| Gorm the Old | |
|---|---|
 Gorm learns of the death of his son Canute, 19th century painting byAugust Carl Vilhelm Thomsen | |
| King of Denmark | |
| Reign | c. 936 – 958/963/964 |
| Predecessor | Harthacnut I (Canute I) (semi-legendary) orGnupa |
| Successor | Harald I |
| Born | before 900 |
| Died | 958/963/964 |
| Spouse | Thyra |
| Issue Detail | |
| House | House of Gorm |
| Father | Harthacnut I of Denmark (semi-legendary) |
| Mother | unknown |
| Religion | Norse paganism |
Gorm the Old (Danish:Gorm den Gamle;Old Norse:Gormr gamli;Latin:Gormus Senex[1][2]), also calledGorm the Languid (Danish:Gorm Løge, Gorm den Dvaske), wasruler of Denmark, reigning fromc. 936 to his deathc. 958[3] or a few years later.[4][5] He ruled fromJelling, and made the oldest of theJelling stones in honour of his wifeThyra. Gorm was born before 900 and died perhaps around 958[3] or possibly 963[4] or 964.[5]
Gorm is the reported son of semi-legendary Danish kingHarthacnut. ChroniclerAdam of Bremen says that Harthacnut came fromNorthmannia to Denmark and seized power in the early 10th century.[6] He deposed the young kingSigtrygg Gnupasson, reigning over Western Denmark.[3] When Harthacnut died, Gorm ascended the throne.
Heimskringla reports Gorm taking at least part of the kingdom by force fromGnupa, and Adam himself suggests that the kingdom had been divided prior to Gorm's time. Gorm is first mentioned as the host ofArchbishop Unni ofHamburg andBremen in 936.[6] According to theJelling Stones, Gorm's son,Harald Bluetooth, "won all of Denmark", so it is speculated that Gorm only ruledJutland from his seat inJelling.[6]
Gorm marriedThyra, who is given conflicting and chronologically dubious parentage by late sources, but no contemporary indication of her parentage survives. Gorm raised one of the greatburial mounds at Jelling as well as the oldest of the Jelling Stones for her, calling hertanmarkar but ("Denmark's Salvation" or "Denmark's Adornment"). Gorm was the father of three sons, Toke, Knut and Harald, later KingHarald Bluetooth.[7]
According toSaxo 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.[8]
Danevirke was a wall between Denmark's southern border and its unfriendlySaxons neighbours to the south. The Danevirke ran between the Schlei and the Treene river, across what is nowSchleswig.[9]
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.[10] However, Danish historianda: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.[11]
One theory is that Gorm died in the winter of 958–959,[7] this is based ondendrochronology that shows that the burial chamber in the northern burial mound in Jelling was made from wood felled in 958.[12]Arild Huitfeldt relates one legend of his death inDanmarks Riges Krønike:[9]
The three sons wereVikings in the truest sense, departing Denmark each summer to raid and pillage. Harald came back to the royal enclosure at Jelling with the news that his brother Canute had been killed in an attempt to captureDublin, 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 colours meant. Queen Thyra spoke up: "Lord King, you had twofalcons, one white and the other grey. 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 grey 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. Somearchaeologists andhistorians have 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.[3] According to this theory it is believed that the skeleton found at the site of the first Christian church of Jelling is in fact Gorm the Old, though the theory is still much debated. During the reign of Gorm, most Danes still worshipped theNorse gods, but during the reign of Gorm's son, Harald Bluetooth, Denmark officiallyconverted to Christianity. Harald, accordingly, left the hill where Gorm had originally been interred as a memorial.
Gorm was "old" in the sense that he was considered the traditional ancestral "head" of the Danish monarchy.Saxo Grammaticus in theGesta Danorum asserts that Gorm was older than other monarchs and, having lived so long, was blind by the time his son Canute was killed.[13]
| Regnal titles | ||
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| Preceded by | King of Denmark c. 936 – 958/964 | Succeeded by |
| Knýtlinga |
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