View source for Godfrid, Duke of Frisia

[[File:Jacobus van Dijck - Anno 885. De moord op Godfried de Noorman - SA 4877 - Amsterdam Museum.jpg|thumb|Murder of Godfrid, duke of Frisia<br>by [[Jacobus van Dijck]])]]

'''Godfrid''', '''Godafrid''', '''Gudfrid''', or '''Gottfrid''' ({{langx|non|Guðfrið}}; murdered June 885) was a [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danish]] [[Vikings|Viking]] leader of the late ninth century. He had probably been with the [[Great Heathen Army]], descended on the continent, and became a vassal of the emperor [[Charles the Fat]], controlling most of [[Frisia]] between 882 and 885.

In 880, Godfrid ravaged [[Flanders]] using [[Ghent]] as his base. In 882, Godfrid ravaged [[Lotharingia]] and the cities of [[Maastricht]], [[Liège]], [[Stavelot]], [[Prüm]], [[Cologne]], and [[Koblenz]] were devastated. After the [[Siege of Asselt]] forced him to come to terms, Godfrid was granted the [[Kennemerland]], which had formerly been ruled by [[Rorik of Dorestad]], as a vassal of Charles, according to the ''[[Annales Fuldenses]]''. Godfrid swore oaths to Charles promising never to again lay waste his kingdom and accepted Christianity and baptism, at which Charles stood as his godfather. In return, Charles appointed him [[Duke of Frisia]] and gave him Gisela, daughter of [[Lothair II of Lotharingia|Lothair II]], as his wife.

However, Godfrid did nothing against a Danish raid which pillaged large parts of the [[Low Countries]] in 884. In 885, he was summoned to [[Lobith]] for a meeting after being accused of complicity with [[Hugh, Duke of Alsace]] and brother of Godfrid's wife Gisela, in an insurrection. In an act of treachery he was killed by a group of [[Frisians|Frisian]] and [[Duchy of Saxony|Saxon]] nobles at the connivance of [[Henry of Franconia]], who had been at odds with Hugh and was against the initial appointment of Godfrid as Duke. The local count [[Gerulf II of Frisia|Gerulf]] took over the West Frisian coastline from the Danish after the murder.

This Godfrid has sometimes been confused with [[Godfrid Haraldsson]].

==Sources==
*[[Janet Nelson|Nelson, Janet L]] (ed.), and [[Timothy Reuter|Reuter, Timothy]] (trans.) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ARENAQAAIAAJ The Annals of Fulda]''. (Manchester Medieval series, Ninth-Century Histories, Volume II.) Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992.
*{{citation|author=Simon Coupland |title=From poachers to gamekeepers: Scandinavian warlords and Carolingian kings |doi=10.1111/1468-0254.00019 |journal=Early Medieval Europe |year=1998 |volume=7 |pages=85–114}}
*MacLean, Simon. ''Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century: Charles the Fat and the end of the Carolingian Empire''. Cambridge University Press: 2003.
*Smith, Julia M. H. ''Province and Empire: Brittany and the Carolingians''. Cambridge University Press: 1992.

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[[Category:Norse monarchs]]
[[Category:Viking warriors]]
[[Category:Dukes of Frisia]]
[[Category:885 deaths]]
[[Category:9th-century dukes in Europe]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:9th-century Vikings]]
[[Category:Assassinated Danish people]]