Thyra (Old Norse: Þyri or Þyre) was the wife of King Gorm the Old of Denmark, and one of the first queens of Denmark widely believed by scholars to be historical rather than legendary. She is presented in medieval sources as a wise and powerful woman who ordered the building or fortification of the Danevirke, consistent with her commemoration on multiple Viking Agerunestones. These include those at Jelling which was the seat of power for her dynasty.
Although her existence is documented in Viking Age runic inscriptions, very little is know about Thyra with certainty as no other contemporary sources about her survive.[1] Much of her story is pieced together through 12th and 13th century sources that broadly disagree with one another, such as Icelandic sagas and writings of the medieval historians Saxo Grammaticus and Sven Aggesen. When she was born and became queen is unclear, however, she likely ruled until her death in the middle of the 10th century. Historians widely agree that she and Gorm were the parents of Harald Bluetooth and likely also Canute. The Historia Norwegiæ additionally claims that they had a daughter, Gunnhild, Mother of Kings, though this is less certain.
Name
Thyra's name is attested in Old Norse as Þyri and Þyre and has been alternatively anglicised as Thorvi and Thyre.[2][3][4]
The Jelling 1 stone, commissioned in honour of Thyra by her husband after her death refers to her as Danmarkar bót, translating as "Denmark's adornment", "strength", "salvation" or "remedy".[5][6] It has been further argued that the words Danmarkar bót instead refer to Gorm, with Thyra's importance being a later innovation by medieval writers, though this is not the scholarly consensus.[5][7] This term is also used to describe her in Saga Hálfdanar svarta as Danmarkar bótar (sometimes anglicised as "Dannebod").[2]
Thyra's parentage is unclear. Accounts produced by medieval historians and in Icelandic sagas during the 12th and 13th centuries disagree on her origins, variously describing her as the daughter of an English king, the daughter of an earl of Jutland, or a German subject.[8]
In the Gesta Danorum, Saxo Grammaticus describes her as the daughter of the English king Ethelred.[5][9] This king has typically been identified as Æthelred I of Wessex, though alternatives include Edward the Elder.[10] According to Saxo, Thyra only agreed to marry Gorm on the condition that she be granted Denmark as a morning gift.[1] If Thyra was actually the daughter of Æthelred, the invasion of England by Sweyn Forkbeard could be more accurately depicted as a succession crisis, with the descendants of Thyra having a stronger claim to the throne than the children of Alfred the Great.[5][11]
An alternative proposal given by accounts such as Heimskringla and Jómsvíkinga saga is that her father was Klak Harald, an earl who ruled over a region in the area around Jutland. Heimskringla further says that Thyra's sister was Þorní, the wife of Sigurðr hjörtr and grandmother of Harald Fairhair.[12] Based on the account in Jómsvíkinga saga, it has been proposed that Thyra was born around 806-812 CE and married Gorm around 825 CE. Jómsvíkinga saga further describes Thyra as having two sons with Gorm, Canute and Harald and that Harald eventually killed Canute. It has been noted though that Klak Harald died in 846 CE, while Harald Bluetooth died around 986 CE. Based on other dating such as the possible birth years of Thyra's other children, it has been argued that Thyra, the wife of Gorm the Old, could not have been the daughter of Klak Harald, with the lengths of time between her children's births being too great.[13]
According to Sven Aggesen, Thyra was or German origin and her marriage to Gorm had been arranged by the German emperor to whom Gorm owed a large tribute. Having installed Thyra as Gorm's wife, she was to collect the tribute for the emperor. Aggesen claims that Thyra refused to pay the emperor, heroically declaring that the Danes were no longer a tributary to the Kingdom of Germany.[1]
Queen of Denmark
The Læborg stone, likely commemorating Queen Thyra, and depicting two Thor's hammers
Marriage and children with Gorm the Old
Little is known concretely about Thyra's role as queen consort of Denmark, nor the circumstances of her marriage to Gorm and their children. Gorm became king around 936 CE, however it is unknown if he was already married to Thyra, and it is not known when she became queen.[5] Based on the prominence of Thyra seen in the runestone record, it has been proposed that Thyra may have been of the pre-existing royal line and that Gorm became king through marriage with her.[6]
Historians widely agree that she and Gorm were the parents of Harald Bluetooth, who commissioned the Jelling 2 runestone in their honour, and to a lesser extent it is agreed that they also had a son called Canute.[5][14] The Historia Norwegiæ additionally claims that they had a daughter, Gunnhild, Mother of Kings, though this is not corroborated by any other evidence.[15] Further details of her marriage and children are provided in the Gesta Danorum and the Jómsvíkinga saga, among other medieval sources. However, these sources are subject to great scrutiny and do not provide a consensus on her life.
The Jelling 2 stone, commissioned by Harald Bluetooth in honour of his parents, Thyra and Gorm the Old.
Gesta Danorum
The Gesta Danorum claims that Thyra stood out as a serious and cunning woman and said that she would not marry Gorm until she had all of Denmark as her dowry. When this was agreed, she was betrothed to him but asked him not to have sex with her when they shared a bed for the first three nights until she had had a vision that their marriage would go well. Gorm agreed and laid a drawn sword between them in the bed, and at night he dreamed that a large bird and a smaller one flew out of his wife's womb and flew up into the sky and sat on each of his hands. Again they flew off and came back but the third time when they flew away, only the smaller bird came back and its wings were covered in blood. At this, Gorm woke and cried out, telling his vision to his servants and Thyra took it to mean that they would have children together. She later gave birth to Canute and Harald.[16]
Jómsvíkinga saga
According to Jómsvíkinga saga, before Thyra married Gorm, she was already working closely with Klak Harald in the running of his kingdom. Gorm at the time was ruling a kingdom in the north of Jutland and asked her for marriage and threatened to take her by force if she did not go willingly. Neither accepting nor rejecting her offer, she told him that to work out if they would have a happy marriage, he had to build a house in a wood that could fit only one bed and to sleep there alone for three nights, telling her what dreams he had. Gorm did this, setting his men to watch the house and had three dreams. In the first dream, three white boars came out of the sea, fed on the grass, and went back to the sea. In the next, three red boars with large tusks came out of the sea, and did the same. In the third dream, three black boars with even larger tusks did the same, but when they returned to the sea, there was such a loud rush of the waves returning to the land that he thought the noise could be heard throughout Denmark.[17]
Thyra's interpretation was that the three white boars represented three very cold, snowy winters that would harm crops. The red boars were interpreted to mean that three mild winters would follow, while the black boars meant there would be wars in the land. The fact that all of the boars went back into the sea showed that their effects would not be long-lasting. The loud noise as the waves of the sea rolled back on the Danish shores signified that mighty men would come to the land and Gorm's relations would be drawn into the wars that would follow. She said that had he dreamed of the black boars and the rushing waves the first night, she would not have married him, but since she would be available to provide advice as queen, there would be little injury from the wars foretold.[17]
Aggesen and Saxo Grammaticus record that Thyra was a wise and steadfast queen who ordered the building of the Danevirke, a system of fortifications built to protect Denmark from invaders from the south.[5] According to Aggesen, Thyra ordered the construction of the Danevirke as part of her plan to end Denmark's role as a tributary to the Kingdom of Germany. She is reported to have deceived the German emperor into believing that the fortifications she was constructing on the border were to protect Germany from a invasion from her husband Gorm.[1] The Historia Norwegiæ further attests to Thyra's wisdom, contrasting her astuteness with the foolishness of Gorm.[15]
The first phase of construction has been shown to predate Thyra's reign, with some trees in the fortification having been felled in 737 CE, however the defences were extended significantly several times until the 12th-century CE.[14][18][19][20]
Death and burial
Thyras Høj, a barrow at Jelling, traditionally identified as the grave of Queen Thyra.[21]
The northern howe at Jelling, the seat of power for Gorm's dynasty, is traditionally known as Thyras Høj ("Thyra's mound"), with the southern as Gorm's, although when excavated, no evidence of a body was found in it. Wooden artefacts from the howe have however been dated by tree-ring analysis to 959-960 CE which would put this as the latest date for Thyra's death if it is indeed her grave.[5][21][22]
It has been proposed that her burial in the larger, northern barrow is consistent with the idea of her as a prominent woman who may have been even more powerful than her husband Gorm.[5]
Gorm died around 963 CE and while Saxo records in Gesta Danorum that Thyra died after her husband, it is typically believed that Thyra died before Gorm due to the Jelling 1 stone which he raised to commemorate her.[23][24]
Runestones
Along with two runestones at the royal site of Jelling dating to the mid 10th century CE, the name Thyra is recorded on five more from Viking Age Denmark - Laeborg (DR 26), Bække 1 and 2 (DR 29 and 30), Horne (DR 34) and Randbøl (DR 40). Although all seven stones reference a woman called Thyra, it has been debated whether they refer to the same person.[5]
It has been proposed however, based on analysis of factors such as groove depth, rune shape and spelling, that a single runecarver named Ravnunge-Tue (who is one of the earliest known Western European artisans to have carved his name on his work as the maker) wrote the inscriptions both on the Læborg and Jelling 2 stones, while another individual carved the Horne, Bække and possibly the Randbøl stones. From this, it has been argued that the Jelling stones, the Læborg stone and Bække 1 commemorate the same woman named Thyra. If correct, she would be recorded on at least four runestones - the most for anyone in Viking Age Denmark, exceeding both Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth. Following this, it has been suggested that she was either one of the individuals or even the leading figure who drove the assembly of the Danish kingdom.[5]
Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. (2015). Gesta Danorum: The History of the Danes. Translated by Fisher, Peter. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN9780198205234.
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