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50-678: According to sources such as Ynglingatal and Íslendingabók , the Fairhair dynasty in Oppland , Norway was in fact a branch of the Ynglings (here Yngling is explicitly used as the name of the dynasty). Saxo Grammaticus held that the Ynglings also included Eric the Victorious , who is usually the first king in modern regnal lists, and his descendants . However, this does not tally with Icelandic sources. The dynasty claimed descent from

100-465: A 12th-century invention, ruled for 18 years altogether and Harald Hardrada then founded a new dynasty. There may be as many as 6 dynasties altogether subsumed under the title of Fairhair dynasty: Harald Fairhair's, Olaf Tryggvason's, St. Olaf's, Harald Hardrada's, Magnus Erlingsson 's and Sverre's. The problem points (points of broken genealogy) in the medieval royal lineage in the so-called Fairhair dynasty are: Each of them came from "nowhere" and won

150-673: A dynasty. Scholars now consider the Fairhair dynasty at least partly the product of medieval invention. One motive would be to increase the legitimacy of rulers by giving them a clear royal ancestry dating back to the foundation of the kingdom. Another was to provide pedigrees for other people by connecting them to the royal house. Versions of the royal descent are preserved in various works by Icelandic skalds and historians, some based on now lost works: Þjóðólfr of Hvinir 's Ynglingatal , in Nóregs konungatal (which preserves information from

200-609: A legendary king of Sweden, a king who in the Ynglinga saga and elsewhere has an elder brother (rather than a father) named Alrek. See Alrek and Eirík for details. In the Ynglinga saga the mother of the Swedish kings Alrek and Eirík is named Skjálf , which might also be an eponym for Skilfing. Returning to the Ættartǫlur , there Eirík the Eloquent is father of Alrek, father of Víkar ( Víkarr ), father of Vatnar. This Víkar

250-579: A longer variant of the genealogical passages in the Skáldskaparmál , also speaking of Halfdan the Old and lineages descended from him and of other notable lineages, but in much greater detail. In this list of the sons of Halfdan, Yngvi the ancestor of the Ynglings is missing and Skelfir the ancestor of the Skilfings appears in his place. This might be a remembrance of an earlier identity or connection of

300-495: A lost work by Sæmundr fróði ), and at greatest length in Snorri Sturluson 's Heimskringla (which preserves information from a now lost version of Ari Þorgilsson 's Íslendingabók ). These differ in some respects. Joan Turville-Petre explored the relationship between them and argued that the original aims were to establish a framework of regnal years for dating and to connect Icelandic chieftains to them, and that

350-470: A new dynasty, the 'Gille' (Irish) or 'Gylle dynasty'. The most seriously discredited alleged scion, practically regarded as an impostor by many modern academics, was Sverre I , who arrived in Norway from his native Faroe Islands , took up leadership in the embattled and heirless Birkebeiner party of the civil war, and claimed to be the natural son of Sigurd II by Gunhild, Sverre's attested mother. Sverre

400-405: Is a retrospective construction: in their lifetime what little traces there are refer to them consistently as " Ynglings ". The Fairhair Dynasty is traditionally regarded as the first royal dynasty of the united kingdom of Norway . It was founded by Harald I of Norway, known as Haraldr hinn hárfagri (Harald Fairhair or Finehair), the first King of Norway (as opposed to "in Norway"), who defeated

450-516: Is also known as Count Rou of Rouen, and is said to have been William the Conqueror 's great-great-great-grandfather. Hversu Noregr byggðist ('How Norway was founded') is a 14th-century account of the origin of various legendary Norwegian lineages. It too traces the descendants of the primeval Finnish ruler Fornjotr back through Nór and his siblings, Góí and Gór; Nór being here the eponym and first great king of Norway, and then gives details of

500-650: Is called the House of Skilfings: his kindred is in the Eastern Region. A connection with the east might mean a connection to Sweden, but the vagueness of expression suggests Snorri knows no more about these Skilfings than he has written. Snorri also gives Skilfing as a kenning for "king" and it appears as a kenning for "sword" in the thulur found in some versions of the Skáldkskaparmál . The Ættartǫlur connected to Hversu Noregr byggdist are

550-600: Is given as: Ohthere ( Ottar ) also occurs as the father of Aedgils ( Adils ) in Ynglingatal . There Skilfing ( Skilfingr ) appears as a synonym of Yngling, in a line on Egil , the father of Ottar , so that Ongentheow is considered identical to Egil . Likewise in the Skáldskaparmál the Scylfings are described as an eastern family and East King was a conventional kenning for a Swedish king. However, in

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600-403: Is historically attested to have referred only to his kinship with his maternal half-brother, Olaf II. Much later legends (sagas authored under the patronage of royal courts of Harald III's descendants) claim Harald III's father also to have descended from Harald I (through Harald Fairhair's alleged son Sigurd Hrise ). Thus, Harald III's 'Hardrada dynasty' is represented in the sagas as a branch of

650-543: Is in the Eastern Land. In Ynglinga Saga , Snorri discusses marriages between Swedish and Finnish royal families. In the Skáldskaparmál section of Edda , he discusses King Halfdan the Old , Nór's great-grandson, and nine of his sons who are the forefathers of various royal lineages, including "Yngvi, from whom the Ynglings are descended" . According to the Orkneyinga Saga , Nór founded Norway. He

700-608: Is likewise claimed to have been a male-line descendant of Harald I, as great-grandson of Harald I's alleged son Bjørn in Vestfold, yet he is first known to history as a successful Viking marauder rather than a landed prince. The reliability of these two claims depends on the credibility of the Icelandic accounts (in particular Heimskringla ) and the sources used to compile them, and if deemed unreliable, their reigns would represent distinct dynasties from that of Fairhair. Harald III

750-557: Is the famous Víkar, king of Hördaland, who was sacrificed to Odin by Starkad . The chain of descent from Alrek to Víkar to Vatnar is also found in Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka ('The saga of Hálf and his heroes'). However Gautreks saga gives an entirely different ancestry and different descendants to Víkar. See Víkar for details. This genealogy may have been based on attempts to ascribe a Norwegian origin to both Swedish Scylfings and Danish Skjöldungs and also be related to Saxo's account of

800-575: Is undisputed that later kings, until Magnus IV (Magnus the Blind, r. 1130–1135 and 1137–1139), were descended from Harald Hardrada: the 'Hardrada dynasty'. However, many modern historians doubt whether Harald III or his predecessors Olaf Tryggvason , Olaf II and Magnus the Good were in fact descended from Harald Fairhair (for example questioning the identification of Halfdan in Hadafylke with

850-518: The Ættartolur , (the genealogies attached to Hversu Noregr byggdist ), the Skilfings are of Norwegian origin and include a family identified as Skjöldungs . In the eddic poem Grímnismál (stanza 55), Skilfing appears as one of Odin 's names, the information there also appearing in the Gylfaginning .. In the Old English poem Beowulf , the word Scylfing occurs twice in

900-480: The sons of Frey . Several of these kings appear in Beowulf : Eadgils (Adils), Onela (Ale), and Ohthere (Ottar Vendelkråka), but here they are called Scylfings (see the Beowulf section below). In his Skáldskaparmál the 13th-century Icelandic writer Snorri Sturluson hints at a less divine origin for this dynasty: One war-king was named Skelfir; and his house is called the House of Skilfings: his kindred

950-593: The Black the progenitor of a dynasty which stretched in three branches from Harald Fairhair to Olaf Tryggvason, Olaf II and Harald. – in fulfillment of prophetic dreams, according to Heimskringla , in which the genealogy reaches its full form. One particular point of doubt raised by historians is whether Harald III's father was actually descended in unbroken male line from a younger (and somewhat obscure) son of Harald Fairhair, and Olav II in another obscure but unbroken male line. It has been suggested that their claims to

1000-627: The Danish Skjöld who is there made a son of Odin as commonly in Norse texts. Skjöld as son of Skelfir might be related to English traditions of Scyld being a son or descendant of Sceafa (as discussed under Sceafa ), though here too (at least in Beowulf ) the connection is to Danish matters, not to Norway. This Norwegian Skjöld, ancestor of the Norwegian Skjöldungs, is father of Eirík, father of Alrek ( Alrekr ), father of Eirík

1050-1011: The Danish royal house through Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye . Ragnar's eldest son Ivar the Boneless was the leader of the Great Heathen Army and appears to have been the founder of the Uí Ímair dynasty of the Kingdom of York and Kingdom of Dublin , and by extension the Crovan Dynasty of the Kings of Mann . This is the mythic Yngling family tree based on Historia Norwegiæ , Ynglinga saga , Beowulf and other Old Norse sources. The names of Swedish kings are shown in bold. Notes In Old English several kings who are generally identified as Ynglings are called Scylfings . The genealogy

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1100-610: The Eloquent, whom the Skáldskaparmál presented as an Ylfing. These two mentions are the only occurrences of Eirík the Eloquent in Norse texts. But what seems to be the same figure appears prominently in book 5 of Saxo Grammaticus ' Gesta Danorum as Ericus disertus. This Ericus disertus is indeed a Norwegian, but his father is not named Alrek but rather Regnerus pugilex, that is Ragnar the Champion. The Gesta Danorum then somewhat forcibly identifies Ericus disertus with Eirík,

1150-460: The Fairhair dynasty. They also became known as the 'St. Olaf dynasty' in honor of the founder's half-brother. Harald IV arrived in Norway from his native Ireland and claimed to be the natural son of Magnus III, sired during the latter's Irish expedition. His claim seems, from historical sources, to be based on tales told by his Irish mother and family circle during his youth. Were one to view these claims as dubious, then Harald IV instead gave rise to

1200-808: The Norwegian Ericus desertus. If so, as it stands, it has been edited to remove material that would obviously conflict with the standard genealogies of the Skjöldungs and Ynglings which also appear in the Ættartǫlur . Other anglicized spellings: Eirík : Eirik ; Eirík the Eloquent : Eirik the Eloquent , Eiríkr the Wise in Speech ; Halfdan the Old : Hálfdan the Old ; Skjöld : Skjold , Skiold , Scyld ; Starkad : Starkath ; Víkar : Vikar ; Vörs : Vor . Fairhair dynasty Allegedly: The Fairhair dynasty ( Norwegian : Hårfagreætta )

1250-759: The Old : Hence come the Skjöldungs , hence the Skilfings, Hence the Ödlings [ Ǫðlingar ], hence the Ylfings, ... [4] In the Skáldskaparmál , Snorri Sturluson speaks of the second group of nine sons of Halfdan the Old, from whom many families of legend descend, one of these sons being Yngvi , purported ancestor of the Yngling lineage. But neither Skylfings or Skjöldungs are specifically derived from these sons. Snorri continues with examples of famous descendants of three of those lineages, followed by: "Of

1300-463: The Old. Almost all the lineages sprung from Halfdan are then shown to reconvert in the person of Harald Fairhair , the first king of "all Norway". This information can be confirmed in other sources. The 'Ættartölur' account ends to a genealogy of Harald's royal descendants down to Olaf IV of Norway with the statement that the account was written in 1387, and with a list of the kings of Norway from this Olaf back to Harald Fair-hair. Another origin for

1350-539: The Swedish Ynglings and the Swedish Scylfings in Beowulf . But nothing in the following genealogy is necessarily Swedish though possible Swedish parallels do appear, particular the names Alrek and Eirík as discussed below. There are many oddities in this account. It claims Skelfir was king of Vörs ( Vǫrs ), modern Voss in northern Hordaland in southwestern Norway, but Halfdan's inheritance

1400-701: The Vestfold origin of the dynasty was deliberately altered and they were connected to the Swedish Ynglings rather than the Skjǫldungs to fit Icelandic tradition. Claus Krag argued that an important motive was to establish a hereditary claim to Viken , the region around Oslo, because the area had been paying taxes to the King of Denmark. Turville-Petre speaks of a "decisive reconstruction of Harald [Hardrada]'s ancestry probably carried out by Icelanders, some two hundred years after his time" which made Halfdan

1450-512: The country was effectively ruled not by a king but by one of the Jarls of Lade , (Old Norse Hlaðir ), from the northern part of Norway. The first such period was from about 975 to about 995 under Haakon Sigurdsson (Hákon Sigurðarson, often called 'Jarl Haakon'). Also, although Harald Fairhair's kingdom was the kernel of a unified Norway, it was still small and his power centre was in Vestfold , in

1500-560: The descendants of Nór and of his brother Gór in the following section known as the Ættartölur ('Genealogies', a.k.a. Fundinn Noregr , 'Founding of Norway'). The Hversu account is closely paralleled by the opening of the Orkneyinga saga . The 'genealogies' also claim that many heroic families famed in Scandinavian tradition but not located in Norway were of a Finn-Kven stock, mostly sprung from Nór's great-grandson Halfdan

1550-497: The family of the Wægmundings to which Beowulf and his father Ecgtheow also belonged. Another extended form is helm Scylfinga . This literally means 'Scylfings'-helmet'; it is a kenning meaning both "ruler of the Scylfings" and "protector of the Scylfings". The Beowulf poet uses it to refer to Ongentheow's son Onela . The eddic poem Hyndluljóð , in stanza 16 speaks of descendants of an ancient king named Halfdan

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1600-408: The father of Sigurd Syr or Harald Fairhair's fathering of Sigurd Hrise on a Sami girl called Snæfrithr Svásadottir ) and whether they in fact made such a claim, or whether these lineages are a construction from the 12th century. Sverre Sigurdsson 's claim to be the son of Sigurd Munn is also usually considered to be dubious, which would make Inge II (Inge Bårdsson) possibly the last king of

1650-553: The future king Olaf is said to have been born posthumously to a mother who had taken refuge in the Orkney Islands , yet the age assigned him in other sources would place his birth years after the date attributed to the death of his father. The Heimskringla then relates that he was enslaved in Estonia as a three-year-old, only to tell his true parentage to the man who discovered him there and freed him six years later. Olaf II

1700-470: The gods Freyr and Njörðr , and other kings were likely mythical as well, whereas others may have been real: especially Egil , Ottar , Ale and Adils that are mentioned in Beowulf as well as Nordic sources. In the Scandinavian sources they are the descendants of Yngvi - Frey of Vanaheim . Yngling means descendant of Frey , and in the Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus they are called

1750-472: The house of the Ylfings was Eirík the Eloquent ( Eiríkr inn málspaki )." But Ylfings have not been previously mentioned. Then follows the names of four ancestors of four lineages not descended from Halfdan, which include Yngvi and the Ynglings a second time. There is obvious confusion or corruption in this passage or its source. The fourth lineage is identified: One war-king was named Skelfir; and his house

1800-439: The king's lover and that the boy had been sired by him. Of all the last-mentioned four problematic points of descent, this appears, on the face of it, as the most trustworthy. Were this disputed, Haakon IV, would be regarded as having started yet another new dynasty, though he is generally regarded as having continued the 'Sverre dynasty'. Original Fairhair lineage : Viken , perhaps unrelated 'Tryggvason' dynasty: Vestfold ,

1850-450: The kingdom, the three latter claiming to be hitherto unknown natural sons of an earlier king. Olaf I is given a male-line descent from Harald I in the Icelandic sagas, as grandson of Harald's alleged son Olaf in Vika. However, Viken and its region of Norway, Vestfold , were not parts of Harald I's dominions but subject to the Danish kings at the time, making this connection dubious. Further,

1900-513: The last resisting petty kings at the Battle of Hafrsfjord in 872. According to the traditional view, after Harald Fairhair first unified the kingdom, Norway was inherited by his agnatic (male) descendants. In the 13th century, this was codified in law. Unlike other Scandinavian monarchies and Anglo-Saxon England , Norway was never an elective monarchy. However, in the first centuries after Harald Fairhair, there were several periods during which

1950-466: The name skilfing is possible: Snorri described Erik and Alrik , the sons of Skjalf to be the de facto ancestors of this Norse clan . According to Snorri Sturluson , the dynasty led the settlement of the Swedish provinces and established themselves as the kings of its provinces, accepting the overlordship of the Swedish king at Uppsala , until the dynasty all but exterminated itself with Ingjald Ill-Ruler and his downfall. A survivor Olof Trätälja

2000-468: The singular and twice in the plural. For alliterative purposes the name could be extended, such as the form Heathoscylfing 'Battle-Scylfing', which occurs once in the singular and twice in the plural. A Scylfing whose name is partly missing but ends in -ela married the sister of Hrothgar and Halga . Specifically identified as Scylfings are Ongentheow , king of Sweden, and by extension his subject Wiglaf son of Weohstan . Wiglaf and Weohstan belonged to

2050-454: The south. And when he died, the kingdom was divided between his sons. Some historians put emphasis on the actual monarchical control over the country and assert that Olaf II (Olaf the Stout, who later became St. Olaf), who reigned from 1015, was the first king to have control over the entire country. He is generally held to be the driving force behind Norway's final conversion to Christianity and

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2100-569: The start of the St. Olav dynasty : Hardrada dynasty : Gille dynasty : Philip Simonsson and Skule Baardsson cannot be easily placed into the Fairhair dynasty scheme. Their relation to an earlier Fairhair king was that of a half-brother. Sverre dynasty : bastard lineage of Sverre dynasty : Norse clan Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include

2150-422: The throne were bolstered by genealogical invention because although they shared the same mother, Åsta Gudbrandsdatter , the mother's descent was unimportant in inheritance according to traditional Germanic law. In this critical view, only three generations of Fairhair kings reigned, from 930 to 1030, for 40 years altogether. The kings Olav Tryggvason and St. Olav, their family ties with the Fairhair dynasty perhaps

2200-527: Was a direct descendant of Fornjótr , the King of "Gotland, Kvenland and Finnland" . In traditional Scandinavian lineages we find Halfdan the Old as the Great-grandfather of Ragnvald Eysteinson Jarl of Møre, the father of Rollo, called Gengu-Hrolf in Norse sources, the Viking conqueror who founded Normandy, who Dudo of Saint-Quentin testifies took the name Robert after converting to Christianity. He

2250-430: Was a family of kings founded by Harald I of Norway (commonly known as "Harald Fairhair", Haraldr inn hárfagri ) which united and ruled Norway with few interruptions from the latter half of the 9th century. In the traditional view, this lasted until 1387, however, many modern scholars view this rule as lasting only three generations, ending with Harald Greycloak in the late 10th century. The moniker " Fairhair dynasty "

2300-539: Was in southeastern Norway. Skelfir was the father of Skjöld ( Skjǫldr ). The account ends by saying that lineage of Skelfir was called the Skilfing lineage or the Skjöldung lineage, seemingly identifying the two. But Skjöldungs are normally the legendary royal family of the rulers of Denmark and no connection with Denmark is made here. Indeed, the Ættartǫlur later twice gives a quite different list of descendants of

2350-410: Was later revered as Rex Perpetuum Norvegiæ (Latin: eternal king of Norway). Some provinces did not actually come under the rule of the Fairhair kings before the time of Harald III (Harald Hardrada, r. 1046–1066). Either of these may therefore be regarded as further unifiers of Norway. And some of the rulers were nominally or actually vassals of the King of Denmark , including Jarl Haakon. It

2400-473: Was mostly a political statement – their claims were at best dubious. It may have meant just that the claimant desired to continue the perceived policies of Sigurd and his party, and in that sense were his 'sons'. Sverre I would be viewed as starting the Sverre dynasty . Haakon IV was born to a Norwegian peasant girl after the death of King Haakon III. She and the late king's inner circle affirmed that she had been

2450-514: Was sired during his mother's marriage with another man, Unas the Combmaker. Only in adulthood, so the claim goes according to legends, did his mother tell Sverre his 'real' paternity. Based on historical sources, no one else appears to have given the story credence. During that stage of the civil war, the strife was so intense that genealogical truth had evolved to a relative concept. Many royal pretenders claimed to be sons of King Sigurd II, and that

2500-610: Was the ancestor of the Norwegian branch. However, both Snorri (as in the earlier quote) and Saxo described the clan as remaining in Sweden after this date. Saxo on the Battle of Bråvalla (ca 750): Moreover, both in Icelandic sources and in the Gesta Danorum , King Sigurd Hring would become the ancestor of the houses of Ragnar Lodbrok and would thus be the semi-legendary ancestor of the House of Munsö through Björn Ironside , and

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