JELLING 965
This monk is an important part of Denmark's history.
He's going to meet the famous Viking king, Harald Bluetooth.
A meeting that will have significant effects not only on the population -
- but also consequences for us today.
The monk wants to convert Harald Bluetooth to Christianity.
But first he needs to show that God is so powerful -
- that he protects the faithful.
An absolutely crucial moment in Denmark's history.
The missionary Poppo's miracle converts Harald Bluetooth -
- so that he can now, with God's help, make Denmark into a Christian kingdom.
Harald Bluetooth's conversion is one of the many stories of the Viking Age.
An era so fascinating -
- that it put our country on the world map forever.
It's the story of how farmers transform into skilled seafarers -
- and become some of history's most fearsome pirates.
It's also the story of Viking kings who conquer England -
- and how our country becomes unified for the first time under one regent.
This is The Story of Denmark.
The story of how a country became a country -
- and a people a people.
It's a story of a nation that experienced both staggering greatness -
- and total decline.
And about how we became who we are today -
- about kings and queens -
- peasants and nobles -
- from the distant ice ages -
- to millennia forward.
This is our story.
Denmark has always been a mighty seafaring nation -
- and our common understanding of it is sometimes little more -
- than the story of the wild Vikings -
- with their magnificent ships, who went out into the world -
- and conquered it.
But what made them do it?
What suddenly made a small group from Europe's uncivilized fringes -
- capable of leaving so big an impression on their surroundings -
- that we and the rest of the world still marvel over it today?
Our story begins about 1300 years ago.
We're in the end of the Iron Age, near the start of the Viking Age.
The country doesn't have a name yet, and Denmark as a nation doesn't exist.
Petty kings have the power, and people live by working the soil -
- and by fishing.
People are farmers at this time.
They live in the country in villages.
The villagers live most often by the sea -
- so people can row along the coast to trade with one another.
And it's the same with Denmark's oldest town, Ribe -
- that lies well-protected by the marsh near the Ribe river.
The village chief lives in the main square -
- while the farmers and their families live close by in little mud houses.
It's a status-divided community. It's entirely clear -
- if you belong to the community's elite, the nobles -
- or you're an ordinary free farmer or are unlucky enough -
- to belong to the community's lowest classes, the thralls.
Life in this time is not easy. The infant mortality rate is high -
- and the Vikings rarely reach more than 35-40 years old -
- even if they eat a reasonably varied diet.
Out on the farms, they ate some really good porridge every day.
It stood bubbling over the fire, and then they put in a little pork -
- and they had a good mix to eat.
Right now, the farmer lives a quiet life with his family -
- and he has no idea about the revolution that awaits him -
- and the small farming communities here in the end of the Iron Age.
Because something is happening that in the long run -
- will make some of these farmers take up a more violent vocation.
We're at the cusp of the Viking Age.
Until about the year 700, Danes have kept to sailing along the coast.
But now they've begun to put large sails on their ships.
It gives speed, and it means they can travel much farther -
- over the open sea.
The sail is what creates the Viking Age. The sail is the Viking Age.
It's a change that's almost as profound -
- as the computer has been in our generation.
The sail means they can go farther -
- out into the open sea without being dependent on -
- having enough strength to row the ship.
It takes a whole year and wool from 200 sheep -
- to produce just one of these costly sails.
But the sail gives the Danish traders totally new possibilities.
Among other things, they can now trade with Norwegian merchants.
For the Norwegian merchant, reindeer antlers are waste from the hunt -
- but farther south in Ribe, he can make a good profit from them.
But the longer journeys make the sailors better at navigating -
- and in the foreign villages they get a look at the many riches -
- that soon will be sought-after goods.
793 is a landmark year.
Now, for the first time in history, there's evidence -
- Viking attacks took place.
It happens at a monastery on a little island on England's coast.
793, the attack on Lindisfarne.
It puts the Vikings in the history books.
The monastery is an easy, unprotected target for the Vikings.
It's a remote place without any established defenses.
And it can be plundered. There are great valuables there.
The Christian communities in England or Ireland or Scotland -
- could be warlike enough, but they respected the peace of the church.
The heathens didn't.
One of the treasures the Vikings brought home to Denmark -
- is a golden box that originates from a church or a monastery.
At the bottom of the box there are some runes:
"Ranvaik owns this box."
The box ended up in the home of a high-class Viking lady named Ranvaik.
The attack on Lindisfarne is violent.
It's said in an Old English chronicle -
- that the wild Vikings trampled on the saints' bones and destroyed God's house.
And it won't be the last time the Vikings go after Christian monasteries.
For the next 300 years, the two worlds will clash in events -
- that will change Denmark and the rest of the north forever.
It's hard to say what makes the Vikings raid -
- because it's going super well at home.
But there are some who want more.
The riches out there were enticing.
What enabled a nobleman to keep his manor -
- was that he gave gifts.
You could gain honor and show off -
- doing it this way. Also curiosity.
What's new out there? We've heard reports -
- about an exciting country. Let's go check it out.
It's the curiosity that people have always had, or have today.
The first plunderings are small raids with a few ships.
But after Lindisfarne monastery -
- the attacks are also directed at countries south of us.
From the start of the Viking Age, we see two different kinds of raids.
There are the small raids, which might be led by chiefs -
- that go out with a couple ships. The big raids are led by kings.
There could be over a hundred ships going out with one target in mind.
In the year 804, texts mention a Danish Viking warrior -
- by the name of Godfred.
At this time, the country is split and controlled by several small kings.
Godfred is one of them. And he becomes the first of many Viking kings -
- to put Denmark in the history books.
Godfred is mentioned in texts that weren't from Denmark.
So it's the enemy's take on who Godfred was.
But it's clear he's a strong power down in southern Jutland -
- and he helps defend Denmark in some border disputes.
The border disputes are between Godfred and the German Kaiser, Karl the Great -
- who, after becoming the sole ruler of France -
- sets a course to create a Christian, European empire.
It's said that in 804, Godfred's envoy meets up for a peace negotiation -
- with Karl the Great's people by the border in South Jutland -
- where the Danish king has just expanded the old defenses -
- the Danevirke.
The two kings have signed a treaty. We don't know exactly what about -
- but considering the power dynamic, it was likely about -
- how Denmark should surrender to the Christian faith.
But that doesn't happen.
Four years later, Godfred is still ravaging south of the border -
- on the north German coast.
And on the way home from one of his many raids -
- he decides to seriously challenge the powerful neighbor.
In 808, Godfred conquers the German trading city of Reric -
- whose citizens are Christian.
We know from French sources -
- that Godfred was violent -
- because he's mentioned as the 'Mad King'.
We get a first glimpse of the kings who will define the Viking Age.
But there's a whole lot about the Viking Age that we don't know.
After the conquest, Godfred destroys the whole city -
- and forces all the merchants to move to the new trading center -
- Hedeby.
Like Denmark's oldest city Ribe, Hedeby lies on the water.
Hedeby quickly becomes Scandinavia's biggest city -
- with around 5000 citizens.
In the city's marketplace, the merchants trade their goods.
People trade tools, clothes, or luxuries like jewelry -
- and hair accessories.
But during the Viking Age, people also begin to trade with silver coins.
The coins don't yet have a fixed value -
- but they're used based on weight, and they're broken in smaller pieces -
- when the whole coin isn't needed for payment. A so-called value measure.
In the Viking Age, we see for the first time the trading of goods -
- with the help of a value measure. It's a brilliant innovation.
They use something they know from Western Europe: coins.
But the Vikings have another value measure that is becoming very widespread -
- and that's silver, which is weighed with weights and scales.
They call it hack silver.
Coins and hack silver change the way -
- exchanges take place.
It's how market trading happens.
It's the foundation for our economy and trade today.
The coins with this Arabic design on the back have often traveled far -
- before they end up in the pocket of a merchant in Hedeby.
With coins, the traders can buy goods, and that gives them new opportunities.
Previously, they only produced things for their own use -
- but now a new era starts, where craftsmen specialize -
- and produce things only for the purpose of selling them.
The Viking Age's craftsmanship is incredibly refined.
It doesn't just apply to elegant, decorated objects like the Mammen Ax.
It also applies to totally ordinary everyday things.
The things made by craftsmen are of a higher quality.
But there's another craft that becomes the foundation for the Vikings' success -
- and the many conquests that the world is subjected to for the next 250 years.
It took a long time to build the ships, which in winter were decorated -
- and repaired by the most skilled craftsmen.
The Viking ships are slope-built.
It's called that when the planks overlap -
- and are put together with wooden or iron nails.
They had a not-too-deep keel -
- so they could go into waters where it wasn't especially deep.
On the biggest of the longships, 80-100 men could have been on board.
That's a significant force they could transport.
In the 800s, Danish men begin to seriously venture out.
Young farmers say goodbye to their families to become Vikings -
- and seek fortune and riches in foreign lands.
It was probably both the upper and lower classes who went out on the ships.
A rich man's son didn't sit at the oar when the winds calmed -
- but it was a time when they could make large fortunes -
- if they were good enough to survive on the battlefield.
The Vikings had a special war tactic.
When the ships neared land, the sail and mast were lowered -
- and in that way they could start an attack almost unnoticed.
They could show up out of nowhere and attack -
- land somewhere they had planned from the intelligence they were given -
- that said they weren't meeting a well-prepared enemy.
They didn't do it with compasses, but by observing the sun -
- at different times of the year, they got an idea of the cardinal directions.
The Vikings quickly become well-organized and excellent seafarers.
The ships could sail from Denmark to England in only three days.
In the first many years, the raids go overwhelming well -
- and as the treasures come home, more and more venture out.
One of the reasons the Vikings venture out is -
- because some noblemen would like to be kings -
- and by conquering lands in other places -
- they can found their own kingdoms.
There may have been many noblemen who wanted to be kings.
And it created a space for the conquests we see.
Run!
The Danish warriors were built differently than the foreign men.
An author describes the Vikings like so:
"I've never seen people with a more perfect physique."
In the small villages in our neighboring countries -
- the Vikings took whatever they wanted with violence and power.
The Viking Age is also a slave age. They have a slave society.
And the slaves are the unlucky ones from areas that the Vikings plundered.
Slaves had the worst reputation in the Viking age. They weren't free.
They couldn't represent themselves in the eyes of the law.
Slave work was grave digging and other hard, unpleasant jobs.
And as a slave, you're another man or woman's property.
You're at the level of all the other creatures on the farm.
You have no rights whatsoever.
Thralls are attractive goods. When the men are out traveling -
- there's use for helping hands on the farms at home.
It's very hard to say something about the population.
It's estimated that 10-25% of the population -
- live in slave-like conditions.
The men primarily raided in the warm months.
There were normally plunderings in the spring, summer, and early autumn -
- when the sea was navigable.
So they stayed home in winter and sailed again the next season.
The women took care of the whole family at home.
They secured their farms by allowing the women control.
It's said that if a man looks for work on a farm -
- and asks for the farmer, he'll find out -
- that it's the housewife that he should ask.
The Viking women enjoyed a high status in the community.
They had rights that women in history have rarely had.
The right to demand a divorce.
The Viking Age's women were strong. They were energetic -
- and they had power over their own inheritance and property.
And that's crucial to the Viking Age's success.
When both sexes do the heavy lifting -
- they can do twice the work.
When the men were home, they took part in the daily work.
And here they also cultivated their religion, the Nordic gods.
The Nordic religion doesn't have a holy book like other religions.
Some of the Nordic gods go back to the gods of the Romans.
Some of them go back to the Bronze Age. And some arrived -
- in the migration period alongside the Viking Age.
The godhead Odin was a war-and-death god.
And to ensure a successful raid, the Vikings made a special sacrifice -
- to him and the other gods before they went off.
Sacrifices may seem barbaric, but for the Viking Age people -
- they had the same logic as gift giving.
They gave the gods gifts to thank them for their kindness.
They can offer a weapon. They can offer food.
They can offer animals, and on special occasions they can also offer people.
Aside from the offerings, they also celebrated the gods with big parties.
Four times a year, the whole village took part in festivities -
- led by the local chief.
But the Vikings didn't just hold big offering rituals in Odin's name.
Much suggests -
- that the Nordic warriors also created other rituals.
There are graves in Gotland with people who filed grooves in their front teeth -
- to show that they belonged to the same group.
When they smiled at each other out in the world -
- they knew that it was someone from back home.
Showing that you belong to a group can be traced far back -
- in mankind's history.
The Vikings' harsh rituals are unique to Scandinavia -
- but this era is almost over.
Because most of Europe is now Christian -
- and it won't just look away while we practice heathen traditions.
In the middle of the 800s, the Vikings are ravaging all of Europe.
The bloodthirsty warriors go after the English in particular.
And now the Vikings choose a completely new war strategy.
Around 850, England is divided into several smaller kingdoms.
Wessex in the South, Northumbria in the north, Mercia in the middle -
- East Anglia to the east, and Wales farthest to the west.
Local kings are in conflict with one another -
- and are therefore vulnerable to the Vikings' attacks -
- which opens up new possibilities.
In the middle of the 800s, there's a change in Viking warfare.
Before, they primarily raided seasonally.
Spring, summer, and autumn, it was possible to sail -
- but there's a change of tactics.
They lead a huge army to England, not to plunder -
- but to capture land and create a new kingdom.
They set up a camp and overwinter in England with their army.
The large army lands in 865.
It consists of several smaller Viking fleets -
- that have joined together.
And in the coming years, the army chooses a totally new tactic.
Now they overwinter in England not just to plunder -
- but also to capture land.
In the Viking Age, land is the greatest wealth they can have.
It's great to have silver and treasures, but the best thing -
- is to own land that they can pass on to their families.
In 879, the Danish presence becomes so massive -
- that the English king, Alfred of Wessex, must form a treaty -
with the Danish Viking king Guthrum. The Danelaw -
- gives the Danes an area for themselves that is under Danish law.
Smeeton Westerby lies on the border between the Danish and English areas.
On one side of the main street was Smeeton -
- which is Old English for 'The Smithtown' -
- or 'Smedens By'.
A few hundred meters on the other side was the Danish settlement -
- Westerby, or simply, Vesterby.
So right here, the Danish Vikings lived side by side -
- with their English, Christian neighbors.
The English describe the Danelaw as an area -
- that covers a big part of northeastern England.
And the treaty sets clear conditions for how the two groups can trade -
- and live with one another.
But the treaty also reveals that the new neighborhood isn't problem-free.
The treaty says that trade should be allowed on the condition -
- that hostages be given as a pledge for peace.
So they held one another in check by exchanging important hostages -
- that they could kill if the other party didn't keep the peace.
Because everywhere in Europe that the Vikings had pillaged -
- they learned their lesson.
Cities like Paris, London, and Hamburg now strengthen their defenses -
- and by the beginning of the 900s -
- the Viking Age's first big wave of attacks has subsided.
There's no doubt the Vikings left their mark wherever they went.
And traces of them are still alive here in England -
- not least in the English language.
'Kniv', for example, becomes 'knief'. Later, 'knife'.
And 'æg' becomes...
... 'egg'.
And 'window'...
... comes simply from 'vindue'.
That's just three of the more than 600 concrete linguistic influences -
- from the Viking occupation over 1000 years ago -
- that live in the English language to this day.
The Danish men acquire such a taste for the new country -
- that many choose not to return home.
Many settle down as farmers and craftsmen -
- and to this day we find traces of DNA from the Vikings in the English people.
It's not just in England that we change things.
At the start of the 900s, there still isn't a unified Denmark -
- but now times are about to change.
In the area around Jelling, the Gorm clan has gained power.
And it's Gorm who will become the first king -
- in the line of kings that we know today.
Gorm the Elder is the oldest ancestor we know.
We don't know why Gorm the Elder becomes king.
Gorm the Elder is first mentioned in 936, when German writings say -
- that he had given the Archbishop of Hamburg a cold reception -
- when he visited Denmark.
Gorm is a king of the old faith, which his seat exemplifies -
- being built on the largest pagan symbol of all:
The ship.
This monument was recovered in 2013, and with its hundreds of white stones -
- the stone ship measures over 350 meters in length.
Now Gorm's son, Harald, who will later be nicknamed Bluetooth -
- is ready to lead Denmark into a whole new direction.
Harald buries his father here under the North Mound in 958-959.
He'll now continue Gorm's reign -
- and fortunately he's inherited his father's great talent for politics.
Harald wasn't known for his blue tooth in his time.
Harald Bluetooth is a nickname that he got later.
Maybe they called him "Harald Gorm's Son".
Harald Bluetooth is one of the Viking Age's most interesting kings.
In 958, many still believe in the Nordic gods.
And Harald also worshiped the same faith.
He honored his father in a true pagan way -
- with the large burial mound here in Jelling.
But now Harald's faith apparently wavers.
He's seen with his own eyes how the Christian faith -
- has brought wealth and power to princes and kings in the south.
For Harald, power was everything. If he lost to the German kaiser -
- he would have been killed on the battlefield -
- or else rotted in captivity somewhere else.
One idea grips Harald more than any other.
He wants to continue the dynasty that his father founded.
The Christian church has tolerated the largest Danish cities for years -
- and now pressure on Harald increases even more.
Because Kaiser Otto is tired of his hostile heathen neighbors to the north -
- he demands that the church have greater authority on Danish soil.
Harald has to decide -
- which way to lead Denmark.
By the help of a miracle, Harald is converted to Christianity -
- by the monk Poppo.
It's unlikely that Poppo's miracle made Harald become Christian.
The myth of Poppo is attributable to later Christian writers -
- who painted the story so that it would show -
- how superior the Christian faith was.
Harald just did the math -
- and concluded that Christianity couldn't be overcome -
- either on the battlefield or in the heart of the Danes.
And now he initiates what could be called -
- Danish history's first great political spin.
But Harald is under pressure. In Germany, Otto I reigns.
He's conquered a large part of Europe -
- and now he goes after our country in the north.
By voluntarily surrendering to the Christian faith -
- Harald will control the story of the Danes' change of faith -
- and it will appear as though he's shown the way.
At the same time, he deprives Otto of an excuse -
- to invade Denmark.
When Harald lets himself be baptized, he's playing a high-stakes game.
He breaks with some of the most traditional in his society -
- but he must have assessed that it could work.
And after his baptism, his being king a great many years -
- and getting quite extraordinary power show that he assessed well.
For more than 1000 years, it's stood as evidence of Harald's feat.
The Jelling Stone.
Weather and wind have left their mark -
- but we can still make out Harald's message to us.
Unlike earlier rune stones, the message here -
- is for the first time burned into the granite on horizontal lines -
- that read from left to right -
- exactly like the books of the Christians.
On that famous stone it says: "King Harald made these stones -
- for Gorm, his father, and Thyra, his mother.
The Harald who won all of Denmark and Norway -
- and made the Danes Christian."
And with the stone, the country also gets its name.
And for the first time, King Harald unifies the whole country -
- under one kingdom. Denmark is born.
The Jelling Stone is very special. It's the first royal monument we see.
The Jelling Stone is unparalleled as one of our most important relics -
- because Harald Bluetooth declares here that he's all of Denmark's king -
- and Norway as well. And if that wasn't enough, he made the Danes Christian.
So where there were many kings in the Viking Age that we know little about...
Right here, Harald leaves something to the rest of us -
- so that we have no doubt that he's the first Danish king -
- who introduced Christianity into all of Denmark.
The Jelling Stone also defines the royal line so that -
- from Gorm there's actually a direct line -
- to our royal family today. Historically and culturally, at least.
We can't know, of course, if there were any affairs.
Here on the stone's other side, we find the symbol of that power -
- Harald will use to tie the country together: the Christ figure.
But not the suffering, crucified figure that will later be so prominent.
No, it's an upright, strong, almost warrior-like Christ -
- that gets the Danish Vikings to adopt the new faith.
In Germany, something happens that has big consequences for Denmark.
Kaiser Otto dies, and his son Otto II assumes power.
Otto II becomes king in 973 -
- and takes over his father's large and militarily strong kingdom.
He's a young man who wants to prove his military power -
- so he initiates a very aggressive foreign policy.
Harald Bluetooth now starts one of Denmark's biggest demonstrations of power.
Harald builds fortifications unequaled in Denmark's history.
At least six majestic ring fortresses spread over the whole country -
- that at this time also includes Skåne.
Harald Bluetooth was challenged by Otto II.
German sources claim that Otto II was at war with Harald Bluetooth.
Harald needed to demonstrate his power to his people -
- and the fortresses may have been his means.
The ring fortresses exemplify the military power Harald has.
That he could construct structures with such great precision -
- spread throughout Denmark shows the control he has on the country.
The ring fortresses are designed and built with incredible precision.
The perfect circular wall reflected in the four doors -
- that are placed in the four cardinal directions.
And the two inner thoroughfares -
- split the courtyard into four identical parts.
And within each part, four longhouses form a perfect square.
The fortresses are inspired by earlier Dutch fortifications -
- but their tight symmetrical structure -
- together with the very particular Danish longhouses -
- gives them a unique form.
The long, curved walls and roofs of the houses -
- give them their characteristic form.
And again, they're inspired by the recurring symbol of the times: the ship.
The ring fortresses and the other fortifications -
- were constructed in a relatively short period -
- from around 975 to 981 -
- and required an almost incomprehensible amount of work.
The ring fortress by Trelleborg alone has around 8000 full-grown oak trunks -
- on its conscience.
But it seems as if the great work is wasted.
Just as soon as the fortresses show up, they disappear from history.
Less than ten years after they're built, they're burned down.
And Harald's then world-famous ring fortresses were never mentioned -
- in the historical writings of the time.
It's as if they were never built.
It's first, when they emerge from the ground 1000 years later -
- that we discover these visionary building projects -
- existed at all.
In 983, Otto II dies during a campaign in Italy -
- and his heir is a three-year-old child.
With that, the threat against Harald Bluetooth's kingdom disappeared.
That could be one of the reasons the ring fortresses were abandoned.
With Otto II's death, the threat against Denmark diminishes -
- and abroad, the Vikings continue their raids.
Now the Danish Vikings work together with other Scandinavian Vikings -
- in just a single raid.
Several thousand Danish Vikings are killed in the great battle -
- but it doesn't stop there -
- because later comes a definitive battle against England.
In Denmark, King Harald runs into big problems.
His own son, Svend, tries to overthrow him.
Svend!
Again no one knows exactly what happened, but a saga says -
- that Svend has his father killed by a sharpshooter -
- who shoots Harald Bluetooth with an arrow in the back.
- so the arrow pierces his mouth. Impaled like a suckling pig.
They disagree about something, and Svend goes to war with his father -
- and is also possibly behind the murder of his father.
He's an uncompromising king who wants power above all -
- and being raised in a warrior society has taught him -
- that if he wants to have power, then he has to take it.
Svend Tveskæg is one of the Viking Age's greatest warrior kings -
- whose achievements overshadow all those of the previous Viking kings.
Svend leads a series of very lucky campaigns in England.
Svend Tveskæg spends the majority of his reign waging war on England -
- and now he begins one of the most organized raids ever seen.
In the last decade of the 900s, something new again happens.
The fleets and the raids grow to an extent we haven't seen before.
But Svend Tveskæg's people don't just plunder. Year after year -
- Svend collects the Danegeld tribute from the English kings.
One could have called it the Viking Age's protection money.
A payment is around 48,000 pounds of silver. If we convert that -
- today you could buy 250,000 cows with that amount.
It's quite a serious amount we're talking about.
The English king, Ethelred the Unready -
- becomes humiliated by every payment of the Danegeld -
- and finally he makes a desperate decision.
November 13, 1002, Ethelred the Unready orders -
- all the Danes in England beheaded as revenge for the many attacks.
Here in a storage room in an old Christian church -
- are the remains of some of the Vikings who were executed -
- in Ethelred's time.
In this church, there are 54 Viking skeletons -
- but there are only 51 skulls.
It's assumed that the last three heads were put on stakes -
- and placed in a central place to frighten and warn others.
In each of these boxes, there's a Viking.
But it's only recently, via DNA analysis -
- that we became sure that the skeletons in the boxes -
- are Vikings.
Whether the Vikings here died as a result of Ethelred's command -
- to execute all the Danes, or if they were captured and killed -
- in connection with a raid, we don't know.
But researchers can see by the bones that it was namely young men -
- some of them just teenagers -
- and that their deaths were violent.
Several places on this skeleton are marked by sword or ax blows -
- which could suggest that the English had to cut many times -
- to finish the executions.
It wasn't pretty.
It's possible Ethelred believed that the mass executions -
- could have frightened the Vikings...
...but he was wrong.
Undaunted, Svend Tveskæg continues his raids -
- to collect the Danegeld.
And when Svend, with his son Knud by his side in 1013 -
- returns to England, it's to conquer the English throne.
And it's a success. Svend Tveskæg becomes king of England.
Svend Tveskæg's time on the English throne is short -
- because the year after the conquest of the English regions in 1013 -
- he suddenly dies. Maybe of illness. Maybe by poisoning.
We don't know for sure.
But following that, his eighteen-year-old son Knud -
- will show that he has grit.
Svend Tveskæg was in a league of his own as king of Denmark and England.
But he's actually surpassed by his son, Knud the Great -
- who in the course of a few years succeeds in consolidating the crown -
- over Denmark and England.
Knud the Great is maybe the most politically successful king in our history.
With the new king Knud at the helm, Denmark has never been stronger.
Denmark, England, and Norway are now unified under one king -
- a unified North Sea empire.
Nothing lasts forever.
And after Knud's death in 1035, the political power crumbles -
- in the hands of his less gifted sons.
The North Sea empire's days are over.
250 years later, the Viking Age is nearing an end.
And those Vikings that survived can return to their families.
The Viking Age gave Denmark the place in the world we have today -
- a place that's not just on the fringes of the continent.
The introduction of Christianity is fundamental to the historical state.
The whole Christian ethos still permeates our society today.
If there's one thing we took with us from the Viking Age, it's Christian thought.
At the start of a new millennium, the Vikings have reached far and wide.
Their desire for war and sense for trade have brought them far into the world.
From the Far East, over the whole European continent -
- to the new settlements on the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland.
Even to America's coast.
About 500 years before Columbus, the Vikings discover the New World.
The Danes learned that it's possible to conquer new countries -
- to discover new areas.
Denmark becomes a player in Europe, and you could say -
- that the Viking Age lays the foundation -
- for Denmark to become the maritime nation that we see -
- up through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and into today.
The next chapter in The Story of Denmark.
In the Early Middle Ages, civil war rages -
- but in the middle of the chaos, a strong king restores peace and order.
Denmark blooms, and the Church's message spreads all over the country.
During the 1100s and 1200s, several thousand churches are built -
- many of which still stand today.
It's also now that Saxo writes the history of Denmark.
We get our first laws, and our flag falls from the sky.