Gyrd and Gnupa

Gyrd and Gnupa were kings of Denmark in the 10th century according to Sweyn II of Denmark and Adam of Bremen. They were the sons of the Swedish chieftain Olof (or Olaf) the Brash who had conquered Denmark and they ruled together according to Swedish tradition.

Gnupa is mentioned on the two Sigtrygg Runestones raised near Schleswig by his wife Asfrid for their son Sigtrygg.^[1] Likewise a Danish king Chnuba is named by Widukind of Corvey's Saxon chronicles as having been defeated and forced to accept baptism in 934, and Olav Tryggvasson's Saga tells of Gnupa's defeat by Gorm the Old.^[2] However, this chronology would contradict that of Adam of Bremen, who places the succession and subsequent defeat of Sigtrygg during the tenure of Archbishop Hoger of Bremen (909–915/7). The late and legend-influenced Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus names a nobleman Ennignup serving as guardian for a young king Knut at some time prior to king Gorm the Old and it has been suggested he may be a confused representation of Gnupa.^[3]

References

1. Asfriþr karþi kumbl þaun aft Siktriku sun sin aui Knubu (Asfrith carved this gravestone after Sigtrygg, her son and Gnupa's); Ui Asfriþr karþi kubl þausi tutir Uþinkars aft Sitriuk kununt sun sin auk Knubu (Holy Asfrid carved this gravestone, Odinkar's daughter, after Sigtrygg, king, her son and Gnupa's). A. V. Storm, "Pages of Early Danish History, from the Runic Monuments of Sleswick and Jutland", The Saga=Book of the Viking club, vol. 2, pp. 328-347.
2. Storm
3. Saxo Grammaticus. trans. Peter Fisher. Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson and Peter Fisher, eds. The history of the Danes, books I-IX, DS Brewer, 1998, v. 2, p. 162