Sweyn Forkbeard Sweyn I Forkbeard ( Old Norse : " Sveinn Tjúguskegg " ; d . 3 February 1014 ) was king of Denmark and England , as well as parts of Norway . His name appears as Swegen in the " Anglo - Saxon Chronicle " . He was the son of King Harald Bluetooth of Denmark . He was the father of Cnut the Great . In the mid 980s he revolted against his father and seized the throne . Harald was driven into exile and died shortly afterwards in November 986 or 987 . In 1000 , with allegiance of the Trondejarl , Eric of Lade , he was ruler over most of Norway . After a long effort at conquest , and shortly before his death , in 1013 he became the first of the Danish Kings of England . The Church and currency . On the northern edges of the relatively recent Holy Roman Empire , with its roots in Charlemagne ' s conquests about two hundred years prior to Sweyn ' s time , Sweyn Forkbeard had coins made with an image in his likeness . The Latin inscription on the coins read , " ZVEN REX DÆNOR [ UM ] " , which translates as " Sven , king of the Danes " . Sweyn ' s father , Harald Bluetooth , was the first of the Scandinavian kings to accept Christianity officially , in the early or mid - 960s . According to Adam of Bremen , an 11th - century historian , Harald ' s son Sweyn was baptised " Otto " , in tribute to the German king Otto I , who was the first Holy Roman Emperor . Forkbeard is never known to have officially made use of this Christian name . He did not use it on the coins he proudly sent forth , and when he was given the English crown by the Witenagemot of Anglo - Saxon nobles , in 1013 , he took the crown as king Sweyn . Life and legacy . Many details about Sweyn ' s life are contested . Scholars disagree about the various , too often contradictory , accounts of his life given in sources from his era of history , such as the " Anglo - Saxon Chronicle " , Adam of Bremen ' s " Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum " , and the " Heimskringla " , a 13th - century work by Icelandic author Snorri Sturluson . Conflicting accounts of Sweyn ' s later life also appear in the " Encomium Emmae Reginae " , an 11th - century Latin " encomium " in honour of his son king Cnut ' s queen Emma , of Normandy , along with " Chronicon ex chronicis " by Florence of Worcester , another 11th - century author . The " Dictionary of National Biography " states that his mother ' s name is unknown , but the Danish encyclopedia " Den Store Danske " identifies her as Tove from the Western Wendland . " Den Store Danske " identifies Sweyn ' s wife as Gunhild , widow of Erik , king of Sweden , but the " Dictionary of National Biography " , while agreeing that she was Erik ' s widow , describes her as an unnamed sister of Boleslav , ruler of Poland . Many negative accounts build on Adam of Bremen ' s writings ; Adam is said to have watched Sweyn and Scandinavia in general with an " unsympathetic and intolerant eye " , according to some scholars . Adam accused Forkbeard of being a rebellious pagan who persecuted Christians , betrayed his father and expelled German bishops from Scania and Zealand . According to Adam , Sweyn was sent into exile by his father ' s German friends and deposed in favour of king Eric the Victorious of Sweden , whom Adam wrote ruled Denmark until his death in 994 or 995 . Historians generally have found problems with Adam ' s claims , such as that Sweyn was driven into exile in Scotland for a period as long as fourteen years . As many scholars point out , he built churches in Denmark throughout this period , such as Lund and Roskilde , while he led Danish raids against England . Ruler of England . According to the chronicles of John of Wallingford , Sweyn was involved in raids against England during 1002 – 1005 , 1006 – 1007 , and 1009 – 1012 , to revenge the St . Brice ' s Day massacre of England ' s Danish inhabitants in November 1002 . Historians have considered the massacre as similar to a large - scale ethnic cleansing of the Danes in England orchestrated by Æthelred the Unready . Sweyn was believed to have had a personal interest in the atrocities due to his sister Gunhilde being amongst the victims . According to Simon Keynes , Sweyn was active in Wessex and East Anglia in 1003 – 1004 but a famine forced him to return home in 1005 . Some scholars have argued that Sweyn ' s participation may have been prompted by his state of impoverishment after having been forced to pay a hefty ransom . He needed revenue from the raids . He acquired massive sums of " Danegeld " through the raids . In 1013 , he is reported to have personally led his forces in a full - scale invasion . The contemporary " Peterborough Chronicle " ( also called the " Laud Manuscript " ) , one of the " Anglo - Saxon Chronicles " , states , " before the month of August came king Sweyn 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 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 . " But the Londoners put up a strong resistance , because King Æthelred and Thorkell the Tall , a Viking leader who had defected to Æthelred , were in the city , and held their ground against him . Sweyn then went west to Bath , where the western thanes submitted to him and gave hostages . The Londoners followed suit , fearing Sweyn ' s revenge if they resisted any longer . King Æthelred sent his sons Edward and Alfred to Normandy , and retreated to the Isle of Wight , and then followed them into exile . On Christmas Day 1013 Sweyn was declared king of England . Based in Gainsborough , Lincolnshire , Sweyn began to organise his vast new kingdom , but he died there on 3 February 1014 , having ruled England unopposed for only five weeks . His embalmed body was returned to Denmark , to be buried in the church he built in Roskilde . He was succeeded as King of Denmark by his elder son , Harald II , but the Danish fleet proclaimed his younger son Cnut king . In England , the councillors had sent for Æthelred , who upon his return from exile in Normandy in the spring of 1014 managed to drive Cnut out of England . But Cnut returned and became King of England in 1016 , while also ruling Denmark , Norway , parts of Sweden , Pomerania , and Schleswig . His son Cnut and grandsons Harold Harefoot and Harthacnut ruled England for 26 years . After Harthacnut ' s death , the English throne reverted to the House of Wessex . Sweyn ' s descendants through his daughter Estrid continue to rule Denmark to this day . One of his descendants , Margaret of Denmark , married James III of Scotland , introducing Sweyn ' s bloodline into the Scottish Royal blood line . After James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne in 1603 , Sweyn ' s ancestry was introduced into the English royal bloodline as well . Religion . Adam of Bremen ' s writings about Sweyn and his father may have been influenced by Adam ' s desire to emphasise Sweyn ' s father Harald as a candidate for sainthood . He claimed that Sweyn , who was baptised along with his father , was a heathen . This may have been true , as much of Scandinavia was pagan at the time , but there are no data to corroborate the assertion . German and French records support that Harald Bluetooth was baptised . According to Adam , Sweyn was punished by God for leading the uprising which led to king Harald ' s death , and had to spend " fourteen years " abroad - perhaps a Biblical reference from an ecclesiastical writer , as it refers to the symbolic number seven . Adam purports that Sweyn was shunned by all those with whom he sought refuge , but was finally allowed to live for a while in Scotland . As the Scottish king at the time had a reputation in Europe as a heathen and a murderer , Adam ' s intention appeared to be to show that Sweyn belonged with heathens and was not fit to rule a Christian country . According to Adam , Sweyn only achieved success as a ruler after accepting Christianity . Sweyn was tolerant of paganism while favouring Christianity , at least politically . By allowing English ecclesiastical influence in his kingdom , he was spurning the Hamburg - Bremen archbishop . Since German bishops were an integral part of the secular state , Sweyn ' s preference for the English church may have been a political move . He sought to pre - empt any threat against his independence posed by the German kings . Contrary to Adam ' s writings , Sweyn did not appear to have re - established paganism . There is no evidence of reversion to pagan burial practices during Sweyn ' s reign . Whether King Sweyn was a heathen or not , he enlisted priests and bishops from England rather than from Hamburg . This may have been another reason for Adam of Bremen ' s apparent hostility in his accounts . Numerous converted priests of a Danish origin from the Danelaw lived in England , while Sweyn had few connections to Germany or its priests . Sweyn must have known that once the Archbishop of Hamburg - Bremen gained influence in Denmark , the German Emperor Otto II would not be far behind . His Slavic neighbours to the south - east had been all but annexed by Germany once Otto ' s father Otto I divided their lands into Bishoprics and put them under the " care " of the Holy Roman Emperor . Sweyn may have envisaged the same happening to his own territory . Issue . By Gunhilda of Poland : By Sigrid :