Ingvar

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This article deals with the legendary Swedish king Ingvar. For a treatment of the name, see Ingvar (name).

Ingvar or Yngvar Harra, Proto-Norse *Ingu-Hariz (d. early 7th century) was the son of Östen and reclaimed the Swedish throne for the House of Yngling after the Swedes had rebelled against Sölvi.

Snorri Sturluson relates in his Ynglinga saga that King Ingvar, Östen's son, was a great warrior who often spent time patrolling the shores of his kingdom fighting Danes and pirates from the east. King Ingvar finally came to a peace agreement with the Danes and could take care of the Estonian pirates.

He consequently started pillaging in Estonia in retribution, and one summer he arrived at a place called Stein (see also Sveigder). The Estonians (sýslu kind) assembled a great army in the interior and attacked King Ingvar in a great battle. The Estonian forces were too powerful and Ingvar fell and the Swedish forces retreated. Ingvar was buried in a mound at a place called Stone or Hill fort (at Steini) on the shores of Estonia (Aðalsýsla).

Snorri then quotes a stanza from Þjóðólfr of Hvinir's Ynglingatal:

Þat stökk upp,
at Yngvari
Sýslu kind
um sóat hafði,
ok ljóshömum
við lagar hjarta
her Eistneskr
at hilmi vá,
ok austmarr
jöfri sœnskum
Gýmis ljóð
at gamni kveðr.[1]
Certain it is the Estland foe
The fair-haired Swedish king laid low.
On Estland's strand, o'er Swedish graves,
The East Sea sings her song of waves;
King Yngvar's dirge is ocean's roar
Resounding on the rock-ribbed shore.[2]

The Historia Norwegiæ presents a Latin summary of Ynglingatal, older than Snorri's quotation (continuing after Eysteinn):

Hujus filius Ynguar, qui cognominatus est canutus, in expeditione occisus est in quadam insula Baltici maris, quæ ab indigenis Eysysla[1] vocatur. Iste ergo genuit Broutonund, quem Sigwardus frater suus [...][2].

Ynglingatal only mentions the location Sysla (area paying tribute), Historia Norwegiae only mentions that he died during a campaign on the island Eycilla, i.e. Eysysla (Ösel). In addition to his son Anund (Broutonund), it also adds second son named Sigvard.

Thorsteins saga Víkingssonar skips Ingvar's generation and makes his father Östen the father of Anund and grand-father of Ingjald. It adds a second son to Östen named Olaf, who was the king of Fjordane in Norway.


[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Storm corrects the name to Eysysla instead of Eycilla in his edition.
  2. ^ Storm, Gustav (editor) (1880). Monumenta historica Norwegiæ: Latinske kildeskrifter til Norges historie i middelalderen, Monumenta Historica Norwegiae (Kristiania: Brøgger), p. 101.

[edit] Primary sources

[edit] Secondary sources

Nerman, B. Det svenska rikets uppkomst. Stockholm, 1925.

House of Yngling
Preceded by
Sölve		 Semi-legendary king of Sweden Succeeded by
Anund
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