Blot-Sweyn
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Blot-Sven or Sweyn the Sacrificer (king c. 1080[1]) was a Swedish king, who replaced his Christian brother-in-law Inge as the king of Sweden, when Inge had refused to administer the blóts (pagan sacrifices) at the Temple at Uppsala. There is no mention of Sweyn in the regnal list of the Westrogothic law, which suggests that his rule did not reach Västergötland[1].
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[edit] Becoming king
The earliest source that deals with Blot-Sweyn's coming to power is the Icelandic legendary saga Hervarar saga:
| “ | King Ingi married a woman called Mær who had a brother called Svein. King Ingi liked Svein better than any other man, and Svein became thereby the greatest man in Sweden.[2] | ” |
However, Inge did not permit the people to follow the old ways, unlike his father Stenkil. The Swedes reacted strongly and asked Inge to either comply with the old traditions or abdicate. When Inge proclaimed that he would not abandon the true faith, the people pelted him with stones and chased him away[2]. This was the opportunity for Sweyn to assume power:
| “ | Svein, the King's brother-in-law, remained behind in the assembly, and offered the Swedes to do sacrifices on their behalf if they would give him the Kingdom. They all agreed to accept Svein's offer, and he was then recognized as King over all Sweden. A horse was then brought to the assembly and hewn in pieces and cut up for eating, and the sacred tree was smeared with blood. Then all the Swedes abandoned Christianity, and sacrifices started again. They drove King Ingi away; and he went into Vestergötland.[2] | ” |
[edit] Legend of Saint Eskil
The later Legend of Saint Eskil tells that Inge was chased away from the kingdom. They then elected an idolator for king by the name Sweyn, an unworthy man and with reason called Blood-Sweyn. He had this name because he made the people drink blood from bulls that had been sacrificed to the false gods, and he ate the sacrificial meat. The infidels assembled around their king in Strängnäs, where they butchered oxen and sheep, and gave offerings to their gods. They had a great banquet in honour of the king and the false gods. The English bishop Eskil then appeared and tried to convert the pagans to Christianity. They would not listen, however. Eskil prayed, and God sent thunder, hail, snow and rain destroying the sacrifical altar and beasts of sacrifice. Not a single drop fell on the bishop. The pagans were not impressed and furiously, they attacked Eskil. A diviner named Spåbodde hit him on the head with a stone, while another man crushed his head with an axe. Some chieftains dragged the dying martyr to the king saying that Eskil had used magic arts to control the weather. As soon as the unrightful king had sentenced Eskil to death, he was taken to the valley where the monastery later was founded, and he was stoned to death[3].
This legend is, however, considered to be a later invention by the Church as more reliable sources date Eskil's death to c. 1016, several generations before Blot-Sweyn[3].
[edit] How Sweyn was killed
According to Hervarar saga, Sweyn's rule was not to last. Before long, the Christian Inge decided to kill the Pagan Sweyn in a less than honourable way:
| “ | Svein the Sacrificer was King of Sweden for three years. King Ingi set off with his retinue and some of his followers, thought it was but as small force. He then rode eastwards by Småland and into Östergötland and then into Sweden. He rode both day and night, and came upon Svein suddenly in the early morning. They caught him in his house and set it on fire and burned the band of men who were within. There was a baron called Thjof who was burnt inside. He had been previously in the retinue of Svein the Sacrificer. Svein himself left the house, but was slain immediately.[2] | ” |
A similar account also appears in the Orkneyinga saga, but in this account, Sweyn stays indoors and is burnt to death:
| “ | Christianity was then young in Sweden; there were then many men who went about with witchcraft, and thought by that to become wise and knowing of many things which had not yet come to pass. King Ingi was a thorough Christian man, and all wizards were loathsome to him. He took great pains to root out those evil ways which had long gone hand in hand with heathendom, but the rulers of the land and the great freeholders took it ill that their bad customs were found fault with. So it came about that the freemen chose them another king, Sweyn, the queen’s brother, who still held to his sacrifices to idols, and was called Sacrifice-Sweyn. Before him king Ingi was forced to fly the land into West-Gothland; but the end of their dealings was, that king Ingi took the house over Sweyn’s head and burnt him inside it. After that he took all the land under him. Then he still went on rooting out many bad ways.[4] | ” |
[edit] Succession
It is possible that Ingi was not immediately accepted by the stubbornly pagan Swedes of Uppland. The 13th century historian Snorri Sturlusson wrote in the Heimskringla that Blót-Sweyn had a pagan successor who continued the sacrifices (Eirik Arsale):
| “ | At that time there were many people all around in the Swedish dominions who were heathens, and many were bad Christians; for there were some of the kings who renounced Christianity, and continued heathen sacrifices, as Blotsvein, and afterwards Eirik Arsale, had done.[5] | ” |
[edit] Sweyn's family
The runestone U 861 was probably made by Sweyn and his family, as it mentions a Sweyn and his sister Møy. It is the only existing mention of the name Møy ("maiden") as a girl's name beside the mention of Sweyn's sister Mær in Hervarar saga, and it is contemporary with Sweyn[6].
Blot-Sweyn is believed to have been the father of Eric of Good Harvests (Eirik Arsale)[7]. This Eric is mentioned by a plausible source as the father of Sverker the Elder[7][8], and so Blot-Sweyn could be the progenitor of the House of Sverker.
| Preceded by Ingold I |
King of Sweden | Succeeded by Eric of Good Harvests |
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Blot-Sven, an article in Nordisk familjebok
- ^ a b c d The Saga of Hervör and Heithrek (c. 1325), in translation by Nora Kershaw.
- ^ a b Legender från Sveriges medeltid, pp. 272-273, at the official site of the Church of Sweden.
- ^ The Orkneyingers Saga, translated by Sir G. W. Dasent, D.C.L. (1894), at Northvegr.
- ^ Saga of Sigurd the Crusader and His Brothers Eystein and Olaf (c. 1225).
- ^ Sverges runinskrifter by Erik Brate (1922)
- ^ a b Erik, an article in Nordisk familjebok
- ^ Svenska kyrkans historia (1838)
