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Thorkell the Tall

The rune stone U 344 in Orkesta, Uppland, Sweden, was raised by the Viking Ulfr who commemorated that he had taken a danegeld in England with Thorkell the Tall. He took two others with Skagul Toste and Cnut the Great.
Storm in Hjørungavåg by Gerhard Munthe

Thorkell the Tall, also known as Thorkell the High in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Old Norse: Þorke(ti)ll inn hávi; Norwegian: Torkjell Høge; Swedish: Torkel Höge; Danish: Torkild den Høje), was a prominent member of the Jomsviking order and a notable lord. He was a son of the Scanian chieftain Strut-Harald, and a brother of Jarl Sigvaldi, Hemingr and Tófa.[1] Thorkell was the chief commander of the Jomsvikings and the legendary stronghold Jomsborg, on the Island of Wollin.[citation needed] He is also credited as having received the young Cnut the Great into his care and taken Cnut on raids.[2] The Encomium Emmae, a document aimed at the movers and shakers of the Anglo-Scandinavian court in the early 1040s, describes Thorkell as a great war leader and warrior.[3]

Thorkell notably partook in a campaign that saw him lead a great Viking army to Kent in 1009, where they proceeded to overrun most of Southern England.[4] This soon culminated in the siege of Canterbury in 1011 and the kidnapping of archbishop Ælfheah, who had previously converted Olaf Tryggvason,[5] and Ælfheah's subsequent murder at Greenwich on 19 April 1012.[4]

  1. ^ "fafnir.com – The encyclopedia of medieval Scandinavia". 2018. Archived from the original on 12 June 2019.
  2. ^ Garmonsway, G (1963). Cnut and his Empire. London: H. K. Lewis & Co. Ltd. p. 6.
  3. ^ Williams, Ann (2016). ""Thorkell the Tall and the Bubble Reputation: The Vicissitudes of Fame"". In Lavelle, Ryan; Roffey, Simon (eds.). "Danes in Wessex: The Scandinavian Impact on Southern England, c. 800–c. 1100". Oxford: Oxbow Books. pp. 147, 148, 150–152.
  4. ^ a b Peter Sawyer (2001). The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings. London: Oxford University Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-19-285434-6.
  5. ^ Angelo Forte (5 May 2005). Viking Empires. Cambridge University Press. p. 190. ISBN 0-521-82992-5.

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