Adam of Bremen As Sole Primary Source
The only primary source about Harthacnut of Denmark are two clauses from Adam of Bremen (1,52 and 1,55).
1,52 reads: king Sveins son, Hardegon in the oldest manuscript which was later changed to king Sveins son, Harthacnut but also changed to king Sveins son, Athelstan.
1,55 says Hardecnudth Vurm, a double name not uncommon in that era, later changed to Hardecnudths son, Vurm but also changed to Athelstan Vurm. Historians generally agree that Vurm (English: worm or serpent) is a German rendering of the Danish name Gorm, which allows for an interpretation that Harthacnut and Gorm were originally the same person. 1,56 says as Vurm been attacked of King Heinrich I (916-936). That attack was in 934 and Widukind 1.40 say the Danish kings name was Chnuba.
Even though Adam names king Sweyn Estridsson as his source, this does not preclude the possibility of errors on his part. Adam's history contains other statements that are rejected or deemed unlikely by historians.
Read more about this topic: Harthacnut I Of Denmark
Famous quotes containing the words adam, sole, primary and/or source:
“What we are, that only can we see. All that Adam had, all that Caesar could, you have and can do. Adam called his house, heaven and earth; Caesar called his house, Rome; you perhaps call yours, a cobbler’s trade; a hundred acres of ploughed land; or a scholar’s garret. Yet line for line and point for point, your dominion is as great as theirs, though without fine names. Build, therefore, your own world.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“That perfect bliss and sole felicity,
The sweet fruition of an earthly crown.”
—Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)
“But the doctrine of the Farm is merely this, that every man ought to stand in primary relations to the work of the world, ought to do it himself, and not to suffer the accident of his having a purse in his pocket, or his having been bred to some dishonorable and injurious craft, to sever him from those duties.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.”
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924)