Pallig Tokesen (died 13 November 1002) was a Danish chieftain. According to the 'A' Translation of the

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of A ...

he was recruited to help Ethelred II,
, Barbara Yorke, ''Wessex in the Early Middle Ages'' (1995), p. 134. however upon the arrival of a significant Viking force in Devon in 1001 he deserted Ethelred and instead threw in his lot with the raiders. As the Chronicle relates: "And they went thence west until they came to Devon; and there Paley alligcame to meet them, with the ships which he could gather, because he had fled from king Ethelred, contrary to all the plighted troth that he had given him; and the king had also well gifted him with houses, and with gold and with silver. And they burned Teignton, and also many other good towns which we are unable to name; and there, afterwards, peace was made with them" Later tradition credits him as the Earldoman of Devon however there seems to be little contemporary support for this position. Yorke only refers to him as a Viking Leader, not as an Earldoman. He is said to have been killed in the St. Brice's Day massacre, along with his wife Gunhilde, daughter of

Harald Bluetooth Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson ( non, Haraldr Blátǫnn Gormsson; da, Harald Blåtand Gormsen, died c. 985/86) was a king of Denmark and Norway. He was the son of King Gorm the Old and of Thyra Dannebod. Harald ruled as king of Denmark from c. 958 ...

of Denmark and sister of

Sweyn Forkbeard Sweyn Forkbeard ( non, Sveinn Haraldsson tjúguskegg ; da, Svend Tveskæg; 17 April 963 – 3 February 1014) was King of Denmark from 986 to 1014, also at times King of the English and King of Norway. He was the father of King Harald II of ...

. Like his rank, this appears to be a later addition. Sweyn's invasions from 1002 may have been partly in revenge for the murder of his sister. It has been proposed that it was actually Pallig's desertion that led to the St. Brice's Day Masscre, and that the slaughter was partly Æthelred's revenge.Ryan Lavelle, ''Aethelred II: King of the English'', The History Press, 2008, pp. 104-105

Notes

{{Reflist, 2 1002 deaths Danish emigrants to England Year of birth unknown People from Devon 10th-century births