Kylfings

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The Norslunda Runestone, bearing runic inscription U 419, which mentions the personal name Kylfingr

The Kylfings (

Byzantine Greek Κουλπίγγοι, Koulpingoi; Arabic al-Kilabiyya) were a people of uncertain origin active in Northern Europe during the Viking Age, roughly from the late ninth century to the early twelfth century. They could be found in areas of Lapland, Russia, and the Byzantine Empire that were frequented by Scandinavian traders, raiders and mercenaries. Scholars differ on whether the Kylfings were ethnically Finnic or Norse.[1] Also disputed is their geographic origin, with Denmark, Sweden and the Eastern Baltic all put forward as candidates.[2] Whether the name Kylfing denotes a particular tribal, socio-political, or economic grouping is also a matter of much debate.[3]

They are mentioned in

Harald Fairhair and participated in the pivotal late ninth century Battle of Hafrsfjord. After Harald's victory in that battle, they are described in the sagas as having raided in Finnmark and elsewhere in northern Norway and having fought against Harald's lieutenants such as Thorolf Kveldulfsson
.

Etymology

The exact etymology of the word kylfing is disputed and many different theories have been put forward as to its ultimate origin. The general trend has been to trace kylfing to the Old Norse words kylfa and kolfr, but scholars disagree as to the meaning of these words as well. Cleasby notes that in Old Norse, kylfa can mean a club or cudgel.[4] Thus the national Icelandic antiquarian Barði Guðmundsson translated Kylfing to mean "club-wielders".[5] As Foote points out, it can also mean a smaller stick, such as a tally-stick or wooden token used by merchants,[6] and, according to Jesch, it can also mean the "highest and narrowest part" of a ship's stem.[7] Holm discussed the term kylfa in connection with the word hjúkolfr which means "meeting" or "guild"; according to Holm, the second element kolfr could refer to a symbolic arrow traditionally used as a device to summon people for a meeting.[8]

These varied derivations have led to a number of interpretations. Holm offers two meanings: "archer" and "man armed with a cudgel".[8] A number of historians have asserted that Kylfing referred to a member of a "club in the social or Anglo-American sense", a "brotherhood" or a member of a Norse félag.[8][9][10] In a number of minor Icelandic manuscripts on mathematics and geography, Kylfingaland is identified as Garðaríki, i.e. Kievan Rus', but the sources are unclear as to whether Kylfingaland is named for the Kylfings or vice versa, or whether, indeed, there is any connection at all.[8]

The

Old Russian sources. They are often mentioned together with the Varangians, a term used in Eastern Europe to describe traders and pirates of the Baltic sea. In Byzantine Greek, they were named koulpingoi and they served as a unit of the Byzantine army listed alongside the Varangian Guard, which was of Scandinavian origin.[11]

A very different derivation was put forward by the Russian scholar B. Briems. He hypothesised that Kylfingr was a direct Norse translation of the

Viking".[12]

Identity

According to Egil's Saga, the Kylfings were trading and plundering in

Saami scouts to monitor the Kylfings' movements and report back to him. Countering their raids, he is reported to have killed over a hundred Kylfing marauders.[13]

Some scholars see them as Scandinavians while others consider them to have been a

mercenaries and tax-agents by Scandinavian rulers; in this context Ravndal interpreted the kylfa element to refer to a "club" in the sense of organization.[9] Arbman argues that the Kolbiagi were a separate fur-trading guild.[10] Postan et al., on the other hand, hypothesize that Kolbiag denoted a junior participant in a Varangian trade guild, rather than a separate group.[15]

Finnic peoples

Holm (1992) considers Egil's saga to equate the Kylfings with the

Saami peoples were not to be interrupted in their traditional activities.[17] A large part of the Karelians were under Novgorod which was included in what Icelandic sources called Kylfingaland, and thus the Kylfings could have been Baltic Finnish tribes under Novgorod.[11]

The eastern shore of the Gulf of Bothnia, proposed by proponents of a Finnic origin for the Kylfings as that group's homeland

Both East Slavs and Byzantines consistently made a clear distinction between Varangians and Kylfings, and Byzantines distinguished between them in the same manner as they separated Franks from Saracens. According to Holm such separations are indicative of clear ethnic differences between the two groups. Additionally, both East Slavic and Byzantine sources explicitly associate the Varangians with Baltic region, which they called Varangia, and in Arabic, the Baltic Sea was called Bahr Varank, i.e. the "Varangian Sea". There are no comparable connections when they mention the Kylfings. Another difference is the fact that the Byzantine sources connect the word varangoi with rhōs in order to make it clear that the rhōs-varangoi and the varangoi originate in Baltic just like the rhōs, but do not establish the same associations for the koulpingoi.[18]

The Kylfings have also been identified with the Votic people. Carl Christian Rafn, Edgar V. Saks, B. Briem and Sigurður Nordal have proposed Kylfings to have been the Norse name for the Votes. The reason is that the ethnonym Vadja(laiset) can be associated with the word vadja (modern Estonian vai') which means "stake", "wedge" or "staff", which corresponds to Old Norse kolfr. Vadjalaiset would consequently be translated into Old East Norse as kolfingar, which in Old West Norse (Old Icelandic) would be umlauted as kylfingar. Whereas some native names were Scandinavized, as Rostov into Ráðstofa, the Norse learned of the meaning of other names and translated them, which they did at Volkhov, and in the case of some of the Dniepr rapids. The theory that the Kylfings were Votes has been opposed by Max Vasmer and Stender-Petersen,[19] whereas Holm finds it likely. Holm considers it apparent that the Varangians and the Finnic tribes were able to cooperate well, and he points to the relative ease and stability with which Finland was later integrated as a part of the Swedish kingdom.[20] Jorma Koivulehto, a Finnish linguist, disagrees with the Vote theory and maintains that the Votic name or any other Finnic ethnonym is not etymologically connected with the name Kylfingar.

Estonians have also been identified as Kylfings.[21]

Scandinavians

Runestone Sö 318, containing the personal name Kylfingr

Barði Guðmundsson identified the Kylfings as an East Scandinavian, possibly

Danish origin to this tribe.[5]

Some scholars have considered the Kylfings of Egil's Saga to be a "conquering Germanic people", or the Swedish king's tax collectors.

law of Hälsingland mentions any Swedish settlement north of Bygdeå in southern Västerbotten.[24]

Pritsak identified the Kylfings as a "professional trading and mercenary organization" that organized expeditions northward, into the Saami lands, as distinct from other

viking groups whose expeditions focussed on lands to the west and east of Scandinavia.[25] This interpretation is supported by such historians as Stender-Petersen.[26]

A number of runestones in Sweden contain the personal name Kylfingr, which may or may not be connected to the Kylfings as a group.[27][28]

Other suggestions

A few historians have hypothesized that the Kylfings were a

St. Petersburg.[29]

Status

Byzantine Empire

Varangian Guardsmen, an illumination from the 11th century chronicle of John Skylitzes

Eleventh-century

Rus', Saracens, Franks and Koulpingoi. In previous edicts issued in 1060 and 1068 the Koulpingoi had not been separately delineated.[32] Similar edicts were issued in 1082, 1086, and 1088.[32] The edict issued by Alexios I Komnenos
1088, for instance, reads:

The whole of the above-mentioned island [of

Immortals, and all other Romans and foreigners.[33]

Russia and the eastern Baltic

The Kylfings were also active in the eastern Baltic and northern Russia. Kylfingaland may have been used to refer to

law code of the Kievan Rus', grants certain privileges to Kylfings (Колбяги or "Kolbiagi") in addition to Varangians ("Varyagi").[35] For instance, Varangians and Kylfings were entitled to press charges with an oath without relying on any witnesses. In addition, in order to swear innocence, they needed only two witnesses, whereas a native Slav needed as many as seven. Moreover, the Varangians and the Kylfings were entitled to give shelter to a fugitive for as many as three days, whereas Slavs and others had to hand him over directly.[20]

Hungary

A military organization called Kölpények is reported to have existed in

Pecheneg origin, as there was a Pecheneg tribal group called Külbej during roughly the same period.[38]

Austkylfur

Norway ca. 872 CE (with Harald's kingdom shown in red) before the defining Battle of Hafrsfjord

The

philologists, using the nautical meaning of the word kylfa, interpret the phrase as "eastern ships".[40] Others, such as F. Jonsson, interpreted Austkylfur to mean "eastern logs", while Vigfusson believed that the phrase properly meant simply "men of the east".[39] Another interpretation of the term used in Haraldskvæði is the derogatory "eastern oafs".[41]

Guðmundsson specifically identified the Austkylfur of Hornklofi's poem with the Kylfings mentioned elsewhere in Scandinavian and Eastern European sources, and interpreted the phrase Austkylfur to mean "eastern club-wielding men".[42]

In Haraldskvæði as recorded by

jarls of Hordaland, Rogaland, and Telemark, that came to Hafrsfjord to fight Harald's encroaching hegemony. The exact relationship between the Austkylfur and the anti-Harald coalition is unknown. Nora Chadwick identifies the Austkylfur as the part of the force opposing Harald that came from Agder and Telemark. These districts lie further east than the other kingdoms opposing Harald's rule.[39]
After their defeat by Harald and his army, the Kylfings' property was plundered and their womenfolk, described as "eastern maidens", were distributed by the victorious king among his warriors.

Timeline

Date Work mentioned Details
c. 880s Thorbjorn Hornklofi's Haraldskvæði, composed c. 900 (as preserved in the 13th-century Heimskringla) The "Austkylfur" participate in the
Kjotve of Agder; their women are divided as spoils of war among Harald's warriors.[39][43]
c. 900 Egil's Saga (13th century) Thorolf Kveldulfsson defeated a large force of Kylfing marauders in northern Norway around this time.[13]
c. 950 Gesta Hungarorum, written 1100-1200 Prince Taksony of Hungary hires mercenaries called Kölpények, probably identical with the Kylfings.[36][37]
970–972 Gesta Hungarorum Kölpények mercenaries serve in the Magyar army in support of
Sviatoslav I of Kiev's Bulgar campaign.[37]
c. 1000 Runestones Sö 318, U 320, U 419, U 445 Swedish runestones are erected bearing the personal name "Kylfingr".[44]
1010s Russkaya Pravda, law code of the Kievan Rus' Start of codification of Russkaya Pravda, which grants special rights and privileges to the Kolbiagi.[45]
1070s–1080s Byzantine chrysobulls Koulpingoi are mentioned among other nations with contingents in the Byzantine army.[46]
c.1100 Gesta Hungarorum Kölpények mercenaries still active in Hungary.[37]
c.1150 Landfræði, a geographical text by Icelander
Nikolas Bergsson
 Russia is referred to as Kylfingaland.[44]
c.1400
Skjoldunga Saga
 Mention is made of a berserkr from the "Land of the Kylfings."[47]

Notes

  1. ^ See, e.g., Ravndal 75; Arbman 90; Postan 481.
  2. ^ See, e.g., Bugge 309; Guðmundsson passim.
  3. ^ E.g., Guðmundsson passim; Hastings 640.
  4. ^ Cleasby 366. Another, still less likely Norse definition offered by Cleasby is "stammer" (kylfa). Ibid.
  5. ^ a b c d Guðmundsson passim.
  6. ^ Foote 97.
  7. ^ Jesch 150.
  8. ^ a b c d e Holm 85
  9. ^ a b Ravndal 75.
  10. ^ a b Arbman 90.
  11. ^ a b Holm 88.
  12. ^ Brutzkus 81–102.
  13. ^ a b Egil's Saga § 10 (Scudder 20).
  14. ^ Hastings 640.
  15. ^ Postan 481.
  16. ^ Holm 86.
  17. ^ Holm 87.
  18. ^ Holm 89.
  19. ^ Holm 91.
  20. ^ a b Holm 95.
  21. ^ (in Estonian) Kaikamees -- ajalooline aunimi.
  22. ^ Guðmundsson passim; Bugge 309.
  23. ^ Holm 86, citing to the work of Max Vasmer in 1931, Gustav Storm in 1889 and Elias Wessén in 1936.
  24. ^ Holm 86ff.
  25. ^ Pritsak 383.
  26. ^ E.g., Blöndal 6.
  27. ^ See Sö 318, U 320, U 419, U 445 in Rundata.
  28. ^ Pritsak 384.
  29. ^ Sootak 52.
  30. ^ Norvin 12.
  31. South Slavic Guduscani tribe, who were settled around the Kulpa River in Dalmatia
    ; this view has been largely rejected by historians. Blöndal 82–83 at n. 3.
  32. ^ a b Laiou 91.
  33. ^ Chrysobull of Alexios I for the Monastery of St. Christodoulos on the island of Patmos, MM 6:47.3–7, as translated at Khazdan 257.
  34. ^ Anderson 521.
  35. ^ E.g., Vernadsky 28.
  36. ^ a b A Pallas Nagy Lexikona.
  37. ^ a b c d Székely 11.
  38. ^ E.g., A Pallas Nagy Lexikona.
  39. ^ a b c d Chadwick 186.
  40. ^ Anglia 137.
  41. ^ Percy 245.
  42. ^ Guðmundsson 82.
  43. ^ Guðmundsson 67–68.
  44. ^ a b Struminski 234.
  45. ^ Vernadsky 28.
  46. ^ E.g., Laiou 91.
  47. ^ Bjarkarimur verse 43 (Jónsson 117).

References

  • (in German) Anderson, T. "Kylfingar." in Hoops, Johannes, et al., Reallexikon Der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Walter de Gruyter, 2000. p. 520–522.
    ISBN 3-11-016907-X
  • (in German)
    Anglia: Zeitschrift für englische Philologie
    . Niemeyer, 1924.
  • Arbman, Holger. The Vikings. Praeger, 1961.
  • Blöndal, Sigfús and Benedikz, Benedict S. The Varangians of Byzantium. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007
    ISBN 978-0-521-21745-3
    .
  • (in German) Brutzkus, Julius. "Warjager und Kolbjager." Acta Seminari Kondakov. 1935.
  • Bugge, Sophus. "The Norse Lay of Wayland and its Relation to the English Tradition." The Saga Book of the Viking Club, Vol. II. David Nutt, 1898.
  • Chadwick, Nora Kershaw. Anglo-Saxon and Norse Poems. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1922. Originally published under her maiden name.
  • Cleasby, Richard and Guðbrandur Vigfusson. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. Clarendon Press, 1874.
  • Foote, Peter Godfrey and David Mackenzie Wilson. The Viking Achievement. Praeger, 1970.
  • Guðmundsson, Barði. The Origin of the Icelanders.
    Lee Hollander
    , transl. Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1967.
  • Hastings, John. "Kalevala".
    Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics
    .     vol. 7. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1908.
  • (in Estonian) Kaikamees -- ajalooline aunimi. 1931
  • (in Swedish) Holm, Gösta. "Kylvingar och Väringar: Etymologiska Problem Kring två Folkgruppsnamn", in Svenska Akademiens Handlingar. - 0349-4543. ; 1992(18), pp. 85–101.
  • Jesch, Judith. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Boydell & Brewer, 2008.
    ISBN 978-0-85115-826-6
  • (in Danish) Jónsson, Finnur, transl. Hrólfs saga Kraka og Bjarkarímur. Copenhagen, S. L. Møllers bogtr., 1904.
  • Kazhdan, A. P. and Ann Wharton Epstein. Change in Byzantine Culture in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries. University of California Press, 1985.
    ISBN 0-520-05129-7
  • (in Hungarian) "Kölpön." A Pallas Nagy Lexikona. Arcanum Adatbázis Kft, 1998.
  • ISBN 0-88402-277-3
  • Norvin, William. Classica et mediaevalia: revue danoise de philologie et d'histoire. Librairie Gyldendal, 1938.
  • Percy, Thomas and Margaret Clunies Ross. The Old Norse Poetic Translations of Thomas Percy: A New Edition and Commentary. Brepols, 2001.
  • H. J. Habakkuk
    . The Cambridge Economic History of Europe. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1987.
  • Pritsak, Omeljan
    . The Origin of Rus'. Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991.
  • Ravndal, Gabriel Bie. Stories of the East-Vikings. Augsburg Publishing House, 1938.
  • Scudder, Bernard, transl. "Egil's Saga". Sagas of Icelanders. Penguin, 2001.
  • Sootak, Jaan. "Development of Estonian Criminal Law." Juridica International, Vol. 1996-I. pp. 52–53.
  • Struminski, Bohdan. Linguistic Interrelations in Early Rus. CIUS Press, 1996.
  • Székely, György. Hungary and Sweden: Early Contacts. Akadémiai Kiadó, 1975.
  • Vernadsky, George
    . Medieval Russian Law. Columbia Univ. Press, 1961.

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