The Early Intercourse of the Danes and Franks

Abstract

The early history of Denmark may be divided into two portions. For the first we have as materials only the native sagas and legends, which have been preserved for us by Saxo Grammaticus and others. The second portion, which covers a period when Denmark had entered into relations, sometimes hostile and sometimes diplomatic, with the great Frankish empire to the south, is illustrated by occasional notices in the contemporary monastic annals. These notices are of course of the highest value and interest. It seems clear that, if we are ever to glean any profitable materials about the earlier period, we must first gain a firm foothold upon the later, where we can check tradition by contemporary narrative; and I now propose to re–examine the history of the Danes from the time when they first appear in the Frankish chronicles, down to the death of their famous King Godfred.