After his demise under unknown circumstances, Denmark entered a long period of obscurity, until the rise of the Jelling dynasty in the 10th century.

The Frankish Fulda Annals and the Vita Ansgari make clear that only a single royal child was left alive, also called Horik (Old Norse, Hárikr).

Judging from the Frankish sources, the power center of the dynasty lay in extreme southern Denmark, including Hedeby, and Horik II emerged as the strongest of the claimants although young.

After his accession, Horik II followed the advice of the anti-Christian Hovi Jarl and closed the Hedeby church, expelling its priest.

The possession of Hedeby would have secured considerable toll incomes, as it was one of the most important commercial centers of Viking Age Scandinavia.

However, the plans were cut short by a new incident, since Rørik's Frisian port Dorestad was ravaged by other Vikings while he was absent.

[6] It is sometimes alleged that the king gave permission for a third Danish church to be built in Århus during the time of Bishop Rimbert, Ansgar's successor, in 866.

The Pope wrote that Horik had made a promise to God and Saint Peter and hoped he would continue in the steps of Cornelius the Centurion (one of the first gentile converts to the teachings of Christ).

The Great Heathen Army arrived to East Anglia in 865 and conquered York in Northumbria two years later, starting the Viking conquest and colonization of much of northeast England.

[11] While they are expressly called Danes in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the army appears to have been formed by Vikings operating in Francia and Frisia.

Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1200) makes Erik the Child a son of Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye and thus grandson of Ragnar Lodbrok.

He married a daughter of Guttorm (the nemesis of Horik I) and sired a son called Canute, ancestor of the later kings.

[14] Snorri Sturluson (c. 1230) mentions King Erik of Jutland whose daughter Ragnhild married Harald Fairhair and gave birth to Eric Bloodaxe.