ABSTRACT
One of the first written sources which sheds a faint light upon Denmark dates from the threshold to the Viking Age. In the year 808, the Frankish Annals (Annales Regni Francorum) reported on the Danish king Godfred and his plundering of the Slavic town Reric by the Baltic. Moreover the annals relate that King Godfred had the southern boundary of his kingdom fortified against the land of the Saxons by erecting an earthwork at the place where even today the Danish-German border runs. Unfortunately the annals tell nothing about the size of Godfred’s kingdom. But judging by the role allotted him by the Frankish chroniclers, it may be concluded that Godfred represented no insignificant political and military power, probably controlling all of southern Denmark, if not more.
