MAP#48: Sweyn Forkbeard, The Viking King of England

03 February 2014 marks the 1,000th anniversary of the death of King Sweyn Forkbeard. Once Forkbeard became the King of Denmark and Norway he started raiding England. After the English massacred thousands of Danes on St. Brice's Day Forkbeard increased his raids until he was able to overthrow the sitting King. Sweyn would never have a chance to rule England, he died shortly after becoming King. Some say he was killed by the ghost of St. Edmund! His reign was short, in fact he holds the record for shortest reign of an English King. But his reign helped establish his son, Cnut as a future King of England. Year 1004: This year came Sweyne with his fleet to Norwich, plundering and burning the whole town. Then he came to Thetford within three weeks after they had plundered Norwich; and, remaining there one night, they spoiled and burned the town; but, in the morning, as they were proceeding to their ships, came Ulfkytel with his army, and said that they must there come to close quarters. And, accordingly, the two armies met together; and much slaughter was made on both sides. ~Anglo-Saxon Chronicles Listen to the episode now Please send any comments, suggestions or topic ideas to podcast@medievalarchives.com If you are enjoying the podcast please considering leaving a rating on iTunes. Rate the Medieval Archives Podcast now! Get your free audio book from Audible.com at: http://www.medievalarchives.com/AudioBook In this episode we discuss: Harald Bluetooth and technology St. Brice's Day Massacre Danegeld Ethelred the Unready The Ghost of St. Edmund And more... Bluetooth Technology Runes, listen to the lesson to discover how it was named! Download the MP3 and listen to it on your favorite MP3 player. Subscribe to the feed so you do not miss a single episode. iTunes | Stitcher Radio | Download MP3 | RSS Feed The music was provided by Tim Rayburn. It is available at Magnatune.com ★ Support this podcast ★