History |
Thyra (correctly spelled Þyrvé) was the consort of King Gorm the Old of Denmark. She is believed to have led an army against the Germans. Gorm and Thyra were the parents of King Harald Bluetooth.
Thyra was referred to as a woman of great prudence and was mainly responsible for building the Dannevirke on the southern border.
According to popular tradition, her daughter was captured by trolls and carried off to a kingdom in the far north beyond Halogaland and Biarmaland.
Tradition also has it that before Thyra consented to marry Gorm, she insisted he build a new house and sleep in it for the first three nights of winter and give her an account of his dreams those nights. The dreams were told at the wedding banquet and as recorded, imitate the dreams Pharaoh had that were interpreted by Joseph in Genesis. Oxen came out of the sea (bountiful harvest) and birds (glory of the king to be born).
Gorm raised a memorial stone to Thyra at Jelling, which refers to her as tanmarka but, the \'Pride\' or \'Ornament\' of Denmark.
Asteroid 115 Thyra is named in her honor. [2] |