Ivar Vidfamne
Ivar Vidfamme | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 700 CE |
Known for | Semi-legendary Swedish king |
Ivar Vidfamne (or Ívarr inn víðfaðmi; English
12th and 13th century sources like However, no such figure was mentioned in medieval Saxon or English sources regarding the 8th and 9th centuries.
Ivar in the sagas
The
However, Queen Åsa was not content with the state of things, and therefore incited Guðröðr to kill his brother. Later, she murdered her own husband. The Ynglinga saga implies that Ivar had to flee Scania after the murder of his father. After the demise of Guðröðr, he however returned home, while Åsa had to flee to her father in Sweden. Ivar hastily gathered an army and approached Sweden to exact revenge on the murderous queen. King Ingjald was at a feast in Raening with his daughter when he heard that Ivar's army was in the neighbourhood. Ingjald and Åsa then committed suicide by burning themselves and their drunk retainers in the feast hall.[8] The Ynglinga saga, Historia Norwegiæ, Hervarar saga and Af Upplendinga konungum tell that Ivar conquered Svearike after Ingjald's suicide, and later returned to take Denmark. Apart from the Danish lands, he conquered "a great deal of Saxland, all the East Country (Austrríki), and a fifth part of England".[9]
In that way Ivar conquered much of Scandinavia and parts of north Germany and England (sometimes specified as
When Ivar learnt that Auðr had married without his permission, he marshaled a great
The Hervarar saga does not mention any daughter named Auðr. Instead it mentions an Alfhild in the same genealogical position. Ivar gave her to
Interpretations
The archaeologist Birger Nerman (1925) argued for the historicity of Ivar and a comprehensive but loosely structured Baltic realm in the late 7th century.[15] This idea has not been pursued by later archaeologists and historians who regard his historical existence as uncertain.[16] The story of Guðröðr being murdered by his queen Åsa seems to replicate another story in the Ynglinga saga, about the Vestfold king Gudrød the Hunter who met a similar fate at the hands of his queen Åsa Haraldsdottir of Agder.
According to some sagas,[citation needed] Ivar Vidfamne was the great-great-great-grandfather of the historical 9th century Viking leader Ivar the Boneless.[17] Reflecting on this purported lineage, historian Kirsten Møller has hypothesised that Ivar Vidfamne may have been a completely fictitious figure, created around the time of Ivar the Boneless.[18] That is, the dissemination of a figure such as Ivar Vidfamne, ruling over a vast empire more than a century earlier, would serve to justify the dynastic and territorial ambitions of Ivar the Boneless and his family.
References
Citations
- ISBN 91-1-963882-5.
- ^ Uino, Pirjo (1997). Ancient Karelia. Helsinki: Suomen muinaismuistoyhdistyksen aikakausikirja 104. p. 185.
- ^ Ivar Vidfamne in: "1119-1120 (Nordisk familjebok / Uggleupplagan. 12. Hyperemi - Johan)". runeberg.org. 16 October 2017.
- ^ Ivar Vidfadme in: Salmonsens Konversations Leksikon (Danish), Anden Udgave, Bind XII (1922), p. 731 & p. 732
- ^ "Ivar Vidfadme". 28 September 2014 – via Store norske leksikon.
- ^ Flateyarbók, cited in Ellehøj (1965), p. 93.
- ^ Saga Ólafs Konúngs Tryggvasonar, Vol. 1 (1825). Copenhagen: Popp, Chapter 61, p. 110-1.
- ^ Heimskringla, Ynglinga saga, Chapter 43-44
- ^ Heimskringa, Ynglinga saga, Chapter 45
- ^ Ellehøj (1965), p. 92.
- ^ Heimskringa, Ynglinga saga, Chapter 47
- ^ Sögubrot, Chapter 1-2
- ^ Sögubrot, Chapter 2-4
- ^ Nerman (1925), p. 246.
- ^ Nerman (1925), p.
- ^ Gillingstam (1973/75), p. 55
- Sigurd Hring, great great grandson Ragnar Lodbrok, great great great grandson - Ivar the Boneless.
- ^ Kirsten Møller, 1997, Vikingeætten .
Sources
Primary
- Lay of Hyndla
- Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks
- Sögubrot af nokkrum fornkonungum
- Af Upplendinga konungum
- Ynglinga saga
- Njáls saga
- Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta
- Heimskringla
- Norske Kongers Chronica
- Hversu Noregr byggðist
- Langfeðgatal
- Historia Norwegiæ
- Ágrip af sǫgu Danakonunga
- Rerum Danicarum fragmenta
- Annales Sorani ad 1268
- "Genealogies of Norwegian kings" from Flateyjarbók
- Jómsvíkinga saga from Flateyjarbók
- Excerpta Catalogo Regum Sveciæ
Secondary
- Bäckström, Gösta (1989) En saga om Dan. Göteborg/Vänersborg
- Brandt, Troels (2018) Danerkongerne fra Lejre: Historie, arkæologi og sagn (web-edition, 2018 Archived 2018-03-30 at the Wayback Machine) an extensively edited version of: Danernes sagnhistorie: Saxos sagn i sagaernes kronologi. Copenhagen, 2004.
- Ellehøj, Svend (1965) Studier over den ældste norrøne historieskrivning. Hafniæ: Munksgaard.
- Engelhardt, P. (1980) Danerne fra fødsel til dåb. Copenhagen.
- Engholm, Carl (1994) Danske kongeslægter i det 8. & 9. århundrede. Karl den Store og Danerne. Kongens Lyngby.
- Gillingstam, Hans (1973–75) "Ivar Vidfamne", Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, Vol. 20 [1]
- Nerman, Birger (1925) Det svenska rikets uppkomst. Stockholm: Generalstabens litografiska anstalt.