Sigtrygg Gnupasson
Encyclopedia
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
of the Swedish House of Olaf
House of Olaf
The House of Olaf was a dynasty which ruled Denmark in the late 9th century and early 10th century.*Olof the Brash*Gyrd and Gnupa*Sigtrygg GnupassonThe existence of Gnupa and Sigtrygg is confirmed by the two Sigtrygg Runestones....
who ruled in the 10th century, according to Adam of Bremen
Adam of Bremen
Adam of Bremen was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. He is most famous for his chronicle Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum .-Background:Little is known of his life other than hints from his own chronicles...
and Sweyn II of Denmark
Sweyn II of Denmark
Sweyn II Estridsson Ulfsson was the King of Denmark from 1047 to 1074. He was the son of Ulf Jarl and Estrid Svendsdatter. He was married three times, and fathered 20 children or more, including the five future kings Harald III Hen, Canute IV the Saint, Oluf I Hunger, Eric I Evergood and Niels...
.
Sigtrygg was son of Gnupa
Gyrd and Gnupa
Gyrd and Gnupa were kings of Denmark in the 10th century according to Sweyn II of Denmark and Adam of Bremen. They were the sons of the Swedish chieftain Olof the Brash who had conquered Denmark and they ruled together according to Swedish tradition.Gnupa is mentioned on the two Sigtrygg...
and the Danish noblewoman Asfrid. According to Adam, he became a Danish king during the tenure of Archbishop Hoger of Bremen (909-915/7). He is remembered on the two Sigtrygg Runestones
Sigtrygg Runestones
The two Sigtrygg Runestones, designated as DR 2 and DR 4 in the Rundata catalog, are two of the Hedeby stones that were found in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, which during the Viking Age was part of Denmark. The runestones were raised after the Danish king Sigtrygg Gnupasson by his mother Ásfriðr...
found near Schleswig, (DR2
Rundata
The Scandinavian Runic-text Data Base is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future research...
and DR4
Rundata
The Scandinavian Runic-text Data Base is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future research...
), erected by his mother after his death, suggesting this area represented the power-base of the family.
Based on the testimony of king Sweyn, Adam reports that prior to Hoger's death, Harthacnut
Harthacnut of Denmark
Harthacnut or Cnut I was a legendary King of Denmark. He is alternatively given as the son of an otherwise unknown "Sweyn," or, as presented by Ragnarssona þáttr, of the semi-mythic viking chieftain Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, himself one of the sons of the legendary Ragnar Lodbrok...
came to Denmark and immediately deposed the young king Sigtrygg. However other sources show a Chnuba (usually identified with Gnupa, Sigtrygg's father) still ruling in 934, while Heimskringla
Heimskringla
Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...
reports Gnupa's defeat by Gorm the Old
Gorm the Old
Gorm the Old , also called Gorm the Sleepy , was the first historically recognized King of Denmark, reigning from to his death . 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 .-Ancestry and reign:Gorm is the reported...
, again placing his death later than Adam would have it. Adam himself mentions the existence of other kings at this time and expresses doubt that Denmark represented a single united realm.