Harald Klak - Heirs

Heirs

The Annales Bertiniani mention a Godfrid Haraldsson who was baptized at Mainz. He has been identified as a son of Harald Klak. King Sigifrid of Denmark, reigning later in the 9th century, and his brother Halfdan are considered "nepotes" of either Rorik of Dorestad or Horik II, based on various interpretations of the Annales Vedastini. If the former they could be indirect successors to the claims of Harald on the throne of Denmark. An 891 entry of the Annales Fuldenses mentions Sigifrid killed along with his co-ruler Godafrid. Their deaths are also mentioned in the "Gesta quorundam regum Francorum". The name of the co-ruler suggests he was also a member of the family line.

The next mentioned ruler of Denmark is a Svend (Sweyn) who was king following the conquests of Olof the Brash. He is mentioned by Adam of Bremen as father of Harthacnut of Denmark. Between the reigns of Svend and Harthacmut, Adam places a brief one by Sigerich. They could be descendants of the same family line but the relations are unclear.

According to Geschiedenis van Nederland (1995) by Gerlof Verwey, Harald Klak had another nephew, Hemming, Count in Frisia. Verwey argues he was a brother of Rorik of Dorestad and Harald the younger.

According to "Ragnarssona þáttr", Klakk-Harald was the father of Thyra and father-in-law of Gorm the Old. "Gorm took the kingship after his father. He married Thyri, who was called Denmark's Saviour, daughter of Klakk-Harald, who was king in Jutland. But when Harald died, Gorm took all of Harald's realm under his rule too. King Gorm went with his host over the whole of Jutland and abolished all the petty kings as far south as the River Schlei, and thus seized much of Wendland, and he fought great battles against the Saxons and became a mighty king. He had two sons. The eldest was called Knut, and the younger one Harald. Knut was the most handsome man ever seen. The king loved him above any other man, and so did all the people. He was called The Love of the Danes. Harald resembled his mother's kin and his mother loved him no less than Knut." However the Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus offers a contradictory parentage for Thyra. "This man was counselled by the elders to celebrate the rites of marriage, and he wooed Thyra, the daughter of Ethelred, the king of the English, for his wife. She surpassed other women in seriousness and shrewdness, and laid the condition on her suitor that she would not marry him till she had received Denmark as a dowry. This compact was made between them, and she was betrothed to Gorm." This Ethelred was probably Ethelred of Wessex according to the context.

The "Ragnarssona þáttr" also names Harald Klak as father of Ingeborg and father-in-law of Sigurd Hart. "When Sigurd was twelve, he killed the berserk Hildibrand in a duel, and he single-handedly slew twelve men in that fight. After that Klakk-Harald gave him his daughter, who was called Ingibjorg. They had two children: Gudthorm and Ragnhild." The narrative then identifies Ragnhild as the wife of Halfdan the Black and mother of Harald I of Norway. The Heimskringla changes the name of Harald Klak's daughter but the given lineage remains the same. "Ragnhild's mother was Thorny, a daughter of Klakharald king in Jutland, and a sister of Thrye Dannebod who was married to the Danish king, Gorm the Old, who then ruled over the Danish dominions."