![characters in the killing danish version hedeby characters in the killing danish version hedeby](https://www.memorabletv.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/forbrylsden-season-two.jpg)
Rørik soon had to leave his Danish kingdom for Frisia, and his possessions apparently reverted to Horik. However, the plans were cut short by a new incident, since Rørik's Frisian port Dorestad was ravaged by other Vikings while he was absent. It would have been in Lothair II's interest to use the port to increase trade between Lotharingia and Scandinavia. The possession of Hedeby would have secured considerable toll incomes, as it was one of the most important commercial centers of Viking Age Scandinavia. This may have included Hedeby at the Schlei, an inlet of the Baltic Sea, where Hovi Jarl probably supported Rørik. As it turned out the young king had to give up his lands in South Jutland between the Eider River and the North Sea. Rørik nevertheless came back in 857, using the authority of Lothair II of Lotharingia to intimidate Horik. The two Viking princes demanded part of the Danish realm but were turned away. At the time Rørik was attempting to carve out a Frisian kingdom between the Saxons and the Danes with the help of the Carolingian rulers Lothair I and later Lothair II. They therefore had a claim to power as valid as Horik's. They were Rørik and Gudfred, nephew and son of the former king Harald Klak, who were probably distant relatives of the Gudfred clan. Already in 855 two claimants arrived from their base in Frisia. However, political developments soon changed the conditions for missionary work. After his accession, Horik II followed the advice of the anti-Christian Hovi Jarl and closed the Hedeby church, expelling its priest. Some people blamed the recent disasters on the intrusion of the new faith. However, the violent showdown in 854 cost the lives of the Danish grandees who had been favourable to the archbishop. The old Horik I had been friendly disposed to Ansgar, Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, and allowed the construction of a church in Hedeby. Sons were not usually named after fathers in Viking Age Denmark. At any rate he belonged to the powerful House of Gudfred which held power in much of Denmark. Horik II was probably not the son of Horik I, but a close relative, perhaps a nephew or grandson of the old king.
![characters in the killing danish version hedeby characters in the killing danish version hedeby](https://www.memorabletv.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/forbrylsden-season-one.jpg)
Little is known about him except for stray references in various Frankish annals and The Life of Ansgar by Rimbert. Judging from the Frankish sources, the power center of the dynasty lay in extreme southern Denmark, including Hedeby, and Horik II emerged as the strongest of the claimants although young. Moreover, there still relatives of the former king Harald Klak alive. Kings were literally shouted into office at the assemblies (Danish: landsting) by the chiefs and peasants who supported him. The problem with the story is that at the time there was no hereditary kingship. In later historiography he is hence known as Erik the Child. The Frankish Fulda Annals and the Vita Ansgari make clear that only a single royal child was left alive, also called Horik (Old Norse, Hárikr).
![characters in the killing danish version hedeby characters in the killing danish version hedeby](https://img.yumpu.com/21089221/1/500x640/of-thieves-counterfeiters-and-homicides-crime-in-hedeby-and-birka.jpg)
In the brief civil war that followed, the branches of the royal family were nearly wiped out. One of them, Guttorm, attacked Horik in 854. By the mid 9th century he was old by the standards of the time, and younger relatives began to create trouble.
![characters in the killing danish version hedeby characters in the killing danish version hedeby](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/scaled/2011/09/11/article-2036234-0DBC6FB900000578-809_308x185.jpg)
His predecessor Horik I had a long reign of more than 40 years.