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The King's Income & the Size of the Kingdom
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ABOUT DENMARK
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The Viking Age
The Unification of the Country & Royal Power
Centralised Power Structure
The King's Income & the Size of the Kingdom
The Viking Expeditions
The Frankish Empire, England & Ireland
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The Introduction of Christianity
The Structure of the Peasant Society
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The King's Income & the Size of the Kingdom
At a very early stage, the king received an income from trade and probably also from mintage. Sceattas may have been coined at Ribe in the 720s, and Danish coins were also minted during the reigns of Horik I and Harald Bluetooth. During the reign of Knud the Great (Knud II), there were mints in several places around the country.
The area acquired by Denmark during the Viking Age lasted more or less during the Middle Ages. Of all the Scandinavian countries, Denmark had the largest population living in the smallest area.
Southern Norway was considered part of the Danish kingdom, and the Danish influence in Norway was so strong that Norwegian chieftains only managed to gain control of larger parts of Norway during Danish periods of weakness.
Sweden was united even later than that, and the Danes exerted a strong influence both during the Viking Age and the following centuries.
Niels Lund, Gyldendal Leksikon
The Viking Expeditions
The Viking expeditions which, from c. 800, made the Scandinavians known and feared in large parts of Europe, varied from war between states to interference in each other’s affairs and coastal raids.
