Editing Harald Bluetooth (section)

==Conversion to Christianity==
King Harald's [[Christianization of Scandinavia|conversion to Christianity]] is a contested bit of history, not least because medieval writers such as [[Widukind of Corvey]] and [[Adam of Bremen]] give conflicting accounts of how it came about.

Widukind of Corvey, writing during the lives of King Harald and [[Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto I]] (ruled 962–973), claims that Harald was converted by a "cleric by the name of Poppa" who, when asked by Harald to prove his faith in Christ, carried a "great weight" of iron heated by a fire without being burned.<ref>Widukind, ''Res gestae Saxonicae'' 3.65, ed. Paul Hirsch and Hans-Eberhard Lohmann, MGH SS rer. ''Germ. in usum scholarum'' (Hanover, 1935), pp. 140–141. Translated from Latin by Anders Winroth, 2006.</ref> According to 12th-century Danish historian [[Saxo Grammaticus]] in his work ''[[Gesta Danorum]]'', Poppa performed his miracle for Harald's son [[Sweyn Forkbeard]] after Sweyn had second thoughts about his own baptism.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Zeeberg|first1=Peter|title=Saxos Danmarkshistorie|date=2000|publisher=Gads Forlag|isbn=978-87-12-04745-2|pages=924–925|edition=e-book}}</ref> Harald himself converted to Catholicism after a peace agreement with the Holy Roman Emperor (either Otto I or II).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Zeeberg|first1=Peter|title=Saxos Danmarkshistorie|date=2000|publisher=Gads Forlag|isbn=978-87-12-04745-2|page=1069|edition=e-book}}</ref>

Adam of Bremen, writing 100 years after King Harald's death in "History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen", finished in 1076, describes Harald being forcibly converted by [[Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto I]], after a defeat in battle.<ref name="Adam">Adam of Bremen, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=4XfoxDEcIcgC&pg=PP1 History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414022830/https://books.google.com/books?id=4XfoxDEcIcgC&pg=PP1 |date=14 April 2023 }}'', trans. Francis J. Tschan (New York, 2002), pp. 55–57.</ref> However, Widukind does not mention such an event in his contemporary ''[[Res gestae saxonicae sive annalium libri tres]]'' or ''Deeds of the Saxons''. Some 250 years after the event, the ''[[Heimskringla]]'' relates that Harald was converted with [[Haakon Sigurdsson|Earl Haakon]], by [[Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto II]] (ruled 973 – 983).<ref>{{cite web|title=Heimskringla|url=http://emotionalliteracyeducation.com/classic_books_online/hmskr10.htm|access-date=31 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306020947/http://emotionalliteracyeducation.com/classic_books_online/hmskr10.htm|archive-date=6 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A cleric named Poppo or Poppa, perhaps the same one, also appears in Adam of Bremen's history, but in connection with [[Eric the Victorious|Eric of Sweden]], who had supposedly conquered Denmark (the fact that Eric conquered Denmark during the realm of Sweyn Forkbeard is explained by Saxo as a punishment of Sweyn's [[apostasy]]).<ref>Adam of Bremen, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=4XfoxDEcIcgC&pg=PP1 History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414022830/https://books.google.com/books?id=4XfoxDEcIcgC&pg=PP1 |date=14 April 2023 }}'', trans. Francis J. Tschan (New York, 2002), pp. 77–78.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Zeeberg|first1=Peter|title=Saxos Danmarkshistorie|date=2000|publisher=Gads Forlag|isbn=978-87-12-04745-2|page=1100|edition=e-book}}</ref> The story of this otherwise unknown Poppo or Poppa's miracle and baptism of Harald is also depicted on the gilded altar piece in the Church of Tamdrup in Denmark (see image at top of this article). The altar itself dates to about 1200.<ref>Anders Winroth, ''Viking Sources in Translation'', 2009.</ref> Adam of Bremen's claim regarding Otto I and Harald appears to have been inspired by an attempt to manufacture a historical reason for the archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen to claim jurisdiction over Denmark (and thus the rest of Scandinavia); in the 1070s, the Danish king was in Rome asking for Denmark to have its own arch-bishop, and Adam's account of Harald's supposed conversion (and baptism of both him and his "little son" [[Sweyn Forkbeard|Sweyn]], with Otto serving as Sweyn's godfather) is followed by the unambiguous claim that "At that time Denmark on this side of the sea, which is called Jutland by the inhabitants, was divided into three dioceses and subjected to the bishopric of Hamburg."<ref name="Adam" />

As noted above, Harald's father, [[Gorm the Old]], had died in 958, and had been buried in a mound with many goods, after the pagan practice. The mound itself was from c. 500 BCE, but Harald had it built higher over his father's grave, and added a second mound to the south. Mound-building was a newly revived custom in the 10th century, perceivably as an "appeal to old traditions in the face of Christian customs spreading from Denmark's southern neighbors, the Germans".<ref>Anders Winroth, Viking Sources in Translation, in text drawing on a caption by Anders Winroth in Barbara Rosenwein, ''Reading the Middle Ages'', (Peterborough, Ontario, 2006). p. 266.</ref>

After his conversion, around the 960s, Harald had his father's body reburied in the church next to the now empty mound.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rose |first1=Mark |title=Gorm the Old Goes Home |url=https://archive.archaeology.org/0011/newsbriefs/gorm.html |website=Archaeology |publisher=Archaeological Institute of America |access-date=9 November 2022 |archive-date=9 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221109135826/https://archive.archaeology.org/0011/newsbriefs/gorm.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He had the Jelling stones erected to honour his parents.<ref>C. Michael Hogan, [http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=17683 "Jelling Stones"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202614/http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=17683 |date=3 March 2016 }}, Megalithic Portal, editor Andy Burnham</ref> The biography of Harald Bluetooth is summed up by this runic inscription from the Jelling stones:

{{quote|King Harald bade these memorials to be made after Gorm, his father, and Thyra, his mother. The Harald who won the whole of Denmark and Norway and turned the Danes to Christianity.}}

Harald undoubtedly professed Christianity at that time and contributed to its growth, but with limited success in Denmark and Norway.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Latourette |first=Kenneth Scott |title=A History of Christianity |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1975 |location=New York |page=87 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4pzuXCiDdYC |isbn=0-06-064952-6 |access-date=13 December 2015 |archive-date=14 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414022829/https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4pzuXCiDdYC |url-status=live }}</ref>