Harald "Blåtand" Gormsson (most likely conceived around 935) was a King of Denmark and Norway. He was the child of King Gorm the Old and of Thyra Dannebod. He kicked the bucket in 985 or 986 having ruled as King of Denmark from c. 958 and King of Norway for a couple of years; most likely around 970. A few sources say his child Sweyn Forkbeard corrosively dismissed him.
The Jelling stones[]
Harald had the Jelling stones raised to respect his guardians. The account of Harald Bluetooth is summed up by this runic engraving from the Jelling stones:
"King Harald 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."
Denmark's conversion to Christianity[]
The larger Jelling stone, showing the inscription concerning Harald - http://wikipedia.org
Ruler Harald Bluetooth's transformation to Christianity is a challenged bit of history, not slightest on the grounds that medieval journalists, for example, Widukind of Corvey and Adam of Bremen give clashing records of how it occurred.
Widukind of Corvey, composing amid the lives of King Harald and Otto I, claims that Harald was changed over by a "pastor by the name of Poppa" who, when requested that by Harald demonstrate his confidence in Christ, conveyed an "awesome weight" of iron warmed by a flame without being blazed.
Adam of Bremen, composing 100 years in the wake of King Harald's demise in "History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen", completed in 1076, portrays Harald being persuasively changed over by Otto I, after an annihilation in fight. Then again, Widukind does not specify such an occasion in his contemporary Res gestae saxonicae sive annalium libri tres or Deeds of the Saxons. Four hundred years after the fact, the ""Heimskringla"" relates that Harald was changed over with Earl Haakon, by Otto II.
A priest named Poppa, maybe the same one, additionally shows up in Adam of Bremen's history, yet regarding Eric of Sweden, who had as far as anyone knows vanquished Denmark (there is no proof anyplace else this happened). The account of this generally obscure Poppo or Poppa's supernatural occurrence and submersion of Harald is likewise portrayed on the plated holy place piece in the Church of Tandrup in Denmark (see picture at top of this article). The sacrificial stone itself dates to around 1200. Adam of Bremen's case in regards to Otto I and Harald seems to have been enlivened by an endeavor to fabricate an authentic purpose behind the ecclesiastical overseers of Hamburg-Bremen to claim locale over Denmark (and consequently whatever is left of Scandinavia); in the 1070s, the Danish King was in Rome requesting Denmark to have its own particular diocese supervisor, and Adam's record of Harald's assumed transformation (and immersion of both him and his "little child" Sweyn, with Otto serving as Sweyn's adoptive parent) is trailed by the unambiguous case that "around then Denmark on this side of the ocean, which is called Jutland by the tenants, was partitioned into three wards and subjected to the priestly district of Hamburg."
As noted over, Harald's dad, Gorm the Old, had kicked the bucket in 958, and had been covered in a hill with numerous merchandise, after the agnostic practice. The hill itself was from c. 500 BCE, however Harald had it constructed higher over his dad's grave, and added a second hill toward the south. Hill building was a recently resuscitated custom in the tenth century, recognizably as an "engage old conventions even with Christian traditions spreading from Denmark's southern neighbors, the Germans."
After his change, around the 960s, Harald had his dad's body reburied in the congregation alongside the now purge hill, and raised one of the Jelling stones depicted previously.
Harald without a doubt claimed Christianity around then and added to its development, however with restricted accomplishment in Denmark and Norway.
Reign[]
Harald's kingdom (in red) and his vassals and allies (in yellow), as set forth in Heimskringla, Knytlinga Saga, and other medieval Scandinavian sources. - http://wikipedia.org
Amid his rule, Harald administered the remaking of the Jelling runic stones, and various other open works. Some trust these ventures were a path for him to solidify financial and military control of his nation. Ring forts were implicit five vital areas: Trelleborg on Zealand, Borrering in eastern Zealand (the inward development of this fortress is still yet to be built up), Nonnebakken on Funen, Fyrkat in Himmerland (northern Jutland) and Aggersborg close Limfjord. Every one of the five fortifications had comparative plans: "flawlessly round with entryways opening to the four corners of the earth, and a patio separated into four territories which held extensive houses set in a square pattern." A 6th ""Trelleborg"" of comparative configuration, situated at Borgeby, in Scania, has been dated to around 1000 and may likewise have been assembled by King Harald and a second post named Trelleborg is situated close to the cutting edge town of Trelleborg in Scania in present-day Sweden, however is of more established date and hence pre-dates the rule of Harald Bluetooth.
He developed the most seasoned known extension in southern Scandinavia, the 5 meters wide, 760 meters in length Ravninge Bridge at Ravninge glades.
While calm won all through the inside, he turned his energies to outside endeavors. He went to the assistance of Richard the Fearless of Normandy in 945 and 963, while his child vanquished Samland, and after the death of King Harald Greycloak of Norway, figured out how to compel the general population of that nation into impermanent oppression to himself.
The Norse sagas present Harald in a fairly negative light. He was constrained twice to submit to the maverick Swedish ruler Styrbjörn the Strong of the Jomsvikings-first by giving Styrbjörn an armada and his little girl Thyra, the second time by surrendering himself as prisoner, alongside yet another armada. At the point when Styrbjörn conveyed this armada to Uppsala to assert the throne of Sweden, Harald broke his promise and fled with his Danes to abstain from confronting the Swedish armed force at the Battle of Fýrisvellir.
As an outcome of Harald's armed force having lost to the Germans at the Danevirke in 974, he no more had control of Norway, and Germans settled once more into the outskirt region in the middle of Scandinavia and Germany. They were driven out of Denmark in 983 by a cooperation of Obodrite warriors and troops faithful to Harald, however before long, Harald was murdered battling off a resistance drove by his child Swein. He is accepted to have kicked the bucket in 986, albeit a few records claim 985 as his year of death.
From 1835 to 1977 it was wrongly trusted, that Harald requested the demise of the Haraldskær Woman, a bog body beforehand thought to be Gunnhild, Mother of Kings until radiocarbon dating demonstrated something.
Marriages and children[]
- Gyrid Olafsdottir, probably by 950.
- Thyra Haraldsdatter, married Styrbjörn the Strong
- Sweyn Forkbeard. Born about 960. Usually given as the son of Harald and Gyrid, though it is said in some of the older sagas that he was an illegitimate son.
- Haakon. Born in 961.
- Gunhilde. She married Pallig, Jarl and Ealdorman of Devonshire. It is thought that they both died in the St. Brice's Day massacre in November 1002.
- Thora (Tova) the daughter of Mistivir in 970. She raised the Sønder Vissing Runestone after her mother.