Gudfred was a ninth century Danish king who reigned from at least 804 to 810. Alternate spellings include Godfred (Danish), Göttrick (German), Gøtrik (Danish), Gudrød (Danish), and Godofredus (Latin). He stands at the threshold of the History of Denmark in the sense that he is the first ruler about whom there is substantial knowledge from contemporary sources. He waged offensive war against the Carolingian Empire with some success, but was murdered under murky circumstances before a major confrontation had taken place. There is no unambiguous trace of Gudfred in the later Norse sagas, and his history can only be traced from the hostile Frankish texts which makes an assessment of his role problematic. His paternity is unknown but he may have been closely related to Sigfred, who preceded him as king of Denmark c. 770–804. He was the uncle of the later Danish King Hemming (810–812) and the father of King Horik I (813–854).
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. Nothing of this is conclusive, however. Hemming is mentioned in the Royal Frankish Annals as son to an unnamed brother of Gudfred. Other nephews were Ragnvald, Håkon, Angantyr and 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. 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.
Failed diplomatic overtures
Towards the end of the 8th century, the Danes and their Saxon neighbours were facing challenges from the Franks under the expansive regime of Charlemagne. In 798, the Saxons were defeated by the Obodrites, a West Slavic people allied to the Frankish Emperor Charlemagne, at the Battle of Bornhöved (or Schwentine River). A part of the Saxons' land, in Holstein north of the Elbe, was awarded to the Obotrites in 804, as a reward for their victory. That same year, a Frankish army penetrated as far as the Ejder (Eider), Denmark's southern boundary at the time. In the face of these developments Gudfred promised to meet Charlemagne in person for a parley. After some time he appeared at Sliesthorp (Schleswig, Hedeby) with his fleet and the entire cavalry of his kingdom. This place marked the border between Saxony and Gudfred's realm. However, the king's men advised Gudfred against meeting the emperor, and he failed to appear. Charlemagne established a camp at Hollenstedt at the Elbe and sent an errand to Gudfred, asking him to extradite some rebels who had taken refuge in the Danish kingdom. Nothing is known to have come out of this, and the emperor returned to Cologne in September in the same year.
Three years after these events, in 807, a Danish chief called Halfdan swore allegiance to Charlemagne for protection. He is often assumed to have been the father of the later king and pretender Harald Klak and brother of the former King Harald, which probably means that he refused to pay allegiance to Gudfred due to a dynastic contest. It may be that Halfdan became earl of some wealthy market towns south of the river Ejder, occupying what became known as North Frisia. This region later became a base for his descendants.
Viking invasion of the Obodrite lands
Fearing an invasion by the Franks, who had conquered heathen Frisia over the previous 100 years and Old Saxony in 772 to 804, Gudfred resolved to attack the Obodrites in the old Saxon territories. The seaborne invasion was successful in spite of considerable Danish losses. During a siege his brother's son Ragnvald, the second man in the kingdom, fell together with several chiefs. Now Gudfred conquered a number of Slavic strongholds and made two districts pay taxes to him. The Obodrite prince Drożko (lat: Thrasco, Thrasucon) was expelled from his land, and another chief called Godelaib was captured by trickery and hanged. The Slavic Linones, Smeldingi and Wiltzes, the last-mentioned being old enemies of the Obodrites, preferred to fight on the Danish side.