Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- PART I THE GEOGRAPHY AND PREHISTORY OF SCANDINAVIA
- PART II FROM VIKINGS TO KINGS
- 5 The Viking expansion
- 6 Viking culture
- 7 Scandinavia enters Christian Europe
- 8 Early political organisation
- (a) Introductory survey
- (b) The making of the Danish kingdom
- (c) The early unification of Norway
- (d) The Norse island communities of the Western Ocean
- (e) Kings and provinces in Sweden
- PART III MATERIAL GROWTH (to c. 1350)
- PART IV THE HIGH MEDIEVAL KINGDOMS
- PART V HIGH AND LATE MEDIEVAL CULTURE
- PART VI LATE MEDIEVAL SOCIETY (c. 1350–1520)
- PART VII SCANDINAVIAN UNIONS (1319–1520)
- Conclusion
- Select bibliography: primary sources, general surveys and secondary works arranged by part
- Index
- Plate Section"
- References
(b) - The making of the Danish kingdom
from 8 - Early political organisation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
Edited by
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- PART I THE GEOGRAPHY AND PREHISTORY OF SCANDINAVIA
- PART II FROM VIKINGS TO KINGS
- 5 The Viking expansion
- 6 Viking culture
- 7 Scandinavia enters Christian Europe
- 8 Early political organisation
- (a) Introductory survey
- (b) The making of the Danish kingdom
- (c) The early unification of Norway
- (d) The Norse island communities of the Western Ocean
- (e) Kings and provinces in Sweden
- PART III MATERIAL GROWTH (to c. 1350)
- PART IV THE HIGH MEDIEVAL KINGDOMS
- PART V HIGH AND LATE MEDIEVAL CULTURE
- PART VI LATE MEDIEVAL SOCIETY (c. 1350–1520)
- PART VII SCANDINAVIAN UNIONS (1319–1520)
- Conclusion
- Select bibliography: primary sources, general surveys and secondary works arranged by part
- Index
- Plate Section"
- References
Summary
Traditionally, the two royal rune stones at Jelling (see Chapter 6) mark the beginning of Danish history. The smaller one bears the inscription ‘King Gorm made this monument in honour of his wife, Tyre, the pride of Denmark’. The larger one relates that ‘King Harald ordered these monuments to be made in honour of his father, Gorm, and his mother, Tyre – that Harald who won for himself all Denmark, and Norway, and made the Danes Christian’.
Exact dating of runes is rarely possible, but on the basis of the royal names, known from foreign written sources, the Jelling inscriptions have been dated to the second half of the tenth century. They present the first two generations of the royal dynasty that has reigned in Denmark ever since. In the ninth and tenth centuries the title of konungr (king) could be used by several petty rulers at the same time but on the Jelling stone it is reserved for the single ruler of the whole of Denmark and at least part of Norway.
In the country itself the name of Denmark (tanmaurk, modern Danish Danmark) first occurs on the Jelling stones. However, Denamearc was already known to the Norwegian magnate Ohthere (Ottar) who visited King Alfred in England in about 890, and shortly afterwards Abbot Regino of Prüm (d. 915) mentions the name of Denimerca in his Chronica. The name consists of two parts: ‘Dan’ designates the people, the Danes (OD danir), whereas ‘mark’ has several meanings. One of them, ‘borderland’, would seem to fit the situation of the country at that time, though it is uncertain which border is meant.
Keywords
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- The Cambridge History of Scandinavia , pp. 168 - 183Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003
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