Anulo
| Anulo | |
|---|---|
Norse paganism |
Anulo or Ale was a pretender-king who vied for the
Danish
throne in 812. He represents the appearance of the House of Harald which competed with the House of Gudfred for power in Denmark until c. 857 and possibly longer.
The lineage of Harald
An early Danish kingdom of some consequence existed in the 8th century, culminating with the warlike exploits of King
Halfdan who is thought to have been the father of a number of later kings and pretenders: Anulo, Harald Klak, Ragnfred and Hemming. This Halfdan, it has been suggested, could have been the Halfdan who was King Sigfred's envoy to the Franks in 782, and a chief of the same name who submitted to Charlemagne in 807.[3]
The 812 battle
King Hemming, nephew of Gudfred, died in 812 after a short reign. Another nephew of Gudfred,
Frankish annals the struggle cost no less than 10,940 men, making it exceptionally bloody for its time. Anulo as well as Sigfred found their death in the bloodbath, which nevertheless ended with a victory for Anulo's party. His adherents enthroned his brothers Harald Klak and Ragnfred as co-rulers, and the defeated party found it necessary to accept this.[6] The two kings immediately sent envoys to Charlemagne in order to make peace and ask that the fourth brother Hemming should be released. Apparently, Hemming had been left with the emperor as hostage, suggesting some kind of understanding with the Carolingian court. However, the five sons of Gudfred and their followers had sought refuge among the Swedes. In the next year 813 they returned and expelled Harald and Ragnfred.[7]
This was the beginning of a long period of rivalry between the Houses of Gudfred and Harald, a rivalry that often entailed Carolingian intervention.
Anulo becomes Hring
The battle between Sigfred and Anulo was briefly and somewhat incorrectly treated in the ecclesiastic chronicle of
Sigurd Hring, a king who sired the renowned Viking ruler Ragnar Lodbrok, who in turn was conflated with Anulo's brother and successor Ragnfred.[10][11]
References
- ^ P.A. Munch (1852), Det norske Folks Historie, Vol. I:1. Christiania: Tønsberg, p. 391.
- ^ Peter Sawyer, "Kongefamilierne"
- ^ Henrik Schück (1895), "De senaste undersökningarna rörande ynglingasagan" [1], note 81.
- ^ P.A. Munch (1852), Det norske Folks Historie, Vol. I:1. Christiania: Tønsberg, p. 391.
- ^ Annales Regnum Francorum in Gjallar: Noormannen in de Lage Landen [2]
- ^ Einhards Jahrbücher, Anno 812, p. 125-6
- ^ Einhards Jahrbücher, Anno 812, p. 125-6
- ^ Adam av Bremen (1984), Historien om Hamburgstiftet och dess biskopar. Stockholm. Proprius, p. 29 (Book I, Chapter 15).
- ^ P.A. Munch (1852), Det norske Folks Historie, Vol. I:1. Christiania: Tønsberg, p. 391.
- ^ Saxo Grammaticus, The nine books of the Danish history of Saxo Grammaticus [3]
- ^ C.A.E. Jessen (1862), Undersøgelser til nordisk oldhistorie. Copenhagen: Schwartz's, p. 15-7.