Sweyn Forkbeard was the first Viking King of England, however you'd be forgiven for potentially forgetting who he was given he was only King for five short weeks, being declared King on Christmas Day 1013, and ruling till his death on 3rd February 1014.
Part of a distinguished line of Viking rulers, he was the son of Harald Bluetooth, King of Denmark, and the father to Cnut the Great, the last Viking King of England.
Today, Eleanor Janega is joined by Dr Caitlin Ellis, Associate Professor in Medieval Nordic History at the Univeristy of Oslo, to answer all the important questions: who was Sweyn Forkbeard? How did he become King of England? Was he a successful ruler? And did he really have a fork beard?
If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like our episodes on: Cnut the Great, Harald Bluetooth, and Harald Hardrada.
This episode was produced by Elena Guthrie and Joseph Knight. It was edited by Joseph Knight.
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Sweyn Forkbeard: First Viking King of England

From long-lost Viking ships to kings buried in unexpected places; from murders and power politics, to myths, religion, the lives of ordinary people: Gone Medieval is History Hit’s podcast dedicated to the middle ages, in Europe and far beyond.

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The Mongol Empire that rose in the early 13th century was fractured and in crisis by the mid-14th. But then a new warlord arose who sought to rebuild what had once been the most powerful empire in the world.  Operating in Genghis Khan’s shadow, Tamerlane deliberately drew parallels between himself and his great precursor.  And as a Muslim, Tamerlane waged wars as jihad and had a more powerful impact than those of any Muslim Mongol ruler before him.
In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis uncovers the full story with Professor Peter Jackson, author of From Genghis Khan to Tamerlane: The reawakening of Mongol Asia.
This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.
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Genghis Khan to Tamerlane: Mongol Empire Reborn

Because of William the Conqueror’s victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, the Normans have remained a familiar and important name in British history. But who were they? And how did they come to change culture across the European continent?
In this explainer episode of Gone Medieval, Dr. Eleanor Janega tells the fascinating story of the rise of the Normans.
This episode was edited by Ella Blaxill and produced by Rob Weinberg.
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Origins of the Normans

Athelstan, grandson of Alfred the Great, was a great king who united what was once a collection of petty Anglo-Saxon kingdoms into one vast English domains. Having brought together rival polities with a history of fractious relations into a unified whole, Athelstan needed to centralise government if he was going to keep the crown on his head and hold England together. Anglo-Saxon rulers had often consulted their senior nobles and clergy in councils. With Athelstan’s rule came the emergence of a national form of this council, the Witan, an early precursor to Parliament, and one of the first forms of English government.
In this episode of Gone Medieval - the final part of our mini-series on the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England - Matt Lewis talks to Dr. Levi Roach about the Witan, and whether it can be considered to be the first form of English governance. 
This episode was edited by Ella Blaxill and produced by Rob Weinberg.
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The Witan: England's First Parliament?

The huge peninsula of what we today call Italy saw waves of invasions and sweeping changes over the course of the Medieval period, with huge differences between, say, Milan in the north stretching to Sicily in the south.  They spoke different languages, had different rulers, and were settled by very different groups of people. 
In this episode of Gone Medieval, Dr. Eleanor Janega tries to make sense of Italy’s complex history in the Middle Ages with Ross King, critically-acclaimed author of the new book The Shortest History of Italy, to sort out the Visigoths from the Vandals and the Papal States from Pisa. 
This episode was edited by Ella Blaxill and produced by Rob Weinberg.
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Medieval Italy

Six Plantagenet kings ruled between 1199 and 1399 - two centuries that witnessed civil war, deposition, the murder of kings and the ruthless execution of rebel lords.  There was also international warfare, a devastating national pandemic, economic crisis and the first major peasant uprising in our history.  Yet those two centuries and six kings were the blocks upon which the English nation was built.
In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis talks to Dr. Caroline Burt and Richard Partington, about the period as recounted in their acclaimed new book, Arise, England: Six Kings and the Making of the English State.
This episode was edited by Ella Blaxill and produced by Rob Weinberg.
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Sweyn Forkbeard: First Viking King of England

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