page_title: Skjalm Hvide
section_title: Saxo Grammaticus at Sorø Abbey
hierarchical_section_title: Skjalm Hvide / Saxo Grammaticus at Sorø Abbey
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Iconographie de l'historien danois Saxo Grammaticus par le dessinateur et peintre Louis Moe.
context_page_description: Skjalm Hvide, was the Earl of Zealand in Denmark in the end of the Viking Age and up to his death. Skjalm's father was Toke Trylle, whose father was Slag, based on Absalon, a medieval account scanned, translated and published by Google.
  Skjalm Hvide was very rich. He was one of the most influential and powerful chiefs in Denmark in the Middle Ages, and the most powerful chief of his era, i.e. the late Viking Age, late 11th century and early 12th century. He is regarded as the founder of the Hvide Clan, the name Hvide signifying the color white. During the transition ending the Viking Age and a few centuries ahead, the Hvide clan was a dominant factor in the Danish power politics.
  In 1062, on August 9, Skjalm Hvide together with the King Sweyn II of Denmark fought in the Battle of Niså, a naval battle off the coast of Halland, in what today is southwestern Sweden. The enemy were the forces of the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada, who had claimed the Danish throne since 1047, and had launched raids into Denmark ever since then.
  With his invasion of Danish territory in 1062, Harald wanted to decisively defeat the Danes, and thus finally be able to conquer Denmark.
context_section_description: On the invitation from Absalon, Saxo Grammaticus wrote Gesta Danorum ("Deeds of the Danes") at the Sorø Abbey. It is a patriotic work describing Danish and – to some degree – other Nordic and Baltic history, from prehistory to the late 12th century. It consists of sixteen books written in Latin.
  It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and an essential source for the nation's early history, and also one of the oldest known written documents about the history of Estonia and Latvia. Additionally, Gesta Danorum offers singular reflections on European affairs in the High Middle Ages, from a unique Scandinavian perspective. From Gesta Danorum, the legend of Amleth came to inspire the story of Hamlet by Shakespeare (The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark).
  Saxo is thought to have started writing Gesta Danorum in c. 1185. His writings reveal that he was in the retinue – and received the patronage – of Absalon, who was the foremost adviser to King Valdemar I. In his will, Absalon forgives his clerk Saxo a small debt of two and a half silver marks, and instructs Saxo to return two borrowed books to the monastery of Sorø. Saxo is believed to have finished Gesta Danorum by writing the preface for it as the work's last step, in c. 1216, while then being under the patronage of Anders Sunesen, who became the Archbishop of Lund after the death of Absalon in 1201.
  Anders Sunesen was a nephew of Absalon and a great-grandson of Skjalm Hvide, and – accordingly – a member of the religious and political elite. Anders was well-traveled, having received his education in theology and philosophy in Paris, France, and his legal education in Bologna, Italy and at Oxford, England. Together with his brother, Anders led a crusade against the Finns in 1202, and in 1219 accompanied Valdemar II in his war against Estonia.
  In the preface of Gesta Danorum, Saxo included a warm appreciation of both Archbishops of Lund, Absalon and Anders Sunesen, as well as the reigning King Valdemar II. In the preface, Saxo writes that his patron Absalon, the Archbishop of Lund, had encouraged him to write a heroic history of the Danes. Although Saxo Grammaticus is commonly viewed by the modern-day Danes as their "first national historian", two other coherent accounts of Danish history by Danish authors predate Gesta Danorum.
  The earliest one is Chronicon Roskildense (English: Roskilde Chronicle), a small work written in Latin, completed in c. 1143, spanning from the introduction of Christianity in Denmark to the author's own time. The next Danish historiography to be published was Brevis historia regum Dacie, written by Sven Aggesen (b. c. 1140–1150 – death unknown), thought to have been finished in 1186 or 1187 (the last event described happened in 1185), covering the years 300–1185. 
  Importantly, after the death in 1201 of his patron Absalon, Saxo Grammaticus appears to have changed his agenda. What eventually came to be the first nine books of Gesta Danorum, were actually written after the death of Absalon, and they focus largely on mythology, for which Saxo has been criticized for. The contrast to the seven books written during the lifetime of Absalon is "enormous", leading the main core of scholars to divide the two parts into mythical (books I–IX) and historical (books X–XVI), the last of the historical books being based on Absalon's memories. Therefore, we prefer to support the composition order of Gesta Danorum as X–XVI, followed by I–IX, and ending with the preface, says historian André Muceniecks from the Department of History at University of Sao Paulo in Brazil.
caption: Saxo Grammaticus, drawn by the Norwegian illustrator Louis Moe.
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