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33-595: It includes a line of kings from the House of Yngling which appears to be based on the Norwegian Historia Norwegiæ and the Danish Chronicon Lethrense , but the compiler seems to have corrected the information. The first part of its line of Swedish kings: This Swedish history -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Yngling The Ynglings were

66-454: A Finn-Kven stock, mostly sprung from Nór's great-grandson Halfdan the Old. Almost all the lineages sprung from Halfdan are then shown to reconvert in the person of Harald Fairhair , the first king of "all Norway". This information can be confirmed in other sources. The 'Ættartölur' account ends to a genealogy of Harald's royal descendants down to Olaf IV of Norway with the statement that the account

99-544: A dynasty of kings, first in Sweden and later in Norway , primarily attested through the poem Ynglingatal . The dynasty also appears as Scylfings ( Old English : Scylfingas , Old Norse : Skilfingar ) in Beowulf . When Beowulf and Ynglingatal were composed sometime in the eighth to tenth centuries, their respective authors ( scops and skalds ) expected their audience to have

132-610: A great deal of background information about these kings, which is shown in the allusiveness of the references. According to sources such as Ynglingatal and Íslendingabók , the Fairhair dynasty in Oppland , Norway was in fact a branch of the Ynglings (here Yngling is explicitly used as the name of the dynasty). Saxo Grammaticus held that the Ynglings also included Eric the Victorious , who

165-594: A legendary king of Sweden, a king who in the Ynglinga saga and elsewhere has an elder brother (rather than a father) named Alrek. See Alrek and Eirík for details. In the Ynglinga saga the mother of the Swedish kings Alrek and Eirík is named Skjálf , which might also be an eponym for Skilfing. Returning to the Ættartǫlur , there Eirík the Eloquent is father of Alrek, father of Víkar ( Víkarr ), father of Vatnar. This Víkar

198-564: A less divine origin for this dynasty: One war-king was named Skelfir; and his house is called the House of Skilfings: his kindred is in the Eastern Land. In Ynglinga Saga , Snorri discusses marriages between Swedish and Finnish royal families. In the Skáldskaparmál section of Edda , he discusses King Halfdan the Old , Nór's great-grandson, and nine of his sons who are the forefathers of various royal lineages, including "Yngvi, from whom

231-464: A longer variant of the genealogical passages in the Skáldskaparmál , also speaking of Halfdan the Old and lineages descended from him and of other notable lineages, but in much greater detail. In this list of the sons of Halfdan, Yngvi the ancestor of the Ynglings is missing and Skelfir the ancestor of the Skilfings appears in his place. This might be a remembrance of an earlier identity or connection of

264-584: Is called the House of Skilfings: his kindred is in the Eastern Region. A connection with the east might mean a connection to Sweden, but the vagueness of expression suggests Snorri knows no more about these Skilfings than he has written. Snorri also gives Skilfing as a kenning for "king" and it appears as a kenning for "sword" in the thulur found in some versions of the Skáldkskaparmál . The Ættartǫlur connected to Hversu Noregr byggdist are

297-583: Is given as: Ohthere ( Ottar ) also occurs as the father of Aedgils ( Adils ) in Ynglingatal . There Skilfing ( Skilfingr ) appears as a synonym of Yngling, in a line on Egil , the father of Ottar , so that Ongentheow is considered identical to Egil . Likewise in the Skáldskaparmál the Scylfings are described as an eastern family and East King was a conventional kenning for a Swedish king. However, in

330-553: Is the famous Víkar, king of Hördaland, who was sacrificed to Odin by Starkad . The chain of descent from Alrek to Víkar to Vatnar is also found in Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka ('The saga of Hálf and his heroes'). However Gautreks saga gives an entirely different ancestry and different descendants to Víkar. See Víkar for details. This genealogy may have been based on attempts to ascribe a Norwegian origin to both Swedish Scylfings and Danish Skjöldungs and also be related to Saxo's account of

363-521: Is usually the first king in modern regnal lists, and his descendants . However, this does not tally with Icelandic sources. The dynasty claimed descent from the gods Freyr and Njörðr , and other kings were likely mythical as well, whereas others may have been real: especially Egil , Ottar , Ale and Adils that are mentioned in Beowulf as well as Nordic sources. In the Scandinavian sources they are

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396-506: The Ættartolur , (the genealogies attached to Hversu Noregr byggdist ), the Skilfings are of Norwegian origin and include a family identified as Skjöldungs . In the eddic poem Grímnismál (stanza 55), Skilfing appears as one of Odin 's names, the information there also appearing in the Gylfaginning .. In the Old English poem Beowulf , the word Scylfing occurs twice in

429-503: The Ættartölur , 'Genealogies'. The Hversu account is closely paralleled by the opening of the Orkneyinga saga , which gives a slightly different version of the story and provides details on the descendants of Gór only, including information not found in the Hversu or Ættartölur . This opening portion of Orkneyingers saga is also known as Fundinn Noregr , 'Founding of Norway'. Much of

462-710: The Gesta Danorum , King Sigurd Hring would become the ancestor of the houses of Ragnar Lodbrok and would thus be the semi-legendary ancestor of the House of Munsö through Björn Ironside , and the Danish royal house through Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye . Ragnar's eldest son Ivar the Boneless was the leader of the Great Heathen Army and appears to have been the founder of the Uí Ímair dynasty of

495-565: The Kingdom of York and Kingdom of Dublin , and by extension the Crovan Dynasty of the Kings of Mann . This is the mythic Yngling family tree based on Historia Norwegiæ , Ynglinga saga , Beowulf and other Old Norse sources. The names of Swedish kings are shown in bold. Notes In Old English several kings who are generally identified as Ynglings are called Scylfings . The genealogy

528-607: The Danish Skjöld who is there made a son of Odin as commonly in Norse texts. Skjöld as son of Skelfir might be related to English traditions of Scyld being a son or descendant of Sceafa (as discussed under Sceafa ), though here too (at least in Beowulf ) the connection is to Danish matters, not to Norway. This Norwegian Skjöld, ancestor of the Norwegian Skjöldungs, is father of Eirík, father of Alrek ( Alrekr ), father of Eirík

561-598: The Eloquent, whom the Skáldskaparmál presented as an Ylfing. These two mentions are the only occurrences of Eirík the Eloquent in Norse texts. But what seems to be the same figure appears prominently in book 5 of Saxo Grammaticus ' Gesta Danorum as Ericus disertus. This Ericus disertus is indeed a Norwegian, but his father is not named Alrek but rather Regnerus pugilex, that is Ragnar the Champion. The Gesta Danorum then somewhat forcibly identifies Ericus disertus with Eirík,

594-768: The Norwegian Ericus desertus. If so, as it stands, it has been edited to remove material that would obviously conflict with the standard genealogies of the Skjöldungs and Ynglings which also appear in the Ættartǫlur . Other anglicized spellings: Eirík : Eirik ; Eirík the Eloquent : Eirik the Eloquent , Eiríkr the Wise in Speech ; Halfdan the Old : Hálfdan the Old ; Skjöld : Skjold , Skiold , Scyld ; Starkad : Starkath ; Víkar : Vikar ; Vörs : Vor . Fundinn Noregr Hversu Noregr byggðist ( Old Norse : How Norway

627-736: The Old : Hence come the Skjöldungs , hence the Skilfings, Hence the Ödlings [ Ǫðlingar ], hence the Ylfings, ... [4] In the Skáldskaparmál , Snorri Sturluson speaks of the second group of nine sons of Halfdan the Old, from whom many families of legend descend, one of these sons being Yngvi , purported ancestor of the Yngling lineage. But neither Skylfings or Skjöldungs are specifically derived from these sons. Snorri continues with examples of famous descendants of three of those lineages, followed by: "Of

660-523: The Swedish Ynglings and the Swedish Scylfings in Beowulf . But nothing in the following genealogy is necessarily Swedish though possible Swedish parallels do appear, particular the names Alrek and Eirík as discussed below. There are many oddities in this account. It claims Skelfir was king of Vörs ( Vǫrs ), modern Voss in northern Hordaland in southwestern Norway, but Halfdan's inheritance

693-661: The Ynglings are descended" . According to the Orkneyinga Saga , Nór founded Norway. He was a direct descendant of Fornjótr , the King of "Gotland, Kvenland and Finnland" . In traditional Scandinavian lineages we find Halfdan the Old as the Great-grandfather of Ragnvald Eysteinson Jarl of Møre, the father of Rollo, called Gengu-Hrolf in Norse sources, the Viking conqueror who founded Normandy, who Dudo of Saint-Quentin testifies took

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726-446: The descendants of Yngvi - Frey of Vanaheim . Yngling means descendant of Frey , and in the Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus they are called the sons of Frey . Several of these kings appear in Beowulf : Eadgils (Adils), Onela (Ale), and Ohthere (Ottar Vendelkråka), but here they are called Scylfings (see the Beowulf section below). In his Skáldskaparmál the 13th-century Icelandic writer Snorri Sturluson hints at

759-544: The eponym and first great king of Norway, and then gives details of the descendants of Nór and of his brother Gór in the following section known as the Ættartölur ('Genealogies', a.k.a. Fundinn Noregr , 'Founding of Norway'). The Hversu account is closely paralleled by the opening of the Orkneyinga saga . The 'genealogies' also claim that many heroic families famed in Scandinavian tradition but not located in Norway were of

792-491: The family of the Wægmundings to which Beowulf and his father Ecgtheow also belonged. Another extended form is helm Scylfinga . This literally means 'Scylfings'-helmet'; it is a kenning meaning both "ruler of the Scylfings" and "protector of the Scylfings". The Beowulf poet uses it to refer to Ongentheow's son Onela . The eddic poem Hyndluljóð , in stanza 16 speaks of descendants of an ancient king named Halfdan

825-467: The house of the Ylfings was Eirík the Eloquent ( Eiríkr inn málspaki )." But Ylfings have not been previously mentioned. Then follows the names of four ancestors of four lineages not descended from Halfdan, which include Yngvi and the Ynglings a second time. There is obvious confusion or corruption in this passage or its source. The fourth lineage is identified: One war-king was named Skelfir; and his house

858-477: The lineages sprung from Halfdan are then shown to reconverge in the person of Harald Fairhair the first king of all Norway. Where the information here is comparable with accounts in other sources, it is sometimes confirmed and sometimes contradicted, as would be expected. There are also minor discrepancies and contradictions within the Ættartölur . Included also is material on the Danish Skjöldung lineage and

891-405: The material in these two accounts is found nowhere else, especially the tracing of many noble families to the stock of giants rather than to the god Odin which is the tendency elsewhere. The genealogies also claim that many heroic families famed in Scandinavian tradition but not located in Norway were in fact of Norwegian stock, mostly sprung from Nór's great-grandson Halfdan the Old . Almost all

924-495: The name Robert after converting to Christianity. He is also known as Count Rou of Rouen, and is said to have been William the Conqueror 's great-great-great-grandfather. Hversu Noregr byggðist ('How Norway was founded') is a 14th-century account of the origin of various legendary Norwegian lineages. It too traces the descendants of the primeval Finnish ruler Fornjotr back through Nór and his siblings, Góí and Gór; Nór being here

957-618: The overlordship of the Swedish king at Uppsala , until the dynasty all but exterminated itself with Ingjald Ill-Ruler and his downfall. A survivor Olof Trätälja was the ancestor of the Norwegian branch. However, both Snorri (as in the earlier quote) and Saxo described the clan as remaining in Sweden after this date. Saxo on the Battle of Bråvalla (ca 750): Moreover, both in Icelandic sources and in

990-468: The singular and twice in the plural. For alliterative purposes the name could be extended, such as the form Heathoscylfing 'Battle-Scylfing', which occurs once in the singular and twice in the plural. A Scylfing whose name is partly missing but ends in -ela married the sister of Hrothgar and Halga . Specifically identified as Scylfings are Ongentheow , king of Sweden, and by extension his subject Wiglaf son of Weohstan . Wiglaf and Weohstan belonged to

1023-529: Was in southeastern Norway. Skelfir was the father of Skjöld ( Skjǫldr ). The account ends by saying that lineage of Skelfir was called the Skilfing lineage or the Skjöldung lineage, seemingly identifying the two. But Skjöldungs are normally the legendary royal family of the rulers of Denmark and no connection with Denmark is made here. Indeed, the Ættartǫlur later twice gives a quite different list of descendants of

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1056-458: Was inhabited ) is an account of the origin of various legendary Norwegian lineages, which survives only in the Flateyjarbók . It traces the descendants of the primeval Fornjót , a king of "Gotland, Kænland and Finnland" , down to Nór , who is here the eponym and first great king of Norway , and then gives details of the descendants of Nór (and of his brother Gór) in a following section known as

1089-422: Was written in 1387, and with a list of the kings of Norway from this Olaf back to Harald Fair-hair. Another origin for the name skilfing is possible: Snorri described Erik and Alrik , the sons of Skjalf to be the de facto ancestors of this Norse clan . According to Snorri Sturluson , the dynasty led the settlement of the Swedish provinces and established themselves as the kings of its provinces, accepting

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