Horik II

Horik II (died after 864), also known as Hårik or, in late sources, Erik Barn (Danish: "Erik the Child"), was King of the Danes from the fall of Horik I in 854 to an unknown date between 864 and 873. During his reign the Danish kingdom showed tendencies of breaking up. After his demise under unknown circumstances, Denmark entered a long period of obscurity, until the rise of the Jelling dynasty in the 10th century. Political crisis and ascent His predecessor Horik I had a long reign of more than 40 years. By the mid 9th century he was old by the standards of the time, and younger relatives began to create trouble. One of them, Guttorm, attacked Horik in 854. In the brief civil war that followed, the branches of the royal family were nearly wiped out. The Frankish Fulda Annals and the Vita Ansgari make clear that only a single royal child was left alive, also called Horik (Old Norse, Hárikr). In later historiography he is hence known as Erik the Child. The problem with the story is that at the time there was no hereditary kingship. Kings were literally shouted into office at the assemblies (Danish: landsting) by the chiefs and peasants who supported him. Moreover, there still relatives of the former king Harald Klak alive. Judging from the Frankish sources, the power center of the dynasty lay in extreme southern Denmark, including Hedeby, and Horik II emerged as the strongest of the claimants although young. Little is known about him except for stray references in various Frankish annals and The Life of Ansgar by Rimbert. Horik II was probably not the son of Horik I, but a close relative, perhaps a nephew or grandson of the old king. At any rate he belonged to the powerful House of Gudfred which held power in much of Denmark. Sons were not usually named after fathers in Viking Age Denmark.