Gaimar's Early “Danish” Kings

Abstract

One of the most obscure and perplexing passages in the Estoire des Engleis is that in which its author, Gaimar, recounts confusedly some exploits of an otherwise unknown “Danish” king in East Anglia, whom he treats as a contemporary of Cynric and Ceawlin, of Wessex. The story, if such it can be called, shares with the Haveloc story, which precedes it, and with two other allusions, which follow it, a common political idea: that the Danes were settled in England, and held sway in that country, before the arrival of the Saxons. The passage also shares with the Haveloc episode in the Estoire the appearance of interpolation, for without it we have a reasonably smooth narrative based on the entries in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (ASC).

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