Harald Klak - Family

Family

The identity of Harald's father is uncertain. He had at least three brothers. Anulo (d. 812), Ragnfrid (d. 814) and Hemming Halfdansson (d. 837). An 837 entry in the Annales Fuldenses calls Hemming a son of Halfdan. This is the only mention of their father in a primary source. The identification relies on the 'widely made assumption' that the Hemming mentioned in 837 was the same Hemming mentioned in chronicle entries from two decades before. Stewart Baldwin, a modern genealogist, pointed that they could also be two people with the same name, although Baldwin himself favors their identification.

The relation of this Halfdan with other Danish rulers is also uncertain. An 812 entry in the Royal Frankish Annals mentions "Anulo nepos Herioldi". The Latin "nepos" can be translated as both "nephew" or "grandson", making Anulo and his siblings nephews or grandsons of a senior Harald. This would make Halfdan a brother or son of this Harald. The Frankish Annals vaguely mention this elder Harald as king. Also, a King Sigifrid (Siegfried) is mentioned in 777, granting refuge to the Saxon duke Widukind. In 782, an emissary by the name of Halfdan was sent by Sigifrid to Charlemagne. The last mention of Sigifrid in the Annals is in 798, when Charlemagne sent an envoy to him. In 804, Gudfred is mentioned as King of the Danes, exchanging envoys with Charlemagne. Harald could be related to Sigifrid and Gudfred. His reign occurring between 798 and 804 or placed prior to that of Sigifrid. The time and extent of the rule of these earlier kings are uncertain, but the area they ruled presumably included the region closest to the Frankish realm, i.e. around Hedeby. Although they are historical figures insofar as that they are mentioned in historical sources, the details of their rule mostly belong to the realm of the legendary Danish kings.

The Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten (1978) by Detlev Schwennicke assumes Sigifrid and the senior Harald to be brothers, both kings of Hedeby. The Europäische Stammtafeln further mentions several theories on their family line. The elder Harald is assumed to have succeeded his brother as King of Hedeby in 798. The book places his death in 804, "killed in battle in the Irish Sea". Their children supposedly included not only Halfdan, "third" King of Hedeby (father of Harald Klak and his siblings) but two other sons. The first identified as another Harald ("fourth" King of Hedeby) and the second as Holger.

Further Sigifrid and the senior Harald are given two further siblings in Europäische Stammtafeln. The third brother is identified as Halfdan the Mild, a ruler of the Yngling dynasty depicted in the Heimskringla. Their only sister is identified with Geva, wife of Windukind. The former in way of explanation of why Windukind sought refuge among the Danes. None of the theories regarding Harald's family and lineage in ES are well supported by sources.

According to the Annales Bertiniani, Harald was an uncle of Rorik of Dorestad. The Annales Xantenses mention Rorik being the brother of a "younger Harald". Several modern scholars have seen this as a contradiction and chosen to identify Rorik as an apparent fifth son of Halfdan. However, Simon Coupland in From poachers to gamekeepers: Scandinavian warlords and Carolingian kings and K. Cutler in Danish Exiles in the Carolingian Empire--the Case for Two Haralds have since argued that Rorik and the "younger Harald" were brothers, both nephews of Harald Klak. The theory has gained some acceptance since the 1990s as it would explain why Harald Klak gets a mostly positive assessment in the Frankish chronicles while Rorik's brother is depicted as a raider and enemy of the Franks. This would also mean Rudolf Haraldsson, a nephew of Rorik mentioned in the Annales Xantenses, was a son of the "younger Harald".