Portal:Denmark/Selected article/Week 18, 2006

Danevirke (Old Norse: Danavirki) also known as Dannevirke or Danewerk, means "Danes' works". It is the name for the Danish earthen defense structure, which stretches from the marshes of west Jutland to the town of Schleswig, situated at Slien at the Baltic Sea, near the Viking trade centre of Hedeby.

According to written sources, the work on Danevirke was initiated by the Danish King Godfred in 808 AD. Fearing an invasion by the Franks, Godfred commenced the work of an enormous structure for the defense of his realm, which separated the Jutland Peninsula from the northern extent of the Frankish empire.

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