Sweyn's Daughter, Estrid

Estrid Svensdatter, daughter of Sweyn Forkbeard and sister of Cnut, was born c.990 and lived at least until 1057. We do not know about her early life, and there is a great deal of speculation about who her mother was.

One story is that she was the daughter of Sigrid the Haughty, the wife of King Eric the Victorious of Sweden. After Eric's death Sigrid married Sweyn. Other stories about Sweyn say his wife was a Polish princess, Świętosława, the daughter of Duke Mieszko I of Poland.

If she were the daughter of Sigrid, it would make her the sister of Olof Skötkonung. Olof, also called Olof the Swede, became King of Sweden. When Estrid's son, Sweyn II, married Gunnhildr Sveinsdóttir, Pope Leo IX annulled it on the grounds of consanguinity. Gunnhildr was the maternal granddaughter of Olof Skötkonung, whose mother we are certain was Sigrid. This is the anecdotal evidence that Sigrid was her mother.

When Sweyn Forkbeard died in 1014, Estrid came under the guardianship of her brother, King Cnut. She had at least three marriages proposed and/or contracted, the order of which is uncertain because they are all mentioned in different sagas and histories. There is no definitive history written of her life by contemporaries.

One marriage supposedly was to a Kievan Rus son of either Grand Prince Vladimir the Great or Yaroslav the Wise, making her a Rus princess. Whomever it was, that prince died shortly after. She seems to have been, married to a Duke of Normandy, either Richard II or his son, Robert I (depending on which chronicler you read), but these seem unlikely, and most Western European chroniclers do not mention this, or they mention it as very short-lived with no children.

The longer-lasting union seems got have been with Ulf Thorgilsson (also called Ulf Jarl), a Danish earl. Their children were Sweyn II Estridsson, Beorn Estridsson, and Asbjørn Estridsson. 

Ulf was a trusted earl, and Cnut even gave his son, Harthacnut, to Ulf and Astrid to raise. Unfortunately, Cnut and Ulf had a falling out, and Ulf was killed, apparently with Cnut's blessing. (I wrote about it here.)

Although Estrid had not been a consort to a king, during the reign of her son Sweyn she was referred to as dronning, which means "queen." She was also known as Estrith, and sometimes as Margaret. We do not know when she died, but it was recorded that Bishop William of Roskilde officiated at her funeral. Since he was bishop from 1057 to 1073, she must have died during those years.

Her son Sweyn II became King of Denmark, and it is he that we will talk about tomorrow.

Sweyn Invades

It may well have been news of the wholesale slaughter of Danes in 1002 that was ordered by King Æthelred that motivated Sweyn Forkbeard to invade England. The St. Brice's Day Massacre is said to have killed Sweyn's sister Gunhilde and her husband, Pallig.

According to John of Wallingford, a Benedictine monk in the early 13th century, Sweyn was behind invasions between 1002 and 1012, many of which were commanded by Thorkell the Tall. Despite the massacre, an apparent arrangement between Sweyn and Duke Richard II of Normandy to sell Sweyn's plunder in Normandy suggests that one reason for invasion was, as always, loot. Of course the Danes were often bought off with Danegeld, and Sweyn accumulated a lot of it in those invasion years.

Sweyn is said to have personally led an invasion force in 1013, accompanied by Cnut. According to the Peterborough Chronicle:

before the month of August came king Swein with his fleet to Sandwich. He went very quickly about East Anglia into the Humber's mouth, and so upward along the Trent till he came to Gainsborough. Earl Uchtred and all Northumbria quickly bowed to him, as did all the people of the Kingdom of Lindsey, then the people of the Five Boroughs. He was given hostages from each shire. When he understood that all the people had submitted to him, he bade that his force should be provisioned and horsed; he went south with the main part of the invasion force, while some of the invasion force, as well as the hostages, were with his son Cnut. After he came over Watling Street, they went to Oxford, and the town-dwellers soon bowed to him, and gave hostages. From there they went to Winchester, and the people did the same, then eastward to London.

London resisted, partly because by then they had Danish help from Thorkell the Tall, who had defected, with many men and ships loyal to him, because he objected to the stoning of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Ælfheah. Sweyn then went to Bath and other locations where they all surrendered. London soon followed, fearing how severe his revenge would be if they continued to resist.

With the capitulation of London, Æthelred went to the Isle of Wight and sent his sons to Normandy. Sweyn started to manage his new kingdom, but he died five weeks later, on 3 February 1014. His body was embalmed and returned to Denmark for burial.

His position in England was taken over by Cnut, of whom much has been said. Who has never been mentioned is Sweyn's daughter, Estrid, who lived a long and not-dull life. Let's talk about her next time.