biography
| name: |
Sweyn or Svein II
|
| |
also known as Sweyn Estridsen
|
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (c.1020–74)
|
| biography:
| King of Denmark from 1047, the son of Ulf, a regent of Denmark, and Estrid, sister of Canute the Great. He was appointed Regent of Denmark in 1045 by Magnus I Olafsson of Norway (reigned 1035–47), and acclaimed king himself when Magnus died in 1047. Harald III Sigurdsson (Hardrada), who became sole king of Norway, laid claim to Denmark as well, and now began a long and unrelenting war of attrition against Sweyn. Sweyn lost every battle, but never lost the war, and at the peace of 1064 Harald accepted his right to the throne of Denmark. In 1069, after the conquest of England by William I, Sweyn's army descended on N England and captured York, but he made peace with William the following year and withdrew. |
|
|
