Anund (, meaning ''trail-blazer Anund'' or ''Anund the Land Clearer''), also called ''Brøt-Anundr'' ( Old East Norse) or ''Braut-Önundr'' ( Old West Norse) was a semi-legendary Swedish king of the House of Yngling who reigned in the mid-seventh century. The form of the name used during his lifetime would have been Proto-Norse *''Anuwinduz'', meaning "winning ancestor".

Life

In his ''

Ynglinga saga ''Ynglinga saga'' ( ) is a Kings' sagas, Kings' saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelanders, Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It is the first section of his ''Heimskringla''. It was first translated into Engl ...

'',

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

relates that Anund succeeded his father King Yngvar who fell in battle with the Estonians. After his father's wars against Danish Vikings and

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n Vikings, 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 farm for himself in every district and used to stay as a guest in many homes. One autumn, King Anund was travelling between his

hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gre ...

s (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 Þjóðólfr ór Hvini (; anglicized as Thjódólf of Hvinir or Thiodolf; fl. late 9th–early 10th c. AD), was a Norwegian skald, said to have been one of the court-poets of the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair. His name suggests that he was fro ...

's '' Ynglingatal'': The '' Historia Norwegiæ'' presents a Latin summary of ''Ynglingatal'', older than Snorri's quotation (continuing after

Ingvar Harra Ingvar or Yngvar ( , 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 Sölve. He is reported to have fallen in battle in Ancient Estonia, Estonia and bee ...

): The original text of '' Ynglingatal'' is hard to interpret, and it only says that Anund died ''und Himinfjöllum'' (under the sky mountains) and that stones were involved. According to '' Historia Norwegiæ'', he was murdered by his brother Sigvard ''in Himinherthy'' (which the source says means "the fields of the sky", ''cœli campus''). A place with this name is not known, and Swedish archaeologist Birger Nerman (1888–1971) 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. '' Thorsteins saga Víkingssonar'' says that Anund was not the son of

, but 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 Ingjald (''Ingjald Illråde'').

References

Primary sources

* Historia Norwegiæ * Thorsteins saga Víkingssonar * Ynglingatal *

(part of the Heimskringla)

Secondary sources

*Birger Nerman (1925) ''Det svenska rikets uppkomst'' (Stockholm: Föreningen för svensk kulturhistoria) {{Norse mythology 640 deaths 7th-century monarchs in Europe European people whose existence is disputed Semi-legendary kings of Sweden Year of birth unknown

Life

See also

References

Primary sources

Secondary sources