found genetic evidence of an influx of central European population after about 500 AD into the region later ruled by the Danes.[1]
The Danes first appear in written history in the 6th century with references in Jordanes'Getica (551 AD), byProcopius, and byGregory of Tours. In his description ofScandza,Jordanes says that theDani were of the same stock as theSuetidi ("Swedes") and expelled theHeruli and took their lands.[citation needed]
TheOld English poemsWidsith andBeowulf, as well as works by later Scandinavian writers (notably bySaxo Grammaticus (c. 1200)), provide some of the original written references to the Danes. According to the 12th-century authorSven Aggesen, the mythical KingDan gave his name to the Danes.[citation needed]
The Danes spokeProto-Norse which gradually evolved into theOld Norse language by the beginning of theViking Age. They spokedǫnsk tunga (Danish tongue), which the Danes shared with the people in Norway and Sweden and later in Iceland and the Faroe Islands.[2]
Like previous and contemporary people of Scandinavia, the Danes usedrunes for writing, but did not write much apparently, as they have left no literary legacy except for occasionalrune stones and carvings in wood and various items like weapons, utensils and jewellery.[citation needed]
As previous and contemporary peoples of Scandinavia (the Vikings), the tribal Danes were practitioners of theNorse religion. Around 500 AD, many of the gods of theNorse pantheon had lost their previous significance, except a few such asThor,Odin andFrey who were increasingly worshipped. During the 10th century of the late Viking Age, the Danes officially adoptedChristianity, as evidenced by several rune stones, documents and church buildings. The new Christian influences also show in their art, jewellery and burial practices of the late Viking Age, but the transition was not rapid and definitive and older customs from the Norse religion remained to be practised to various degrees.[3]
Some sources, such as theBeowulf, point to a very earlyArianism in Denmark, but it has been a matter of intense academic debate for many years whether these sources reflect later adjustments or an actual earlyGermanic Christianity among the Danes in the Iron Age. There are several archaeological artefacts in and from Denmark however, made as early as the 500s, depictingDaniel among the lions, so the Danes must have had some knowledge of and influence from Arian cultures.[3]
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In the Nordic Iron Age, the Danes were based in present-dayZealand andScania (and neighbouring parts of present-day Sweden). Until around the 6th century, Jutland was the homeland of two other Germanic tribes: theJutes in what is now North Jutland, and theAngles in South Jutland (especiallyAngeln).
TheWidsith mentions two semi-mythical kings in relation to the Danes of the Iron Age.Sigar who ruled the "Sea-Danes" andOffa who ruled both Danes andAngles. Centuries later, Saxo lists for the first time the Danes entire lineage of semi-mythical kings, starting from King Dan. As Saxo's texts are the first written accounts of Denmark's history, and hence the Danes, his sources are largely surviving legends, folk lore and word of mouth.
The royal seat and capital of the Danes was located onZealand nearLejre and constituted what has later been dubbed the Lejre Kingdom, ruled by theSkjöldung dynasty.
Some time around the middle of theFirst Millennium, both Jutland and Angeln became part of Danish kingdom or kingdoms. So was southernSchleswig (now the northernmost part of Germany) – the site ofDanevirke, a large set of fortifications reportedly built by Danes to mark the southern border of their realm. It was extended several times in later centuries.
Beginning in the 8th century, the Danes initiated the construction of trading towns across their realm, includingHedeby,Ribe,Aarhus andViborg and expanded existing settlements such asOdense andAalborg. Hedeby quickly grew to become the largest settlement in Scandinavia and remained so until its eventual destruction in the later half of the 11th century.
From around 800 AD, the Danes began a long era of well-organised raids across the coasts and rivers of Europe. Some of the raids were followed by a gradual succession of Danish settlers and during this epoch, large areas outside Scandinavia were settled by the Danes, including the Danelaw in England and countryside and newly established towns in Ireland, the Netherlands and northern France. In the early 11th century, KingCnut the Great (died 1035) ruled the extensiveNorth Sea Empire for nearly 20 years, consisting of Denmark, England, Norway, southern Sweden and parts of northern Germany.[4]
During the 10th century the royal seat of the Danes was moved from Lejre toJelling in central Jutland, marking the foundation and consolidation of the Kingdom of Denmark.
In theBritish Isles, Danes landed threeViking ships at the isle ofPortland, Dorset in 786 AD, where they met and killed a local reeve and his men.[5][note 1] In 793 AD, a Viking raid and plunder of the monastery atLindisfarne took place, but no further activity in England followed until 835 AD. In that year, the Danes raided and built a permanent camp on theIsle of Sheppey in south east England and settling followed from 865, when brothersHalfdan Ragnarsson andIvar the Boneless wintered inEast Anglia. Halfdan and Ivar moved north and capturedNorthumbria in 867 andYork as well.Danelaw – a special rule of law – was soon established in the settled areas and shaped the local cultures there for centuries. Cultural remains are still noticeable today.[6]
The Danes first arrived in Ireland in 795 AD, atRathlin Island, initiating subsequent raids and fortified trade settlements, so calledlongphorts. During the Viking Age, they established many coastal towns includingDublin (Dyflin),Cork,Waterford (Veðrafjǫrðr) andLimerick (Hlymrekr) and Danish settlers followed. There were many small skirmishes and larger battles with the nativeIrish clans in the following two centuries, with the Danes sometimes siding with allied clans. In 1014 AD, at theBattle of Clontarf, the Vikings were eventually defeated and the remaining Danish settlers gradually assimilated with the Irish population.[7]
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The first Vikings appeared inFrisia, now part of the Netherlands and Germany, in 800 AD, when Danes plundered coastal settlements and later the trade town ofDorestad became a frequent target of raids. During this time, Frisia was ruled by theFranks and in the mid-9th century, the Danish chieftain ofRoric received the western parts of the Netherlands as a fief and established here.[8]
The Danes were probably involved in Frisia much earlier asGregory of Tours (c. 538–594 AD) mentions a Danish kingChlochilaichus who was killed there while invadingFrankish territory in the early 6th century.[9]
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The first known Viking raid in what now constitutes France, commenced in 799, when an attack was fought off on the coast ofAquitaine. Several other smaller skirmishes with aggressive Vikings from primarily Danish territory have been recorded, including the first raid on theSeine in 820, but it was not until the year 834 before Viking activity in France took off on a grand scale. In that year, Danes established a lasting base onNoirmoutier island, a central spot for the European salt trade at the time, and poured into theLoire Valley on larger raid expeditions. Many large scale raids followed all across the coasts and in-land rivers of Western Europe in subsequent decades.[10]
In the beginning of the 900s, Vikings had established an encampment and base in the lower parts of theSeine river aroundRouen. In an effort to stop or reduce the relentless raids,Charles the Simple made atreaty in Saint-Clair-sur-Epte with the Viking chieftain ofRollo in 911, granting Rollo and his Danish men authority over the area now known asNormandy. This prompted Scandinavian settlers to establish themselves here and in the course of the next couple of centuries, the Norman culture emerged in Normandy.[11][note 2][12]
Important historical documents that tell about the tribal Danes include:
Icelandic writers (who provide the bulk of our surviving documentation) commonly employed the term dǫnsk tunga (literally 'Danish tongue') to identify the language not just of those who were ruled by the Dana konungr, but of all Germanic-speaking Scandinavians.
