DK Eyewitness Books - Viking

Who’s who?

TȩȦȭȦȢȥȪȯȨȧȪȨȶȳȦȴ in the Viking world tend to fall

into one of three categories: rulers (at home and abroad),

who held the power and made the laws; adventurers,

who set off to find and colonize new lands; and writers

and historians, who laid the groundwork for our

knowledge of this remarkable civilization.

RULERS

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Danish ruler of East Anglia in the latter

part of the 9th century. In 878, Guthrum

signed the Treaty of Wedmore with Alfred

the Great. This treaty divided England into

two, and made Guthrum overlord of the

northern lands under Alfred’s theoretical

control. The area controlled by the Danes

became known as Danelaw.

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King of Norway during the 930s, Eric was

expelled for extreme cruelty. He is thought

to have murdered his seven brothers. Eric

Bloodaxe later became the last Viking ruler

of Northumbria in England.

66

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Ruler of Norway from 1015, Olaf II completed

the process begun by his predecessor, Olaf I,

and made Norway a Christian country in

around 1024. He was killed in battle by his

own chieftains, who were backed by King

Cnut of Denmark. In 1164, he was declared

his country’s patron saint.

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Harald III of Norway, known as Harald

Hardrada, led a large Viking army that

invaded Northumbria in England in

September 1066. This army was defeated

by the English king, Harold II, who was

himself defeated by William the

Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings

in October of the same year.

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Leader of the Norman conquest of England

in 1066, William was descended directly

from Vikings who, under the chieftain

Rollo, settled in northwestern France

during the first part of the 10th century.

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Ruler of Denmark during the 10th

century, Harald Bluetooth converted

his country to Christianity in the 960s. A

great innovator, he commissioned the first

bridge in Scandinavia and the biggest and

most splendid of Viking memorial stones at

Jelling, in Jutland. Harald’s parents, King

Gorm and Queen Thyre, are thought to

be buried at Jelling. Queen Alexandra, the

Danish wife of the 20th-century British

king Edward VII, is thought to have been

descended from Harald Bluetooth.

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Danish leader who besieged London in

994 until he was paid by King Ethelred II

to withdraw. This payment was known

as the Danegeld. In 1013, Svein Forkbeard

returned, launching a successful invasion

of England, and seizing the throne. He

died in 1014 and was succeeded by his

son Cnut.

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Born in Denmark to Svein Forkbeard, the

Christian King Cnut inherited his father’s

crowns in 1014, but was deposed in England

by Saxon nobles who restored the previous

king, Ethelred. When Ethelred died two

years later, however, Cnut fought his son

Edmund Ironside for the throne. Eventually

Cnut and Edmund agreed to divide the

country between them. However, Edmund

died soon after, and Cnut became sole

English king, as well as king of Denmark

and, from 1028, of Norway. His reign was

stable and prosperous, and he died in 1035,

after which date his empire collapsed.

King Harald Bluetooth’s Jelling Stone

The king’s memorial

inscription to

his parents

in runes

St. Olaf, patron

saint of Norway

Gold brooch from the time of King Cnut

William the Conqueror in a manuscript illustration