Sandwich Viking Raid 997
Who Fought
History & Significance
Swein Forkbeard (died 3 February 1014) was King of Denmark from c. 986 and briefly King of England from December 1013. He was also overlord of Norway c. 986 – c. 994 and from c. 1000. He married the sister of Boleslaw, ruler of Poland, and had three known children by her: King Harald II of Denmark, King Cnut of England, and Estrid, the mother of Sweyn Estridsson, who became king of Denmark in 1047. Swein also had a daughter by an earlier liaison, Gytha, whose son Hakon Eriksson was born in 998.
Around 986 Swein revolted against his father, King Harald Bluetooth, and seized the throne of Denmark. Harald was driven into exile and died shortly afterwards. In 992 or 993 Swein defeated an invasion by Erik, King of the Svear (a people in eastern Sweden). Swein probably became overlord of the Svear and Erik died in the war or soon afterwards. In 994 Swein raided England together with the Norwegian warlord, Olaf Tryggvason, until they were paid off by a tribute of 16,000 pounds. Swein had inherited the overlordship of Norway from his father, but Olaf challenged Swein's control and was recognised by many Norwegian magnates as king. In 999 or 1000, Swein defeated Olaf at the naval Battle of Svold; Olaf was killed in the battle and Swein recovered control of Norway. Swein returned to England in 1003 and ravaged until 1005, when a major famine forced him to return to Denmark.
Swein is not known to have returned to England until 1013, when he invaded intent on conquest and seizure of the English throne. By December he had achieved full control and was acknowledged as king. After celebrating Christmas on the Isle of Wight, Æthelred the Unready, the Anglo-Saxon king of England, fled to his brother-in-law in Normandy. Swein's reign was very brief as he died on 3 February 1014.
Harald Bluetooth had converted to Christianity, and Swein carried on his pro-Christian policies, although historians disagree whether his support was motivated by religious devotion or political calculation. He is praised by historians as a great Viking warrior and an able king.
Very little is definitely known about Swein's life. Most accounts have been based on Adam of Bremen's Deeds of the Bishops of Hamburg, which dates to the 1070s. The historian Peter Sawyer states that Adam was hostile to Swein and there is much which is clearly false in his account: "Adam denigrated Swein because the latter neither recognized the German emperor as his overlord nor acknowledged the ecclesiastical authority of the archbishop of Hamburg–Bremen, which in Adam's eyes was tantamount to paganism." Other historians, such as Gwyn Jones and the Danish Niels Lund, also regard Adam as very unreliable. Adam claimed that Swein apostasised and persecuted the church, and as punishment by God he was defeated by King Erik of Sweden and spent fourteen years in exile in Scotland. Lund comments: "Adam invented his story to serve homiletic purposes rather than historical truth". The chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg, who was a contemporary of Swein, was also hostile to him.
The ground they fought on
The site of Sandwich Viking Raid 997 lies on Thanet Sand Formation, bedrock that formed in the Thanetian. The rock here is sand, silt and clay.
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- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, entry for A.D. 997 (Avalon Project, Yale Law School) · Yale Law School Avalon Project
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, entry for A.D. 993 (Olaf Tryggvason's fleet at Staines, Sandwich, Ipswich, Maldon) · Avalon Project / general ASC translations
- Swein Forkbeard - Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org