Gorm the Old (; ; He ruled from Jelling, and made the oldest of the Jelling stones in honour of his wife Thyra. Gorm was born before 900 and died perhaps around 958
Ancestry and reign
Gorm is the reported son of semi-legendary Danish king Harthacnut. Chronicler Adam of Bremen says that Harthacnut came from "Northmannia" to Denmark and seized power in the early 10th century.
Danevirke was a wall between Denmark's southern border and its unfriendly Saxons neighbours to the south. The Danevirke ran between the Schlei and the Treene river, across what is now Schleswig. However, Danish historian :da:Adam Wagner believes that it is probably a bit too early to completely conclude that Queen Thyra could not have had an influence on the expansion of one or more parts of the Dannevirke.
Death, burial and reburial
One theory is that Gorm died in the winter of 958–959;
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Further reading
- Birkebæk, Frank (2003). Vikingetiden i Danmark. Viborg: Sesam.
- S. Otto Brenner: Nachkommen Gorms des Alten (König von Dänemark -936-) I.-XVI. Generation. Personalhistorisk Institut, Kopenhagen 1964
- Hybel, Nils (2003). Danmark i Europa: 750–1300. København: Museum Tusculanums forlag.
- Johannessen, Kåre (2001). Politikens bog om Danmarks vikingetid. Politikens håndbøger. København: Politikens forlag.
- Lund, Niels (2020). Jellingkongerne og deres forgængere, Gylling: Vikingeskibsmuseet i Roskilde.
- Sawyer, P. H. (1999). The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Thiedecke, Arendse, and Thiedecke, Johnny (2003). De danske vikinger: samfund, kongemagt og togter ca. 700–1050. Valby: Pantheon.