Hrœrekr Ringslinger
Encyclopedia
Hrœrekr Ringslinger or Ringscatterer, Old Icelandic: Hrærekr slöngvanbaugi, Old Danish: Rørik Slængeborræ or Rørik Slyngebond was a legendary 7th century king of Zealand or Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, who appears in Chronicon Lethrense
Chronicon Lethrense
Chronicon Lethrense is a small Danish medieval work from the 12th century, written in Latin.-Themes:...

, Annals of Lund, Gesta Danorum
Gesta Danorum
Gesta Danorum is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus . It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history...

, Sögubrot, Njál's saga
Njál's saga
Njáls saga is one of the sagas of Icelanders. The most prominent characters are the friends Njáll Þorgeirsson, a lawyer and a sage, and Gunnarr Hámundarson, a formidable warrior...

, Hversu Noregr byggdist
Hversu Noregr byggdist
Hversu Noregr byggðist is an account of the origin of various legendary Norwegian lineages, which survives only in the Flatey Book. It traces the descendants of the primeval Finnish ruler Fornjót down to Nór, who is here the eponym and first great king of Norway, and then gives details of the...

, Skjöldunga Saga
Skjöldunga saga
The Skjöldunga saga was a Norse saga on the legendary Danish dynasty of the Skjöldungs, the same dynasty featured in the Old English poem Beowulf...

, and Bjarkarimur
Bjarkarímur
Bjarkarímur is a 15th century Icelandic rímur cycle on the Skjöldungs , and retells among other things the adventures of Hróarr and his brother Helgi , and those of Böðvarr Bjarki...

.

Beside the name, the Danish and the West Norse traditions have little more in common than his living a few generations after Hrólfr kraki, his name and his title. He may be most notable as the grandfather of Hamlet
Hamlet (legend)
Hamlet is a figure in Scandinavian romance and the hero of Shakespeare's tragedy, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.The chief authority for the legend of Hamlet is Saxo Grammaticus, who devotes to it parts of the third and fourth books of his Gesta Danorum, completed at the beginning of the 13th century...

.

Name

The name Slængeborræ, in Chronicon lethrense and the Annals of Lund is a corruption of Slænganbøghe, which is the Old East Norse form of Old West Norse slöngvanbaugi meaning "ring slinger", i.e. a king who was generous with his gold. Saxo
Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus also known as Saxo cognomine Longus was a Danish historian, thought to have been a secular clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, foremost advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author of the first full history of Denmark.- Life :The Jutland Chronicle gives...

's version Slyngebond means "bracelet slinger" and the motivation Saxo gives is strikingly different (see below).

Danish tradition

In the Danish tradition Rørik is the son of an earthly Höðr
Höðr
Höðr is the brother of Baldr in Norse mythology. Guided by Loki he shot the mistletoe missile which was to slay the otherwise invulnerable Baldr....

, and notably the grandfather of Hamlet
Hamlet (legend)
Hamlet is a figure in Scandinavian romance and the hero of Shakespeare's tragedy, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.The chief authority for the legend of Hamlet is Saxo Grammaticus, who devotes to it parts of the third and fourth books of his Gesta Danorum, completed at the beginning of the 13th century...

. Rørik is described a powerful king of Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

.

Chronicon lethrense and Annals of Lund

The Chronicon lethrense and the Annals of Lund make Rørik the son of an earthly Höðr
Höðr
Höðr is the brother of Baldr in Norse mythology. Guided by Loki he shot the mistletoe missile which was to slay the otherwise invulnerable Baldr....

 who killed Balder
Balder
Baldr is a god in Norse mythology.In the 12th century, Danish accounts by Saxo Grammaticus and other Danish Latin chroniclers recorded a euhemerized account of his story...

, Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....

's son in battle. Höðr was himself killed by Odin's son Both
Váli (son of Odin)
In Norse mythology, Váli is a son of the god Odin and the giantess Rindr. He was birthed for the sole purpose of killing Höðr as revenge for Höðr's accidental murder of his half-brother, Baldr. He grew to full adulthood within one day of his birth, and slew Höðr...

.

Rørik Slængeborræ was a victorious king who conquered Courland
Courland
Courland is one of the historical and cultural regions of Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland.- Geography and climate :...

, Wendland
Wendland
Wendland may refer to either of the following regions or people:*Wendland may refer to a region once inhabited by Wends, an old Germanic term for Slavic tribes living in close proximity to the Germanic tribes:...

 and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 and made them pay tribute to him. He appointed Orwendel and Feng
Feng (Claudius)
Feng was a legendary Jutish chieftain and the prototype for William Shakespeare's King Claudius. He appears in Chronicon Lethrense and in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum ....

 as the commanders of Jutland
Jutland
Jutland , 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...

 and gave his sister to Orwendel. The sister and Orwendel were the parents of Amblothe (Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

). Rørik was succeeded by Wighlek.

Gesta Danorum

The Gesta Danorum (book 3) by Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus also known as Saxo cognomine Longus was a Danish historian, thought to have been a secular clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, foremost advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author of the first full history of Denmark.- Life :The Jutland Chronicle gives...

 agrees with the Chronicon lethrense and the Annals of Lund by making Rørik Slyngebond the son of Höðr (Høther). When Odin's son Boe
Váli (son of Odin)
In Norse mythology, Váli is a son of the god Odin and the giantess Rindr. He was birthed for the sole purpose of killing Höðr as revenge for Höðr's accidental murder of his half-brother, Baldr. He grew to full adulthood within one day of his birth, and slew Höðr...

 had killed Höðr, the Swedes, the Curonians
Curonians
The Curonians or Kurs were a Baltic tribe living on the shores of the Baltic sea in what are now the western parts of Latvia and Lithuania from the 5th to the 16th centuries, when they merged with other Baltic tribes. They gave their name to the region of Courland , and they spoke the Old...

 and the Slavs rebelled against Denmark (Saxo patriotically ignores the fact that he had previously given Höðr as a prince of Sweden who ruled Denmark) and attacked Rørik.

When the Slavic and Danish forces met, a Slavic wizard suggested that instead of having a large battle and lose a great many lives, two men should meet in a duel. If the Slav won, the tribute would be cancelled, but if the Dane won, the tribute would be paid as in the old days. A Dane asked Rørik what the reward would be for the Danish champion if he won the fight. Rørik promised a chain of six laced bracelets. The Dane entered the duel but was defeated and died.

The next day, the winning Slavic champion was emboldened by his victory and asked if there was a second Dane who wanted to meet him in combat. A warrior named Ubbe who was both strong and skilled in seiðr
Seiðr
Seid or seiðr is an Old Norse term for a type of sorcery or witchcraft which was practiced by the pre-Christian Norse. Sometimes anglicized as "seidhr," "seidh," "seidr," "seithr," or "seith," the term is also used to refer to modern Neopagan reconstructions or emulations of the...

 asked Rørik what the prize would be if he killed the Slav. Once again Rørik promised the chain of bracelets. The Dane asked Rørik if he would leave the chain of bracelets to a third trustworthy man, so that he could not change his mind when the Danish champion had won. Rørik agreed, but the man who would take the chain was on another ship, and when Rørik threw the chain of bracelets across, he underestimated the distance and so the chain fell into the water, and was lost forever. This gave Rørik the cognomen Slyngebond (sling-bracelets). However, Ubbe decided to take the challenge anyway. In the duel both champions died, but the Slavs were impressed and agreed to continue paying the tribute.

Rørik appointed Horwendil and Feng
Feng (Claudius)
Feng was a legendary Jutish chieftain and the prototype for William Shakespeare's King Claudius. He appears in Chronicon Lethrense and in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum ....

 as the rulers of Jutland
Jutland
Jutland , 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...

. Horwendil spent a great deal of time pillaging and won so much fame that Rørik gave him his daughter Gerutha (Gertrude
Gertrude (Hamlet)
In William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Gertrude is Hamlet's mother and Queen of Denmark. Her relationship with Hamlet is somewhat turbulent, since he resents her for marrying her husband's brother Claudius after he murdered the King...

) who bore him the son Amleth (Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

).

When Rørik died, he was succeeded by Wiglek.

Skjôldunga Saga

Here, Rørik is the son of Ingjald Frodason (Ingeld
Ingeld
Ingeld or Ingjald was a legendary warrior who appears in early English and Norse legends. Ingeld was so well-known that, in 797, Alcuin wrote a letter to Bishop Higbald of Lindisfarne questioning the monks' interest in heroic legends with: 'Quid enim Hinieldus cum Christo?' - What has Ingeld to...

), and the half brother of king Healfdene in Lejre
Lejre
Lejre 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...

, the father of Hrothgar. Ingeld kills Healfdene, and takes his wife as his own. Rørik is the result of this union. The name Slöngvanbaugi is connected to an incident where he threw some rings into the ocean (the ring-slinger).

West Norse tradition

The Norwegian and Icelandic tradition only mentions Hrœrekr in relation to the Scania
Scania
Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...

n chieftain Ivar Vidfamne
Ivar Vidfamne
Ivar Vidfamne was a Danish and Swedish king hailing from Scania. He may have died c. 700. According to the Heimskringla and the Hervarar saga, Ivar was also the king of Norway, Denmark, Saxony and parts of England.- Ivar in the Sagas :He began as king of Scania and conquered Sweden by defeating...

 who made himself the ruler of both Denmark and Sweden. There is no information on his parentage, nor any Hamlet. In these sources, Hrœrekr is only the king of Zealand, Skåne and Jutland
Jutland
Jutland , 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...

 being in the hands of other rulers.

Sögubrot

Sögubrot relates that when Ivar Vidfamne
Ivar Vidfamne
Ivar Vidfamne was a Danish and Swedish king hailing from Scania. He may have died c. 700. According to the Heimskringla and the Hervarar saga, Ivar was also the king of Norway, Denmark, Saxony and parts of England.- Ivar in the Sagas :He began as king of Scania and conquered Sweden by defeating...

 was the king of Sweden, he gave his daughter Auðr the Deep-Minded
Auðr the Deep-Minded
Auðr the Deep-Minded was a Norse princess, the daughter of Ivar Vidfamne, and the mother of Harald Wartooth, who appears in Sögubrot, Hversu Noregr byggdist and in the Lay of Hyndla...

 to Hrœrekr, even though she wanted to marry Hrœrekr's brother Helgi the Sharp
Helgi the Sharp
Helgi the Sharp may refer to:* Helgi the Sharp * Helgi the Sharp...

. Hrœrekr and Auðr then had the son Harald Wartooth
Harald Wartooth
Harald Wartooth or Harold Hiltertooth was a legendary king of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the historical northern German province of Wendland, in the 8th and 9th century...

. Ivar told Hrærekr that Auðr was unfaithful with his brother Helgi. The ruse worked and Hrœrekr killed his brother, after which Ivar attacked and killed Hrœrekr too. However, Auðr arrived with the Zealand army and chased her father Ivar back to Sweden. The following year, Auðr went to Gardariki with her son Harald and many powerful men and married its king Raðbarðr. This was the opportunity for Ivar to conquer Zealand.

Sögubrot adds a second Hrœrekr slöngvanbaugi who was the son of Harald Wartooth, and consequently named after his grandfather.

Njal's saga

Njal's saga only mentions Hrœrekr Slöngvanbaugi as an ancestor of a man named Valgarðr. It tells that he was the father of Harald Wartooth
Harald Wartooth
Harald Wartooth or Harold Hiltertooth was a legendary king of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the historical northern German province of Wendland, in the 8th and 9th century...

, and then it states that Harald's mother was Auðr
Auðr the Deep-Minded
Auðr the Deep-Minded was a Norse princess, the daughter of Ivar Vidfamne, and the mother of Harald Wartooth, who appears in Sögubrot, Hversu Noregr byggdist and in the Lay of Hyndla...

, the daughter of Ivar Vidfamne
Ivar Vidfamne
Ivar Vidfamne was a Danish and Swedish king hailing from Scania. He may have died c. 700. According to the Heimskringla and the Hervarar saga, Ivar was also the king of Norway, Denmark, Saxony and parts of England.- Ivar in the Sagas :He began as king of Scania and conquered Sweden by defeating...

, the son of Halfdan the Valiant
Halfdan the Valiant
Halfdan the Valiant was the legendary father of Ivar Vidfamne according to Hervarar saga, the Ynglinga saga, Njal's Saga and Hversu Noregr byggdist. The genealogical work Hversu Noregr byggdist gives his father as Harald the Old, his grandfather as Valdar and his great-grandfather as Hróarr...

. It does not mention whether Hrœrekr was married to Auðr, but assumes that the reader is familiar with their story.

Hyndluljóð

In the poem Hyndluljóð
Hyndluljóð
Hyndluljóð or Lay of Hyndla is an Old Norse poem often considered a part of the Poetic Edda. It is preserved in its entirety only in Flateyjarbók but some stanzas are also quoted in the Prose Edda where they are said to come from Völuspá hin skamma.In the poem, the goddess Freyja meets the völva...

the goddess Freyja meets the völva
Völva
A vǫlva or völva is a shamanic seeress in Norse paganism, and a recurring motif in Norse mythology....

 Hyndla and they ride together towards Valhalla
Valhalla
In Norse mythology, Valhalla is a majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin. Chosen by Odin, half of those that die in combat travel to Valhalla upon death, led by valkyries, while the other half go to the goddess Freyja's field Fólkvangr...

. Freyja rides on her boar Hildisvíni
Hildisvini
In Norse mythology, Hildisvíni is Freyja's boar which she rides when not using her cat-drawn chariot.It is also said to be Freyja's human lover, Ottar, in disguise, and is the reason why Loki consistently accuses her of being "wanton" by riding her lover in public.It was also the helmet of Áli...

 and Hyndla on a wolf. Their mission is to find out the pedigree
Pedigree chart
A pedigree chart is a diagram that shows the occurrence and appearance or phenotypes of a particular gene or organism and its ancestors from one generation to the next, most commonly humans, show dogs, and race horses....

 of Óttarr
Óttar (mythology)
In Norse Mythology, Óttar, also known as Óttar the Simple, is a protégé of the goddess Freyja. He appeared in Hyndluljóð , a poem in the Poetic Edda. In this tale, Óttar is said to be very pious to the goddesses. He built a shrine of stones, a hörgr, and on it made many offerings to Freyja...

 so that he can touch his inheritance, and the lay consists mostly of Hyndla reciting a number of names from Óttarr's ancestry, among them Hrærekr's in stanza 28.
Haraldr hilditönn
borinn Hræreki
slöngvanbauga,
sonr var hann Auðar,
Auðr djúpúðga
Ívars dóttir,
en Ráðbarðr var
Randvers faðir;
þeir váru gumnar
goðum signaðir;
allt er þat ætt þín,
Óttarr heimski.
Harald Battle-tooth
Harald Wartooth
Harald Wartooth or Harold Hiltertooth was a legendary king of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the historical northern German province of Wendland, in the 8th and 9th century...

of Auth
Auðr the Deep-Minded
Auðr the Deep-Minded was a Norse princess, the daughter of Ivar Vidfamne, and the mother of Harald Wartooth, who appears in Sögubrot, Hversu Noregr byggdist and in the Lay of Hyndla...

 was born,
Hrörek the Ring-giver
her husband was;
Auth the Deep-minded
Auðr the Deep-Minded
Auðr the Deep-Minded was a Norse princess, the daughter of Ivar Vidfamne, and the mother of Harald Wartooth, who appears in Sögubrot, Hversu Noregr byggdist and in the Lay of Hyndla...

was Ivar
Ivar Vidfamne
Ivar Vidfamne was a Danish and Swedish king hailing from Scania. He may have died c. 700. According to the Heimskringla and the Hervarar saga, Ivar was also the king of Norway, Denmark, Saxony and parts of England.- Ivar in the Sagas :He began as king of Scania and conquered Sweden by defeating...

's daughter,
But Rathbarth the father
of Randver
Randver
Randvér or Randver was, according to Sögubrot and the Lay of Hyndla, the son of Ráðbarðr the king of Garðaríki and Auðr the Deep-Minded, the daughter of Ivar Vidfamne...

 was:
And all are thy kinsmen,
Ottar, thou fool!

Hversu Noregr byggðist

Hversu Noregr byggðist, agrees with Sögubrot by giving Hrœrekr as the father of Harald Wartooth
Harald Wartooth
Harald Wartooth or Harold Hiltertooth was a legendary king of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the historical northern German province of Wendland, in the 8th and 9th century...

. It also adds that he had the son Randver
Randver
Randvér or Randver was, according to Sögubrot and the Lay of Hyndla, the son of Ráðbarðr the king of Garðaríki and Auðr the Deep-Minded, the daughter of Ivar Vidfamne...

, the father of the Swedish and Danish king Sigurd Ring
Sigurd Ring
Sigurd Hring was a Swedish and Danish king mentioned in many old Scandinavian legends. According to Bósa saga ok Herrauds, there was once a saga on Sigurd Hring, but this saga is now lost...

. However, other sources disagree with Hversu (Sögubrot and the Lay of Hyndla says that Randver's father was Raðbarðr, whereas Hervarar saga
Hervarar saga
Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks is a legendary saga from the 13th century combining matter from several older sagas. It is a valuable saga for several different reasons beside its literary qualities. It contains traditions of wars between Goths and Huns, from the 4th century, and the last part is used as...

says that it was Valdar
Valdar
Valdar was the name of one or several legendary Danish kings.-Hervarar saga:The Hervarar saga tells that Ivar Vidfamne made Valdar the viceroy of Denmark and gave him his daughter Alfhild. When Valdar died, his son Randver became the king of Denmark, while his son Harald Wartooth became the king of...

).

External links

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