King of Sweden Anund Ingvarsson

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Swedish King Bröt-Anund Onund Ingvarsson, King of Sweden

Notes:

Anund, Swedish: Bröt-Anund meaning trail-blazer Anund or Anund the Land Clearer; alternate names Brøt-Anundr (Old East Norse) or Braut-Önundr (Old West Norse), was a semi-legendary Swedish king of the House of Yngling who reigned in the mid-seventh century.[1] The name would have been Proto-Norse *Anuwinduz meaning "winning ancestor".

In his Ynglinga saga, Snorri Sturluson relates that Anund succeeded his father Ingvar on the Swedish throne, and after his father's wars against Danish Vikings and Estonian pirates, peace reigned over Sweden and there were good harvests. Anund was a popular king who became very rich, not only because of the peace and the good harvests but also because he avenged his father in Estonia. That country was ravaged far and wide and in the autumn Anund returned with great riches.

In those days Sweden was dominated by vast and uninhabited forests, so Anund started making roads and clearing land and vast districts were settled by Swedes. Consequently, he was named Bröt-Anund. He made a house for himself in every district and used to stay as a guest in many homes.

One autumn, King Anund was travelling between his halls (see Husbys) and came to a place called Himinheiðr (sky heath) between two mountains. He was surprised by a landslide which killed him.

After presenting this story of Anund, Snorri Sturluson quotes Þjóðólfr of Hvinir's Ynglingatal:

Varð Önundr
Jónakrs bura
harmi heptr
und Himinfjöllum,
ok ofvæg
Eistra dólgi
heipt hrísungs
at hendi kom;
ok sá frömuðr
foldar beinum
Högna hrörs
um horfinn var.[1]
We all have heard how Jonkur's sons,
Whom weapons could not touch, with stones
Were stoned to death in open day,
King Onund died in the same way.
Or else perhaps the wood-grown land,
Which long had felt his conquering hand,
Uprose at length in deadly strife,
And pressed out Onund's hated life.[2]

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

Iste ergo genuit Broutonund, quem Sigwardus frater suus occidit in Himinheithi,[3] quod loci vocabulum interpretatur coeli campus. Post istum filius suus Ingialdr [...].[4]

Yngvar bred Braut-Ånund, whose brother, Sigurd, laid him low in Himinheid, a place-name which means 'field of heaven'. After him his son Ingjald [...][5]

The original text of Ynglingatal is hard to interpret, and it only says that Anund died und Himinfjöllum (under the sky mountains) and that stones were implied. According to Historia Norwegiæ, he was murdered by his brother Sigvard in Himinherthy (which the source says means "the fields of the sky", cœli campus. Such a place name is not known and Birger Nerman suggests that the original place of death was under the sky mountains, i.e. under the clouds (cf. the etymology of cloud). Consequently, he may have been killed outdoors, by his brother and with a stone. In the translation above, Laing has made the same interpretation as Nerman.

Thorsteins saga Víkingssonar says that Anund was not the son of Ingvar, but the son of his grandfather Östen. It also relates that he had a brother named Olaf who was the king of Fjordane.

All sources say that Anund was the father of the infamous Ingjald ill-ruler.

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Ingjald Illråde was born in 660 in Uppsala, Sweden; died in 685 in Röning, Tosterön, Sweden.

Notes:

Yngvar Harra (or Ingvar) 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.[1]

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 Estonian vikings (Víkingr frá Esthland). King Ingvar finally came to a peace agreement with the Danes and could take care of the Estonian vikings.

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).

Notes:

Eysteinn (Swedish: Östen; died ca 600) was the son of Eadgils and Yrsa of Saxony. He was the father of Ingvar. The Eysteinn tumulus (Östens hög) in Västerås near Östanbro has been linked to King Eysteinn by some popular historians. The term Hög is derived from the Old Norse word haugr meaning mound or barrow.

Eysteinn ruled Sweden at the time when Hrólf Kraki died in Lejre. It was a troubled time when many sea kings ravaged Swedish shores. One of those kings was named Sölve and he was from Jutland (but according to Historia Norwegiae he was Geatish, see below). At this time Sölve was pillaging in the Baltic Sea. He arrived in Lofond (probably the island of Lovön or the Lagunda Hundred), where Eysteinn was at a feast. Sölve and his men surrounded the house and set it on fire burning everyone inside to death. Then Sölve arrived at Sigtuna (Old Sigtuna) and ordered the Swedes to accept him as king. The Swedes refused and gathered an army that fought against Sölve and his men, but they lost after eleven days. The Swedes had to accept him as king until they rebelled and killed him.

Ynglingatal
Stanza from Þjóðólfr of Hvinir's Ynglingatal:

Veit ek Eysteins
enda fólginn
lokins lífs
á Lofundi;
ok sikling
með Svíum kváðu
Jótska menn
inni brenna.
Ok bitsótt
í brandnói
hlíðar þangs
á hilmi rann,
þá er timbrfastr
toptar nökkvi,
flotna fullr
um fylki brann.[1]
For a long time none could tell
How Eystein died – but now I know
That at Lofond the hero fell;
The branch of Odin was laid low,
Was burnt by Solve's Jutland men.
The raging tree-devourer fire
Rushed on the monarch in its ire;
First fell the castle timbers, then
The roof-beams – Eystein's funeral pyre.
The Historia Norwegiæ presents a Latin summary of Ynglingatal, older than Snorri's quotation (continuing after Eadgils, called Adils or Athisl):

Hic [Adils vel Athisl] genuit Eustein, quem Gautones in domo quadam obtrusum cum suis vivum incenderunt. Hujus filius Ynguar [...].

He [Adils] became sire to Øystein, whom the Götar thrust into a house and incinerated alive there with his men. His son Yngvar, [...].

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

Notes:

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 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 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".

Name
The Norse forms are based an older (Proto-Norse) *Aþagīslaz (where *aþa is short for *aþala meaning "noble, foremost" (German 'adel') and *gīslaz means "arrow shaft"[2]). 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") 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).

Beowulf
The Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, composed sometime between the 8th century and the 11th century, is (beside the Norwegian skaldic poem Ynglingatal from 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 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:

...Hyne wræc-mæcgas
ofer sæ sohtan, suna Ohteres:
hæfdon hy forhealden helm Scylfinga,
þone selestan sæ-cyninga,
þara þe in Swio-rice sinc brytnade,
mærne þeoden. Him þæt to mearce wearð;
he þær orfeorme feorh-wunde hleat
sweordes swengum, sunu Hygelaces;
and him eft gewat Ongenþiowes bearn
hames niosan, syððan Heardred læg;
let þone brego-stol Biowulf healdan,
Geatum wealdan: þæt wæs god cyning.
...Wandering exiles
sought him o'er seas, the sons of Ohtere,
who had spurned the sway of the Scylfings'-helmet,
the bravest and best that broke the rings,
in Swedish land, of the sea-kings' line,
haughty hero. Hence Heardred's end.
For shelter he gave them, sword-death came,
the blade's fell blow, to bairn of Hygelac;
but the son of Ongentheow sought again
house and home when Heardred fell,
leaving Beowulf lord of Geats
and gift-seat's master. – A good king he!
Later in the poem, it tells that during the battle, Eadgils' 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 a brother's child:

...hond rond gefeng,
geolwe linde, gomel swyrd geteah,
þæt wæs mid eldum Eanmundes laf,
suna Ohteres, þam æt sæcce wearð
wracu wine-leasum Weohstanes bana
meces ecgum, and his magum ætbær
brun-fagne helm, hringde byrnan,
eald sweord eotonisc, þæt him Onela forgeaf,
his gædelinges guð-gewædu,
fyrd-searo fuslic: no ymbe þa fæhðe spræc,
þeah þe he his broðor bearn abredwade.
...The linden yellow,
his shield, he seized; the old sword he drew: --
as heirloom of Eanmund earth-dwellers knew it,
who was slain by the sword-edge, son of Ohtere,
friendless exile, erst in fray
killed by Weohstan, who won for his kin
brown-bright helmet, breastplate ringed,
old sword of Eotens, Onela's gift,
weeds of war of the warrior-thane,
battle-gear brave: though a brother's child
had been felled, the feud was unfelt by Onela.
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:

Se þæs leod-hryres lean gemunde
uferan dogrum, Eadgilse wearð
fea-sceaftum feond. Folce gestepte
ofer sæ side sunu Ohteres
wigum and wæpnum: he gewræc syððan
cealdum cear-siðum, cyning ealdre bineat.[9]
The fall of his lord he was fain to requite
in after days; and to Eadgils he proved
friend to the friendless, and forces sent
over the sea to the son of Ohtere,
weapons and warriors: well repaid he
those care-paths cold[10] when the king he slew.
This event also appears in the Scandinavian sources Skáldskaparmál and Skjöldunga saga – see below.

Norwegian and Icelandic sources
The allusive manner in which Eadgils and his relatives are referred to in Beowulf suggests that 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[11] 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: the animosity between Eadgils and Hrólfr Kraki, who corresponds to Hroðulf in Beowulf.

Ynglingatal
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 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 frá ek enn,
at Aðils fjörvi
vitta vettr
um viða skyldi,
ok dáðgjarn
af drasils bógum
Freys áttungr
falla skyldi.
Ok við aur
œgir hjarna
bragnings burs
um blandinn varð;
ok dáðsæll
deyja skyldi
Ála dólgr
at Uppsölum.
Witch-demons, I have heard men say,
Have taken Adils' life away.
The son of kings of Frey's great race,
First in the fray, the fight, the chase,
Fell from his steed – his clotted brains
Lie mixed with mire on Upsal's plains.
Such death (grim Fate has willed it so)
Has struck down Ole's [Onela's] deadly foe.
Note that Eadgils' animosity with Onela also appears in Ynglingatal as Aðils 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 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.

Íslendingabók
In Íslendingabók from 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.

i Yngvi Tyrkjakonungr. ii Njörðr Svíakonungr. iii Freyr. iiii Fjölnir. sá er dó at Friðfróða. v Svegðir. vi Vanlandi. vii Visburr. viii Dómaldr. ix Dómarr. x Dyggvi. xi Dagr. xii Alrekr. xiii Agni. xiiii Yngvi. xv Jörundr. xvi Aun inn gamli. xvii Egill Vendilkráka. xviii Óttarr. xix Aðísl at Uppsölum. xx Eysteinn. xxi Yngvarr. xxii Braut-Önundr. xxiii Ingjaldr inn illráði. xxiiii Óláfr trételgja...
As can be seen it agrees with the earlier Ynglingatal and Beowulf in presenting Eadgils as the successor of Óttarr (Ohthere).

Skjöldunga saga
The Skjöldunga saga 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, 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 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 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 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 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 is the Danish king Hroðulf who provides help in Scandinavian tradition.

Skáldskaparmál
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:

Ali Hrafni,
es til íss riðu,
en annarr austr
und Aðilsi
grár hvarfaði,
geiri undaðr.[20]
Áli rode Hrafn,
They who rode onto the ice:
But another, southward,
Under Adils,
A gray one, wandered,
Wounded with the spear.
This is a reference to the Battle on the Ice of Lake Vänern, during which Eadgils slew Onela and which also appears in the Skjöldunga saga. There is also second stanza, where Eadgils is riding his horse Slöngvir, apparently a combination famous enough to be mentioned.

Björn reið Blakki,
en Bíarr Kerti,
Atli Glaumi,
en Aðils Sløngvi,
Högni Hölkvi,
en Haraldr Fölkvi,
Gunnarr Gota,
en Grana Sigurðr.[20]
Björn rode Blakkr,
And Bjárr rode Kertr;
Atli rode Glaumr,
And Adils on Slöngvir;
Högni on Hölvir,
And Haraldr on Fölkvir;
Gunnarr rode Goti,
And Sigurdr, Grani.
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 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 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 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 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 the mightiest man in Sweden bend his back.

Ynglinga saga
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 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 she bore him the 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 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 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 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
Hrólfr Kraki's saga is believed to have been written in the period c. 1230 – c. 1450.[23] 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 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 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 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 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 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 Hrólf and his men twelve of the Swedish king's best horses, and all the armour and provisions they needed.

Hrólfr took a fond farewell of 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 Hrólf cut his back with his sword and screamed in triumph that he had bent the back of the most powerful man in Sweden.

Danish sources
Chronicon Lethrense and Annales Lundenses
The Chronicon Lethrense (and the included Annales Lundenses) tell that when the Danish kings Helghe (Halga) and Ro (Hroðgar) were dead, the Swedish king Hakon/Athisl[24] forced the Daner to accept a dog as king. The dog king was succeeded by Rolf Krage (Hrólfr Kraki).

Gesta Danorum
The Gesta Danorum (book 2), by Saxo Grammaticus, tells that Helgo (Halga) repelled a Swedish invasion, killed the Swedish king Hothbrodd, and made 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 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 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 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 the occasion, but he drank so much that he killed himself.

Archaeology
According to Snorri Sturluson, Eadgils was buried in one of the royal mounds of Gamla Uppsala. Birger Nerman suggested that he was buried in the Western mound (also known as Thor's mound) at Gamla Uppsala. An excavation in this mound showed that a man was buried there c. 575 on a bear skin with two dogs and rich grave offerings. There were luxurious weapons and other objects, both domestic and imported, show that the buried man was very powerful. These remains include a Frankish sword adorned with gold and garnets and a board game with Roman pawns of ivory. He was dressed in a costly suit made of Frankish cloth with golden threads, and he wore a belt with a costly buckle. There were four cameos from the Middle East which were probably part of a casket. The finds show the distant contacts of the House of Yngling in the 6th century.

Snorri's account that Adils had the best horses of his days, and Jordanes' account that the Swedes of the 6th century were famed for their horses find support in archaeology. This time was the beginning of the Vendel Age, a time characterised by the appearance of stirrups and a powerful mounted warrior elite in Sweden, which rich graves in for instance Valsgärde and Vendel.

Notes:

Ohthere (also Ohtere), Old Norse Óttarr vendilkráka (Vendelcrow; in Modern Swedish Ottar Vendelkråka) is a semi-legendary king of Sweden of the house of Scylfings, who would have lived during the 6th century (fl. c. 515 – c. 530).

His name can be reconstructed as Proto-Norse *Ōhta-harjaz or *Ōhtu-harjaz. The harjaz element is common in Germanic names and has a meaning of "warrior, army" (whence English harry); by contrast, the oht element is less frequent, and has been tentatively interpreted as "fearsome, feared".

A prince of the Swedes, Ohthere and his brother Onela conducted successful raids against the Geats after King Hrethel had died. In 515, their father Ongentheow was killed in battle by the Geats, and Ohthere succeeded his father as the king of Sweden. Ohthere led an army against the Geats, and besieged one of their armies. He nearly killed the Geatish king Hygelac but lost many of his forces in the conflict. Ohthere managed to get back to Sweden. In the 520s, Ohthere led a large raid to Denmark and plundered the Danish coast. A Danish army led by two Jarls, however, was waiting for him. Battle broke out. The Danish were reinforced, and Ohthere was killed in the battle. His corpse was taken back to Sweden and buried in an earthwork mound.

Beowulf
In the Old English poem Beowulf, the name of Ohthere appears only in constructions referring to his father Ongenþeow (fæder Ohtheres), mother (Onelan modor and Ohtheres), and his sons Eadgils (suna Ohteres, sunu Ohteres) and Eanmund (suna Ohteres).

When Ohthere and his actions are concerned, he is referred to as Ongenþeow's offspring, together with his brother Onela. The following section deals with Ohthere and Onela pillaging the Geats at the death of their king Hreðel, restarting the Swedish-Geatish wars:

Þa wæs synn and sacu Sweona and Geata,
ofer wid wæter wroht gemæne,
here-nið hearda, syððan Hreðel swealt,
oððe him Ongenþeowes eaferan wæran
frome fyrd-hwate, freode ne woldon
ofer heafo healdan, ac ymb Hreosna-beorh
eatolne inwit-scear oft gefremedon.[8]
There was strife and struggle 'twixt Swede and Geat
o'er the width of waters; war arose,
hard battle-horror, when Hrethel died,
and Ongentheow's offspring grew
strife-keen, bold, nor brooked o'er the seas
pact of peace, but pushed their hosts
to harass in hatred by Hreosnabeorh.
Later, it is implied in the poem that Ohthere has died, because his brother Onela is king. Ohthere's sons Eadgils and Eanmund fled to the Geats and the wars began anew.

Scandinavian sources
Ynglingatal, Ynglinga saga, Íslendingabók, and Historia Norvegiae all present Óttarr as the son of Egill (called Ongenþeow in Beowulf) and as the father of Aðísl/Aðils/athils/Adils (Eadgils).

According to the latest source, Ynglinga saga, Óttarr refused to pay tribute to the Danish king Fróði for the help that his father had received. When Fróði sent two men to collect the tribute, but Óttarr answered that the Swedes had never paid tribute to the Danes and would not begin with him. Fróði gathered a vast host and looted in Sweden, but the next summer he pillaged in the east. When Óttarr learnt that Fróði was gone, he sailed to Denmark to plunder in return and went into the Limfjord where he pillaged in Vendsyssel. Fróði's jarls Vott and Faste attacked Óttarr in the fjord. The battle was even and many men fell, but the Danes were reinforced by the people in the neighbourhood and so the Swedes lost (a version apparently borrowed from the death of Óttarr's predecessor Jorund). The Danes put Óttarr's corpse on a mound to be devoured by wild beasts, and made a wooden crow that they sent to Sweden, with the message that the wooden crow was all that Óttarr was worth. After this, Óttarr was called Vendelcrow.

It is only Snorri who uses the epithet Vendelcrow, whereas the older sources Historia Norvegiae and Íslendingabók use it for his father Egill. Moreover, only Snorri's work tells the story of Óttarr's death in Vendsyssel, and it is probably his own invention. Ynglingatal mentions only that Óttarr was killed by the Danish jarls Vott and Faste in a place named Vendel (Laing has been influenced by Snorri's version in his translation):

Féll Óttarr
und ara greipar
dugandligr
fyrir Dana vápnum,
þann hergammr
hrægum fœti
viti borinn
á Vendli sparn.
Þau frá ek verk
Vötts ok Fasta
sœnskri þjóð
at sögum verða;
at eylands
jarlar Fróða
vígframað
um veginn höfðu.
By Danish arms the hero bold,
Ottar the Brave, lies stiff and cold.
To Vendel's plain the corpse was borne;
By eagles' claws the corpse is torn,
Spattered by ravens' bloody feet,
The wild bird's prey, the wild wolf's meat.
The Swedes have vowed revenge to take
On Frode's earls, for Ottar's sake;
Like dogs to kill them in their land,
In their own homes, by Swedish hand.
The Historia Norwegiæ presents a Latin summary of Ynglingatal, older than Snorri's quotation (continuing after Egil):

Cui successit in regnum filius suus Ottarus, qui a suo æquivoco Ottaro Danorum comite et fratre ejus Fasta in una provinciarum Daniæ, scilicet Wendli, interemptus est. Cujus filius Adils [...]

The successor to the throne was his son Ottar, who was assassinated in Vendel, a law province of Denmark, by his namesake, a Danish jarl, and this man's brother, Fasta. His son Adils [...]

Historia Norvegiæ informs only that Ohthere was killed by the Danish brothers Ottar [sic.] and Faste in a Danish province called Vendel.

Ohthere's Barrow
Ohthere's barrow (Swedish: Ottarshögen) (60°08′N 17°34′E) is located in Vendel parish, Uppland, Sweden. The barrow is 5 metres high and 40 metres wide. In the 17th century, the barrow was known locally as Ottarshögen. The term Hög is derived from the Old Norse word haugr, meaning mound or barrow.

The barrow was excavated in the period 1914–16. It showed the remains of both a man and a woman, and the finds were worthy of a king. The Swedish archaeologist Sune Lindqvist reported that in its centre, there was a wooden vessel with ashes. There were few finds but they were well-preserved. There were some decorative panels similar to those found in the other Vendel era graves nearby. A comb with a case was found, as well as a golden Roman coin, a solidus, dated to be no later than 477. It had been perforated and was probably used as decoration, but it showed signs of wear and tear and had probably been worn for a longer time. Lindquist stated that the identification of the barrow as that of Ohthere could not receive more archaeological confirmation than those provided by the excavation.

Notes:

Ongentheow (Old English: Ongenþeow, Ongenþio, Ongendþeow; Swedish: Angantyr) (died ca. 515) was the name of a semi-legendary Swedish king of the house of Scylfings, who appears in Old English sources.

He is generally identified with the Swedish king Egil Vendelcrow mentioned in Ynglingatal, Historia Norwegiae and in Ynglinga saga. The reason why they are thought to have been the same is that each has the same position in the line of Swedish kings and is described as the father of Ohthere and grandfather of Eadgils.

The name Ongentheow contains as its second element þeōw "servant, slave". The first appears to be ongēan "against, opposite".

Old English sources
In the Old English epic Beowulf Ongentheow is described as a fearsome warrior and it took two warriors Eofor and Wulf Wonreding to take him down.

The epic tells that the Geats under their new king Hæþcyn captured the Swedish queen, but old king Ongenþeow saved her, at a hill fort called Hrefnesholt, although they lost her gold. Ongentheow killed Hæþcyn, and besieged the Geats at Hrefnesholt. The Geats were, however, rescued by Hygelac, Hæþcyn's brother, who arrived the next day with reinforcements. Having lost the battle, but rescued his queen, Ongenþeow and his warriors returned home.

However, the war was not over. Hygelac, the new king of the Geats, attacked the Swedes. The Geatish warriors Eofor and Wulf fought together against the hoary king Ongenþeow. Wulf hit Ongentheow's head with his sword so that the old king bled over his hair, but the king hit back and wounded Wulf. Then, Eofor retaliated by cutting through the Swedish king's shield and through his helmet, giving Ongentheow a death-blow. Eofor took the Swedish king's helmet, sword and breastplate and carried them to Hygelac. When they came home, Eofor and Wulf were richly awarded, and Eofor was given Hygelac's daughter. Because of this battle, Hygelac is referred to as Ongentheow's slayer.

Ongentheow is also mentioned in passing by the earlier poem Widsith as the king of Sweden:

lines 30–33:
Wald Woingum, Wod þyringum, Wald [ruled] the Woings, Wod the Thuringians,
Sæferð Sycgum, Sweom Ongendþeow, Saeferth the Sycgs, the Swedes Ongendtheow,
Sceafthere Ymbrum, Sceafa Longbeardum Sceafthere the Ymbers, Sceafa the Lombards,
Egil

Middle royal tumulus at Old Upsala, suggested grave of King Ongentheow/Egil
In Ari Þorgilsson's Íslendingabók and in Historia Norwegiae, he was called Egil Vendelcrow (Vendilcraca/Vendilkráka, a name traditionally given to those living at the royal estate of Vendel in Sweden).[22] Snorri Sturluson, however, gave the name Vendelcrow to Egil's son Ottar (Ohthere). In these sources, Egil was the son of Aun the Old, and like him, not very warlike. After he had made the thrall Tunni (or Tonne) responsible for the treasury, Tunni rebelled against Egil. They fought eight battles after which Egil fled to Denmark, according to the Ynglinga saga (Ynglingatal does not mention where he fled and Historia Norwegiae does not mention any escape at all). Snorri wrote that Fróði, the Danish king, aided Egil in defeating Tunni, and made Egil a tributary to the Danish king.

Egil was killed by a bull during the sacrifices at Gamla Uppsala.

Ok lofsæll
ór landi fló
Týs óttungr
Tunna ríki,
en flæming
farra trjónu
jötuns eykr
á Agli rauð.
Sás of austr
áðan hafði
brúna hörg
of borinn lengi,
en skíðlauss
Skilfinga nið
hœfis hjörr
til hjarta stóð.
The fair-haired son of Odin's race,
Who fled before fierce Tunne's face,
Has perished by the demon-beast
Who roams the forests of the East.
The hero's breast met the full brunt
Of the wild bull's shaggy front;
The hero's heart's asunder torn
By the fell Jotun's spear-like horn.
The Historia Norwegiæ presents a Latin summary of Ynglingatal, older than Snorri's quotation:

Auchun vero genuit Eigil cognomento Vendilcraco, quem proprius servus nomine Tonne regno privavit, et cum domino pedisseqvus VIII civilia bella commisit, in omnibus victoria potitus, in nono tandem devictus occubuit; sed paulo post ipsum regem truculentus taurus confodiens trucidavit. Cui successit in regnum filius suus Ottarus [...]

Aukun's son was Egil Vendelkråke, whose own bondman, Tunne, drove him from his kingdom; and though a mere servant he joined in eight civil combats with his master and won supremacy in all of them, but in a ninth he was finally defeated and killed. Shortly afterwards however the monarch was gored and slaughtered by a ferocious bull. The successor to the throne was his son Ottar, [...]

The even earlier source Íslendingabók also cites the line of descent in Ynglingatal and it also gives Egil as the successor of Aunn and the predecessor of Óttarr: xvi Aun inn gamli. xvii Egill Vendilkráka. xviii Óttarr.

Interpretation
The argument for connection between Ongenþeow and Egil being the same figure are as follows. It is important, though, to note that this is an interpretation of the facts and not definite proof of a connection.

The two versions seem contradictory, but it has been shown that the two stories may very well describe the same event (Schück H. 1907, Nerman B. 1925), and that Ynglingatal was probably misinterpreted by Snorri due to a different dialectal meaning of the word farra. In Ynglingatal, it says

en flæming
farra trjónu
jötuns eykr
á Agli rauð.
If there is any authenticity behind the traditions, the origin of Ynglingatal was most probably a Swedish poem which has not survived (see also Sundquist 2004). In Old Swedish, farra did not mean "bull" but it meant "boar" (cf. English farrow meaning "young pig"). Moreover, in Old Norse Trjóna normally meant a pig's snout (modern Scandinavian tryne). Flæmingr meant "sword" (originally a Flemish sword imported by Vikings).

Moreover, the sword of the snout can hardly refer to the horns of a bull, but it is more natural to interpret it as the tusks of a boar. In English, the lines can be translated as but the giant beast coloured its tusk red on Egil.

In Old English, the name eofor meant "boar" and consequently Ynglingatal could very well relate of Eofor (the boar) killing Egil with kennings for boars. These kennings, sung originally by Swedes, were later misinterpreted by Norwegians and Icelanders as literal expressions due to the different dialectal meanings of farra.

Moreover, according to Schück, the name Tunni which has no meaning in Old Norse should in Proto-Norse have been *Tunþa and derived from *Tunþuz. Consequently, it would have been the same word as the Gothic Tunþus which meant "tooth". This would mean that the name of Egil's enemy, actually meant "tooth" and Tunni and the bull/boar would consequently have been the same enemy, i.e. Eofor.

Some scholars have suggested that the name Ongentheow is connected to the Danish king Ongendus, (fl. c. 700) who appears in one sentence of Alcuin's life of Willibrord.