Semi-legendary kings of Sweden
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The semi-legendary kings of Sweden are the long line of Swedish kings who preceded Eric the Victorious, according to sources such as the Norse Sagas, Beowulf, Rimbert, Adam of Bremen and Saxo Grammaticus, but who are of disputed historicity because many of them appear in more or less unreliable sources. They are called sagokungar in Swedish, a name that intentionally has the double meanings "fairy tale kings" and "Saga kings". All were depicted as descendents of the House of Ynglings/Scylfings, either in direct royal line, or through the House of Ragnar Lodbrok and the house of Skjöldung (Scylding).
Contents |
[edit] House of Ynglings/Scylfings
These kings belonged to an ancient dynasty mentioned in both the Norse sagas and in Beowulf. The preceding monarchs are mythical in character and have been given a separate section in mythical kings of Sweden. The kings mentioned in this article are more credible as some of them appear in several independent sources.
- (continued from Mythical kings of Sweden)
- Egil (Ongentheow) (late 5th c. - early 6th c.)
- Ottar (Ohthere) (early 6th c.)
- Ale (Onela) (early 6th c.)
- Adils (Eadgils) (ca 530-ca 575)
- Östen (late 6th c.)
- Sölve (late 6th c.)
- Ingvar (late 6th c.)
- Anund (early 7th c.)
- Ingjald (mid 7th c.)
[edit] House of Ivar Vidfamne
These are kings who succeeded the Yngling dynasty and who were part of the legends of Harald Hildetand and Ragnar Lodbrok. Björn Ironside should be included here, but he is considered to be the founder of the next dynasty. According to the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, Sigurd Ring belonged to the Ynglings and he was the son of Ingjald. The sagas, on the other hand, give his father as Randver, the son of Ráðbarðr, King of Garðaríki.
- Ivar Vidfamne (ca 655-ca 695)
- Harald Hildetand (ca 705-750)
- Sigurd Ring (ca 750 (sole ruler)-ca 770)
- Ragnar Lodbrok (ca 770-ca 785)
- Östen Beli (late 8th c.)
[edit] House of Munsö (8th to 10th centuries)
There are some differences between the sources, but they are unlikely to be due to the existence of competing Swedish kings, since Sweden was an elective monarchy. The most logical explanation is the tradition of co-rulership where two brothers were elected kings at the same time. The sources only seem to mention the details when there was civil war (Björn at Hauge and Anund Uppsale) or problems of succession (Eric the Victorious, Olof (II) Björnsson and Styrbjörn Starke).
The line of Swedish kings is continued in List of Swedish monarchs
