See Also: Sweyn I(encyclopedia)

Sweyn I (sh)




or Sweyn Forkbeard

died Feb. 3, 1014, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Eng.

King of Denmark (งใ 987-1014) and Viking conqueror of Norway and England.

He rebelled against his father, Harald Bluetooth (987), chasing him from Denmark. With Swedish and Norwegian allies, he defeated Olaf I Tryggvason (งใ 1000), becoming virtual ruler of Norway. Sweyn led raids on England in 1003-04 and became king after a successful military campaign in 1013, forcing Ethelred II into exile. Norway reverted to Norwegian rule after Sweyn's death, but the Anglo-Danish empire continued under his son Canute the Great.