Olof Skötkonung

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 15914

Notes:

Olof Skötkonung (Old Icelandic: Óláfr sænski, Old Swedish: Olawær skotkonongær) was the son of Eric the Victorious and Sigrid the Haughty. He was born around 980 and he succeeded his father in 995.

Etymology

One of many explanations to his Swedish name Skötkonung is that it means "tributary king" and one English scholar speculates about a tributary relationship to the Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard, who was his stepfather.[1] This explanation is however highly speculative as it is not supported by any evidence or historical sources. Another possible explanation[citation needed] of the name "Skötkonung" is that it means "treasure king" and refer to the fact that he was the first Swedish king to stamp coins.
[edit]Life

Coin minted for Olof Skötkonung in Sigtuna
Our knowledge of Olof is mostly based on Snorri Sturluson's and Adam of Bremen's accounts, which have been subject to criticism from source-critical scholars. But according to Adam of Bremen, Sweyn Forkbeard was forced to defend his Danish kingdom from attacks by Olof who claimed the Danish throne. The conflict was resolved by Sweyn's marriage with Olaf's mother and the two kings were thereafter allies. Also Snorri Sturluson describes Sweyn and Olof as equal allies when they defeated the Norwegian king Olav Tryggvason in the battle of Svolder 1000, and thereafter divided Norway between themselves.
[edit]Viking expedition to Wendland
In a Viking expedition to Wendland, he had captured Edla, the daughter of a Wendish chieftain, and she gave him the son Emund (who was to become king of Sweden), and the daughter Astrid -later wife of Olaf II of Norway. He later married Estrid of the Obotrites, and she bore him the son Anund Jacob and the daughter Ingegerd Olofsdotter.
[edit]Alliance with Sweyn Forkbeard
Olof is said to have preferred royal sports to war and therefore Sweyn Forkbeard retook Denmark, which Olof's father Eric had conquered.[2] Olof also lost the right to tribute which his predecessors had preserved in what is now Estonia and Latvia.
In 1000, he allied with Sweyn Forkbeard, who was married to Olof's mother, and with the Norwegian Jarls Eric and Sven, against the Norwegian King Olaf Tryggvason. Olaf Tryggvason died in the Battle of Svolder and Olof gained a part of Trøndelag as well as modern Bohuslän.[3]
[edit]Norwegian-Swedish War
When the Norwegian kingdom was reestablished by Olaf II of Norway, a new war erupted between Norway and Sweden. Many men in both Sweden and Norway tried to reconcile the kings. In 1018, Olof's cousin, the earl of Västergötland, Ragnvald Ulfsson and the Norwegian king's emissaries Björn Stallare and Hjalti Skeggiason had arrived at the thing of Uppsala in an attempt to sway the Swedish king to accept peace and as a warrant marry his daughter Ingegerd Olofsdotter to the king of Norway. The Swedish king was greatly angered and threatened to banish Ragnvald from his kingdom, but Ragnvald was supported by his foster-father Thorgny Lawspeaker.
Thorgny delivered a powerful speech in which he reminded the king of the great Viking expeditions in the East that predecessors such as Erik Eymundsson and Björn had undertaken, without having the hubris not to listen to their men's advice. Thorgny, himself, had taken part in many successful pillaging expeditions with Olof's father Eric the Victorious and even Eric had listened to his men. The present king wanted nothing but Norway, which no Swedish king before him had desired. This displeased the Swedish people, who were eager to follow the king on new ventures in the East to win back the kingdoms that paid tribute to his ancestors, but it was the wish of the people that the king make peace with the king of Norway and give him his daughter Ingegerd as queen.
Thorgny finished his speech by saying: if you do not desire to do so, we shall assault you and kill you and not brook anymore of your warmongering and obstinacy. Our ancestors have done so, who at Mula thing threw five kings in a well, kings who were too arrogant as you are against us.
However, Olof married his daughter Ingegerd-Irene to Yaroslav I the Wise instead. An impending war was settled when Olof agreed to share his power with his son Anund Jacob. Olof was also forced to accept a settlement with Olaf II of Norway at Kungahälla, who already had been married (unbeknownst to Olof) with Olof's daughter, Astrid, through the Geatish jarl Ragnvald Ulfsson.
[edit]Christian King
Olof was baptised, probably by the missionary Sigfrid, c.1008, and he was the first Swedish king to remain Christian until his death. However, according to Adam of Bremen, the fact that the vast majority of the Swedes were still pagan forced him to limit Christian activities to the already Christian border province of Västergötland.
When he stamped coins in Sigtuna in the province of Uppland Olof used the word rex for king. OLUF REX as in the coin displayed above or OLAF REX. The use of Latin seems to suggest that he was already baptised at this time but on the other hand the coins were imitating English pennies in type and style. Sigtuna is written SITUN, ZINT (in the coin above), ZTNETEI, or SIDEI. The two last has been deciphered as Si(gtuna) Dei meaning God's Sigtuna.[4][5]
[edit]Óláfsdrápa sœnska

The Icelandic skald Óttarr svarti spent some time at Olof's court and composed the poem Óláfsdrápa sœnska describing Olof's war expeditions in the east. Other skalds who served Olof were Gunnlaugr ormstunga, Hrafn Önundarson and Gizurr svarti.
[edit]Death

The alleged Olaf Grave at Husaby Church
His death is said to have taken place in the winter of 1021-1022. According to a legend he was martyred at Stockholm after refusing to sacrifice to pagan gods. He's venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
Since the 1740s, it has been claimed that he was buried in Husaby in the Christian part of his kingdom, but it should be noted that such identifications are speculation, and by no means uncontroversial. The remains in the alleged grave are also too young to be his.

Olof — Estrid of The Obotrites. Estrid was born 979; died 1035. [Group Sheet]

1. Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden was born 1001; died 10 Feb 1050.

Other Events:

• Name: Eric the Victorious
• Reference Number: 15916

Notes:

Eric the Victorious (Old Norse: Eiríkr inn sigrsæli, Modern Swedish: Erik Segersäll), (945? - c. 995), was the first Swedish king (970-995) about whom anything definite is known.[1] Whether he actually qualifies as king of Sweden is debatable as his son Olof Skötkonung was the first ruler documented to have been accepted both by the Svear around Lake Mälaren and by the Götar around Lake Vättern.
Referring to Eric the Victorious as Eric VI (or with any other numeral) is a later invention. The Swedish kings Erik XIV (1560-68) and Charles IX (1604-11) took their numbers after studying a highly fictitious History of Sweden.[2]
His original territory lay in Uppland and neighbouring provinces. He acquired the name "victorious" as a result of his defeating an invasion from the south in the Battle of Fýrisvellir close to Uppsala.[3] But reports that Eric's brother Olof was the father of his opponent in that battle, Styrbjörn the Strong, belong to the realm of myth.[4]
The extent of his kingdom is unknown. In addition to the Swedish heartland round lake Mälaren it may have extended down the Baltic Sea coast as far south as Blekinge.
According to the Flateyjarbok, his success was due to the fact that he allied with the free farmers against the aristocratic jarl class, and it is obvious from archeological findings that the influence of the latter diminished during the last part of the tenth century.[5] He was also, probably, the introducer of the famous medieval Scandinavian system of universal conscription known as the ledung in the provinces around Mälaren.
In all probability he founded the town of Sigtuna, which still exists and where the first Swedish coins were stamped for his son and successor Olof Skötkonung.
[edit]Sagas

Eric the Victorious appears in a number of Norse sagas, historical stories which nonetheless had a heathy dose of fiction. In various stories, he is described as the son of Björn Eriksson, and as having ruled together with his brother Olof. It was claimed that he married the infamous (and likely fictional) Sigrid the Haughty, daughter of the legendary Viking Skagul Toste, would later divorce her and give her Götaland as a fief. According to Eymund's saga he took a new queen, Auð, the daughter of Haakon Sigurdsson, the ruler of Norway.
Before this happened, his brother Olof died, and a new co-ruler had to be appointed, but the Swedes are said to have refused to accept his rowdy nephew Styrbjörn the Strong as his co-ruler. Styrbjörn was given 60 longships by Eric and sailed away to live as a Viking. He would become the ruler of Jomsborg and an ally and brother-in-law of the Danish king Harold Bluetooth. Styrbjörn returned to Sweden with an army, although Harald and the Danish troops supposedly turned back. Eric won the Battle of Fýrisvellir at Old Uppsala, according to Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa after sacrificing to Odin and promising that if victorious, he would give himself to Odin in ten years.
Adam of Bremen relates that Eric was baptised in Denmark but that he forgot about the Christian faith after he returned to Sweden.

— Sigrid. (daughter of Skagul Toste) died 1013. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Sigrid the Haughty
• Reference Number: 15917

Notes:

Sigrid the Haughty, also known as Sigríð Storråda, is a queen of contested historicity appearing in Norse sagas as wife first of Eric the Victorious of Sweden, and then Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark. While given a Nordic ancestry in the sagas, she has been hypothesized to be identical to historically attested queens of Polish or Pomeranian origin. Alternatively, she is held to be apocryphal by some modern scholars, e.g. Birgitta Fritz.[1]
Sigrid appears in many sagas composed generations after the events they describe, but there is no reliable evidence as to her existence as they describe her. It is unclear if she was a real person, a compound person (with several real women's lives and deeds attributed to one compound person), or a complete invention of the saga authors.

The Heimskringla describes Sigrid as the beautiful but vengeful daughter of Skogul-Tosti, a powerful Swedish nobleman. As widow of Eric the Victorious, she held many great estates, and was living with her son Olav the Swede, when her foster-brother Harald Grenske, a king in Vestfold sought her hand, but she had him and another royal wooer, Vissavald of Gardarik burned to death in a great hall following a feast to discourage other suitors.
Her hand was next sought by Olaf Trygvasson, the king of Norway, but he would have required that she convert to Christianity. She told him to his face, "I will not part from the faith which my forefathers have kept before me." In a rage, Olaf struck her with a glove, and Sigrid calmly told him, "This may some day be thy death." Sigrid then proceeded to create a coalition of his enemies to bring about his downfall. She allied Sweden with Denmark, marrying the widower Sweyn Forkbeard who had already been feuding with Olaf. Swein had sent his sister Tyri to marry the Wendish king Burislav, who had been father of Swein's first wife, Gunhild. Tyri fled and married Olaf, goading him into conflict with her brother, while Sigrid inflamed Swein against her former suitor. This shared animosity would lead to the Battle of Swold, in which Olaf fell.
The Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus would repeat this information, writing that Eric the Victorious' widow Syritha had married Sweyn Forkbeard after having spurned Olaf Trygvasson.
[edit]Contemporary chroniclers

There is scant material in medieval chronicles to provide details regarding the marriages of Swein of Denmark and Erik of Sweden:
Thietmar of Merseburg mentions that the daughter of Mieszko I of Poland and sister of Boleslaw I of Poland married Sweyn Forkbeard and gave him two sons, Canute the Great and Harold II of Denmark, but he does not mention her name. Thietmar is probably the best informed of all medieval chroniclers, since he was contemporary with described events and well-informed about the events in Poland and Denmark. The assertion that Harald and Canute's mother was Boleslaw's sister may explain some mysterious statements which appear in medieval chronicles, such as the involvement of Polish troops in invasions of England.
Adam of Bremen writes that a Polish princess was the wife of Eric the Victorious and by this marriage the mother Olof Skötkonung of Sweden, before she became mother of Canute the Great and Harold II of Denmark in her second marriage with Sweyn. Consequently, Adam calls Canute and Olof Skötkonung brothers. Adam's information here is considered unreliable by some historians, because he is the only source to state this relationship.
Gesta Cnutonis regis mentions in one short passage that Canute and his brother went to the land of the Slavs, and brought back their mother, who was living there. This does not necessarily mean that his mother was Slavic, but nevertheless this chronicle strongly suggests that she was.
There is an inscription in "Liber vitae of the New Minster and Hyde Abbey Winchester", that king Canute's sister's name was "Santslaue" ("Santslaue soror CNVTI regis nostri"), which without doubt is a Slavic name. J. Steenstrup suggests that Canute's sister may have been named after her mother, hence coining (the now generally agreed upon) hypothesis, that her Slavic name is Swietoslawa, but only as a reconstruction based on a single mention of her daughter's name and the hypothesis that she named her daughter after herself.
[edit]Modern reconstructions

These data have been used for alternative reconstructions. One would interpret the saga account of Sigrid as a confused rendering of a historical Polish princess, 'Sviatoslava', daughter of Mieszko, who married in succession Erik and Swein, being mother of Olaf (by Erik), Harald and Canute (both by Swein). Sigrid would either be a contemporary name adopted by the Princess to conform to her new linguistic context, or else simply a name invented by saga writers who did not know or could not comprehend her Slavic name. This solution may further make her identical to Swein's first queen in the saga, 'Gunhild' daughter of Burislav, suggested to be a confused rendering of the same historical marriage to the sister of Boleslav of Poland. Alternatively, the attributed Polish marriages of Swein and Eric may have been to different women, with 'Gunhild' being the daughter of Mieszko, while Eric's widow, the model for Sigrid, then marrying Swein after her death. Finally, some consider "Sigrid" to be a fantasy created by Scandinavian saga writers.
[edit]Archaeology

Further confusion has been introduced by dated interpretations of an archaeological discovery. In 1835, the Haraldskær Woman was discovered in a peat bog in Jutland. This body of a woman was dated to the 1000s, and it was identified with Sigrid (or Gunhild). Radiocarbon dating later proved this dating incorrect. However, the erroneous dating became intertwined with numerous episodes of Scandinavian intrigue, as the theory was elaborated to serve a variety of agendas of kings and nobles prior to its redating.
[edit]In literature

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow composed a poem with the title Queen Sigrid the Haughty of which this is the first verse.
Queen Sigrid the Haughty sat proud and aloft
In her chamber, that looked over meadow and croft.
Heart's dearest,
Why dost thou sorrow so?
Karen Blixen, in the short story "The Deluge at Norderney" in Seven Gothic Tales, refers to Sigrid, claiming that she invited all her suitors to her house and burned them in order to discourage other suitors.

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 15918

Notes:

koglar Toste or Skoglar Tosti (there are several variations) was a chieftain from the Swedish province of West Götaland. According to Snorri Sturluson, he was the father of Sigrid the Haughty. For some time he gave refuge to Harald Grenske, who later came back to woo Sigrid, only to be killed by her for his persistence. Toste is mentioned in several sagas, such as Heimskringla, and is said to have been the first to demand danegeld, in 970. Toste's great-grandson Stenkil became the King of Sweden in 1060.
His name skoglar, skauglar or skagul is due to his experience in battle (skagul is one of the many names for battle in Old Norse).
At Vallentuna, near Stockholm, the runestone of Orkesta (U 344) says:
in ulfr hafir onklati * Þru kialtakat Þit uas fursta Þis tursti * Þa ---Þurktil * Þa kalt knutr
Translation: "But Ulf has taken three danegelds in England. The first one was with Toste, the second one with Thorkel and the third one with Canute the Great".
Children according to the sagas
Ulf Tostesson jarl.
Sigrid the Haughty, queen of Sweden.