Sweyn II of Denmark


Sweyn II Estridsson was King of Denmark from 1047 until his death in 1076. He was the son of Ulf Thorgilsson and Estrid Svendsdatter, and the grandson of King Sweyn I Forkbeard through his mother's line. He was married three times, and fathered 20 children or more out of wedlock, including the five future kings Harald III Hen, Canute IV the Saint, Oluf I Hunger, Eric I Evergood, and Niels.
He was courageous in battle, but did not have much success as a military commander. His skeleton reveals that he was a tall, powerfully built man who walked with a limp.

Biography

Accession to the throne

Sweyn was born in England, as the son of Ulf Thorgilsson and Estrid Svendsdatter, the latter of whom was the daughter of King Sweyn I Forkbeard and sister of Kings Harald II and Canute the Great. Sweyn grew up a military leader, and served under king Anund Jacob of Sweden for a time. He pillaged the Elbe-Weser area in 1040, but was caught by the Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, who released him shortly thereafter.
Svend was made a jarl under Danish king Harthacnut, and led a campaign for him against Norway, but was beaten by Magnus I of Norway. When Harthacnut died in 1042, Magnus claimed the Danish throne and made Svend the jarl of Jutland. In 1043, Sweyn fought for Magnus at the Battle of Lyrskov Heath at Hedeby, near the present-day border of Denmark and Germany. Sweyn won great reputation at Lyrskov Heath, and had the Danish nobles crown him king in Viborg in Jutland. He was defeated by Magnus on several occasions, and had to flee to Sweden. Eventually he managed to return and establish a foothold in Scania.
The war between Magnus and Sweyn lasted until 1045, when Magnus' uncle Harald Hardrada returned to Norway from exile. Harald and Sweyn joined forces, and Magnus decided to share the Norwegian throne with Harald. In 1047 Magnus died, having stated on his deathbed that his kingdom would be divided: Harald would get the throne of Norway, while Sweyn would be king of Denmark. Upon hearing of Magnus' death Sweyn said, "Now so help me God, I shall never yield Denmark".

Feud with Harald Hardrada

Harald, unwilling to relinquish Denmark, attacked Sweyn and fought a long war. Harald sacked Hedeby in 1050, and also sacked Aarhus. Sweyn almost captured Harald in 1050, when Harald attacked the coast of Jutland and loaded his ships with goods and captives. Sweyn's flotilla caught up with the Norwegians and Harald ordered his men to throw out the captured goods, thinking the Danes would stop to get the goods. Sweyn ordered his men to leave the goods and go after Harald. Harald then ordered his men to throw the captives overboard. For them Sweyn was willing to let Harald slip away.
Sweyn came close to losing his life at the naval Battle of Niså off the coast of Halland in 1062. According to the sagas Harald urged Sweyn to meet him in a final and decisive battle at Elv in the spring of 1062. When Sweyn and the Danish army did not show up, Harald sent home a large part of his army, only keeping the more professional warriors in his fleet. When Sweyn finally came to meet Harald, his fleet numbered 300 ships to Harald's 150. The fleets met at night and the battle lasted until morning, when the Danes started to flee. In the sagas the Norwegian victory is largely credited to earl Haakon Ivarsson, who disengaged his ships from the Norwegian flanks and started attacking the weakened ships on the Danish flanks. This might be the aiding Norwegian chieftain that Saxo Grammaticus refers to, as turning the tide in Norwegian favour. Sweyn managed to escape the battle, reached land and stopped at the house of a peasant to ask for something to eat. "What was the terrible rumbling in the night?" she asked. "Didn't you know the two kings were fighting all night?" asked one of Sweyn's men. "Who won, then?" the woman asked. "Norwegians," came the reply. "It's a shame on us, for a king we already have. He limps and is timid." "No," King Sweyn explained, "Timid the king of the Danes is assuredly not,"defended another of the king's men, "but luck isn't with him and he lacks a victory." The housecarl brought the men water and a towel to wash themselves. As the king was drying his hands, the woman tore the cloth from him, "You should be ashamed of yourself for using the whole towel for yourself," she scolded. "The day will come when I will have your permission to use the whole cloth," was the king's comment. Her husband gave the king a horse and Sweyn continued on his way to Zealand.
Some time later the peasant was called to Zealand and given lands there for his service to the king, but his wife had to remain behind in Halland. Sweyn had a reputation for generosity and kindness that helped him on several occasions to win the trust of his people. Harald relinquished his claims to Denmark in 1064, in exchange for Sweyn's recognition of Harald as Harald III of Norway. Harald then sailed off to England to claim the crown of England, and was killed there.

Consolidation of power

Sweyn's connection to the Danish line of succession was his mother Estrid Svendsdatter, and he took the matronymic surname Estridsson after her, emphasizing his link to the Danish royalty. He also minted his own coins.
Sweyn sought to consolidate his power through links to the church as well as foreign powers, and actively sought the friendship of the Popes. He wanted his eldest son Knud Magnus crowned by the Pope, but Knud died on the journey to Rome. He also unsuccessfully pressed for Harald Bluetooth, the first Christian king of Denmark, to be sanctified. He was an ally of Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor against Baldwin V of Flanders in 1049, and Sweyn assisted his son-in-law Gottschalk in the Liutizi Civil War of 1057.
After Harald Hardrada was killed, and William the Conqueror had conquered England, Sweyn turned his attention to England, once ruled by his uncle Canute the Great. He joined forces with Edgar Atheling, the last remaining heir of the Anglo-Saxon royal house, and sent a force to attack king William in 1069. However, after capturing York, Sweyn accepted a payment from William to desert Edgar, who then returned into exile in Scotland. Sweyn failed another attempt in 1074/1075.

Relationship with the church

Sweyn feared that Archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg would fill the upper ranks of Denmark's churches with Germans, so he brought Anglo-Danes over from England to keep the Danish church independent. Under the influence of Sweyn, Denmark was divided into eight dioceses around 1060. He set the dioceses up by donating large tracts of land, with the Diocese of Roskilde being the highest favoured one, as he had a good relationship with Bishop Vilhelm of Roskilde. When Archbishop Adalbert died in 1072, Sweyn was able to deal directly with the Holy See.
He brought scholars to Denmark to teach him and his people Latin so they could converse with the rest of Europe on equal terms. Adam of Bremen travelled to meet this learned king and came away with greater respect for the king's patience and wisdom. Sweyn encouraged the building of churches all over Denmark, and Adam of Bremen was astounded that there were 300 churches in Scania alone, more than in all the other countries of the north put together.
Sweyn could be ruthless. One New Year's Eve it was reported to the king that several of his guests and hired men had ridiculed him and talked behind his back. The king was so angry that he had them murdered in the church on New Year's Day. When the king arrived at Roskilde Cathedral for mass, his friend Bishop Vilhelm met him at the door and forbade the king and his party to enter. "You stand condemned before God, a murderer, who has defiled the house of God with blood!" cried the bishop and pushed the king back with his shepherd's crook. He declared the king excommunicated from the church. The king's men drew their swords and stepped forward to hack the bishop down, but Bishop Vilhelm held his ground. "Let him be," shouted the king and withdrew to his farm. There he removed his New Year's fine clothing and weapons and dressed in sackcloth. Then he walked back to the cathedral in his bare feet and cast himself face down in front of the entrance. Bishop Vilhelm had just begun the mass when he was told the king lay humbled at the door. Bishop Vilhelm stopped the service and went to the door to hear the king's abject confession. When the bishop realized the king was truly repentant, he raised him up, lifted the excommunication and led him into the cathedral.

Death

King Sweyn died at the royal estate Søderup, west of Åbenrå at the Little Belt strait. The Danish chronicles inaccurately date his death to 1074, but it is known that he received and answered letters in 1075 and died in 1076. The king's body was carried to Roskilde Cathedral where he was interred in a pillar of the choir next to the remains of Bishop Vilhelm. Later he was called the "father of kings" because five of his fifteen sons became kings of Denmark.
He was the last Viking ruler of Denmark and an ancestor of all subsequent Danish kings. The remains of other Danish kings are also entombed in Roskilde Cathedral. According to the saga, Sweyn's mother was entombed inside a pillar across from the chapel. However, analysis of mitochondrial DNA proved that this person was not the king's mother, as his mtDNA indicated Haplogroup H, HVR1 7028C.

Legacy

One of the legacies of King Sweyn was a fundamental change in Danish society which had been based on whether a person was free or a bondsman. Sweyn is often considered to be Denmark's last Viking king as well as the first medieval one. A strengthened church in alliance with the land-owning noble families begin to pit their power against the royal family. The peasants were left to fend for themselves.
Sweyn built a strong foundation for royal power through cooperation with the church. He completed the final partition of Denmark into dioceses by corresponding directly with the pope, bypassing the Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen. During his reign hundreds of small wooden churches were built throughout the kingdom; many were rebuilt in stone in the 12th century. Sweyn sought to create a Nordic Archbishopric under Danish rule, a feat which his son Eric I accomplished.
Sweyn seems to have been able to read and write, and was described as an especially educated monarch by his personal friend Pope Gregory VII. He is the source of much of our current knowledge about Denmark and Sweden in the 9th and 10th centuries, having told the story of his ancestry to historian Adam of Bremen around 1070.

Family

Sweyn's first marriage was to Gyda of Sweden, daughter of king Anund Jacob of Sweden. His second marriage, in 1050, was to Gunnhildr Sveinsdóttir, the stepmother of Gyda. The Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen ordered that the union be dissolved, which was effectuated by Pope Leo IX. After Harald Hardrada's death, Sweyn married his widow Tora Torbergsdatter. He took one mistress after another during his life. Sweyn fathered at least 20 children, of whom only one was born in wedlock.
With Gunnhildr:
  1. Svend Svendsen, who died young
With various concubines:
  1. Knud Magnus
  2. Harald III Hen of Denmark
  3. Canute IV the Saint of Denmark
  4. Oluf I Hunger of Denmark
  5. Eric I Evergood of Denmark
  6. Svend Tronkræver
  7. Ulf Svendsen
  8. Benedict Svendsen
  9. Bjørn Svendsen, Duke of Nordalbingien from 1099
  10. Niels of Denmark
  11. Sigrid Svendsdatter, wife of prince Gottschalk
  12. Ingerid, wife of Olav III of Norway
  13. Sweyn the Crusader
  14. Thorgils Svendsen
  15. Sigurd Svendsen, died in war against the Wends
  16. Guttorm Svendsen
  17. Ømund Svendsen
  18. Gunhild Svendsdatter
  19. Ragnhild Svendsdatter, wife of Svein Aslaksson