Eysteinn was the son of
EadgilsEadgils, 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....
and
YrsaYrsa, Yrse, Yrs or Urse was a tragic heroine of Scandinavian legend.She appears in several versions relating to her husband, the Swedish king Eadgils, and/or to her father and rapist/lover/husband Halga and their son Hroðulf...
of
SaxonyThe Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
. He was the father of
IngvarYngvar Harra Proto-Norse *Ingu-Hariz was the son of Östen and reclaimed the Swedish throne for the House of Yngling after the Swedes had rebelled against Sölvi....
. The Eysteinn tumulus
(Östens hög) in
VästeråsVästerås is a city in central Sweden, located on the shore of Lake Mälaren in the province Västmanland, some 100 km west of Stockholm...
near Östanbro has been linked to King Eysteinn by some popular historians. The term Hög is derived from the
Old NorseOld Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
word
haugr meaning mound or barrow.
Snorri SturlusonSnorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...
relates that Eysteinn ruled Sweden at the time when
Hrólf KrakiHrólfr Kraki, Hroðulf, Rolfo, Roluo, Rolf Krage was a legendary Danish king who appears in both Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian tradition. His name would in his own language have been *Hrōþiwulfaz .Both traditions describe him as a Danish Scylding, the nephew of Hroðgar and the grandson of Healfdene...
died in
LejreLejre is a town with a population of 2,343 and a municipality on the island of Zealand in east Denmark. It belongs to Region Sjælland. The town's Old Norse name was Hleiðra. The municipality has an area of 240 km² and a total population of ca. 26,603 . Its mayor is Mette Touborg, representing the...
. It was a troubled time when many
sea kingSea-King , refers to a Viking, pirate chieftain of the early Middle Ages.It may also refer to:-Aviation:* SH-3 Sea King, American, naval helicopter* Westland Sea King, British, licensed version of the SH-3...
s ravaged the Swedish shores. One of those kings was named Sölve and he was from
JutlandJutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...
(but according to
Historia NorwegiaeHistoria Norwegiæ is a short Latin history of Norway written by an anonymous monk. The only extant manuscript, in the private possession of the Earl of Dalhousie and kept at Brechin Castle, Scotland, is fragmentary; what we have of the Historia is found on folios 1r-12r...
he was Geatish, see below). At this time Sölve was pillaging in the
Baltic SeaThe Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
and so he arrived in Lofond (probably the island of
LovönLovön is an island located in the Swedish Lake Mälaren in Ekerö Municipality of Stockholm County. It was a municipality of its own until 1952, when it was joined with Ekerö Municipality. Lovön's greatest attraction is Drottningholm Palace and its many public gardens, which were built on the island...
or the Lagunda Hundred), where Eysteinn was at a feast. It was night-time and 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 for a while until they rebelled and killed him.
Snorri then quotes a stanza from
Þjóðólfr of HvinirÞjóðólfr of Hvinir was a Norwegian skald, active around the year 900. He is considered to have been the original author of Ynglingatal, a poem glorifying the Norwegian petty king Ragnvald the Mountain-High, by describing how he was descended from the Swedish kings and the Norse gods.He is also...
's
YnglingatalYnglingatal is a skaldic poem listing the kings of the House of Ynglings, dated by most scholars to the late 9th century.The original version is attributed to Þjóðólfr af Hvini who was the skald of a Norwegian petty king named Ragnvald the Mountain-High and who was a cousin of Harald Fairhair...
:
- 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.http://www.heimskringla.no/original/heimskringla/ynglingasaga.php
|
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.http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/heim/02ynglga.htm |
|
The
Historia Norwegiæ presents a Latin summary of
Ynglingatal, older than Snorri's quotation (continuing after
EadgilsEadgils, 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....
, 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
AnundAnund, Swedish: Bröt-Anund meaning trail-blazer Anund or Anund the Land Clearer; alternate names Brøt-Anundr or Braut-Önundr , was a legendary Swedish king of the House of Yngling who reigned in the mid-seventh century...
and grandfather of
IngjaldIngjald illråde or Ingjaldr hinn illráði was a legendary Swedish king of the House of Ynglings. Ingjald may have ruled in the 7th century, and he was the son of the former king Anund....
and consequently skips Ingvar's generation. It adds a second son to Eysteinn named Olaf, who was the king of Fjordane in
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
.
Primary sources
- Ynglingatal
Ynglingatal is a skaldic poem listing the kings of the House of Ynglings, dated by most scholars to the late 9th century.The original version is attributed to Þjóðólfr af Hvini who was the skald of a Norwegian petty king named Ragnvald the Mountain-High and who was a cousin of Harald Fairhair...
- Ynglinga saga
Ynglinga saga is a legendary saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It was first translated into English and published in 1844....
(part of the HeimskringlaHeimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...
)
- Historia Norwegiae
- Thorsteins saga Víkingssonar
Secondary sources
Nerman, B.
Det svenska rikets uppkomst. Stockholm, 1925.