Sweyn Forkbeard was king of Denmark and a major Viking ruler who fought for control of Norway and repeatedly invaded England. In 1013 he drove Æthelred the Unready into exile and was accepted as king of England, but died only weeks later, leaving his son Cnut to renew the conquest.
Sweyn I of Denmark also held the offices or ranks of monarch of Denmark, monarch of England, and Monarch of Norway. Sweyn I of Denmark belonged to the House of Knýtlinga and operated within Kingdom of Denmark. Sweyn I of Denmark was born in Denmark and died in Gainsborough.
Griff Hosker’s The Dragon Sword places Sweyn Forkbeard behind the clan warfare that supports his ambitions against Norway and, ultimately, England, while Blood Sword makes his attempt to build a Danish kingdom across the North Sea central to Sven Saxon Sword’s service. Cecelia Holland’s Kings of the North shows Sweyn’s conquest of England through Raef’s divided loyalties to the Danish royal family and to English allies. Peter Gibbons’ Brothers of the Sword presents Sweyn and Olaf Tryggvason as leaders of the Viking pressure that forces Byrhtnoth to defend an under-supported English kingdom. In Gibbons’ Death of a Kingdom, Sweyn’s growing ambitions and Thorkell the Tall’s campaigning push England towards the crisis that will end Æthelred’s effective control.
