Jorund
Encyclopedia
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
king of the House of Yngling. He was the son of Yngvi
Yngvi and Alf
Yngvi and Alf were two legendary Swedish kings of the House of Yngling.According to Ynglingatal, Historia Norwegiae and Ynglinga saga, Yngvi and Alf were the sons of Alrik....
, and he had reclaimed the throne of Sweden for his dynasty from Haki
Haki
Hake, Haki or Haco, the brother of Hagbard, was a famous Scandinavian sea-king, in Norse mythology. He is mentioned in the 12th century Gesta Danorum, and in 13th-century sources including Ynglinga saga, Nafnaþulur, Völsunga saga...
(the brother of Hagbard
Hagbard
Hagbard , the brother of Haki and son of Hamund, was a famous Scandinavian sea-king in Norse mythology. He is mentioned in Skáldskaparmál, Ynglinga saga, Nafnaþulur, Völsunga saga and Gesta Danorum...
, the hero of the legend of Hagbard and Signy
Hagbard and Signy
Hagbard and Signe or Habor and Sign'ild were a pair of lovers in Scandinavian mythology and folklore whose legend was widely popular. The heroes' connections with other legendary characters place the events in the 5th century AD...
, and Snorri cites two kenning
Kenning
A kenning is a type of literary trope, specifically circumlocution, in the form of a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse and later Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon poetry...
s from this legend Sigar's steed and Hagard's fell noose, when telling of Jorund).
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...
relates that when Jorund was young he used to travel the seas and plunder with his brother Erik, and they were great warriors. One summer they plundered in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
where they met another pillager, King Gudlög of Hålogaland
Hålogaland
Hålogaland was the northernmost of the Norwegian provinces in the mediaeval Norse sagas. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Hålogaland was a petty kingdom extending between Namdalen in Nord-Trøndelag and Lyngen in Troms.-Etymology:...
(a province in Norway) with whom they fought. They took him prisoner and carried him ashore at Stromones where they hanged him. Gudlaug's surviving companions raised a mound over him there.
Snorri then cites the poem Háleygjatal
Háleygjatal
Háleygjatal is a skaldic poem by Eyvindr skáldaspillir made in honour of Haakon Sigurdsson and his ancestors, in the end of the 10th century.The poem is only partially preserved in disjoint parts quoted in Skáldskaparmál, Heimskringla and two other manuscripts of kings' sagas. It appears to be a...
by a Norwegian skald
Skald
The skald was a member of a group of poets, whose courtly poetry is associated with the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic leaders during the Viking Age, who composed and performed renditions of aspects of what we now characterise as Old Norse poetry .The most prevalent metre of skaldic poetry is...
named Eyvindr skáldaspillir
Eyvindr Skáldaspillir
Eyvindr Finnsson skáldaspillir was a 10th century Norwegian skald. He was the court poet of king Hákon the Good and earl Hákon of Hlaðir. His son Hárekr later became a prominent chieftain in Norway.His preserved works are:...
:
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Sigar The name Sigar can refer to three people in Scandinavian mythology, surrounding the legends of Sigurd the dragon slayer. One of them only appears as the friend of Helgi Hjörvarðsson in the eddic lay Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar... 's steed the gallows tree. |
This act rendered the Swedish princes, Eric and Jorund, even more famous and they were thought of as even greater men. When they learnt that King Haki no longer had his forces around him, they decided to take care of their enemy. They assembled a large force that was joined by Swedes as they approached. They entered Mälaren
Mälaren
Lake Mälaren is the third-largest lake in Sweden, after Lakes Vänern and Vättern. Its area is 1,140 km² and its greatest depth is 64 m. Mälaren spans 120 kilometers from east to west...
(a bay at the time) and steered towards Uppsala
Gamla Uppsala
Gamla Uppsala is a parish and a village outside Uppsala in Sweden. It had 16,231 inhabitants in 1991.As early as the 3rd century AD and the 4th century AD and onwards, it was an important religious, economic and political centre...
. They left their ships at the Fyris Wolds and were met by Haki
Haki
Hake, Haki or Haco, the brother of Hagbard, was a famous Scandinavian sea-king, in Norse mythology. He is mentioned in the 12th century Gesta Danorum, and in 13th-century sources including Ynglinga saga, Nafnaþulur, Völsunga saga...
who had less men. Haki was a brutal fighter and managed to turn the tide of the battle. He slew Erik who held the banner and Jorund retreated with his men. Luckily, Haki had been seriously wounded and died.
Jorund then ruled Sweden at Uppsala
Gamla Uppsala
Gamla Uppsala is a parish and a village outside Uppsala in Sweden. It had 16,231 inhabitants in 1991.As early as the 3rd century AD and the 4th century AD and onwards, it was an important religious, economic and political centre...
, but he usually spent the summers pillaging. One summer, he plundered in Jutland
Jutland
Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...
and entered Limfjorden, where he continued the pillaging. They anchored in Oddesund
Oddesund
Oddesund is a strait in the Danish Limfjorden. A bridge spans the fjord connecting the mainland of Jutland with Thy. According to the Heimskringla, a battle took place in Oddasund between the Swedish king Jorund and a Norwegian pirate from Hålogaland....
(before a storm in 1825, it was near the innermost part of the fjord and almost 200 km from its mouth) but were discovered by the Norwegian pirate Gylaug of Hålogaland
Hålogaland
Hålogaland was the northernmost of the Norwegian provinces in the mediaeval Norse sagas. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Hålogaland was a petty kingdom extending between Namdalen in Nord-Trøndelag and Lyngen in Troms.-Etymology:...
, the son of Gudlaug. Gylaug and his men attacked them and were joined by local forces who wanted revenge. As Jorund was vastly outnumbered (and had to run an almost 200 km long gauntlet to get out of the fjord), he lost the battle, and Gylaug had him hanged.
Snorri illustrates this event with the stanza from Ynglingatal
Ynglingatal
Ynglingatal is a skaldic poem listing the kings of the House of Ynglings, dated by most scholars to the late 9th century.The original version is attributed to Þjóðólfr af Hvini who was the skald of a Norwegian petty king named Ragnvald the Mountain-High and who was a cousin of Harald Fairhair...
:
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Hagbard Hagbard , the brother of Haki and son of Hamund, was a famous Scandinavian sea-king in Norse mythology. He is mentioned in Skáldskaparmál, Ynglinga saga, Nafnaþulur, Völsunga saga and Gesta Danorum... 's fell noose in middle air. |
The Historia Norwegiæ presents a Latin summary of Ynglingatal, older than Snorri's quotation, continuing after Yngvi
Yngvi and Alf
Yngvi and Alf were two legendary Swedish kings of the House of Yngling.According to Ynglingatal, Historia Norwegiae and Ynglinga saga, Yngvi and Alf were the sons of Alrik....
(called Ingialdr):
Post hunc filius ejus Jorundr, qui cum Danos debellasset, ab eisdem suspensus in loco Oddasund in sinu quodam Daciæ, quem Limafiorth indiginæ appellant, male vitam finivit. Iste genuit Auchun (i.e. Aun Aun Ane, On, One, Auchun or Aun the Old , English: Edwin, was a mythical Swedish king of the House of Yngling, the ancestors of Norway's first king, Harald Fairhair... ) [...] |
After him his son Jorund ruled, who ended his days unhappily once he had fought a war against the Danes, who hanged him at Oddesund, on an arm of the sea in Denmark which the natives call Limfjorden. He became the father of Aukun, [...] |
The even earlier source Íslendingabók
Íslendingabók
Íslendingabók, Libellus Islandorum or The Book of Icelanders is an historical work dealing with early Icelandic history. The author was an Icelandic priest, Ari Þorgilsson, working in the early 12th century. The work originally existed in two different versions but only the younger one has come...
also cites the line of descent in Ynglingatal and it gives the same line of succession: xiiii Yngvi. xv Jörundr. xvi Aun inn gamli.
The Skjöldunga saga
Skjöldunga saga
The Skjöldunga saga was a Norse saga on the legendary Danish dynasty of the Skjöldungs, the same dynasty featured in the Old English poem Beowulf...
and the Bjarkarímur
Bjarkarímur
Bjarkarímur is a 15th century Icelandic rímur cycle on the Skjöldungs , and retells among other things the adventures of Hróarr and his brother Helgi , and those of Böðvarr Bjarki...
tell that Jorund was defeated by the Danish king Fróði
Fróði
Fróði is the name of a number of legendary Danish kings in various texts including Beowulf, Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda and his Ynglinga saga, Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum, and the Grottasöngr. A Danish king by this name also appears as a minor character in the Middle High German epic Die...
(corresponds to the Heaðobard
Heaðobard
The Heaðobards were possibly a branch of the Langobards, and their name may be preserved in toponym Bardengau, in Mecklenburg, Germany....
Froda in Beowulf
Beowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
), who made him a tributary and took his daughter. The daughter gave birth to Halfdan
Halfdan
Halfdan was a late 5th and early 6th century legendary Danish king of the Scylding lineage, the son of king named Fróði in many accounts, noted mainly as the father to the two kings who succeeded him in the rule of Denmark, kings named Hroðgar and Halga in the Old English poem Beowulf and named...
, but another woman became Fróði's legitimate wife and gave him an heir named Ingjaldr (corresponds to the Heaðobard Ingeld
Ingeld
Ingeld or Ingjald was a legendary warrior who appears in early English and Norse legends. Ingeld was so well-known that, in 797, Alcuin wrote a letter to Bishop Higbald of Lindisfarne questioning the monks' interest in heroic legends with: 'Quid enim Hinieldus cum Christo?' - What has Ingeld to...
in Beowulf). Together with one of his earl
Earl
An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...
s, Swerting
Swerting
Swerting was one of the Saxon ancestors of king Aella of Deira.He may be identical with the Swerting briefly mentioned in Beowulf, where he had the son or son-in-law Hrethel, who was the maternal grandfather of the hero Beowulf.-The Heaðobard tradition:A Swerting of the same timeframe also...
, Jorund conspired against Fróði and killed him during the blót
Blót
The blót was Norse pagan sacrifice to the Norse gods and the spirits of the land. The sacrifice often took the form of a sacramental meal or feast. Related religious practices were performed by other Germanic peoples, such as the pagan Anglo-Saxons...
.
Primary sources
- YnglingatalYnglingatalYnglingatal is a skaldic poem listing the kings of the House of Ynglings, dated by most scholars to the late 9th century.The original version is attributed to Þjóðólfr af Hvini who was the skald of a Norwegian petty king named Ragnvald the Mountain-High and who was a cousin of Harald Fairhair...
- Ynglinga sagaYnglinga sagaYnglinga saga is a legendary saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It was first translated into English and published in 1844....
(part of the HeimskringlaHeimskringlaHeimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...
) - Historia NorwegiaeHistoria NorvegiæHistoria Norwegiæ is a short Latin history of Norway written by an anonymous monk. The only extant manuscript, in the private possession of the Earl of Dalhousie and kept at Brechin Castle, Scotland, is fragmentary; what we have of the Historia is found on folios 1r-12r...
- Skjöldunga sagaSkjöldunga sagaThe Skjöldunga saga was a Norse saga on the legendary Danish dynasty of the Skjöldungs, the same dynasty featured in the Old English poem Beowulf...
- BjarkarímurBjarkarímurBjarkarímur is a 15th century Icelandic rímur cycle on the Skjöldungs , and retells among other things the adventures of Hróarr and his brother Helgi , and those of Böðvarr Bjarki...