page_title: Monarchy of Denmark
section_title: Early kingdom
hierarchical_section_title: Monarchy of Denmark / History / Early kingdom
caption_attribution_description: Dansk: Foto af Roberto Fortuna 2012
context_page_description: The Monarchy of Denmark, colloquially known as the Danish Monarchy, is a constitutional institution and a historic office of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom includes Denmark proper, as well as the autonomous countries of the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The Kingdom of Denmark was already consolidated in the 8th century, whose rulers are consistently referred to in Frankish sources as "kings". Under the rule of King Gudfred in 803 the Kingdom may have included all the major provinces of medieval Denmark.
  The current unified Kingdom of Denmark was founded or re-united by the Viking kings Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth in the 10th century. Originally an elective monarchy, it became hereditary only in the 17th century during the reign of Frederick III. A decisive transition to a constitutional monarchy occurred in 1849 with the writing of the first Constitution. The current Royal House is a branch of the princely family of Glücksburg, originally from Schleswig-Holstein in modern-day Germany, the same royal house as the Norwegian and former Greek royal families.
context_section_description: The Danish monarchy is over 1200 years old, founded in the 8th century (or earlier). The line of kings of the modern kingdom of Denmark can be traced back to Harthacnut father of Gorm the Old (Old Norse: Gormr gamli, Danish: Gorm den gamle), who reigned in the early 10th century. The kingdom itself though is probably a couple of hundred years older than that.
  The Danes were united (or more likely reunited) and officially Christianized in 965 CE by Harald Bluetooth, the story of which is recorded on the Jelling stones. The exact extent of Harald's kingdom is unknown, although it is reasonable to believe that it stretched from the defensive line of Dannevirke, including the Viking city of Hedeby, across Jutland, the Danish isles and into southern present day Sweden; Scania and perhaps Halland. Furthermore, the Jelling stones attests that Harald had also "won" Norway. The son of Harald, Sweyn Forkbeard, mounted a series of wars of conquest against England, which was completed by Sweyn's son Cnut the Great by the middle of the eleventh century. The reign of Cnut represented the peak of the Danish Viking age; his North Sea Empire included England (1016), Denmark (1018), Norway (1028) and held strong influence over the north-eastern coast of Germany.
  The last monarch descended from Valdemar IV, Christopher III of Denmark, died in 1448. Count Christian of Oldenburg, descendant of Sophia, the daughter of Valdemar IV's aunt Richeza of Denmark, Lady of Werle, who was the daughter of Eric V of Denmark, was chosen as his successor and became the next monarch of Denmark, ruling under the name Christian I. Richeza thus was the female founder of the House of Oldenburg.
caption: One of the two Jelling stones, attesting to Harald Bluetooth's unification and Christianization of Denmark.
exif: {"Image Make": "Hasselblad", "Image Model": "Hasselblad H3DII-39MS - Hasselblad H3D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Paint Shop Pro Photo 12,50", "Image DateTime": "2013:04:17 11:04:22", "Image Artist": "ROBERTO FORTUNA", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "NATIONALMUSEET", "Image ExifOffset": "322", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "770", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6261", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "372827/33554432", "EXIF FNumber": "13", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:10:13 20:44:20", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:10:13 20:44:20", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "871321773/134217728", "EXIF ApertureValue": "993329223/134217728", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "80", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "800", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "\u0001\u0001\u0001\u0001", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[3, 0, 0, 0]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "628"}