Eysteinn

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Eysteinn (d. ca 600) was the son of Eadgils and Yrsa of Saxony. He was the father of Ingvar.

Snorri Sturluson relates that Eysteinn ruled Sweden at the time when Hrólf Kraki died in Lejre. It was a troubled time when many seakings ravaged the Swedish shores. One of those kings was named Sölve and he was from Jutland (but according to Historia Norwegiae he was Geatish, see below). At this time Sölve was pillaging in the Baltic Sea and so he arrived in Lofond (probably the island of Lovön or the Lagunda Hundred), where Eysteinn was at a feast. It was night-time and Sölve and his men surrounded the house and set it on fire burning everyone inside to death. Then Sölve arrived at Sigtuna (Old Sigtuna) and ordered the Swedes to accept him as king. The Swedes refused and gathered an army that fought against Sölve and his men, but they lost after eleven days. The Swedes had to accept him as king for a while until they rebelled and killed him.

Snorri then quotes a stanza from Þjóðólfr of Hvinir's Ynglingatal:

Veit ek Eysteins

enda fólginn

lokins lífs

á Lofundi;

ok sikling

með Svíum kváðu

Jótska menn

inni brenna.

Ok bitsótt

í brandnói

hlíðar þangs

á hilmi rann,

þá er timbrfastr

toptar nökkvi,

flotna fullr

um fylki brann.[1]

For a long time none could tell

How Eystein died -- but now I know

That at Lofond the hero fell;

The branch of Odin was laid low,

Was burnt by Solve's Jutland men.

The raging tree-devourer fire

Rushed on the monarch in its ire;

First fell the castle timbers, then

The roof-beams -- Eystein's funeral pyre.[2]

The Historia Norwegiæ presents a Latin summary of Ynglingatal, older than Snorri's quotation (continuing after Eadgils, called Adils or Athisl):

Hic genuit Eustein, quem Gautones in domo quadam obtrusum cum suis vivum incenderunt. Hujus filius Ynguar [...]^[1].

Thorsteins saga Víkingssonar makes Eysteinn the father of Anund and grand-father of Ingjald and consequently skips Ingvar's generation. It adds a second son to Eysteinn named Olaf, who was the king of Fjordane in Norway.

[edit] Notes

^ Storm, Gustav (editor) (1880). Monumenta historica Norwegiæ: Latinske kildeskrifter til Norges historie i middelalderen, Monumenta Historica Norwegiae (Kristiania: Brøgger), p. 101.

[edit] Primary sources

Ynglingatal
Ynglinga saga (part of the Heimskringla)
Historia Norwegiae
Thorsteins saga Víkingssonar

[edit] Secondary sources

Nerman, B. Det svenska rikets uppkomst. Stockholm, 1925.

House of Yngling
Preceded by Adils	Semi-legendary king of Sweden	Succeeded by Sölve

	Norse mythology
	List of Norse gods \| Æsir \| Vanir \| Giants \| Elves \| Dwarves \| Troll \| Valkyries \| Einherjar \| Norns \| Odin \| Thor \| Freyr \| Freyja \| Loki \| Balder \| Týr \| Yggdrasil \| Ginnungagap \| Ragnarök
	Sources: Poetic Edda \| Prose Edda \| The Sagas \| Volsung Cycle \| Tyrfing Cycle \| Rune stones \| Old Norse language \| Orthography \| Later influence
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../e/y/s/Eysteinn.html"

Categories: 600 deaths | Semi-legendary kings of Sweden

	Norse mythology
	List of Norse gods \| Æsir \| Vanir \| Giants \| Elves \| Dwarves \| Troll \| Valkyries \| Einherjar \| Norns \| Odin \| Thor \| Freyr \| Freyja \| Loki \| Balder \| Týr \| Yggdrasil \| Ginnungagap \| Ragnarök
	Sources: Poetic Edda \| Prose Edda \| The Sagas \| Volsung Cycle \| Tyrfing Cycle \| Rune stones \| Old Norse language \| Orthography \| Later influence
	Society: Viking Age \| Skald \| Kenning \| Blót \| Seid \| Numbers
	People, places and things

Eysteinn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] Notes

[edit] Primary sources

[edit] Secondary sources

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