Stenkil
Stenkil | |
---|---|
Svitjod, Sweden | |
Spouse | Daughter of Emund the Old |
Issue | Halsten Stenkilsson Håkan the Red (?) Inge the Elder |
House | Stenkil |
Father | Ragnvald the Old |
Stenkil (
Family background
The
Stenkil was probably from
The lagman of the Gautland people, Thorvid, sat upon a horse, and the bridle was fastened to a stake that stood in the mire. He broke out with these words: "God knows we have many brave and handsome fellows here, and we shall let King Steinkel hear that we stood by the good earl bravely. I am sure of one thing: we shall behave gallantly against these Northmen, if they attack us; but if our young people give way, and should not stand to it, let us not run farther than to that stream; but if they should give way farther, which I am sure they will not do, let it not be farther than to that hill."[9]
The statement of the Hervarar saga that Stenkil was originally Jarl in
Support for the Bremen mission
Stenkil appears in history around 1056, during the reign of Emund the Old. At that time he provided support and protection for a delegation from the
The king duly supported the
The war with Harald Hardrada
The later Norse sagas relate that a brief but serious conflict flared up with the Norwegian king
According to all the saga versions, Harald Hardrada reacted to Håkon Jarl's Swedish position by assembling a fleet and invading Stenkil's kingdom in the cold of the winter. At the entrance of the Göta älv, he took the lighter boats and brought them upriver, to Lake Vänern. The ships then rowed eastwards, to the place where he heard that Håkon's troops had assembled. With Håkon was the law-speaker (lagman) of the Geats, Thorvid. However, the Geats were lightly clothed, "as is always the case with the Geats", while Harald's troops were more numerous and better equipped. The Geatic law-speaker lost his head and took to his heels before the battle had begun. In the fight that followed, Håkon's troops were defeated with losses. Nevertheless, Harald did not push his advantage further, but returned to the lake shore with his men. The end of the expedition was inauspicious. Part of Harald's troops were led into a trap, ambushed and massacred by Håkon's men. As the Norwegians sailed down the Göta älv, some more were killed by Geatic archers.[18] In the following year 1066 Harald Hardrada undertook his ill-fated invasion of England, which left the striking power of the Norwegian kingdom crippled. Håkon Jarl ended his life as a magnate in Denmark. It is not clear how much of the internally differing saga accounts can be regarded trustable, but a preserved scaldic verse by þjóðólfr Arnórsson confirms the outlines:
- Stenkil's men who would
- give support to the Jarl
- have been assigned to death
- the ruler caused this.
- Håkon withdrew
- quickly when support failed.
- Thus says the one who wants
- to depict this nicely.[19]
Morkinskinna indicates that the relations between Stenkil and Sweyn Estridsen were amicable. It is likely that the Swedish ruler had an interest in supporting Sweyn against the attempts of Harald Hardrada to subjugate Denmark between 1047 and 1062. Historian Aksel E. Christensen has concluded that the Norwegian-Danish peace treaty of 1064 was a success for the Swedish policy to prevent one king from ruling the kingdoms to the north and the south of
Death and burial
Adam of Bremen, Snorri Sturluson and the Hervarar saga all state that Stenkil passed away at the time of the
The
Steinkell hét ríkr maðr í Svíaríki ok kynstórr; móðir hans hét Ástríðr, dóttir Njáls Finnssonar ins skjálga af Hálogalandi, en faðir hans var Rögnvaldr inn gamli. Steinkell var fyrst jarl í Svíþjóð, en eptir dauða Eymundar konungs tóku Svíar hann til konungs. Þá gekk konungdómr ór langfeðgaætt í Svíþjóð inna fornu konunga. Steinkell var mikill höfðingi. Hann átti dóttur Eymundar konungs. Hann varð sóttdauðr í Svíþjóð nær því, er Haraldr konungr fell á Englandi. Ingi hét sonr Steinkels, er Svíar tóku til konungs næst eptir Hákon.[25] |
There was a great man of noble family in Sweden called Steinkel. His mother's name was Haakon.[13]
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Family
Stenkil was married to a daughter of Emund the Old, and had at least two children:
- Halsten, King of Sweden, or parts of Sweden, died after 1081
- Inge I, King of Sweden, died around 1110
It has been speculated that one of the two pretenders called Eric (around 1066-67) was his son, although there is nothing to support this assumption.[26] A later king, Håkan the Red (1070s), is associated with Stenkil's abode Levene in Västergötland and might have been a close kinsman.[8]
Notes and references
- ^ ISBN 91-7192-984-3, archived from the originalon 2007-09-30
- ^ a b c d e Tunberg, Sven (1917), "Stenkil", Nordisk familjebok
- ^ a b c "Stenkil", Nationalencyklopedin
- ISBN 91-518-3926-1, archived from the originalon 2007-09-30
- ^ Hans Gillingstam, "Stenkil", Svenskt biografiskt lexikon
- ^ Hans Gllingstam, "Stenkil", Svenskt biografiskt lexikon
- ^ Adam av Bremen (1984), Historien om Hamburgstiftet och dess biskopar. Stockholm: Proprius, p. 140 (Book III, Chapter 15).
- ^ a b Den äldre Västgötalagens kungalängd
- ^ Saga of Harald Hardrade: Part II, at the Medieval & Classical Literature Library.
- ^ Peter Sawyer (1991), När Sverige blev Sverige. Alingsås: Viktoria, p. 35.
- ^ Theodore M. Andersson & Kari Ellen Gade (eds) (2000), Morkinskinna. The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030-1157). Ithaca & London: Cornell, p. 240.
- ^ Adam av Bremen (1984), p. 224-8 (Book IV, Chapters 26-29). The actual existence of a pagan temple has been doubted by Henrik Janson (1998), Templum nobilissimum; Adam av Bremen, Uppsalatemplet och konfliktlinjerna i Europa kring år 1075. Göteborg: Historiska Institutionen i Göteborg.
- ^ a b 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. Archived December 27, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The article Inge in Nordisk familjebok (1910).
- ^ Adam av Bremen (1984), p. 228-9 (Book IV, Chapter 30).
- ^ Snorre Sturluson (1993), Nordiska kungasagor. Magnus den gode till Magnus Erlingsson. Stockholm: Fabel, p. 129-30 (Harald Sigurdsson's Saga, Chapter 69).
- ^ Theodore M. Andersson & Kari Ellen Gade (eds) (2000), p. 239-40.
- ^ Snorre Sturluson (1993), p. 133-7 (Harald Sigurdsson's Saga, Chapter 72); Theodore M. Andersson & Kari Ellen Gade (eds) (2000), p. 242-3.
- ^ Snorre Sturluson (1993), p. 135 (Harald Sigurdsson's Saga, Chapter 72).
- ^ Inge Skovgaard-Petersen et al. (1977), Danmarks historie. Bind 1. Kobenhavn: Gyldendal, p. 225.
- ^ Knytlinga Saga
- ^ Adam av Bremen (1984), p. 170 (Book III, Chapter 53); Snorre Sturluson (1993), p. 179 (Magnus the Bare-legged's Saga, Chapter 12).
- ^ Carl Bernadotte et al. (ed) (1956), Sveriges hundra konungar. Stockholm: Förlaget Biblioteksböcker, p. 111-2.
- ^ Sven Tunberg (1926), Sveriges historia till våra dagar. Andra delen. Äldre medeltiden. Stockholm: P.A. Norstedt & Söners Förlag, p. 23.
- ^ Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, Guðni Jónsson's og Bjarni Vilhjálmsson's edition at «Norrøne Tekster og Kvad».
- ^ Sture Bolin, "Erik och Erik", Svenskt biografiskt lexikon