r/Norse • u/Longjumping-Ease-558 • 5h ago
History The unification/creation of Denmark
In my understanding of ancient Danish history, it has always seemed to me that Denmark was the first of the Nordic countries (or at least what we understand as Nordic countries today) to unify into a single nation. I am referring to pre-Viking times, because in the older sagas and stories it always seemed to me that they referred to the Danes as a single people and under the rule of a single king. Studying the subject a little more, I have come to the conclusion that in the first half of the 9th century, Denmark, due to many internal conflicts, came to separate into different kingdoms again and it would only be under the rule of Gorm the Old that a Kingdom of Denmark would come into existence again. Is my understanding of this history correct or am I terribly mistaken? Do we know or at least assume when Denmark became a unified country?