Óttarr svarti ("Óttarr the Black") was an 11th-century Icelandic skald, he was the last court poet, finally of which King of Denmark, England and Norway; together often referred to as the North Sea Empire?
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Óttarr svarti Óttarr svarti ("Óttarr the Black") was an 11th-century Icelandic skald. He was the court poet first of Óláfr skautkonungr of Sweden, then of Óláfr Haraldsson of Norway, the Swedish king Anund Jacob and finally of Cnut the Great of Denmark and England. His poems are significant contemporary evidence for the careers of Óláfr Haraldsson and Cnut the Great.
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Cnut the Great Cnut the Great (Old Norse: "Knútr inn ríki"; c. 995 – 12 November 1035), also known as Canute - whose father was Sweyn Forkbeard (which gave him the patronym "Sweynsson", Old Norse: "Sveinsson") - was King of Denmark, England and Norway; together often referred to as the North Sea Empire. With the deaths of his heirs within a decade of his own, and Norman conquest of England in 1066, this legacy was mostly forgotten. He is popularly invoked in the context of the legend of "King Canute and the waves", which usually misrepresents him as a deluded monarch believing he has supernatural powers, contrary to the original legend which portrays a wise king who rebuked his courtiers for their fawning behaviour.
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Skáldatal Skáldatal ("Catalogue of Poets") is a short prose work in Old Norse. It is preserved in two manuscripts: DG 11, or "Codex Uppsaliensis", which is one of the four main manuscripts of the "Prose Edda" (first quarter of the 14th century), and AM 761 a 4to (about 1700), which also contains Skaldic poems. It lists the court poets of Scandinavian rulers from legendary times up to the late 13th century with short notes on some.
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Morkinskinna Morkinskinna is an Old Norse kings' saga, relating the history of Norwegian kings from approximately 1025 to 1157. The saga was written in Iceland around 1220, and has been preserved in a manuscript from around 1275.
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House of Wessex The House of Wessex, also known as the House of Cerdic ("Cerdicingas" in Old English), refers to the family that initially ruled a kingdom in southwest England known as Wessex, from the 6th century under Cerdic of Wessex until the unification of the Kingdoms of England by Alfred the Great and his successors (Though Alfred's grandfather Egbert was the one to start consolidating West saxon domination). Alfred and his successors would also be part of this dynasty, which would continue ruling in the main line all the way until Alfred's descendant, Ethelred the Unready, whose reign in the late 10th century and early 11th century saw a brief period of Danish occupation and following his and his son Edmund Ironside's death, kingship by the Danish Cnut the Great and his successors to 1042. The House of Wessex then briefly regained its power for 24 years, but after the deposition of its last scion, Ethelred's great-grandson Edgar Atheling would fade into the annals of history after the death of Edgar Atheling in 1125.
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Otte Rud Otte Ruud, born 1520, died 1565, was a Danish admiral during the Northern Seven Years' War, who died in Swedish captivity. He spent his youth in foreign military service, and then held different fiefs from the King. Called up to duty during the war, he at first distinguished himself at land, later becoming a ship's captain, and finally admiral commanding the Danish fleet.
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Hrothgar Hrothgar (Old English: "Hrōðgār" ] ; ) was a legendary Danish king living in the early 6th century.
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Harald Hardrada Harald Sigurdsson (Old Norse: "Haraldr Sigurðarson" ;  1015 – 25 September 1066), given the epithet Hardråde ("harðráði ", roughly translated as "stern counsel" or "hard ruler") in the sagas, was King of Norway (as Harald III) from 1046 to 1066. In addition, he unsuccessfully claimed the Danish throne until 1064 and the English throne in 1066. Prior to becoming king, Harald had spent around fifteen years in exile as a mercenary and military commander in Kievan Rus' and of the Varangian Guard in the Byzantine Empire.
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Liðsmannaflokkr Liðsmannaflokkr ("household troop's poem") is the title of a skaldic poem in ten stanzas describing the capture of London by Cnut the Great in 1016, preserved in "Óláfs saga helga" and "Flateyjarbók" (fol. 186v), and in a shorter version in "Knýtlinga saga".
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Great Heathen Army The Great Viking Army or Great Danish Army, known by the Anglo-Saxons as the Great Heathen Army (OE: "mycel hæþen here"), was a coalition of Norse warriors, originating from Denmark (and likely also from Sweden and Norway) who came together under a unified command to invade the four Anglo-Saxon kingdoms that constituted England in AD 865.
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Eystein I of Norway Eystein Magnusson (Old Norse: "Eysteinn Magnússon", Norwegian: "Øystein Magnusson"; c. 1088 – 29 August 1123) was King of Norway (as Eystein I) from 1103 to 1123 together with his brothers Sigurd the Crusader and Olaf Magnusson, although since Olaf died before adulthood, only Eystein and Sigurd were effective rulers of the country.
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Emma of Normandy Emma of Normandy (c. 985 – 6 March 1052) was a queen consort of England, Denmark and Norway. She was the daughter of Richard I, Duke of Normandy, and his second wife, Gunnora. Through her marriages to Æthelred the Unready (1002-1016) and Cnut the Great (1017-1035), she became the Queen Consort of England, Denmark, and Norway. She was the mother of three sons, Edward the Confessor, Alfred, and Harthacnut, as well as two daughters, Goda of England, and Gunhilda of Denmark. Even after her husbands' deaths Emma remained in the public eye, and continued to participate actively in politics. She is the central figure within the "Encomium Emmae Reginae", a critical source for the history of early 11th-century English politics. As Catherine Karkov notes, Emma is one of the most visually represented early medieval queens.
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Sweyn Forkbeard Sweyn Forkbeard (Old Norse: "Sveinn Haraldsson tjúguskegg"; Danish: "Svend Tveskæg"; 960 – 3 February 1014) was king of Denmark during 986–1014.
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Gefjon In Norse mythology, Gefjon (alternatively spelled Gefion or Gefjun) is a goddess associated with ploughing, the Danish island of Zealand, the legendary Swedish king Gylfi, the legendary Danish king Skjöldr, foreknowledge, and virginity. Gefjon is attested in the "Poetic Edda", compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the "Prose Edda" and "Heimskringla", written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson; in the works of skalds; and appears as a gloss for various Greco-Roman goddesses in some Old Norse translations of Latin works.
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Inge the Elder Inge the Elder (Swedish: "Inge Stenkilsson"; Old Norse: "Ingi Steinkelsson") (died c. 1105-1110) was a King of Sweden. In English literature he has also been called "Ingold". While the sources do not allow us to paint a full picture of his term of kingship, he is known to have led a turbulent but at length successful reign of more than two decades. He stands out as a devoted Christian who founded the first abbey in Sweden and acted harshly against pagan practices. The kingdom was still an unstable realm based on alliances of noblemen, and Inge's main power base was in Västergötland and Östergötland; one of the earliest chronicles that mention his reign knows him as "rex gautorum", King of the Geats.
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Buðli Buðli or "Budli" is the name of one or two legendary kings from the Scandinavian Legendary sagas.
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Harald III of Denmark Harald III (Harald the Whetstone, Danish: "Harald Hen" ;  1040 – April 17, 1080) was King of Denmark from 1076 to 1080. Harald III was an illegitimate son of Danish king Sweyn II Estridsson, and contested the crown with some of his brothers. He was a peaceful ruler who initiated a number of reforms. Harald was married to his cousin Margareta Hasbjörnsdatter, but did not leave any heirs, and was succeeded by his brother Canute IV the Saint. Four of his half-brothers were in turn crowned Danish kings.
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Glúmr Geirason Glúmr Geirason was a 10th-century Icelandic skald. He composed poems about King Erik Bloodaxe and his son King Harald Greyhide.
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Old Norse poetry Old Norse poetry encompasses a range of verse forms written in Old Norse, during the period from the 8th century (see Eggjum stone) to as late as the far end of the 13th century. Most of the Old Norse poetry that survives was preserved in Iceland, but there are also 122 preserved poems in Swedish rune inscriptions, 54 in Norwegian and 12 in Danish.
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Heremod Heremod (Proto-Norse: *"Harimōdaz" , Latin form: Heremodius) is a legendary Danish king and a legendary king of the Angles who would have lived in the 2nd century and known through a short account of his exile in the Old English poem "Beowulf" and from appearances in some genealogies as the father of Scyld. He may be the same as one of the personages named Hermóðr in Old Norse sources. Heremod may also be identical to Lother (Latin Lotherus) in Saxo Grammaticus' "Gesta Danorum" (Book 1) or the same history may have been applied to two originally separate figures.
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Fróði Fróði (Old Norse: "Frōði" ; Old English: "Frōda" ; Middle High German: "Vruote") is the name of a number of legendary Danish kings in various texts including "Beowulf", Snorri Sturluson's "Prose Edda" and his "Ynglinga saga", Saxo Grammaticus' "Gesta Danorum", and the "Grottasöngr". A Danish king by this name also appears as a minor character in the Middle High German epic "Die Rabenschlacht". The name is possibly an eponym for the god Freyr.
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Oldest Saga of St. Olaf The Oldest Saga of St. Olaf or the First Saga of St. Olaf is one of the kings' sagas. It is the earliest Norse biography of King Óláfr Haraldsson. Early scholars judged it to be among the very first sagas written, perhaps around 1160, but later scholarship has moved the date up to the end of the 12th century. One fragment with a hagiographic flavour was once thought to belong to the saga but more recent research indicates that it is from another text. Like other kings' sagas the "Oldest Saga" cites old skaldic poetry to decorate and verify the narrative.