Astrid Njalsdotter
Astrid Njalsdotter (or Ástríðr Njálsdóttir) of Skjalgaätten (also Aestrith) (11th century), was a
Dynastic ancestress
The only source available for Astrid is
Her husband Ragnvald the Old is otherwise unknown. In older historiography it was common to identify him with Ragnvald Ulfsson, a Swedish or Geatic Jarl who served under King Olof Skötkonung in the early 11th century. According to the Norse sagas, Ragnvald Ulfsson was forced to flee Sweden after a dispute with the king, and was eventually established as Jarl of Staraya Ladoga. However, this Ragnvald was married to the Norwegian princess Ingeborg Tryggvasdotter and the father of Ulf and Eilif, and is nowhere associated with Stenkil. A second marriage of Ragnvald to Astrid is therefore mere guesswork.[3]
Possible queenship
The German ecclesiastic historian Adam of Bremen writes that Stenkil was either the stepson (privignus) or nephew (nepos) of the previous Swedish ruler Emund the Old (c. 1050-c. 1060).[4] On the basis of this, it has sometimes been assumed that Astrid Njalsdotter was first married to Ragnvald and then with Emund, whose spouse is otherwise unknown. This would help explain the smoothness of the dynastic succession in c. 1060, when the Viking Age family of rulers died out in the male line. Nevertheless, Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks says that Stenkil inherited the throne through his wife, who was the daughter of Emund. Modern historians therefore tend to doubt this hypothesis.[5]
References
- ^ The Saga of Hervör and Heithrek, in Stories and Ballads of the Far Past, translated from the Norse (Icelandic and Faroese), by N. Kershaw.Cambridge at the University Press, 1921. "The Saga of Hervör and Heithrek – Nora Kershaw tr". Archived from the original on 27 December 2006. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
- ^ Detlev Schwennicke (1984), Europäische Stammtafeln, Vol. II. Marburg: Stargardt, Tafel 105.
- ^ Mats G. Larsson (2002), Götarnas riken: Upptäcktsfärder till Sveriges enande. Stockholm: Atlantis, p. 154-7.
- ^ Adam av Bremen (1984), Historien om Hamburgstiftet och dess biskopar. Stockholm: Proprius, p. 139-40 (Book III, Chapter 15).
- ^ Hans Gillingstam (1981), "Utomnordiskt och nordiskt i de äldsta svenska dynastiska förbindelserna", Personhistorisk tidskrift 77:1, p. 18 [1] Archived 1 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine
Literature
- Astrid Nialsdotter (in Swedish)
- Personakt för Astrid Nialsdotter (in Swedish)
- http://www.progressus.se/mormor_morfar/tree/PS08/PS08_314.HTML[permanent dead link] (in Swedish)
- Elgenstierna, Gustaf (1925–1936), Den introducerade svenska adelns ättartavlor, Vol. I-IX (in Swedish).
- Ohlmarks, Åke (1973), Alla Sveriges drottningar (All the queens of Sweden; in Swedish). Stockholm: Gebers.