Ynglingatal
The line of kings according to Ynglingatal |
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Ynglingatal or Ynglinga tal (Old Norse: 'Enumeration of the Ynglingar')[1] is a Skaldic poem cited by Snorri Sturluson in the Ynglinga saga, the first saga of Snorri's Heimskringla. Þjóðólfr of Hvinir (Thjodolf), who was a poet for Harald Fairhair (r. 872–930), is traditionally credited with its authorship. Snorri quotes frequently from this poem and cites it as one of the sources of the saga. The composition of the poem is dated to the 9th century.
The poem lists the partly mythical and partly historical ancient Swedish kings; twenty-seven of whom are mentioned in the poem, along with details about their deaths and burial places. The title Ynglingatal alludes to
Verse forms and text history
Ynglingatal is composed in kviðuháttr (modern
- Ok Vísburs
- vilja byrði
- sævar niðr
- svelgja knátti, [...]
- ‘And the kinsman of the sea [FIRE] swallowed the ship of the will [BREAST] of Vísburr [...]’[4]
Ynglingatal has also makes extensive use of
The Icelandic philologist Finnur Jónsson believed the eight-line stanza defines Ynglingatal's structure, while Walter Akerlund believed the four-line helming—the half-stanza as in the example above—defines the poem's structure.[6] Akerlund has also said the bard Thjodolf learned the verse-form kviðuháttr by studying the Rök runestone in present-day Sweden, which dates from around the year 800.[7]
The Ynglings in other sources
Ynglingatal is preserved in its entirety in Snorri's
About the author
According to Snorri, Ynglingatal was composed by the
Thjodolf also appears in the
The historian
Author myth and royal ideology
According to the Ynglinga saga, Fjolne, the first king described in Ynglingatal, was the son of the
Both major ruling families in Norway, the
According to religious historian Gro Steinsland, the myth also has an erotic element and is thus a fertility myth that tells of the relationship between the ruler and his "territory"; the scalds describe the land as a sexual, longing giantess who rested in the earl's arms. The prince guarantees growth and prosperity in their territory.[21] There may have been a special connection between the king and the fertility goddess in times of crisis he was sacrificed to her. This is seen in Ynglingatal where Swedes sacrificed King Domalde after a prolonged famine. This is illustrated in Carl Larsson's controversial monumental picture Midvinterblot, but there are no other sources supporting the sacrificing of a king.[22]
Content
Ynglingatal consists of 27 stanzas and a litany of different kings and how they died. It starts with
The poem continues with varying degrees of mythical ways to die. Eventually the Yngling kings walked through the woods from the Svea kingdom to Norway. Here there is a clear break in the series and it is possible Thjodolf is linked here to the Norwegian seed in the Swedish genealogies to provide the Norwegian kings with a divine origin and thus greater legitimacy.[31] The first breeding of the kings of Norway was supposed to have been Halfdan Hvitbeinn, who died in his bed at Toten. According to the poem, his son Eystein was killed on a ship; he was beaten by the boat's vessel and fell into the sea. Eystein's son Halfdan died in his bed in Borre, where he was buried. Halfdan's son Gudrød was killed by the servant of his wife Åsa. The poem ends with Halfdan's son Olaf Geirstad-Alf and grandson Ragnvald Heidumhære. Tjodolv dedicated Ynglingatal to Ragnvald. The last stanza reads:[32]
Þat veitk bazt
und blôum himni
kenninafn,
svát konungr eigi,
es Rǫgnvaldr,
reiðar stjóri,
heiðumhôr
of heitinn es.[33]
- ‘I know that nickname to be the best under the blue sky that a king might have, that Rǫgnvaldr, the steerer of the carriage [RULER], is called ‘High with Honours’.’[33]
According to Snorri's Ynglinga Saga, Harald Fairhair's father
Debate on the dating
The content of Ynglingatal has been interpreted and discussed, mostly during the
The late hypothesis
Claus Krag claimed in 1990 that Ynglingatal's origin should be dated to the 1100s and that it was based on other royal lists. In a research project during the 1980s Krag's attempt to justify the doubt regarding Ynglingatal's age began to take shape, disregarding the traditional, uncritical acceptance. Krag studied the Yngling tradition's place in folklore and the Yngling's genealogy in relation to other European royal genealogies and scholarly genealogical works in Iceland.[40]
As an argument, Krag proposed that the first four kings' deaths represent the cosmology of Greek philosopher Empedocles, with the four classical elements Earth, Water, Air, and Fire, and thus that a euhemeristic vision influenced the description of the first few generations.[41] Krag's hypothesis has received serious criticism on several points,[42] and so far "a convincing case has not been made against the authenticity of the poem as a ninth-century creation".[43]
The early dating
Krag's late dating has been challenged. If the saga is a late work of propaganda, it should reasonably have been concluded with Norwegian king Harald Fairhair and not by his largely unknown cousin Ragnvald Heidrumhære, whose meaning seems otherwise to have been lost after 1000. There are places and names in the poem that archeology has shown to have had great importance until the Viking Age, but not later, and thus should not have been stated in a more recent saga. Archeologist Dagfinn Skre is an advocate for these arguments.[44]
According to Swedish researcher Olof Sundquist, Krag bypasses clear signs of Ynglingatal on a tradition of Swedish area visible in kenning, place names and personal names. Cultural phenomena such as a king who goes to holy places and the memory of a warrior elite can point to ancient human migrations. Sundquist posits the theory that Thjodolf from Kvine composed his works in the 900s and based them on an extant tradition. He also said Empedocles' cosmology can hardly be argued as evidence of late dating; in that case it would be influenced by Britannia or Franks.[45]
The fact Snorri has reproduced the poem suggests he would probably have known about any falsification a century earlier and refrained from reproducing the erroneous text. Ynglingatal also inspired Eyvindr skáldaspillir's Háleygjatal, which demonstrably was written in the late 900s.[46]
Another argument for early dating comes from the Icelandic philologist Bergsveinn Birgisson, whose doctoral thesis said Ynglingatal is not supposed to be a praising poem but an entertainment poem and a warning. He asserts this partly based on the grotesque and often ridiculous ways the kings in the poem die—they often appear to be dishonorable, which is clearly in breach of customs of the praising poem.[47] Bergsveinn says the poem is old but the meaning of the praising poem is constructed by Snorri and other scholars of the Middle Ages. He also says Ynglingatal was not originally a genealogy, but is about different families. According to Bergsveinn, the perception or construction of the poem as genealogy originates from the High Middle Ages.[48]
A middle ground
Swedish archeologist Svante Norr argues for an intermediate position for dating Ynglingatal. He said it is neither an authentic poem of the Viking Age nor a text from the Middle Ages. Norr accepts the traditional dating of poems origin, but says the poem was sung for the more than 300 years until it was written down gradually, and must have undergone major changes to fit it into contemporaneous social conditions. According to Norr, genealogical poems cannot be used as historical sources because they depend on extant ideological, political and social conditions. He says the poem must be viewed as a development and a result of a long process of change.[49] The Norwegian archaeologist Bjørn Myhre joins largely to Norr's standpoint.[50]
Yngling
The meaning of term "yngling" is usually interpreted as "descendants of Yngve", but as in modern Nordic, it can also mean "young man",.[51] In skaldic poems, the word yngling is only used in the singular; only in the sagas has it has been used in the plural Ynglings; thus the ynglings of the poem cannot be defined as one family. The term may be a kenning, a euphemism, for the prince or king and not something connected with a particular family.[52] Bergsveinn Birgisson says Ynglingatal is not a genealogy, but a poem about people from different clans. Not all sources agree; in Historia Norvegiæ, About Uplanders kings and Íslendingabók, several of the kings of other names than in Ynglingatal or are said to live on or be buried elsewhere. Finnur Jonsson said the various descriptions stem from the kings mentioned in Ynglingatal; all have different traditions handed down by word of mouth. He said Thjodolf's poem is an attempt at a synthesis of different oral traditions about different kings.[53]
Euhemerism
According to Snorri, the Yngling stemmed from the gods Yngve-Frey and Odin. This kinship, a euhemerism, is not left in the poem; only Snorri's words support this. Finnur Jonsson said he thought this song originally contained several verses and started with Yngve.[53] Religion historian Walter Baetke said Yngligatal was free of euhemerism—the notion of lineage of gods was added in the Christian era.[54] Claus Krag said the first kings of the poem are historicized gods, and that the hypothesis of lost stanzas may be rejected.[55]
Historical accuracy
Opinions differ on whether breedings were historical figures. If all the kings in this poem really existed, the first of them must have lived in the Migration Period. It is usually only the "Norwegian" part of Ynglings—from Halfdan Hvitbeinn—that scientists have tried to prove or disprove were real, historical persons. They partly reasoned that people in Norse times kept track of their genus for six generations, thus it is possible to follow Harald Fairhair's ancestors back to Halfdan Hvitbeinn. Norwegian historians and archeologists have traditionally held the Norwegian Ynglings to be historical people.[56]
Because of problems with dating, it is problematic to work out when these people might have lived.
Date of birth according to Ólafía Einarsdóttir |
Date of birth according to Halvdan Koht[58] | |
Halfdan Hvitbeinn | 660 | 695 |
Eystein Halfdansson | 695 | 730 |
Halfdan the Mild | 725 | 760 |
Gudrød the Hunter | 760 | 795 |
Olaf Geirstad-Alf | 795 | 830 |
Ragnvald Heidumhære | 825 | 860 |
Halfdan the Black | 818 | 830 |
Harald Fairhair | 848 | 865 |
Traditionally, historians have attributed great source value to scaldic poems because of the tight form that made them easier to remember than narratives. If Ynglingatal is really from the late 800s, recent events would be relatively close in time to the scald, and there is a high likelihood the poem renders information about real people and events. Nevertheless, there is a distance of 500 years from Halfdan Hvitbeinn to Snorri, and 250 years from the poem's composition to the time Snorri wrote it down. Whether the original poem is preserved is uncertain.[59] If Ynglingatal is younger, perhaps dating from the end of the 1100s as Krag says, its value as a source of real events shrinks further. According to Fidjestøl, the scald's main task was to express the Kingdom's official ideology, not necessarily render the facts.[60]
Archeologists, particularly
Yngling as common European tradition
In 1943, Danish historian
References
- ^ Lindow 2001, p. 16.
- ^ Snorri, Ynglingesaga, ch. 49-50
- ^ Paasche (1957): 207
- ^ Marold et al. (2012): 14
- ^ Paasche (1957): 182-183
- ^ Krag (1991): 85
- ^ Åkerlund (1939), paraphrased in Paasche (1957): 224
- ^ Þáttr Ólafs Geirstaða Alfs: 209-210
- ^ Historia Norvegiæ: 27-28
- ^ Íslendingabók: Chapter 12
- ^ Krag (1991): 211
- ^ Snorre Snorre Sturlassons preamble, p. 1
- ^ Snorre, Harald Fairhair saga, ch. 26
- ^ Snorri, Harald Hårfagres saga, ch. 26, 35
- ^ Krag (1991): 35-36
- ^ A hird scald is a scald that stayed with the hird, the kings army, to "document" the kings battles
- ^ Finnur Jonsson: 2. Afsnit: SKJALDEKVAD § 6 Norwegian Skjalda
- ^ Snorre, Olav Tryggvasson saga, ch. 94
- ^ Steinsland (2005):405
- ^ Steinsland (1991): 216-217
- ^ Steinsland (2005): 406
- ^ Sacrification of a king is only present in Ynglingatal, not in onther poems or sagas.
- ^ Snorre, Yngling Saga: 19 (Chapter 11)
- ^ Ynglingatal, st. 1-2
- ^ Ynglingatal, st. 4-5
- ^ Ynglingatal, st. 6-9
- ^ Ynglingatal, st. 10
- ^ Ynglingatal, st. 11-14
- ^ Ynglingatal, st. 16-19
- ^ Ynglingatal, st. 21
- ^ Myhre (2015): 120
- ^ Snorre, Yngling Saga: 48 (chapter 50), The information in this section about the contents of Ynglingatal is taken from Snorri's Ynglinga Saga, and it is this variation of the stanza about Ragnvald reproduced here.
- ^ a b Marold et al. (2012): 58
- ^ Krag (1990): 183
- ^ Snorri wrote Ynglingasaga aroundt 1230, based on Ynglingatal. See Snorris preamble.
- ^ Krag (1991): 13-14
- ^ Krag (1991): 20-21
- ^ Krag (1991): 94
- ^ Krag (1991): 24
- ^ See Krag's "Ynglingatal og Ynglingesaga, en studie i historiske kilder". (In English: Ynglingatal and Ynglingesaga, a study of historical sources).
- ^ Myhre (2015): 150-151 in a summary of the historiographic tradition concearning Ynglingatal and Ynglingesaga
- ^ Sundquist, O. "Freyr's offspring. Rulers and religion in ancient Svea society". (2004)
- ^ Ynglingatal at Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages, University of Aberdeen.
- ^ Skre (2007): 428
- ^ Catharing Ingelman-Sundberg: "Snorre Sturlasson återupprättas"; Svenska Dagbladet, 14 March 2004
- ISBN 91-7353-065-4
- ^ Bergsveinn Birgisson (2008) 206, 212-215
- ^ Bergsveinn Birgisson (2008): 190, 199, 223
- ^ Norr (1988), paraphrased in Myhre (2015): 122
- ^ Myhre (2015): 122
- ^ Krag (1991): 208
- ^ Krag (1991): 210-211
- ^ a b Finnur Jonsson (1920): 2. Afsnit: SKJALDEKVAD § 6 Norwegian Skjalda
- ^ Baetke, in Krag (1991): 86
- ^ Krag (1991): 86-87
- ^ Krag (1991): 232
- ^ Myhre (2015) 115
- ^ Table after Myhre (2015): 116
- ^ Myhre (2015): 116
- ^ Fidjestøl (1976): 15
- ^ Myhre (1992): 50
- ^ Myhre (1992 ): 277
- ^ Krag (1991): 232-233
Bibliography
- Bergsveinn Birgisson: Inn i skaldens sinn. Kognitive, estetiske og historiske skatter i den norrøne skaldediktningen. Doctoral thesis, Universitetet i Bergen2008
- Fidjestøl, Bjarne: Kongeskalden frå Kvinesdal og diktinga hans. In: Try, H. (red.): Rikssamling på Agder. Kristiansand 1976, s. 7-31
- Krag, Claus: Ynglingatal og Ynglingesaga: en studie i historiske kilder. Rådet for humanistisk forskning ; Universitetsforlaget, Oslo 1991.
- ISBN 978-0-19-983969-8.
- Edith Marold with the assistance of Vivian Busch, Jana Krüger, Ann-Dörte Kyas and Katharina Seidel, translated from German by John Foulks 2012, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Ynglingatal’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 3. [1] (accessed 18 December 2021)
- Myhre, Bjørn: Diskusjonen om Ynglingeættens gravplasser. In: Christensen, A. E. (red.): Osebergdronningens grav: Vår arkeologiske nasjonalskatt i nytt lys, Schibsted, Oslo 1992. p. 35-50.
- Myhre, Bjørn: Kronologispørsmålet og Ynglingeættens gravplasser. In: Christensen, A. E. (red.): Osebergdronningens grav: Vår arkeologiske nasjonalskatt i nytt lys, Schibsted, Oslo 1992. p. 272-278.
- Myhre, Bjørn: Før Viken ble Norge, Borregravfeltet som religiøs og politisk arena. Norske oldfunn XXXI. Vestfold Fylkeskommune 2015
- Skre, Dagfinn: «The dating of Ynglingatal». In: Skre, D (Red.): Kaupang in Skiringssal. Kaupang Excavation Project, Århus/Oslo 2007. s. 407-429 (Norske oldfunn; 22) (Kaupang Excavation Project publication series; 1) ISBN 978-87-7934-259-0
Further reading
- Finnur Jonsson: Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. Første Bind. G. E. C. Gads Forlag. København 1920
- Hägerdal, Hans: «Ynglingatal.: Nya perspektiv på en kanske gammal text» I: HumaNetten Archived 2 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine; nr 15, 2004. Published by Institutionen för humaniora, Växjö universitet
- Janson, Henrik: Templum nobilissimum, Adam av Bremen, Uppsalatemplet och konfliktlinjerna i Europa kring år 1075. Doctoral thesis, Göteborgs universitet 1998. ISBN 9188614263
- Krag, Claus: «Vestfold som utgangspunkt for den norske rikssamlingen». In: Collegium Medievale (3), 1990. s. 179-195
- Krag, Claus: «Ynglingatal str. 4 – omskrivningen “viljes borg” som dateringskriterium» In: Maal og minne nr 2, 2009
- Lönnroth, Lars: «Dómaldi's Death and the Myth of Sacral Kingship», i J. Lindow et al. (red.), Structure and Meaning in Old Norse Literature (Odense 1986). (The Viking collection; 3) ISBN 87-7492-607-1
- Magerøy, Hallvard: «Ynglingatal», i Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder; bind 20 (Malmö 1976), page 362-363.
- Paasche, Fredrik: Norges og Islands litteratur inntil utgangen av Middelalderen, Aschehoug, Oslo 1957
- Sapp, C.D.: «Dating Ynglingatal. Chronological Metrical Developments in Kviduhattr». In: Skandinavistik 2002:2, side 85-98
- Schück, H.: «De senaste undersökningarna rörande ynglingasagan» I: [Svensk] Historisk tidskrift 1895:1, side 39-88.
- Snorre Sturlasson: Norges kongesagaer, translated by Anne Holtsmark and Didrik Arup Seip. Gyldendal, Oslo 1979
- Steinsland, Gro: Det hellige bryllup og norrøn kongeideologi : en analyse av hierogami-myten i Skírnismál, Ynglingatal, Háleygjatal og Hyndluljóð. Solum forlag, 1991. Doctoral thesis, Universitetet i Oslo1989
- Steinsland, Gro: Norrøn religion. Myter, riter, samfunn. Oslo 2005. ISBN 82-530-2607-2
- Sundquist, Olof: Freyr's offspring. Rulers and religion in ancient Svea society. Uppsala Universitet 2002. (Historia religionum; 21) ISBN 91-554-5263-9 (Avisomtale: «Snorre Sturlasson återupprättas»; Svenska Dagbladet, 14 March 2004)
- Wallette, Anna: Sagans svenskar, synen på vikingatiden och de isländska sagorna under 300 år. Doctoral thesis, Lunds universitet 2004 ISBN 91-9752-220-1
- Ynglingatal
- Þáttr Ólafs Geirstaða álfs. In: Fornmanna sögur, volum I. Konungliga norræna forfreda felags, Kaupmannahøfn 1835
- Åkerlund, Walter: Studier över Ynglingatal (Lund 1939) (Skrifter utgivan af Vetenskaps-societeten i Lund; 23)
External links
- Finnur Jonsson about Thjodolf from Kvine, from the website heimskringla.no (Norwegian)
- (B1) Ynglingatal in Old Norse at the website heimskringla.no (Norwegian
- Ynglingatal in Danish translation on the website heimskringla.no
- Þjóðólfr or Hvini: Ynglingatal 1-38 - Two editions of the Norse text