Some Vikings raided, others had Danegeld paid to them – Sweyn Forkbeard did both and then reached for the crown itself. In 1013 the Danish king subdued all of England; the English king fled the country. Only five weeks later Sweyn was dead. A look at one of the most powerful men of the late Viking Age – and the father of Cnut the Great.
Sweyn Forkbeard (Old Norse Sveinn tjúguskegg) was the son of Harald Bluetooth – the king who had united and baptised Denmark. Sweyn rose against his father and became king of Denmark. With that the full power of the Danish realm was at his disposal: fleets, warriors and the ambition his house had gathered since Gorm.
England was rich and weakened. For decades the Vikings had plundered it and had themselves paid off with ever higher Danegeld. But Sweyn wanted more than silver – he wanted the land. In repeated campaigns he wore down the resistance of the English king Æthelred. In 1013 the moment came: England submitted, Æthelred fled to Normandy.
And all the nation regarded him as full king. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, for the year 1013 (on Sweyn Forkbeard; Old English, public domain)
Yet Sweyn's triumph was short. On 3 February 1014 he died – only a few weeks after his victory, scarcely having won the English crown. But his work did not lie idle: his son Cnut returned, won England again and, as Cnut the Great, became lord over a North Sea empire of Denmark, England and Norway.
With Sweyn and Cnut the Viking Age reached its political peak: no longer the raids of individual chieftains, but kingdoms and conquests on a grand scale. It was at the same time the beginning of the end – soon the world of the Vikings merged with Christian Europe. How silver shaped this age is shown in our piece on Danegeld and Maldon; the roots of the dynasty lie with Gorm the Old.
Sweyn Forkbeard (Sveinn tjúguskegg), son of Harald Bluetooth, was king of Denmark and led long campaigns against England (also financed by Danegeld). In 1013 he subdued England; King Æthelred fled to Normandy. Sweyn died on 3 February 1014, only a few weeks later. His son Cnut the Great conquered England again and created a North Sea empire (Denmark, England, Norway). Sources include the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Adam of Bremen.
Adam of Bremen portrays Sweyn as a heathen rebel and apostate – that is a hostile, later and unreliable depiction; Sweyn was in fact Christian. His “conquest” of 1013, too, was more a submission through pressure than a single great battle. What is certain are the campaigns, the submission of England in 1013, his death on 3 February 1014 and the succession of Cnut.
Danegeld & the Battle of Maldon · Ragnar's sons · Gorm the Old · Thyra Danebod – Denmark's mightiest woman · Stiklestad – the fall of Saint Olav.