Halfdan the Black
Halfdan the Black | |
---|---|
House of Yngling | |
Spouse(s) | Ragnhild Haraldsdotter Gulskeg Ragnhild Sigurdsdotter |
Father | Gudrød the Hunter |
Mother | Åsa Haraldsdottir of Agder |
Halfdan the Black (
In sagas
According to
Halfdan next is said to have subdued an area called
Fagrskinna and Heimskringla both agree that Halfdan's first wife was Ragnhild, daughter of King Harald Gulskeg (Goldbeard) of Sogn. Halfdan and Ragnhild had a son named "Harald" after his grandfather, and they sent him to be raised at his grandfather's court. Harald Gulskeg, being elderly, named his grandson as his successor, shortly before his death. Ragnhild died shortly after her father, and the young king Harald fell sick and died the next spring. When Halfdan heard about his son's death, he travelled to Sogn and laid claim to the title of king. No resistance was offered, and Halfdan added Sogn to his realm. [3] The narrative in Heimskringla then adds another conquest for King Halfdan. In Vingulmark, the sons of Gandalf of Vingulmark, Hysing, Helsing, and Hake, attempted to ambush Halfdan at night, but he escaped into the forest. After raising an army, he returned to defeat the brothers, killing Hysing and Helsing. Hake fled the country, and Halfdan became king of all of Vingulmark.
According to Heimskringla, Halfdan's second wife, also named Ragnhild, had been kidnapped from her home by Hake, a "
Halvdanshaugen
Heimskringla, Fagrskinna, Ágrip and Historia Norwegiæ all relate that Halfdan drowned when he fell through the ice at the inlet Røykenvik in the lake Randsfjorden on his return home from Hadeland. His horse and sleigh broke through ice weakened by cattle dung near a watering hole dug in the frozen lake. He was buried in a mound at Stein in Ringerike (Halvdanshaugen på Stein) [4]
Heimskringlas narrative adds that each of the districts of his kingdom wanted to claim his grave, and that it was agreed to divide his body into four pieces so each district could bury a piece of it, resulting in four different sites called Halvdanshaugen (from the Old Norse word haugr meaning mound). According to this version, only his head is buried in Ringerike.[5] [6]
Sources
No contemporary sources mention Halfdan, and the details of his life that are provided by later kings' sagas are considered semi-legendary by modern historians. Although he has his own saga in Heimskringla, it lacks any skaldic verse, which is normally used by Snorri as supporting evidence and this, combined with its rather legendary character, leads historians to be wary of seeing much veracity in it. The "Black" nickname was given to him because of his black hair.[7]
Halfdan is mentioned in
References
- ^ Halfdan the Black (Vanhoja islantilaisia saagoja) Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Bjørn Bandlien. "Halvdan Svarte". Store norske leksikon. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
- ^ a b c Claus Krag (28 September 2014). "Halvdan Svarte". Norsk biografisk leksikon. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
- ^ Marie Olaussen. "Hva skjuler seg i Halvdanshaugen". Terje Bautztore norske leksikon. Archived from the original on November 5, 2018. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
- ^ Halvdan Svarte – utdypning (Store norske leksikon)
- ^ "Halvdanshaugen / Gravminne". kulturminnesok.no. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
- ^ "Halfdan the Black Saga".
- ^ Bergljot Solberg, Jernalderen i Norge, (Oslo, 2000)
External links
- Fagrskinna[permanent dead link] in Old Norse
- Ágrip in Old Norse
- Heimskringla in Old Norse
- Heimskringla in English, from wikisource