Editing Gudfred (section)

==Family==

Gudfred is known to have sired at least five sons, as well as having at least five nephews. Several of them served as rulers or co-rulers of the Danes between 810 and 854. His sons are typically called "sons of Gudfred" without mention of their names, apart from [[Horik I]]. Various modern scholars have used later Scandinavian, Frankish and Irish sources in a speculative way to determine the names of some of his other sons: Olaf, Ragnar, Kettil.<ref>P.A. Munch (1941), ''Det norske Folks Historie'' Oslo: Instituttet for Historisk Forskning, Bd. II, p. 33 [https://runeberg.org/detnorsk/2/0043.html]; Henrik Schück (1895), "De senaste undersökningarna rörande ynglingasagan", ''Historisk Tidskrift'' 15, p. 76 [https://kulturbilder.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/de-senaste-undersokningarna-rorande-ynglingasagan/]; Erik Kroman (1976), ''Det danske rige i den aeldre Vikingetid''. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde og Bagger, p. 131, 156-7.</ref> Nothing of this is conclusive, however.<ref>The standard work on European princely genealogies, Detlev Schwennicke (1978), ''Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge'', Marburg: J. A. Stargardt, Table 104, mentions the sons Olaf, Erik (Horik), Gudfred, Rolf and Ragnar. However, the table appears to depend on advanced guesses.</ref> Hemming is mentioned in the [[Royal Frankish Annals]] as son to an unnamed brother of Gudfred. Other nephews were Ragnvald, Håkon, Angantyr and [[Sigfred (Danish king 812)|Sigfred]]. The ''[[Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum]]'' of [[Adam of Bremen]] considers Hemming and Gudfred to be "patruelis", paternal cousins, but this is a derivative work.<ref>Adamus, ''Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum'' [http://hbar.phys.msu.su/gorm/chrons/bremen.htm#Liber1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050207105412/http://hbar.phys.msu.su/gorm/chrons/bremen.htm#Liber1|date=2005-02-07}}, Liber I, Capitulum 16; Adam av Bremen (1984), ''Historien om Hamburgerstiftet och dess biskopar''. Stockholm: Proprius, p. 28 (Book I, Chapter 14).</ref> [[Horik I]] seems to have survived his siblings and cousins, and became the sole ruler around 828.

A rival royal branch, represented in the first place by [[Harald Klak]] (812-813, 819-827), based its claim on being kinsmen of a former King Harald. This Harald may have been a predecessor, co-ruler or short-lived successor of Sigfred.