Emund Eriksson | |
---|---|
King of Sweden | |
Reign | around 970 |
House | House of Munsö |
Father | Erik Ringsson |
Religion | Pagan |
Emund Eriksson (?-c. 970), (English: Edmund), was a Swedish king whose historicity is only known from a single source, the Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum which was written by Adam of Bremen in c. 1075.
According to Adam of Bremen, a certain King Ring ruled the Swedes together with his sons Erik and Emund in about 936. [1] In a later chapter, Adam mentions Emund Eriksson as ruling Sweden some time in the second half of the 10th century. He was presumably the son of Erik Ringsson. Adam relates that Emund was king at the same time as King Harald Bluetooth of Denmark (c. 958/64-985) expanded his power overseas and subdued Norway (in about 970). Emund was an ally of Harald, and showed a friendly attitude to Christian people who came to him. [2] That German missionary efforts were renewed about this time is related by Adam in the following chapter. The Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, Adaldag (937-988), appointed a Dane called Odinkar the Elder for the Swedish lands. Being a pious man of noble stock, he could "easily convince the wild peoples about everything concerning our religion". [3]
Emund Eriksson is not known to the later Norse sagas and king-lists. Information about him may have come from Adam's interview with the Danish King Sweyn Estridsen, Harald Bluetooth's great-grandson. [4] To the extent that he is historical, he may have ruled in the third quarter of the 10th century. The next Swedish king mentioned by Adam of Bremen is Eric the Victorious (died c. 995), but he does not tell how they were related. It has even been speculated that Eric the Victorious belonged to a Geatic clan which gained power in the Mälaren Valley and founded Sigtuna in c. 980. [5] Nevertheless, the name Emund was common in the late Viking Age dynasty of Sweden, but extremely rare outside of it, which suggests a dynastic continuity. An option is that Emund Eriksson was the brother of Björn (III) Eriksson, who the Norse sagas name as the son of Eric Anundsson and the father of Eric the Victorious. This would have been in accordance with the Germanic system of co-rulership (Diarchy) in which two brothers were elected kings and which, according to the sagas, was sometimes used by the Swedes. If this is the case, several generations of Swedish rulers were conflated by tradition, explaining the differences between Adam of Bremen and the Norse sagas.
Sweyn Forkbeard was King of Denmark from 986 until his death, King of England for five weeks from December 1013 until his death, and King of Norway from 999/1000 until 1013/14. He was the father of King Harald II of Denmark, King Cnut the Great, and Queen Estrid Svendsdatter.
Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson was a king of Denmark and Norway.
Olof Skötkonung, sometimes stylized as Olaf the Swede, was King of Sweden, son of Eric the Victorious and, according to Icelandic sources, Sigrid the Haughty. He succeeded his father in c. 995. He stands at the threshold of recorded history, since he is the first Swedish ruler about whom there is substantial knowledge. He is regarded as the first king known to have ruled both the Swedes and the Geats. In Sweden, the reign of king Olov Skötkonung is considered to be the transition from the Viking age to the Middle Ages, because he was the first Christian king of the Swedes, who were the last to adopt Christianity in Scandinavia. He is associated with a growing influence of the church in what is today southwestern and central Sweden. Norse beliefs persisted in parts of Sweden until the 12th century.
Eric the Victorious was a Swedish monarch as of around 970. Although there were earlier Swedish kings, he is the first Swedish king in a consecutive regnal succession, who is attested in sources independent of each other, and consequently Sweden's list of rulers usually begins with him. His son Olof Skötkonung, however, is considered the first ruler documented to definitely have been accepted both by the original Swedes around Lake Mälaren and by the Geats around Lake Vättern. Adam of Bremen reports a king named Emund Eriksson before Eric, but it is not known whether he was Eric's father. The Norse sagas' accounts of a Björn Eriksson are considered unreliable.
Anund Uppsale or Anoundus, 'Anund of Uppsala',, a son of Erik Björnsson of the House of Munsö, ruled Sweden together with his brother Björn at Haugi, according to Hervarar saga. He is called Uppsale because he stayed at Old Upsala, the era's religious centre. He and Björn are sometimes identified with similarly-named kings mentioned in Rimbert's Vita Ansgari and by Adam of Bremen.
Olof was a Swedish monarch or local ruler who ruled over Birka, an important port town, and possibly Uppsala, an important early Swedish political center, in about 852, when the Catholic missionary Saint Ansgar made his second voyage from Germany to Birka in about the year 851 or 852 A.D. He had an ambivalent attitude to Christianity, and was known as a successful warrior king in the Baltic region.
Björn according to the Hervarar saga and Harald Fairhair's saga was the father of Olof (II) Björnsson and Eric the Victorious, also a grandfather of Styrbjörn the Strong. According to the two sagas, he was the son of an Erik who fought Harald Fairhair and who succeeded the brothers Björn at Hauge and Anund Uppsale:
Eric Anundsson or Eymundsson was a semi-legendary Swedish king who supposedly ruled during the 9th century. The Norse sagas describe him as successful in extending his realm over the Baltic Sea, but unsuccessful in his attempts of westward expansion. There is no near-contemporary evidence for his existence, the sources for his reign dating from the 13th and 14th centuries. These sources, Icelandic sagas, are generally not considered reliable sources for the periods and events they describe.
Ring was a Swedish monarch or local ruler who ruled at Uppsala, an important early Swedish political center, around or before the year 936. He either ruled before or together with his two sons Eric and Emund. Virtually nothing is known about him beyond his name.
Erik Ringsson was a Swedish king and the son of Ring, according to the German ecclesiastic chronicler Adam of Bremen. He is said to have ruled together with his father and his brother Emund in about 936, and later presumably reigned in his own name.
Olof Björnsson, in legend, was a Swedish king who was referenced in several Old Norse Sagas including Hervarar saga, Saga of Harald Fairhair and the Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa. Reconstructions that place him as a historical king date his reign to c. 970 – c. 975.
The House of Munsö, also called the House of Björn Ironside, the House of Uppsala or simply the Old dynasty, is the earliest reliably attested royal dynasty of Sweden, ruling during the Viking Age. None of the names suggested for the dynasty are universally accepted and most are problematic; the name "House of Munsö" derives from a questionable and speculative theory that they would have ruled from the island of Munsö and the name "House of Björn Ironside" derives from the supposed founder of the dynasty, Björn Ironside, who is often seen as a legendary, rather than historical, figure.
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Haakon Sigurdsson, known as Haakon Jarl, was the de facto ruler of Norway from about 975 to 995. Sometimes he is styled as Haakon the Powerful, though the Ágrip and Historia Norwegiæ give the less flattering name Hákon Illi, that is, Haakon the Bad.
The Battle of Fýrisvellir was fought in the 980s on the plain called Fýrisvellir, where modern Uppsala is situated, between King Eric the Victorious and an invading force. According to Norse sagas, this force was led by his nephew Styrbjörn the Strong. Eric won the battle, and became known as "the Victorious".
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