Gudfred was a ninth century Danish king who reigned from at least 804 to 810. Alternate spellings include Godfred (Danish), Göttrick (German), Gøtrik (Danish), Gudrød (Danish), and Godofredus (Latin). He stands at the threshold of the History of Denmark in the sense that he is the first ruler about whom there is substantial knowledge from contemporary sources. He waged offensive war against the Carolingian Empire with some success, but was murdered under murky circumstances before a major confrontation had taken place. There is no unambiguous trace of Gudfred in the later Norse sagas, and his history can only be traced from the hostile Frankish texts which makes an assessment of his role problematic. His paternity is unknown but he may have been closely related to Sigfred, who preceded him as king of Denmark c. 770–804. He was the uncle of the later Danish King Hemming (810–812) and the father of King Horik I (813–854).
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Gudfred in the context of Monarchy of Denmark
The monarchy of Denmark is a constitutional institution and an office of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom includes Denmark proper and the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The Kingdom of Denmark was already consolidated in the 8th century, whose rulers are consistently referred to in Frankish sources (and in some late Frisian sources) as "kings" (reges). Under the rule of King Gudfred in 804 the Kingdom may have included all the major provinces of medieval Denmark.
The current unified Kingdom of Denmark was founded or re-united by the Viking kings Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth in the 10th century. Originally an elective monarchy, it became hereditary only in the 17th century during the reign of Frederick III. A decisive transition to a constitutional monarchy occurred in 1849 with the writing of the first democratic constitution, replacing the vast majority of the old absolutist constitution. The current Royal House is a branch of the ducal House of Glücksburg, originally from Schleswig-Holstein in modern-day Germany, the House of Glücksburg itself being a collateral branch of the House of Oldenburg. The House of Glücksburg also produced the monarchs of Norway, of the United Kingdom and the former monarch of Greece in the direct male line.
Gudfred in the context of Reric
53°57′20″N 11°28′53″E / 53.95556°N 11.48139°E
Reric or Rerik was one of the Viking Age multi-ethnic Slavic-Scandinavian emporia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, located near Wismar in the present-day German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Reric was established probably in 735 shortly after Slavs of the Obodrite tribe had started to settle the region. At the turn of the 9th century, the citizens of Reric allied with Charlemagne, who used the port as part of a strategic trade route that would avoid areas of Saxon and Danish control. It was destroyed in 808 AD by the Viking (Danish) king Gudfred. The destroyed place was rebuilt by the Obodrites and continued to operate for a short until Drasco was murdered in Reric in 810 at the instigation of Gudfred. After that, the tradespeople were reportedly moved by the king to the Viking emporium of Hedeby (also Haithabu) near modern Schleswig.