Gorm the Old

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Runestone for Thyra, backside

Gorm the Old (Gorm den Gamle) was King of Denmark in the mid-900s. He was the husband of Thyra (to whom he raised the older of the two Jelling stones) and the father of King Harald Bluetooth.

Runestone for Thyra, frontside

The son of Danish king Harthacnut, Gorm is one of the most misinterpreted figures in Danish history. Often maligned as a cruel old dotard and a staunch heathen,^{[citation needed]} Gorm was born in the late 800s, and died in 958 according to dendrochronological studies of the wood in his burial chamber.^{[citation needed]}

His ancestry may lie with the Danish rulers in East Anglia, one of which was named Guthrum, a form of the name Gorm. His father came to Denmark around 916 or 917 and deposed the young king Sigtrygg Gnupasson, and when Harthaknut died, Gorm ascended to the throne. Claims that he took it by force, or that he only ruled part of the peninsula of Jutland are almost certainly erroneous…^{[citation needed]} Gorm's great-great-grandson king Sweyn Estridsson referred to both Gorm and his father as kings of (all of) Denmark, not just parts of the country.

Gorm was neither old nor unwise; when correctly interpreted, early sources point to him as being open-minded and pragmatic ^{[citation needed]} as far as Denmark's relationship with the Christian neighbors to the south was concerned, but earlier historians often confused him with his father who supposedly withstood the coming of Christianity for as long as he lived. However, the small runestone in Jelling can be interpreted as a claim that Gorm defended Denmark from Christianity, as he is somewhat vaguely defined as the protector of Denmark.

His skeleton is believed to have been found at the site of the first Christian church of Jelling. During the reign of Gorm, most Danes still worshipped the Norse gods, but during the reign of Gorm's son Harold Bluetooth, Denmark officially converted to Christianity. Harold supposedly moved the skeleton of his father from its original resting place into the church, but left the hill where Gorm had originally been interred as a memorial.