Notes
Note N175
Index
Brøt-Anundr (Old East Norse ) or Braut-Önundr (Old West Norse ) (meaning trail-blazer Anund or Anund the land-clearer) was a legendary Swedish king of the House of Yngling who reigned in the mid-seventh century. The name would have been Proto-Norse *Anuwinduz [1]
, meaning "winning ancestor".
In his Ynglinga saga , Snorri Sturluson relates that Anund succeeded his father Ingvar on the Swedish throne, and after his father's wars against Danish vikings and Estonian pirates, peace reigned over Sweden and there were good harvests. Anund was a popular king who became very rich, not only because of the peace and the good harvests but also because he avenged his father in Estonia. That country was ravaged far and wide and in the autumn Anund returned with great riches.
In those days Sweden was dominated by vast and uninhabited forests, so Anund started making roads and clearing land and vast districts were settled by Swedes. Consequently he was named Bröt-Anund. He made a house for himself in every district and used to stay as a guest in many homes.
One autumn, King Anund was travelling between his halls (see Husbys ) and came to a place called Himinheiðr (sky heath) between two mountains. He was surprised by a landslide which killed him.
After presenting this story of Anund, Snorri Sturluson quotes Þjóðólfr of Hvinir 's Ynglingatal :
Varð Önundr Jónakrs bura harmi heptr und Himinfjöllum, ok ofvæg Eistra dólgi heipt hrísungs at hendi kom; ok sá frömuðr foldar beinum Högna hrörs um horfinn var.[2] We all have heard how Jonkur's sons , Whom weapons could not touch, with stones Were stoned to death in open day, King Onund died in the same way. Or else perhaps the wood-grown land, Which long had felt his conquering hand, Uprose at length in deadly strife, And pressed out Onund's hated life.[3]
The Historia Norwegiæ presents a Latin summary of Ynglingatal, older than Snorri's quotation (continuing after Ingvar ):
Iste ergo genuit Broutonund, quem Sigwardus frater suus occidit in Himinheithi[1], quod loci vocabulum interpretatur coeli campus. Post istum filius suus Ingialdr [...][2]. Yngvar bred Braut-Ånund, whose brother, Sigurd, laid him low in Himinheid, a place-name which means 'field of heaven'. After him his son Ingjald [...][3]
The original text of Ynglingatal is hard to interprete, and it only says that Anund died und Himinfjöllum (under the sky mountains) and that stones were implied. According to Historia Norwegiae , he was murded by his brother Sigvard in Himinherthy (which the source says means "the fields of the sky", cœli campus. Such a place name is not known and Birger Nerman suggests that the original place of death was under the sky mountains, i.e. under the clouds (cf. the etymology of cloud). Consequently, he may have been killed outdoors, by his brother and with a stone. In the translation above, Laing has made the same interpretation as Nerman.
Thorsteins saga Víkingssonar says that Anund was not the son of Ingvar , but the son of his grandfather Östen . It also relates that he had a brother named Olaf who was the king of Fjordane .
All sources say that Anund was the father of the infamous Ingjald ill-ruler.
Notes
Note N174 Index
Ingvar or Yngvar Harra, Proto-Norse *Ingu-Hariz (d. early 7th century) was the son of Östen and reclaimed the Swedish throne for the House of Yngling after the Swedes had rebelled against Sölvi .
Snorri Sturluson relates in his Ynglinga saga that King Ingvar, Östen's son, was a great warrior who often spent time patrolling the shores of his kingdom fighting Danes and pirates from the east. King Ingvar finally came to a peace agreement with the Danes and could take care of the Estonian pirates .
He consequently started pillaging in Estonia in retribution, and one summer he arrived at a place called Stein (see also Sveigder ). The Estonians (sýslu kind) assembled a great army in the interior and attacked King Ingvar in a great battle. The Estonian forces were too powerful and Ingvar fell and the Swedish forces retreated. Ingvar was buried in a mound at a place called Stone or Hill fort (at Steini) on the shores of Estonia (Aðalsýsla).
Snorri then quotes a stanza from Þjóðólfr of Hvinir 's Ynglingatal :
Þat stökk upp, at Yngvari Sýslu kind um sóat hafði, ok ljóshömum við lagar hjarta her Eistneskr at hilmi vá, ok austmarr jöfri sœnskum Gýmis ljóð at gamni kveðr.[1] Certain it is the Estland foe The fair-haired Swedish king laid low. On Estland's strand, o'er Swedish graves, The East Sea sings her song of waves; King Yngvar's dirge is ocean's roar Resounding on the rock-ribbed shore.[2]
The Historia Norwegiæ presents a Latin summary of Ynglingatal, older than Snorri's quotation (continuing after Eysteinn ):
Hujus filius Ynguar, qui cognominatus est canutus, in expeditione occisus est in quadam insula Baltici maris, quæ ab indigenis Eysysla[1] vocatur. Iste ergo genuit Broutonund, quem Sigwardus frater suus [...][2]. His son Yngvar, nicknamed the Hoary, was killed by the inhabitants while campaigning on an island in the Baltic called Ösel. Yngvar bred Braut-Ånund, whose brother, Sigurd, [...][3]
Ynglingatal only mentions the location Sysla (area paying tribute), Historia Norwegiae only mentions that he died during a campaign on the island Eycilla, i.e. Eysysla (Ösel ). In addition to his son Anund (Broutonund), it also adds second son named Sigvard.
Thorsteins saga Víkingssonar skips Ingvar's generation and makes his father Östen the father of Anund and grandfather of Ingjald . It adds a second son to Östen named Olaf, who was the king of Fjordane in Norway .