3.3.1 Denmark: A Chronology Of Important Dates 430-1200
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This article is from the Nordic countries FAQ, by Antti Lahelma and Johan Olofsson, with numerous contributions by others.
3.3.1 Denmark: A Chronology Of Important Dates 430-1200
430
(circa) Saxo Grammaticus, in Gesta Danorum, says that the
Danish King Frode raised a huge united army from many conquered
lands and defeated a king of the Huns.
443
As Western Europe was threatened by the Huns (A.D. 406~436
- their most famous king was called Attila) and the Roman
Empire wasn't capable of holding its position on the British
islands any more, the Angles were (according to The Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle) asked to come and participate in the war against the
Picts. The Angles are believed to have lived somewhere in the
area of Southern Jutland and the estuary of river Elbe, or
maybe further north on Jutland.
449
The Jutes, the Saxons and more Angles participate in the war on
Britain. Soon the Britons are fought by the new-comers.
515
The first Danish king known from contemporary sources is killed
during a military attack against the Frankish Empire. Name:
Huglik [or Chocillaicus in Gregor of Tours' annals].
737
(circa) Danevirke is founded.
772
Charlemagne begins the Frankish expansion to the North. The
deep woods of Holstein do however protect the Danes for several
decades yet.
787-1066 (circa)
Viking Age
Danes raid e.g England, France and Spain. The beginning of the
Viking era is by convention dated to the raid at Northumbria
A.D. 793 (referred to in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that too,
although the same source says that the first ships of the
Danish men that sought the land of the English nation came
A.D. 787).
808
(circa) The Danes defeat Slavic tribes.
During the war the market at Haithabu is abandoned to the
Slavic Vends. Haithabu /Hedeby/ is situated at the very same
bay as the later town Schleswig /Slesvig, on the narrowest part
of south Jutland, the short-cut between the Baltic Sea and the
North Sea.
811
As Charlemagne extended his realm in the late 8th century he
came to meet a united Danish army which successfully defended
Danevirke. A Danish-Frankish border was established at the
River Eider A.D. 811. Haithabu is regained.
Frankish sources, for instance Annales regni Francorum against
the year 811, gives a rather good picture of the Danish realm.
Godfred, or perhaps a predecessor, seems to have brought the
lands of the South- and North Danes together shortly before
800. And to end the war between the Franks and the Danes a
hostage was sent to Charlemagne in Aachen. That Danish hostages
came from Southern Jutland, Zealand and Scania ("Osfrid de
Sconaowe"). Probably also southern Norway was held by the kings
of Denmark of that time.
845
Hamburg is raided and burned by Danish Vikings. As a
consequence Arch-bishop Ansgar moves the Cathedral to Bremen.
874
The Danes get control of northern and eastern England.
890-935 (circa)
A separate kingdom of Haithabu was established by the Viking
chieftain Olaf from Svealand. Olaf's son Gnupa was however
killed in battle (against the Danish King Hardeknud?), and his
kingdom vanished. King Gorm is said to have regained Haithabu
A.D. 935.
911
(circa) Rollo, a Danish Viking chieftain, is granted Normandy
as a Duchy by the Frankish king Charles the Simple.
948
A bishopric is established in Slesvig.
958-986/988
Harald Gormsson (a.k.a. "Black-tooth") unites Denmark and
Norway as a single kingdom. Scania, Jutland and the islands
in-between had been ruled by the same king now and then, for
instance under King Godfred in the early 800s, but first with
the Christianization of kings and magnates the kingdom of
Denmark seems to have become a stabile entity. [ See also the
web-site at the Royal Danish Embassy, Washington D.C.
<http://www.denmarkemb.org/viking94.htm> ]
Lars Hemmingsen writes:
Harald boasts at the rune stone in Jellinge that he has won
"all of Denmark" - but what this really means is unclear: There
are some circumstantial evidence that Gorm lost Scania and
Norway, as well as his life, in 958 and that what Harald
accomplished was merely a re-conquest. But the standard
explanation is that Harald held the lands from the beginning
and that what he won of Denmark was merely the area around
Haithabu, A.D. 983, which he had first lost to Emperor Otto II.
965
Harald Gormsson (a.k.a. "Blåtand" - Black-Tooth) baptized.
983-1253
Southern Jutland (Sønderjylland) is an integrated part of the
Danish realm.
1013
The King Svend Tveskæg ("Double-beard" or "Fork-beard")
conquers England, which remains in Danish control until the
year 1042.
1018-35
Knud den Store (Canute the Great) ruled over a vast kingdom
that included present-day Denmark, England, Norway and southern
Sweden, and during his reign Christianity became widespread.
After his death, the empire disintegrated.
1022
Bishopric in Roskilde
1060
King Svend Estridsen lets build a stone church for the bishop
Egino in Dalby, close to Lund. (This church is the oldest
remaining stone church on the Scandinavian peninsula.)
This year the Church was re-organized with new bishoprics also
in: Lund, Aarhus, Borglum, Ribe and Odense.
1074
After King Svend Estridsen's death Denmark is from time to time
split between his sons. The Thing in Scania supports Knud ("the
Holy") against whom the Jutes revolt in 1086 and King Knud is
murdered.
1080
The Bishop in Bremen and the Bishop in Canterbury have fought
over dominance of Denmark, and as a move in this complicated
struggle, rich funds are donated by the king for a cathedral in
Lund. The cathedral school is opened in 1086. The school has
been in function ever since.
1104
With the first arch-bishop of Lund, Scandinavia was made a
separate church province, no longer belonging to Hamburg.
1137-1157
Denmark seems to divide itself in pieces. Scania, Zealand and
Jutland can't agree on choosing the same king and Civil War
follows, in which King Valdemar the Great comes out on top in
1157.
1145
The Lund cathedral is opened. (The church in Dalby had lost the
competition for cathedral status.)
1167
Copenhagen (Havn) is founded.
1168
The Vendic castle Arkona on the island Rügen is captured by
King Valdemar the Great.
1195
Saxo writes the history of Scandinavia.
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