Dan III

Dan III is one of the legendary Danish kings described in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum.

Post hunc Dan regnum capessit. Qui cum duodecimum aetatis annum ageret, legationum petulantia fatigatur, Saxonibus bellum aut tributum afferre iussus. Sed rubor pugnam pensioni anteposuit, potius ad strenue moriendum quam timide vivendum impellens. Itaque praelata pugnandi sorte, Danorum iuventus Albyam fluvium tanta navigiorum frequentia complevit, ut facilem eius transitum perinde ac continuo ponte iuncta puppium tabulata praestarent. Quo evenit, ut Saxoniae rex eidem quam a Danis exigebat condicioni adigeretur. Gesta Danorum, 4.9 Olrik's edition

After him DAN came to the throne. When he was in the twelfth year of his age, he was wearied by the insolence of the embassies, which commanded him either to fight the Saxons or to pay them tribute. Ashamed, he preferred fighting to payment and was moved to die stoutly rather than live a coward. So he elected to fight; and the warriors of the Danes filled the Elbe with such a throng of vessels, that the decks of the ships lashed together made it quite easy to cross, as though along a continuous bridge. The end was that the King of Saxony had to accept the very terms he was demanding from the Danes. The Danish History, Book Four Elton's translation

Preceded by Frotho II

Saxo's kings of Denmark

Succeeded by Fridlevus I

See also: Dan (king)

References

• Davidson, Hilda Ellis (ed.) and Peter Fisher (tr.) (1999). Saxo Grammaticus : The History of the Danes : Books I-IX. Bury St Edmunds: St Edmundsbury Press. ISBN 0-85991-502-6. First published 1979-1980.
• Elton, Oliver (tr.) (1905). The Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus. New York: Norroena Society. Available online
• Olrik, J. and H. Ræder (1931). Saxo Grammaticus : Gesta Danorum. Available online