Papers from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences 14

Á austrvega Saga and East Scandinavia

Preprint papers of

The 14 th International Saga Conference Uppsala, 9 th –15 th August 2009

Volume 2

Edited by

Agneta Ney, Henrik Williams and Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist

in cooperation with

Marco Bianchi, Maja Bäckvall, Lennart Elmevik, Anne-Sofie Gräslund, Heimir Pálsson, Lasse Mårtensson, Olof Sundqvist, Daniel Sävborg and Per Vikstrand

http://www.saga.nordiska.uu.se

Gävle: Gävle University Press, 2009

These preprint volumes, and the conference itself, has been made possible by very generous grants from the following sponsors:

Swedish Research Council The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities Riksbankens Jubileumsfond Samfundet Sverige-Island Sven och Dagmar Saléns stiftelse Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademien för svensk folkkultur Ortnamnssällskapet i Uppsala Uppsala kommun Helge Ax:son Johnsons stiftelse Kungl. Humanistiska Vetenskaps-Samfundet i Uppsala

The conference is hosted by and arranged through:

Department of Scandinavian Languages at Uppsala University University of Gävle Institute for Language and Folklore Isländska sällskapet

The logotype of The 14 th International Saga Conference on the cover and titlepage is derived from a detail in the pictoral scene of Sigurðr Fáfnisbani on the runic rock at Ramsund in the province of Södermanland, Sweden. Drawing: © Arkeobild.

ISSN: 1653-7130. ISBN: 978-91-978329-0-8.

© 2009, Contributors http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-4837

Layout: Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist. Printed in Sweden by Universitetstryckeriet, Uppsala, 2009.

Brenna at Ups Älum : the Denial of Cosmos.

Giovanna Salvucci, Università di Macerata, Italy Snorri Sturluson’s Ynglingasaga enumerates the kings who, from a mythological past, suc- ceeded one another up to the reign of R Ägnvaldr, father of Hálfdan svarti, the first “historic” Norwegian king who has a saga named after him in Heimskringla . In his prologue to Heimskringla , Snorri states that his sources were poetic genealogies, skaldic poems and the testimony of Ari fróði and his own sources, i.e. what he has been told by wise old people. Snorri seems to emphasize these sources because they contain, in particu- lar, information about the deaths of the kings they deal with. His comment on the lay of Þjóðólfr about King R Ägnvaldr, the Ynglingatal , is actually the following: ‘ Í því kvæði eru 1 nefndir xxx. langfeðga hans ok sagt frá dauða hvers þeira ok legstað ’ ( Yngs 1, ll. 12–14) Moreover, he stresses the same quality of the lay of Eyvindr skáldaspillir, the Háleygjatal , that enumerates the ancestors of the jarl Hákon: ‘sagt er þar ok frá dauða hvers þeira ok haugstað ’ ( Yngs 1, ll. 18–19) 2 One of the most peculiar deaths reported by Snorri in Ynglingasaga is certainly the death of Ingjaldr ønundarson who, surrounded by his enemies while he is at a feast in Ræning, sets the hall on fire, thus killing himself along with his daughter Ása and all his people. Together with Ynglingatal , among the sources available to Snorri to trace the history of the crucial period revolving around Ingjaldr ønundarson there probably was Historia Norvegiæ, according to which Ingjaldr committed suicide because he was abnormally terrified by King Ívarr:

Post istum filius suus Ingialdr in regem sublimatur, qui ultra modum timens Ivarum cognomine withfadm regem tunc temporis multis formidabilem se ipsum cum omni comitatu suo cenaculo inclusos igne cremavit. (Historia Norvegiæ 101, l. 10–102, ll. 1–3) 3

Ynglingatal does not account for Ingjaldr’s fear, but it reports his suicide as being considered a remarkable deed:

Ok Ingjald / ífj Ärvan trað / reyks r Äsuðr / á Ræningi, / þás húsþjófr / hyrjar leistum / goðkynning í g Ägnum sté.

Ok sá yrðr / allri þjóðu / sanng Ärvastr / með Svíum þótti, / es hann sjalfr / sínu fj Ärvi / frœknu fyrstr / of fara skyldi. ( Yngs 30, ll. 15–22) 4

Both sources appear to say that after Ingjardr’s death, his son Óláfr trételgja continued to rule in Sweden. Historia Norwegiae writes that he reigned long and peacefully and died full of days in Sweden, while his son Hálfdan was accepted by the Norwegians as their king and died at an advanced age:

1 Trans. Hollander (3): ‘In this lay are mentioned thirty of his forebears, together with an account of how each of them died and where they are buried.’ 2 Trans. Hollander (3): ‘And in it also we are told about the death of each of them and where his burial mound is.’ 3 Trans. Kunin (13): ‘In succession to him his son Ingjaldr was elevated to the kingship. He had immoderate fear of a King Ivarr, called víðfaðmi, who terrified many people at the time, so with all his retinue he shut himself up in his feasting-hall and set it on fire.’ For a survey of Snorri’s sources see Whaley 1991:63–82. 4 Trans. Hollander (43): ‘Raging fire / at Rœning farm / trod Ingjald / while in this life, / when by stealth / in stocking feet / it fell on / the friend-of-gods; / and this fate / most fitting seemed / to all Swedes / for scion of kings: / to die first / in fiery death, / and end first / his own brave life.’

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Ejus filius Olavus cognomento tretelgia diu et pacifice functus regno plenus dierum obiit in Swethia. Olavus genuit Halfdanum cognomine hwitbein, quem de Swethia venientem Nor- wegenses in montanis sibi regem constituerunt; hic provectus ætate in provincia Thotne reddidit spiritum. (Historia Norvegiæ 102, ll. 3–9) 5

On the contrary Ynglingatal reports that Óláfr trételgja died in a fire, and it mentions that he had left Uppsala long before:

Ok við vág, / hinns viðar[…] / hræ Áleifs / Älgylðir svalg, / ok glóðfjálgr / g Ärvar leysti / sonr Fornjóts / af Svía j Äfri. / Sá áttkonr / frá Ups Älum / Lofða kyns / fyrir l Ängu hvarf. (Yngs 31, ll. 23–27) 6

In the context of Snorri’s tale, the story of Ingjaldr ønundarson and Óláfr trételgja takes on a broader and symbolic meaning, and it is a possible clue to the ideologic and cultural basis which Snorri provided for his history of the Norwegian kings. Indeed, Snorri clearly states that it was because of Ingjaldr’s deeds and after his celebrated death that the dominion of Uppsala fell from the Yngling line: ‘Eptir Ingjald illráða hvarf Upsala-veldi ór ætt Ynglinga þat er langfeðgum mætti telja.’ ( Yngs 30 , ll. 27–29) 7 King Ingjaldr seems to represent a point of focus for Snorri, because after listing his 24 predecessors, of whom we are briefly told about the causes of their death, he devotes eight chapters to him ( Yngls 34–41). Contrary to all the other kings in the Ynglingasaga then, Snorri begins to tell of Ingjaldr’s infancy: once a very feeble child, after having been fed the heart of a wolf by his foster-father, he turned into the most violent of men:

Annan dag eptir lét Svipdagr taka hjarta ór vargi ok steikja á teine, ok gaf síðan Ingjaldi konungssyni at eta, ok þaðan af varð hann allra manna grimmastr ok verst skaplundaðr. ( Yngls 26, ll. 6–9) 8

Through no fault of his own then, Ingjaldr assumes the main characteristic of the wolf, namely that of being útangarðs (out of the fence), i.e. out of the area of the social order. 9 Ing- jaldr becomes a creature enrolled by the forces of chaos, and in chapter 36 he begins his fight against the cosmos. He significantly starts by building a hall in Uppsala in order to give a fu- neral banquet in honour of his father. Snorri relates that his banqueting hall was very similar to the one already present in Uppsala, and that it was equipped with seven high-seats for the seven district kings invited, only six of whom showed up. The construction ex-novo of a ban- queting hall and the dramatic events that will take place there are not an unknown motif: the same fact can be found in the Celtic tale Fled Bricrenn (the feast of Bricriu), where the trick- ster Bricriu had built a hall, identical to the one of Tara, “which was doomed to reveal itself as the place of discord and profanation” (Poli 1985: 85 et passim ). In Germanic culture as well as

5 Trans. Kunin (13–14): ‘His son Óláfr, with the nickname ‘Tree-feller’, ruled the kingdom long and peacefully and died full of days in Sweden. Óláfr was the father of Hálfdan, with the nickname ‘Whiteleg’, whom the Nor- wegians of the mountainous region accepted as king when he came from Sweden. He gave up the ghost at an advanced age in the district of Þótn.’ 6 Trans. Hollander (45): ‘By bay bight / the building-wolf / swallowed up / Óláf’s body. / Fornjót’s son / with flaming heat / smelted off / the Swede king’s mail. / That ruler / of royal race / long before / had left Uppsalir.’ 7 Trans. Hollander (44): ‘With Ingjald the Wicked the race of the Ynglings lost their power over the domain of Uppsala, so far as one can follow the line.’ 8 Trans. Hollander (45): ‘The day after, Svipdag had the heart cut out of a wolf and had it steaked on a spit, and then gave it to Ingjald, the king’s son, to eat. And from that time he became the most cruel and most ill-natured of men.’ 9 See Chiesa Isnardi 1991: 578–582; Poli 1990, passim ; Hastrup 1985: 105–154, Meulengracht Sørensen 1993: 140–142.

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in the Indo-European world, the banqueting hall seems to represent the civilized site, the har- mony of the universe, the sacral area where everyone occupies a seat according to one’s rank and function (Poli 1990: 597–608; Hastrup 1985: 105–154). Snorri seems to convey this idea when he writes that at Ingjald’s banquet: ‘Þar var vi. Konungum skipat í inn nýja sal; […] . øllu liði því, er til var komit, var skipat í inn nýja sal.’ ( Yngls 27, ll. 10–13) 10 Furthermore, he says that during the banquet everything is done according to the customs. All the ceremonial seems to be respected: Ingjaldr is sitting on the step before the high-seat until the beaker, called the bragafull, is brought in. He stands up to receive it, vows that he will increase his dominion, drinks from the beaker and ascends the high-seat his father had occupied ( Yngls 27, ll. 14–23). The importance attached to the respect for the ceremony causes the following act of Ing- jaldr to be more dramatic: once everyone is drunk, King Ingjaldr, with the help of Svipdagr the Blind’s sons, sets fire to the hall and kills all his guests ( Yngls 27, ll. 23–28). In so doing he consciously upsets the order which he has previously stated. The destruction of the banqueting hall is reflected in the destruction of the rules of civilised living. The reign of Ingjaldr is actually characterized by battles and killings perpetrated in violation of the rules: ‘Þar er s Ägn manna, at Ingjaldr konungr dræpi xii. Konunga ok sviki alla í griðum; hann var kallaðr Ingjaldr inn illráði.’ ( Yngls 29, ll. 34–36) 11 In contrast to the troublesome reign of Ingjaldr, Snorri describes the realm of the only king who survived the fire at Uppsala: King Granmarr of Södermanland, the seventh king invited by Ingjaldr. Chapter 37 of Ynglingasaga is entirely devoted to him, and to his alliance with the Viking King Hj Ärvarðr. Significantly this alliance is formed during the banquet organized by King Granmarr for King Hj Ärvarðr. Contrary to Ingjaldr’s one, this banquet overflows with peace and harmony. Also in this case, Snorri dwells on the description of the ceremonial:

Ok um kveldit, er full skyldi drekka, þá var þat siðvenja konunga, þeira er at l Ändum sátu eða veizlum, er þeir létu gera, at drekka skyldi á kveldum tvímenning, hvár sér karlmaðr ok kona, svá sem ynnisk, en þeir sér, er fleiri væri saman. En þat váru víkingal Äg, þótt þeir væri at veizlum, at drekka sveitardrykkju. (Yngls 28, ll. 2–7) 12

The harmony of the banqueting hall as a place for social cohesion and peace, is embodied by the figure of the beautiful Hildiguðr, King Granmarr’s daughter who, according to the Ger- manic banquet ceremonial, pours the ale for the Vikings and greets King Hj Ärvarðr while handing him the beaker. King Hj Ärvarðr, awed by such grace and beauty, decides to renounce his Viking customs to be allowed to drink in couple with her. The contrast between the forces representing harmony and peace and those representing chaos comes to the fore in chapter 38, when the army of Granmarr and Hj Ärvarðr meets Ing- jaldr’s army, which is the largest by far, as it is composed of the soldiers recruited from the realms of the kings killed by Ingjaldr. Notwithstanding his larger forces, Ingjaldr is defeated because his troops betray him: Snorri openly says that Ingjaldr ‘þóttisk þat finna, at honum myndi vera herr sá ótrúr, er hann hafði ór síni ríki, því er hann fekk með hernaði.’ ( Yngls 29, ll. 6–7) 13 Moreover, Svipdagr the Blind is killed together with his sons.

10 Trans. Hollander (39): ‘There, the six kings were assigned seats in the new all. […]. All the host that had come there were given seats in the new hall.’ 11 Trans. Hollander (43): ‘It is said that King Ingjald slew twelve kings, and all by treachery. He was called Ing- jald the Wicked.’ 12 Trans. Hollander (40): ‘It was the custom of those kings who resided in their own lands or sat at the banquets they had arranged, that in the evening, when the beakers were passed around, two and two were to drink to- gether, in couples, one man and one woman, as far as possible, and those left over were to drink [together] by themselves. Otherwise it was Viking law that at banquets all were to drink together.’ 13 Trans. Hollander (41): ‘He felt certain that the troops he had levied in those parts of his dominion won by him

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Being unable to defeat his enemies in a fair battle, Ingjaldr is once again compelled to dis- rupt the peace of the banquet: he kills Granmarr and Hj Ärvarðr surrounding their house and burning them in their hall ( Yngls 29, ll. 19–23). The harmony that the king should represent is definitively destroyed by the last deed he performs, together with his daughter, when surrounded by his enemies:

Ingjaldur konungr var þá staddr á Ræningi at veizlu, er hann spurði, at herr Ívars konungs var þar nær kominn; þóttisk Ingjaldr engan styrk hafa til at berjask við Ívar; honum þótti ok sá sýnn kostr, ef hann legðisk á flótta, at hvaðanæva mundu fjandmenn hans at drífa. Tóku þau Ása það ráð, er frægt er orðit, at þau gerðu fólk alt dauðadrukkit, síðan létu þau leggja eld í h Ällina; brann þar h Ällin ok alt fólk, þat er inni var, með Ingjaldi konungi. (Yngls 30, ll. 6–13) 14

By committing suicide, Ingjaldr completes his upsetting of the established order, because he destroys the person who is supposed to represent and vouch for it; himself. Though Ynglingasaga succeeds in conveying atmospheres that recall ancient traditions and the beliefs of heathen lores, Snorri was most probably aware that Ingjaldr’s suicide was strongly condemnable from the point of view of Christian doctrine. That’s probably why in his tale of Ingjaldr’s infancy he ascribes the king’s evil and blasphemous actions to the an- cient demonic rites that changed his peaceful attitude against his own will. At the same time, however, he seizes the opportunity to distance himself from this king and to isolate him in history. He actually writes that, because of him, the Ynglings lost the domain of Uppsala: ‘allr múgr Svía hljóp upp með einu samþykki at rækja ætt Ingjaldz konungs ok alla hans vini. ’ (Yngls 30, ll. 33–34). 15 In the following chapters, Snorri has to reconstruct what has been destroyed, in order to make Norway be founded by a king of noble descent and by the best and wisest men, i.e. those who were already far from ancient beliefs and suitable to inhabit a land which will be- come the kingdom of Saint Óláfr. According to Snorri’s exegesis it is Óláfr trételgja, the son of Ingjaldr, who has the duty to restore all that has been destroyed. In order to rebuild the cosmos, Óláfr has to start from the chaos which is represented, in the Germanic world, by the forest. He becomes then a skógar- maðr , an outlaw of the forest. But contrary to his father, who tried to upset the cosmos from the inside, as an inhabitant of the chaos Óláfr tries to give it order by clearing the forest and cultivating the land. In doing so he develops good conditions for living and, as a consequence, a great multitude of Swedes settles there. As that land can not sustain them all, they lay the blame for that on the king, as Snorri ex- plains: ‘kenndu þeir þat konungi sínum, svá sem Svíar eru vanir at kenna konungi bæði ár ok hallæri. ’ ( Yngls 31, ll. 17–18). 16 By this statement, we understand that Snorri’s attitude to- wards the Swedes is changing, and that he is now considering them from a Norwegian point of view. The initiation rite, represented by the exile in the forest, eventually ends with a human sac- rifice, the sacrifice of the king himself, immolated to Óðinn to ensure fertility: through force had betrayed him.’ 14 Trans. Hollander (43): ‘King Ingjald was being entertained at Rœning when he learned that the army of King Ívar was near at hand. He did not consider that he had sufficient force to fight against Ívar. He also saw clearly that if he fled, his enemies would fall upon him from all sides. So he and Ása hit on a decision which since has become famous: they had all the people [with them] become dead drunk, then set fire to the hall. It burned down with all the people inside, and King Ingjald also.’ 15 Trans. Hollander (44): ‘all the people in Sweden with one accord rose up to drive out the kin of King Ingjald and all his friends.’ 16 Trans. Hollander (44): ‘They laid blame for that on the king, as the Swedes are wont to ascribe to their king good seasons or bad.’

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Óláfr konungr var lítill blótmaðr; þat líkaði Svíum illa og þótti þaðan mundu standa hallærit; drógu Svíar þá her saman, gerðu f Är að Óláfi konungi og tóku hús á honum og brendu hann inni, og gáfu hann Óðni og blétu honum til árs sér. (Yngls 31, ll. 18–22) 17

Snorri’s comment aligns with his previous judgement on the Swedes: ‘Þeir er vitrari váru af Svíum fundu þá, at það olli hallærinu, at mannfólkit var meira, en landit mætti bera, en konungur hafði engu um valdit.’ ( Yngls 31, ll. 29–31) 18 The same wise men were the ones who elected Hálfdan Óláfsson their king, the first Yngling to reach Raumaríki, a district in central Norway. Bibliography Chiesa Isnardi, Gianna, 1991: I miti nordici. Milano. Hastrup, Kirsten, 1985: Culture and History in Medieval Iceland. Oxford: Cornell University Press. Heimskringla. Utg. av Finnur Jónsson. 1911. København. Hollander, Lee M., 1964 (rpt. 1991): Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway. Austin. Kunin, Devra, 2001: A History of Norway and the Passion and Miracles of the Blessed Óláfr. Edited with an introduction and notes by C. Phelpstead. London. Meulengracht Sørensen, Preben, 1993: Saga and Society: An Introduction to Old Norse Literature. Trans. by John Tucker. Odense. Monumenta Historica Norvegiæ. Utg. av Gustav Storm. 1880. Kristiania [Oslo]. Poli, Diego, 1985: Divisione delle carni: dinamica sociale e organizzazione del cosmo. (L’uomo 9, 1/2). Pp. 75–97. Poli, Diego, 1990: Concord and Discord in the Icelandic Banqueting Hall. In: Atti del 12. Congresso Internazionale di Studi sull’Alto Medioevo: Poetry in the Scandinavian Middle Ages. The 7th In- ternational Saga Conference. Ed. by T. Paroli. Spoleto. Pp. 558–608. Whaley, Diana, 1991: Heimskringla: An Introduction. London. Yngls = Ynglingasaga. In: Heimskringla. Utg. av Finnur Jónsson. 1911. København.

17 Trans. Hollander (44–45): ‘King Óláf was but little given to offer sacrifices. The Swedes were ill-pleased at that and believed it was the cause of the bad harvests. They collected a host and moved on King Óláf. They sur- rounded his hall and burned him inside, giving him to Óðinn and sacrificing him for good crops.’ 18 Trans. Hollander (44): ‘those of the Swedes who were wiser attributed the famine to the fact that the inhabi- tants were too numerous for the land to support and they believed that it was not the fault of the king.’

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