Sweyn Forkbeard
Sweyn Forkbeard was king of England for five weeks and is usually left off the list. He was the son of Harald Bluetooth, whose runestone at Jelling claims the conversion of the Danes, and he rebelled against his father around 986; Harald died of his wounds shortly afterwards. The sources disagree about whether he was a pagan reaction against a Christianising king or simply an impatient heir, and the archaeology cannot settle it. He raided England for two decades in the great renewal of Viking attacks that Aethelred the Unready answered by paying Danegeld - which financed the next fleet. The St Brice's Day massacre of 1002, in which Aethelred ordered the killing of Danes in England, is said by later chroniclers to have included his sister, and is usually given as the reason the raiding became conquest. He invaded in earnest in 1013, took the Danelaw quickly because it submitted rather than fought, then London, and Aethelred fled to Normandy. He was accepted as king of England at Christmas 1013 and died at Gainsborough on 3 February 1014, having reigned about five weeks and never been crowned - which is why some regnal lists omit him entirely. The English immediately recalled Aethelred, and his son Cnut had to conquer the country all over again. He also ruled Denmark and, for periods, Norway, and the North Sea empire his son held was assembled by him first. The byname is not medieval flattery: the sagas describe a long forked beard, and it is one of the few personal details about him that any source bothers to record.
- Lived: 960 CE – 1014 CE
- Nationality: Danish
- Roles: head_of_state, military
