87-492: Eadgils , Adils , Aðils , Adillus , Aðísl at Uppsölum , Athisl , Athislus or Adhel was a semi-legendary king of Sweden , who is estimated to have lived during the 6th century. Beowulf and Old Norse sources present him as the son of Ohthere and as belonging to the ruling Yngling (Scylfing) dynasty . These sources also deal with his war against Onela , which he won with foreign assistance: in Beowulf he gained
174-555: A brother's child : Eadgils, however, survived and later, Beowulf helped Eadgils with weapons and warriors. Eadgils won the war and killed his uncle Onela. In the following lines, Eadgils is mentioned by name and as the son of Ohtere , whereas Onela is referred to as the king : This event also appears in the Scandinavian sources Skáldskaparmál and Skjöldunga saga – see below. The allusive manner in which Eadgils and his relatives are referred to in Beowulf suggests that
261-493: A century earlier and refrained from reproducing the erroneous text. Ynglingatal also inspired Eyvindr skáldaspillir's Háleygjatal , which demonstrably was written in the late 900s. Another argument for early dating comes from the Icelandic philologist Bergsveinn Birgisson , whose doctoral thesis said Ynglingatal is not supposed to be a praising poem but an entertainment poem and a warning. He asserts this partly based on
348-530: A connection between them would thus enhance both their reputations. According to Finnur Jonsson , Thjodolf was Harald's scald without dwelling much on the subject. Finnur said Thjodolf was not a hird scald, but a scald who mostly stayed home on the farm, where in another saga we meet Thjodolf's grandson. Snorri mentions a man named Torgrim from Kvine, "son" to Thjodolf in the Olav Tryggvasson saga. Beyond this there are no more references to Thjodolf in
435-521: A fond farewell to his mother and departed over the Fyrisvellir . When they saw Aðils and his warriors in pursuit, they spread the gold behind themselves. Aðils saw his precious Svíagris on the ground and stooped to pick it up with his spear, whereupon Hrólfr cut his back with his sword and screamed in triumph that he had bent the back of the most powerful man in Sweden. The Chronicon Lethrense (and
522-419: A horn full of gold, the ring Svíagris and asked them to flee. As they rode over the Fyrisvellir , they saw Aðils and his men pursuing them. The fleeing men threw the gold on the plain so that the pursuers would stop to collect it. Aðils, however, continued the chase on his horse Slöngvir. Hrólfr then threw Svíagris and saw how Aðils stooped down to pick up the ring with his spear. Hrólfr exclaimed that he had seen
609-490: A lost verse. Frey, the great fertility god in the Nordic countries , entered into a sacred wedding ( Hiero Gamos ) with Gerd, which is retold in the poem Skírnismál . The mythological purpose of the holy wedding is to bear a child who is the child of both the parents but is neither god or giant but something completely different that will be the first of a "new" species; a new royal family. With effort and tensions from this,
696-415: A man named Vöggr to entertain them. This Vöggr remarked that Hrólfr had the thin face of a pole ladder, a Kraki . Happy with his new cognomen Hrólfr gave Vöggr a golden ring, and Vöggr swore to avenge Hrólfr if anyone should kill him. Hrólfr and his company were then attacked by a troll in the shape of a boar in the service of Aðils, but Hrólfr's dog Gram killed it. They then found out that Aðils had set
783-642: A negative light as a rich and greedy king. Snorri Sturluson , who documented many of the Scandinavian traditions, reported that the Swedes called him a "great king". The Norse forms are based on an older ( Proto-Norse ) * Aþagīslaz (where * aþa is short for * aþala meaning "noble, foremost" (German 'adel') and * gīslaz means "arrow shaft"). However, the Anglo-Saxon form is not etymologically identical. The A-S form would have been * Ædgils , but Eadgils (Proto-Norse * Auða-gīslaz , * auða- meaning "wealth")
870-480: A ninth-century creation". Krag's late dating has been challenged. If the saga is a late work of propaganda, it should reasonably have been concluded with Norwegian king Harald Fairhair and not by his largely unknown cousin Ragnvald Heidrumhære, whose meaning seems otherwise to have been lost after 1000. There are places and names in the poem that archeology has shown to have had great importance until
957-626: A particular family. Bergsveinn Birgisson says Ynglingatal is not a genealogy, but a poem about people from different clans. Not all sources agree; in Historia Norvegiæ , About Uplanders kings and Íslendingabók , several of the kings of other names than in Ynglingatal or are said to live on or be buried elsewhere. Finnur Jonsson said the various descriptions stem from the kings mentioned in Ynglingatal ; all have different traditions handed down by word of mouth. He said Thjodolf's poem
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#17327800156691044-460: A ruse to run away from the king and at the same time liberate him of his wealth. She incited Athislus to rebel against Roluo, and arranged so that Roluo would be invited and promised a wealth in gifts. At the banquet Roluo was at first not recognised by his mother, but when their fondness was commented on by Athisl, the Swedish king and Roluo made a wager where Roluo would prove his endurance. Roluo
1131-456: A son, Hrólfr kraki . When the boy was three years of age, Yrsa's mother, queen Alof of Saxony, came to visit her and told her that her husband Helgi was her own father. Horrified, Yrsa returned to Aðils, leaving her son behind, and stayed in Sweden for the rest of her life. When Hrólfr was eight years old, Helgi died during a war expedition and Hrólfr was proclaimed king. Aðils waged a war against king Áli ( Onela of Oppland ), and they fought in
1218-536: A source and recent archeological methods including C14 dating and dendrochronology are taken into account, finding out who was buried in the various barrows on the basis of information in this poem is at best educated guessing. In 1943, Danish historian Niels Lukmann said the Nordic folklore tradition, of which Yngling is a part, originated from the migration period and that people have historically not been Nordic figures. According to Lukmann, poems and legends about
1305-567: Is about Ragnvald . Ynglingatal is composed in kviðuháttr (modern Norwegian kviduhått ); this genealogical verse form is also used in Son loss (Sonatorrek) in Egils saga . In this form of verse, the lines alternate between three and four syllables—the first line has three syllables, the next has four, the next three, and so on. For example: Ynglingatal has also makes extensive use of acquaintance , such as rewriting and metaphors that give life to
1392-455: Is an attempt at a synthesis of different oral traditions about different kings. According to Snorri, the Yngling stemmed from the gods Yngve-Frey and Odin. This kinship, a euhemerism, is not left in the poem; only Snorri's words support this. Finnur Jonsson said he thought this song originally contained several verses and started with Yngve. Religion historian Walter Baetke said Yngligatal
1479-634: Is now Vest-Agder , Norway. In the preamble to the Heimskringla , Snorri writes that Thjodolf, in addition to composing the poem Ynglingatal , was poet at Harald Fairhair's hird (royal retinue ). Thjodolf also appears in the Saga of Harald Fairhair , in the mythical story of Harald and the Sami girl Snæfrithr Svásadottir , who cursed Harald to marry her. According to the saga, Harald and Snøfrid had four sons but Harald sent them away when he woke up from
1566-480: Is problematic to work out when these people might have lived. Are Frode , in the 1100s, was probably the first person who tried to convert the dates from relative time stamps to absolute chronological dates on the basis of Jesus' birth; the reckoning began to be used during the Middle Ages and is still in use. Are dated Harald Fairhair's birth to 848, and until the 1920s historians used Are's reckoning to calculate
1653-766: Is referred to as Ole's deadly foe (Ála dólgr). This animosity is treated in more detail in the Skjöldunga saga and Skáldskaparmál , which follow. The Historia Norwegiæ , which is a terse summary in Latin of Ynglingatal , only states that Eadgils fell from his horse and died during the sacrifices. In this Latin translation, the Dísir are rendered as the Roman goddess Diana : Cujus filius Adils vel Athisl ante ædem Dianæ, dum idolorum, sacrificia fugeret, equo lapsus exspiravit. Hic genuit Eustein, [ ... ] His son Adils gave up
1740-518: Is seen in Ynglingatal where Swedes sacrificed King Domalde after a prolonged famine. This is illustrated in Carl Larsson 's controversial monumental picture Midvinterblot , but there are no other sources supporting the sacrificing of a king. Ynglingatal consists of 27 stanzas and a litany of different kings and how they died. It starts with Fjölnir , who according to the Ynglinga saga
1827-669: Is the Danish king Hroðulf who provides help in Scandinavian tradition. Skáldskaparmál was written by Snorri Sturluson , c. 1220, in order to teach the ancient art of kennings to aspiring skalds . It presents Eadgils, called Aðils , in two sections. The first section is the Kálfsvísa of which Snorri quotes small parts: This is a reference to the Battle on the Ice of Lake Vänern , during which Eadgils slew Onela and which also appears in
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#17327800156691914-399: Is usually interpreted as "descendants of Yngve", but as in modern Nordic , it can also mean "young man". In skaldic poems, the word yngling is only used in the singular; only in the sagas has it has been used in the plural Ynglings ; thus the ynglings of the poem cannot be defined as one family. The term may be a kenning, a euphemism, for the prince or king and not something connected with
2001-515: The Skjöldunga saga . There is also second stanza, where Eadgils is riding his horse Slöngvir, apparently a combination famous enough to be mentioned. Eadgils' horse Slöngvir also appears in Snorri's later work, the Ynglinga saga . Snorri also presents the story of Aðils and Hrólfr Kraki ( Hroðulf ) in order to explain why gold was known by the kenning Kraki's seed . Snorri relates that Aðils
2088-511: The Battle on the Ice of Lake Vänern . Áli died in this battle. Snorri writes that there was a long account of this battle in the Skjöldunga Saga , which also contained an account of how Hrólf came to Uppsala and sowed gold on the Fyrisvellir . Snorri also relates that Aðils loved good horses and had the best horses in his days (the contemporary Gothic scholar Jordanes noted that the Swedes were famed for their good horses). One horse
2175-457: The Viking Age , but not later, and thus should not have been stated in a more recent saga. Archeologist Dagfinn Skre is an advocate for these arguments. According to Swedish researcher Olof Sundquist , Krag bypasses clear signs of Ynglingatal on a tradition of Swedish area visible in kenning , place names and personal names. Cultural phenomena such as a king who goes to holy places and
2262-1065: The Ynglinga saga . Although its age has been debated, most scholars hold to date from the 9th century. It survives in two versions: one is found in the Norwegian historical work Historia Norvegiæ in Latin , and the other one in Snorri Sturluson 's Ynglinga saga , a part of his Heimskringla . It presents Aðils (Eadgils) as the successor of Óttarr ( Ohthere ) and the predecessor of Eysteinn . The stanza on Aðils refers to his accidental death when he fell from his horse: Þat frák enn, at Aðils fjǫrvi vitta véttr of viða skyldi. Ok dáðgjarn af drasils bógum Freys ôttungr falla skyldi. Ok við aur ægir hjarna bragnings burs of blandinn varð. Ok dáðsæll deyja skyldi Ála dolgr at Uppsǫlum. Note that Eadgils' animosity with Onela also appears in Ynglingatal as Aðils
2349-474: The scop expected his audience to have sufficient background knowledge about Eadgils, Ohthere and Eanmund to understand the references. Likewise, in the roughly contemporary Norwegian Ynglingatal , Eadgils (Aðils) is called Onela's enemy (Ála dólgr), which likewise suggests that the conflict was familiar to the skald and his audience. The tradition of Eadgils and Onela resurfaces in several Old Norse works in prose and poetry, and another matter also appears:
2436-586: The "Norwegian" part of Ynglings—from Halfdan Hvitbeinn—that scientists have tried to prove or disprove were real, historical persons. They partly reasoned that people in Norse times kept track of their genus for six generations, thus it is possible to follow Harald Fairhair's ancestors back to Halfdan Hvitbeinn. Norwegian historians and archeologists have traditionally held the Norwegian Ynglings to be historical people. Because of problems with dating, it
2523-508: The 1100s and that it was based on other royal lists. In a research project during the 1980s Krag's attempt to justify the doubt regarding Ynglingatal 's age began to take shape, disregarding the traditional, uncritical acceptance. Krag studied the Yngling tradition's place in folklore and the Yngling's genealogy in relation to other European royal genealogies and scholarly genealogical works in Iceland . As an argument, Krag proposed that
2610-490: The 9th century) the oldest source that mentions Eadgils. The text of Beowulf implies that the Swedish king Ohthere died and that his younger brother Onela succeeded him, because Ohthere's two sons, Eadgils and Eanmund had to seek refuge with Heardred , Hygelac 's son and successor as king of the Geats . This caused Onela to attack the Geats, and Heardred was killed. Onela returned home and Beowulf succeeded Heardred as
2697-547: The Black was the half-brother of Olav Geirstadalv and Harald, and was thus Ragnvald's cousin, but neither Harald nor his father Halfdan are mentioned in the poem, so this is probably an attempt by Snorri and other writers to make Harald look more royal. It may have been the Icelandic poet Ari Þorgilsson who constructed the genealogy of the Ynglings and connected Harald Fairhair's seed to Ynglingatal. Snorri later developed this to
Eadgils - Misplaced Pages Continue
2784-472: The Danes. Finally Aðils entertained them but put them to a test where they had to endure immense heat by a fire. Hrólfr and his berserkers finally had enough and threw the courtiers, who were feeding the fire, into the fire and leapt at Aðils. The Swedish king disappeared through a hollow tree trunk that stood in his hall. Yrsa admonished Aðils for wanting to kill her son, and went to meet the Danes. She gave them
2871-481: The Swedes pay tribute. However, he committed suicide due to shame for his incestuous relationship with Urse ( Yrsa ), and his son Roluo ( Hrólfr Kraki ) succeeded him. The new king of Sweden, Athislus, thought that the tribute to the Daner might be smaller if he married the Danish king's mother and so took Urse for a queen. However, after some time, Urse was so upset with the Swedish king's greediness that she thought out
2958-480: The Swedish king and his men pursued him, Rolfo "sowed" the gold on the Fyrisvellir , so that the king's men would pick up the gold, instead of continuing the pursuit. As can be seen, the Skjöldunga saga retells the story of Eadgils fighting his uncle Onela , but in this version Onela is no longer Eadgils' uncle, but a Norwegian king of Oppland . This change is generally considered to be a late confusion between
3045-563: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.237 via cp1104 cp1104, Varnish XID 195892885 Upstream caches: cp1104 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 07:46:55 GMT Ynglingatal Ynglingatal or Ynglinga tal ( Old Norse : 'Enumeration of the Ynglingar') is a Skaldic poem cited by Snorri Sturluson in the Ynglinga saga ,
3132-456: The Wise was killed by a slave with a pitchfork when he was out to avenge the death of a sparrow. Dag's son Agne was hung by his wife Skjålv , and Agne's sons Alaric and Eric killed each other with a bridle when they were out riding. Their sons Yngve and Alf killed each other after being incited by Alf's wife Bera. The poem continues with varying degrees of mythical ways to die. Eventually
3219-476: The Yngling kings walked through the woods from the Svea kingdom to Norway. Here there is a clear break in the series and it is possible Thjodolf is linked here to the Norwegian seed in the Swedish genealogies to provide the Norwegian kings with a divine origin and thus greater legitimacy. The first breeding of the kings of Norway was supposed to have been Halfdan Hvitbeinn , who died in his bed at Toten . According to
3306-529: The Ynglinga Saga. The content of Ynglingatal has been interpreted and discussed, mostly during the National Romantic period of the 1800s. Norwegian historians Rudolf Keyser and Peter Andreas Munch held the traditional dating to the late 800s. The same applies to the historian Gustav Storm and the Icelandic philologist Finnur Jonsson. Around the time of World War I , saga literature
3393-537: The animosity between Eadgils and Hrólfr Kraki , who corresponds to Hroðulf in Beowulf . The skaldic poem Ynglingatal is a poetic recital of the line of the Yngling clan . They are also called Skilfingar in the poem (in stanza 19), a name that appears in its Anglo-Saxon form Scylfingas in Beowulf when referring to Eadgils' clan. It is presented as composed by Þjóðólfr of Hvinir by Snorri Sturluson in
3480-426: The composition time stamp for different people and events. In 1921 historian Halvdan Koht introduced generation counting and his method became the dominant one. In 1964, Icelandic historian Ólafía Einarsdóttir found the old Icelandic reckoning more accurate; with adjustments this has since been the most commonly used approach. Traditionally, historians have attributed great source value to scaldic poems because of
3567-498: The core province of the Swedes, Uppland , and its Norwegian namesake Oppland. Whereas, Beowulf leaves the Danish court with the suspicion that Hroðulf (Rolfo Krage, Hrólfr Kraki) might claim the Danish throne for himself at the death of Hroðgar (Roas, Hróarr), it is exactly what he does in Scandinavian tradition. A notable difference is that, in Beowulf , Eadgils receives the help of the Geatish king Beowulf against Onela, whereas it
Eadgils - Misplaced Pages Continue
3654-412: The curse. Thjodolf raised one of these sons, Gudrod Ljome. When Thjodolf learned Harald had disowned his sons, he sided with the boys and said to Harald, "They probably would have liked better ancestry, if you had given them that". The saga contains no information about Thjodolf being Harald's scald; that is only mentioned in Snorri's preamble. In the saga he is only referred to as a friend of Harald and as
3741-438: The early 12th century, Eadgils only appears as a name in the listing of the kings of the Yngling dynasty as Aðísl at Uppsala . The reason what that the author, Ari Þorgilsson , traced his ancestry from Eadgils, and its line of succession is the same as that of Ynglingatal . As can be seen it agrees with the earlier Ynglingatal and Beowulf in presenting Eadgils as the successor of Óttarr ( Ohthere ). The Skjöldunga saga
3828-406: The first four kings' deaths represent the cosmology of Greek philosopher Empedocles , with the four classical elements Earth, Water, Air, and Fire, and thus that a euhemeristic vision influenced the description of the first few generations. Krag's hypothesis has received serious criticism on several points, and so far "a convincing case has not been made against the authenticity of the poem as
3915-440: The first saga of Snorri's Heimskringla . Þjóðólfr of Hvinir (Thjodolf), who was a poet for Harald Fairhair (r. 872–930), is traditionally credited with its authorship. Snorri quotes frequently from this poem and cites it as one of the sources of the saga. The composition of the poem is dated to the 9th century. The poem lists the partly mythical and partly historical ancient Swedish kings; twenty-seven of whom are mentioned in
4002-544: The ghost after falling from his horse before the temple of Diana, while he was performing the sacrifices made to idols. He became sire to Øystein, [ ... ] The same information is found the Swedish Chronicle from the mid-15th century, which calls him Adhel . It is probably based on the Ynglingatal tradition and says that he fell from his horse and died while he worshipped his god. In Íslendingabók from
4089-448: The gold that Aðils had taken from Helgi after the battle. Hrólfr departed with 120 men and his twelve berserkers and during a rest they were tested by a farmer called Hrani ( Odin in disguise) who advised Hrólfr to send back all his troops but his twelve berserkers, as numbers would not help him against Aðils. They were at first well received, but in his hall, Aðils did his best to stop Hrólfr with pit traps and hidden warriors who attacked
4176-477: The grotesque and often ridiculous ways the kings in the poem die—they often appear to be dishonorable, which is clearly in breach of customs of the praising poem. Bergsveinn says the poem is old but the meaning of the praising poem is constructed by Snorri and other scholars of the Middle Ages . He also says Ynglingatal was not originally a genealogy, but is about different families . According to Bergsveinn,
4263-439: The hall on fire, and so they broke out of the hall, only to find themselves surrounded by heavily armed warriors in the street. After a fight, king Aðils retreated to summon reinforcements. Yrsa then provided her son with a silver drinking horn filled with gold and jewels and a famous ring, Svíagris. Then she gave Hrólfr and his men twelve of the Swedish king's best horses, and all the armour and provisions they needed. Hrólfr bid
4350-408: The included Annales Lundenses ) tell that when the Danish kings Helghe ( Halga ) and Ro ( Hroðgar ) were dead, the Swedish king Hakon/ Athisl forced the Daner to accept a dog as king. The dog king was succeeded by Rolf Krage ( Hrólfr Kraki ). The Gesta Danorum (book 2), by Saxo Grammaticus , tells that Helgo ( Halga ) repelled a Swedish invasion, killed the Swedish king Hothbrodd , and made
4437-468: The king of Geatland . In the following lines, Onela is referred to as the Scylfings ' helmet and the son of Ongenþeow , whereas Eadgils and Eanmund are referred to as the sons of Ohtere : Later in the poem, it tells that during the battle, Eadgils's brother Eanmund was killed by Onela's champion Weohstan , Wiglaf 's father. In the following lines, Eanmund also appears as the son of Ohtere and as
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#17327800156694524-415: The king was thrown forward and hit his skull on a stone. The Swedes called him a great king and buried him at Uppsala . He was succeeded by Eysteinn . Hrólfr Kraki's saga is believed to have been written in the period c. 1230 – c. 1450. Helgi and Yrsa lived happily together as husband and wife, not knowing that Yrsa was Helgi's daughter. Yrsa's mother queen Oluf travelled to Denmark to tell her daughter
4611-667: The king, who has high status, is valued above all other people. The author of the myth gives the king a special destiny as the main symbol within the ruling ideology in the Norse-thought universe. Both major ruling families in Norway, the Ynglings and Earls of Lade , legitimized their statuses by using a wedding myth. Just as Yngling had their legitimacy reinterpreted in Ynglingatal , the Ladejarlsætt got its equivalent in
4698-476: The late 1100s, and in the short saga Af Upplendinga konungum (About the upplander-kings). Ynglingtal is also indirectly preserved as a list of names in Íslendingabók from the early 1100s. A few of the characters in Ynglingatal are also mentioned in the Old English poem Beowulf . According to Snorri, Ynglingatal was composed by the scald Þjóðólfr of Hvinir , who was from Kvinesdal in what
4785-446: The memory of a warrior elite can point to ancient human migrations . Sundquist posits the theory that Thjodolf from Kvine composed his works in the 900s and based them on an extant tradition. He also said Empedocles' cosmology can hardly be argued as evidence of late dating; in that case it would be influenced by Britannia or Franks . The fact Snorri has reproduced the poem suggests he would probably have known about any falsification
4872-582: The mightiest man in Sweden bend his back. The Ynglinga saga was written c. 1225 by Snorri Sturluson and he used Skjöldunga saga as a source when he told the story of Aðils. Snorri relates that Aðils succeeded his father Óttar ( Ohthere ) and betook himself to pillage the Saxons, whose king was Geirþjófr and queen Alof the Great. The king and consort were not at home, and so Aðils and his men plundered their residence at ease driving cattle and captives down to
4959-423: The myth also has an erotic element and is thus a fertility myth that tells of the relationship between the ruler and his "territory"; the scalds describe the land as a sexual, longing giantess who rested in the earl's arms. The prince guarantees growth and prosperity in their territory. There may have been a special connection between the king and the fertility goddess in times of crisis he was sacrificed to her. This
5046-482: The occasion, but he drank so much that he killed himself. Kings of the Danes are in bold and marked with an asterisk (*). Kings of the Swedes are marked with a dagger (†). Name spellings are derived from Oliver Elton 's 1905 translation, The First Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus , via Wikisource . Semi-legendary king of Sweden Too Many Requests If you report this error to
5133-476: The original poem is preserved is uncertain. If Ynglingatal is younger, perhaps dating from the end of the 1100s as Krag says, its value as a source of real events shrinks further. According to Fidjestøl, the scald's main task was to express the Kingdom's official ideology, not necessarily render the facts. Archeologists, particularly Anton Wilhelm Brøgger in the early 1900s, have made many attempts to "place"
5220-530: The perception or construction of the poem as genealogy originates from the High Middle Ages . Swedish archeologist Svante Norr argues for an intermediate position for dating Ynglingatal . He said it is neither an authentic poem of the Viking Age nor a text from the Middle Ages. Norr accepts the traditional dating of poems origin , but says the poem was sung for the more than 300 years until it
5307-418: The poem Háleygjatal , which was written by the Norwegian poet Eyvindr skáldaspillir at the end of the 900s. In Háleygjatal it is Odin and the giantess Skade were of mythological origin, and their son Sæming is the ancestor of Hákon jarl. Both poems were thus used as genealogies and served as mythological propaganda, poetry, and grounds for alliances. According to religious historian Gro Steinsland ,
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#17327800156695394-560: The poem, along with details about their deaths and burial places. The title Ynglingatal alludes to Yngling , who had the name Yngve-Frey—another name for Frey , the god who was worshipped in Sweden . Yngling allegedly descended from Frey's son Fjölnir . Snorri portrayed Harald Fairhair as a descendant of the Ynglings. The poem was written on behalf of Ragnvald the Mountain-High , a cousin of King Harald Fairhair, and its last stanza
5481-664: The poem, his son Eystein was killed on a ship; he was beaten by the boat's vessel and fell into the sea. Eystein's son Halfdan died in his bed in Borre , where he was buried. Halfdan's son Gudrød was killed by the servant of his wife Åsa . The poem ends with Halfdan's son Olaf Geirstad-Alf and grandson Ragnvald Heidumhære . Tjodolv dedicated Ynglingatal to Ragnvald. The last stanza reads: Þat veitk bazt und blôum himni kenninafn, svát konungr eigi, es Rǫgnvaldr, reiðar stjóri, heiðumhôr of heitinn es. According to Snorri's Ynglinga Saga , Harald Fairhair's father Halfdan
5568-494: The poem, which otherwise contains much litany . The Icelandic philologist Finnur Jónsson believed the eight-line stanza defines Ynglingatal' s structure, while Walter Akerlund believed the four-line helming—the half-stanza as in the example above—defines the poem's structure. Akerlund has also said the bard Thjodolf learned the verse-form kviðuháttr by studying the Rök runestone in present-day Sweden, which dates from around
5655-520: The result of Helgo raping Olava, the queen of the Saxons . Helgo raped Yrsa as well and took her back to Denmark, where she bore the son Rolfo ( Hroðulf ). After a few years, Yrsa's mother, queen Olava, came to visit her and told her that Helgo was her own father. In horror, Yrsa returned to Adillus, leaving her son behind. Helgo died when Rolfo was eight years old, and Rolfo succeeded him, and ruled together with his uncle Roas ( Hroðgar ). Not much later, Roas
5742-433: The sagas in Heimskringla . Snorri wrote the preamble and the saga in the 1220s, over 300 years after Thjodolf should have lived, so any information about him is uncertain. According to the Ynglinga saga , Fjolne, the first king described in Ynglingatal , was the son of the god Frey and a giantess named Gerd. The actual poem mentions nothing about this, but since it only survives in citation it may have been mentioned in
5829-420: The ships to the river Fyris and rode directly to the Swedish king's hall at Uppsala with his twelve berserkers. Yrsa welcomed them and led them to their lodgings. Fires were prepared for them and they were given drinks. However, so much wood was heaped on the fires that the clothes started to burn away from their clothes. Hrólfr and his men had enough and threw the courtiers on the fire. Yrsa arrived and gave them
5916-484: The ships. One of the captives was a remarkably beautiful girl named Yrsa , and Snorri writes that everyone was soon impressed with the well-mannered, pretty and intelligent girl. Most impressed was Aðils who made her his queen. Some years later, Helgi ( Halga ), who ruled in Lejre , attacked Sweden and captured Yrsa. As he did not know that Yrsa was his own daughter, he raped her, and took her back to Lejre , where they had
6003-473: The son whom Godred fostered. Snorri also quotes several other poems of Thjodolf in Harald Fairhair's saga. The historian Claus Krag proposes that the connection between Harald Fairhair and Thjodolf was constructed by Snorri, probably because Thjodolf would have been an important person in the development of scaldic art, while according to tradition, Harald was Norway's first national king. To create
6090-406: The throne of Sweden by defeating his uncle Onela with Geatish help, and in two Scandinavian sources ( Skáldskaparmál and Skjöldunga saga ), he is also helped to defeat Onela in the Battle on the Ice of Lake Vänern , but with Danish help. However, Scandinavian sources mostly deal with his interaction with the legendary Danish king Hrólfr Kraki (Hroðulf), and Eadgils is mostly presented in
6177-429: The tight form that made them easier to remember than narratives. If Ynglingatal is really from the late 800s, recent events would be relatively close in time to the scald, and there is a high likelihood the poem renders information about real people and events. Nevertheless, there is a distance of 500 years from Halfdan Hvitbeinn to Snorri, and 250 years from the poem's composition to the time Snorri wrote it down. Whether
6264-439: The truth. Yrsa was shocked and although Helgi wanted their relationship to remain as it was, Yrsa insisted on leaving him to live alone. She was later taken by the Swedish king Aðils as his queen, which made Helgi even more unhappy. Helgi went to Uppsala to fetch her, but was killed by Aðils in battle. In Lejre , he was succeeded by his son Hrólfr Kraki . After some time, Böðvarr Bjarki encouraged Hrólfr to go Uppsala to claim
6351-836: The various youth kings and their wives in barrows in Vestfold . The most famous examples are the Queen Åsa in Oseberghaugen outside Tønsberg and Olaf Geirstad-Alf in Gokstadhaugen outside Sandefjord . In addition, archeologists have said the remains of Eystein Halfdansson, Halfdan the Mild, Gudrød the Hunter, and Halfdan the Black are located at Borrehaugene outside Horten . When the issue of Ynglingatal ' s value as
6438-497: The war, and Aðils took Áli's helmet Battle-boar and his horse Raven. The berserkers demanded three pounds of gold each in pay, and they demanded to choose the gifts that Aðils had promised Hrólfr, that is the two pieces of armour that nothing could pierce: the helmet battle-boar and the mailcoat Finn's heritage . They also wanted the famous ring Svíagris. Aðils considered the pay outrageous and refused. When Hrólfr heard that Aðils refused to pay, he set off to Uppsala . They brought
6525-557: The work, this is referred to as "sowing the Fyrisvellir "), although there was a rumour that she only spread gilded copper. When Athislus, who was pursuing the escapers saw that a precious ring was lying on the ground, he bent down to pick it up. Roluo was pleased to see the king of Sweden bent down, and escaped in the ships with his mother. Roluo later defeated Athislus and gave Sweden to young man named Hiartuar ( Heoroweard ), who also married Roluo's sister Skulde . When Athislus learnt that Hiartuar and Skulde had killed Roluo, he celebrated
6612-420: The year 800. Ynglingatal is preserved in its entirety in Snorri's Ynglinga saga , which Snorri wrote based on the poem. In the saga, Snorri expanded his text by quoting from the poem in addition to his own text. A stanza from Ynglingatal is also quoted in Þáttr Ólafs Geirstaða Alfs . Stories that build on the poem are found in the Norwegian history, Historia Norvegiæ , which was written in Latin in
6699-415: Was a Norse saga which is believed to have been written in the period 1180–1200. The original version is lost, but it survives in a Latin summary by Arngrímur Jónsson . Arngrímur's summary relates that Eadgils, called Adillus , married Yrsa with whom he had the daughter Scullda . Some years later, the Danish king Helgo ( Halga ) attacked Sweden and captured Yrsa, not knowing that she was his own daughter,
6786-513: Was animosity between king Adillus of Sweden and the Norwegian king Ale of Oppland . They decided to fight on the ice of Lake Vänern . Adillus won and took his helmet, chainmail and horse. Adillus won because he had requested Rolfo's aid against king Ale and Rolfo had sent him his berserkers. However, Adillus refused to pay the expected tribute for the help and so Rolfo came to Uppsala to claim his recompense. After surviving some traps, Rolfo fled with Adillus' gold, helped by his mother Yrsa. Seeing that
6873-523: Was free of euhemerism—the notion of lineage of gods was added in the Christian era. Claus Krag said the first kings of the poem are historicized gods, and that the hypothesis of lost stanzas may be rejected. Opinions differ on whether breedings were historical figures. If all the kings in this poem really existed, the first of them must have lived in the Migration Period . It is usually only
6960-432: Was in war with a Norwegian king named Áli ( Onela ), and they fought in the Battle on the Ice of Lake Vänern . Aðils was married to Yrsa , the mother of Hrólfr and so sent an embassy to Hrólfr asking him for help against Áli. He would receive three valuable gifts in recompense. Hrólfr was involved in a war against the Saxons and could not come in person but sent his twelve berserkers, including Böðvarr Bjarki . Áli died in
7047-406: Was killed by his half-brothers Rærecus and Frodo, whereupon Rolfo became the sole king of Denmark. In Sweden, Yrsa and Adillus married Scullda to the king of Öland , Hiørvardus/Hiorvardus/Hevardus ( Heoroweard ). As her half-brother Rolfo was not consulted about this marriage, he was infuriated and he attacked Öland and made Hiørvardus and his kingdom tributary to Denmark. After some time, there
7134-553: Was named Slöngvi and another one Raven , which he had taken from Áli. From this horse he had bred a horse also named Raven which he sent to king Godgest of Hålogaland , but Godgest could not manage it and fell from it and died, in Omd on the island of Andøya . Aðils himself died in a similar way at the Dísablót . Aðils was riding around the Disa shrine when Raven stumbled and fell, and
7221-477: Was placed in front of a fire that exposed him to such heat that finally a maiden could suffer the sight no more and extinguished the fire. Roluo was greatly recompensed by Athisl for his endurance. When the banquet had lasted for three days, Urse and Roluo escaped from Uppsala, early in the morning in carriages where they had put all the Swedish king's treasure. In order to lessen their burden, and to occupy any pursuing warriors they spread gold in their path (later in
7308-500: Was subjected to much criticism as a historical source, in Sweden by the brothers Lauritz and Curt Weibull , and in Norway by Halvdan Koht and Edvard Bull . In 1908, German philologist Gustav Neckel said Ynglingatal had to be a construction from the 1100s; Norwegian historian Claus Krag also said this in his book Ynglingatal and Yngling Saga. A study of historical sources , and joins Neckel's hypothesis. Claus Krag claimed in 1990 that Ynglingatal 's origin should be dated to
7395-540: Was the only corresponding name used by the Anglo-Saxons. The name Aðils was so exceedingly rare even in Scandinavia that among almost 6000 Scandinavian runic inscriptions, it is only attested in three runestones ( U 35 , DR 221 and Br Olsen;215). The Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf , composed sometime between the 8th century and the 11th century, is (beside the Norwegian skaldic poem Ynglingatal from
7482-588: Was the son of Frey. This relationship is not mentioned in the actual poem. Fjolne drowned in a mead tub. The poem continues with his son Sveigðir , who followed a dwarf into a rock and never came out again. Then comes Sveigde's son Vanlande , who was strangled by a mare . Vanlande's son Visbur was burned alive and his son Domalde was sacrificed by the Swedish chiefs to get a good year's harvest. Domalde had his son Domar , who died of illness in Uppsala . Domar's son Dyggve also died of illness, and his son Dag
7569-469: Was written down gradually, and must have undergone major changes to fit it into contemporaneous social conditions. According to Norr, genealogical poems cannot be used as historical sources because they depend on extant ideological, political and social conditions. He says the poem must be viewed as a development and a result of a long process of change. The Norwegian archaeologist Bjørn Myhre joins largely to Norr's standpoint. The meaning of term "yngling"
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