Harald Klak

The theory has gained some acceptance since the 1990s as it would explain why Harald Klak gets a mostly positive assessment in the Frankish chronicles while Rorik's brother is depicted as a raider and enemy of the Franks.

[citation needed] The Royal Frankish Annals then note "Heriold and Reginfrid, kings of the Danes, send an embassy to the emperor [Charlemagne], asking for peace and requesting that their brother Hemming be released.

The occasion was Charlemagne crowning his son Louis the Pious as co-emperor of Francia and naming his grandson Bernard as ruler of the Kingdom of Italy.

When an equal number -they were sixteen- of Danish magnates met them at the stipulated place, peace was sworn by mutual oaths and the brother of the kings was returned.

The Kings themselves at this time were not at home but had marched with an army toward Westarfolda, an area in the extreme northwest of their kingdom across the northern tip of Britain, whose princes and people refused to submit to them.

When they returned after conquering the Britons and received their brother, who had been sent from the emperor, the sons of king Godofrid were assisted by not a few of the Danish nobles who for some time after leaving their homeland had been in exile with the Swedes.

"Heriold and Reginfrid, kings of the Danes, had been defeated and expelled from their kingdom the year before [813] by the sons of Godofrid, against whom they regrouped their forces and again made war.

"[13] Simon Coupland, a modern historian, has noted that Harald was a pagan exile, seeking refuge and military assistance in the court of a Christian ruler.

Then all Saxon counts and all troops of the Obodrites, under orders to bring help to Heriold, marched with the imperial emissary Baldrich across the River Eider into the land of the Norsemen called Silendi.

But the sons of Godofrid, who had raised against them a large army and a fleet of two hundred ships, remained on an island three miles of the shore and did not dare engage them.

An 817 entry of the Royal Annals reports "Because of the persistent aggression of Heriold, the sons of Godofrid, king of the Danes, also sent an embassy to the emperor [Louis], asked for peace, and promised to preserve it.

"[16] A next attempt in 819, again with help from the Obotrites, met with more success and some kind of settlement seems to have been reached with the sons of Gudfred, since Harald was joint king with two of them in 821.

Traveling ahead of Heriold they carefully studied the dispute with the sons of Godofrid as well as the condition of the whole kingdom of the Norsemen and informed the emperor of all they could find out in these lands.

They returned with archbishop Ebo of Rheims, who had gone to preach in the land of the Danes on the counsel of the emperor and with the approval of the Roman pontiff and had baptized many converts to the faith during the previous summer.

"[20] The Vita Hludovici mentions "Heriold (Latin:Herioldus) with his wife and many Danes appeared from the regions of the Norsemen, he was baptized at Saint-Albans in Mainz with all his companions and he was flooded by the emperor with many gifts.

"[21] The Annales Xantenses also note "The emperor Louis held an episcopal synod at Ingelheim, and here a great number of Norsemen came to him, and a leader of them named Haraldr (Latin: Heriodus) and his wife were baptized, and with them more than 400 people of both sexes.

At length, by the assistance of divine grace, he brought about his conversion, and when he had been sprinkled with the holy water of baptism he himself received him from the sacred font and adopted him as his son.

"[23] During the reign of Louis the Pious, the Frankish Empire had no effective fleet, and this made the coast of Frisia a weak point in the defense of his realm.

The emperor lifted him from the sacred font and, resolved to restore him to the kingdom, gave him a fief across the Elbe, and, to withstand the pirates, granted his brother Harekr [Latin:Horuch) a part of Frisia.

The Vita Ansgari reports: "The two monks [volunteering to travel with Harald] were subsequently brought before the king, who was gratified by their willingness and desire to undertake this task, and who gave them whatever was necessary for the performance of their ministerial functions, also writing cases, tents and other things that would be helpful and which seemed likely to be needed on their great journey.

As King Harald could not for the time being obtain peaceful possession of his kingdom, the emperor gave him a place beyond the River Elbe [Rüstringen] so that if it were necessary he might halt there.

The Royal Annals mention: "Near the border of Nordmannia in the meantime negotiations were planned to ratify the peace between Norsemen and Franks and to discuss the affair of Heriold.

The Danes immediately raided our people by surprise, as they believed it were our deeds, they crossed the River Eider and drove the supposed perpetrators away from the stronghold, took everything with them and withdrew to their own camp.

As they recognized the real situation and feared an appropriate revenge, they first dismissed messengers to those they inflicted such a defeat, then to the emperor, they declared their deception and offered for conciliation a suitable satisfaction.

When the Emperor heard about these attacks, he postponed his planned journey to Rome and wasted no time in hurrying to the fort of Nijmegen close by Dorestad.

At length he became suspect to the leading men of the northern regions and the warders of the Danish march as of doubtful loyalty and a possible treachery, and was therefore killed by them.

[28] It seems that, in the years between 829 and 852, Harald had remained a figure of some influence in the region, but he never again managed to launch a serious attempt to regain the Danish throne, nor did the Frankish monarchs seem interested in sending more armies to fight his cause.

[citation needed] King Sigifrid of Denmark, reigning later in the 9th century, and his brother Halfdan are considered "nepotes" of either Rorik of Dorestad or Horik II, based on various interpretations of the Annales Vedastini.

[citation needed] According to Geschiedenis van Nederland (1995) by Gerlof Verwey, Harald Klak had another nephew, Hemming, Count in Frisia.

"This man [Gorm] was counselled by the elders to celebrate the rites of marriage, and he wooed Thyra, the daughter of Ethelred, the king of the English, for his wife.