Sweyn Forkbeard: First Viking King of England

Gone Medieval

History Hit

History

4.6 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2024

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sweyn Forkbeard was the first Viking King of England, however you'd be forgiven for potentially forgetting who he was given he was only King for five short weeks, being declared King on Christmas Day 1013, and ruling till his death on 3rd February 1014.

Part of a distinguished line of Viking rulers, he was the son of Harald Bluetooth, King of Denmark, and the father to Cnut the Great, the last Viking King of England.

Today, Eleanor Janega is joined by Dr Caitlin Ellis, Associate Professor in Medieval Nordic History at the Univeristy of Oslo, to answer all the important questions: who was Sweyn Forkbeard? How did he become King of England? Was he a successful ruler? And did he really have a fork beard?

If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like our episodes on: Cnut the Great, Harald Bluetooth, and Harald Hardrada.

This episode was produced by Elena Guthrie and Joseph Knight. It was edited by Joseph Knight.

Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 per month for 3 months with code MEDIEVAL - sign up here.

You can take part in our listener survey here.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	If you're enjoying all the content in this episode and the rest of the
0:03.2	gone medieval series then why not join us for a trip retracing the discovery of
0:07.8	Richard the third we're visiting key locations that tell the story of the life and death of King Richard the third.
0:15.3	To book now or find out more about this and other historical trips, just go to Historyhit.com
0:21.6	forward slash trips. History Hit.com. F-Trips.
0:24.0	Fees.
0:25.0	The F-word and travel.
0:26.0	With an H-S-B-C Global Money Account, you can drop f-s from Acapulco to Zurich.
0:31.0	That means no fucks here.
0:33.0	Fondroo.
0:35.0	No fucks here. Howdy and definitely no fies here.
0:39.0	Pay no Hs B.C. fees overseas with a global money account.
0:42.0	HsBC UK opening up a world of... fees overseas with a global money account.
0:42.6	H-S-B-C-U-K, opening up a world of opportunity.
0:45.7	Available to H-S-B-C-U-K customers with an eligible current account.
0:48.5	Exclude some accounts such as the H-S-B-S-B-B-C basic bank account, for mobile banking
0:51.6	up users only.
0:52.2	Non-H-S-B-S- non-HSPC fees may apply. In the Peterborough Chronicle was begun. A huge undertaking passed from English monastery to monastery.
1:15.0	It was meant to record the history of Britain since the birth of Christ.
1:19.0	In it, the monks record an incredible feat from the year 1013, where they report that...
1:26.0	Before the month of August came King Sven with his fleet to sandwich.
1:30.0	He went very quickly about East Anglia into the Humber's mouth and so upward along the Trent till he came to Gainesborough.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.