Remembering the Vikings in Thirteenth-Century England and Denmark

Kjær, Lars (2021) Remembering the Vikings in Thirteenth-Century England and Denmark. In: Thirteenth Century England XVII. Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge, pp. 1-22.

Abstract

In 1240, Matthew Paris recorded in the Chronica Majora that: In the entry for 1241, Matthew returned to the subject of the Danes and their ambitions against England. Matthew had learned that the powerful king of Denmark, the elderly Valdemar II (r. 1202–41), had passed away that year: Later, probably sometime before 1251, Matthew returned to this story and added further information at the bottom of the folio, concerning Valdemar's victories over the pagans in the eastern Baltic. He also corrected the claim that the son who had predeceased Valdemar II, the young Valdemar III, was his father's only heir. In fact, Valdemar had three other sons, the two oldest of whom, Erik IV ‘Ploughpenny’ (r. 1241–50) and Abel (r. 1250–2), were now at war with each other. Although Valdemar II was dead and the rumoured invasion never took place, Matthew remained interested in the subject. He returned to it in the Historia Anglorum (c. 1250–5), an abbreviated version of the Chronica Majora, offering more details about the Danish claims and their preparations for the invasion of England. Allegedly, Valdemar II had, ‘in his last days gathered a fleet and an army for the invasion of England, which he claimed belonged to him by ancient right’. That Matthew retained the invasion story here is interesting, given that the Historia Anglorum otherwise significantly reduced the number of anecdotes relating to developments outside England.

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