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The Unification of the Country & Royal Power
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ABOUT DENMARK
History
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
Trade & Towns
The Introduction of Christianity
The Structure of the Peasant Society
Farming
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The Unification of the Country & Royal Power
As early as 700, Denmark was ruled by a stronger royal power than had existed before; a king named Angantyr (Ongendus) can probably be linked to Ribe where a regulated seasonal trading centre was established just after 700.
Around 700, the Merovingian domination crumbled and the outlying provinces of the Frankish empire gained their independence. This paved the way for a Danish display of power in the southern parts of the North Sea area with Saxony and Friesland, and Ribe became Denmark’s first international trading centre.
When Charlemagne and the Carolingians attempted to re-establish the power of the Franks around 800, it resulted in clashes with the Danes under Godfred; he would neither relinquish his power in Friesland and amongst the Abodrites, nor renounce the tributary income which he had obtained during the weakness of the Merovingians.
In order to safeguard this income, he moved the traders from the Abodrite area to Hedeby, a town he had recently established in what is now North Germany, and fortified Denmark’s southern border with a new rampart. Godfred’s battles with Charlemagne were not just simple poaching on his preserves, but clashes between two empire builders.
Godfred was murdered in 810 and after his death, several branches of the royal family fought for power. The power struggle often forced those involved into exile, and Denmark’s rulers were constantly under threat from rivals who returned home with booty from Viking raids or, like Harald Klak, with reinforcements from abroad.
After 827, Horik I, son of Godfred, emerged as sole ruler until a bloody civil war in the middle of the 9th century killed both him and many others.
Niels Lund, Gyldendal Leksikon
Centralised Power Structure
Domestic affairs are obscure until some time around 900, when a dynasty which is thought to have returned from Sweden seized power.
