King Harald I "Bluetooth" Gornsson Of Denmark : Family tree by comrade28

Publish date: 2024-05-07

Harald I "Blaatand" Gornsson King of Denmark

Born: Abt 910

Married to Gyrithe Olafsdotter Queen of Denmark

Died: 1 Nov 987

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harold I of Denmark
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Jump to: navigation, search

Rune stones of Gorm and Harald

Rune stone of Harald, writing side

Rune stones of Gorm and Harald, back side
Harold Bluetooth Gormson (Danish: Harald Blåtand, Old Norse: Haraldr blátönn, Norwegian: Harald Blåtann, German: Harald Blauzahn), d.986, was King of Denmark from around 958 until his death, and king of Norway for a few years probably around 970. He succeeded his father and mother, Gorm the Old (king of Jutland) and Thyre Danebod (supposed daughter of Harold Klak, jarl of Jutland).

Contents [hide]
1 Conversion to Christianity
2 Reign
3 Bluetooth wireless specification
4 References

[edit]
Conversion to Christianity
Although his predecessors had accepted Christianity at the instigation of the Frankish Carolingian kings in 826, heathendom remained predominant among Danes and northerners for centuries. When Harald converted around 965, he had the Jelling mounds previously started by his pagan father Gorm adapted into Christian monuments honoring both Gorm and Thyre. The Jelling monuments are said to have been a statement of Harald's new-found religion; it was thought that with these monuments, he was trying to conduct a smooth transition from paganism to Christianity both for himself and his subjects. Christianity may have been impressed on him as a result of military pressure, but the stones have led some people to believe that they represent a new-found love and confidence for his new religion.

[edit]
Reign
During his reign, Harald oversaw the reconstruction not only of the Jelling runic stones but of other projects as well. Some believe that these projects were a way for him to preserve the economic and military control of his country. During that time, forts were built in five strategic locations: Trelleborg on Sjælland, Nonnebakken on Fyn, Fyrkat in central Jylland, Aggersborg near Limfjord, and Trelleborg near the city of Trelleborg in Skåne in present-day Sweden.

All five fortresses had similar designs. They were

"perfectly circular with gates opening to the four corners of the earth, and a courtyard divided into four areas which held large houses set in a square pattern"[1]
A sixth Trelleborg is located in Borgeby, in Skåne in present-day Sweden. This one has been dated to the vicinity of 1000 AD and has a similar design, so it too may have been built by king Harald.

He also constructed the oldest known bridge in southern Scandinavia, known as the Ravninge Bridge. It was built in Ravninge meadows, and was 5m wide and 760m long.

Harald had a son named Sweyn (Forkbeard), who was baptized along with the rest of the royal family, and given the name of the Holy Roman emperor Otto the Great:

Not long after Harold himself was baptized together with his wife, Gunnhild, and his little son, whom our king raised up from the sacred font and named Svein[2]
As a consequence of Harald's army having lost to the Germans in the shadow of Danevirke in 974, he no longer had control on Norway and Germans having settled back into the border area between Scandinavia and Germany. The German settlers were driven out of Denmark in 983 by an alliance consisting of Obodrite soldiers and troops loyal to Harald. Soon after, Harald was killed fighting off a rebellion led by his son Sweyn. He was believed to have died in 986, although there are many other accounts that claim he died in 985.

The biography of his life is best summed up by this runic inscription:

(In Old Norse): "Haraltr kunukr bath kaurua kubl thausi aft kurm fathur sin auk aft thaurui muthur sina. sa haraltr ias sar uan tanmaurk ala auk nuruiak auk tani karthi kristna"[3]
Translation: "Harald, king, bade these memorials to be made after Gorm, his father, and Thyra, his mother. The Harald who won the whole of Denmark and Norway and turned the Danes to Christianity"
The Norse sagas presents Harald in a rather negative light. He was forced twice to submit to the renegade Swedish prince Styrbjörn the Strong of the Jomsvikings. First by giving Styrbjörn a fleet and his daughter Tyra, and the second time by giving up himself as hostage and an additional fleet. Styrbjörn brought this fleet to Uppsala in Sweden in order to claim the throne of Sweden. However, this time Harald broke his oath and fled with his Danes in order to avoid facing the Swedish army at the Battle of the Fýrisvellir.

[edit]
Bluetooth wireless specification
"Bluetooth" now more commonly refers to the Bluetooth wireless specification designed to enable cable-free connections between computers, mobile phones, PDAs, printers and other electronic equipment. The Bluetooth logo consists of the Nordic runes for his initials, H and B.

[edit]
References
^ Viking Empires, Fortehad, Oram and Pedersen, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p.180
^ History of the Archbishops of Hamberg-Bremen, Adam of Bremen, p.56
^ http://www.dr.dk/p1/udmedsproget/tidslinie/ramfiler/Jelling.ram

Preceded by:
Gorm the Old King of Denmark
958986 Succeeded by:
Sweyn Forkbeard
Preceded by:
Harald Greyhide King of Norway
976986
(Håkon Jarl was de facto ruler)

ncG1vNJzZmifp2O0prrEmqWerF6kv6h7wqikq5mUmn95i8uapaB1laNzr4nDnqWmmaKgc7GJyqKloGOYlr%2BiuMNkoGSanKqytbvOrZ9kn5%2Bnu7S%2FzqdiqJ4%3D