Guthormr or Guttormr was according to traditions current in

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, a noble of Danish origin operating in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and the maternal uncle of Norway's first king,

Harald Fairhair Harald Fairhair (; – ) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from 872 to 930 and was the first Monarchy of Norway, King of Norway. Supposedly, two ...

. By various sources he is said to have been the son of

Sigurd Hart Sigurd Hart or Sigurd Hjort was a legendary king of Ringerike (modern central south Norway), during the late 9th or early 10th centuries. he is mentioned in ''Ragnarssona þáttr'' ("The Tale of Ragnar's Sons") and in '' Halvdan Svartes saga'' ("H ...

, brother of

Ragnhild Sigurdsdotter The name Ragnhild Sigurdsdotter may refer to two different figures from Old Norse literature, an amalgam of them, or a purely fictitious figure. * The wife of Halfdan the Black (c. 810 – c. 860) * A woman who lived during the late 9th and/ ...

and the descendant of

Ragnar Lodbrok Ragnar Lodbrok (Old Norse: ''Ragnarr loðbrók'', ), according to legends, was a Viking hero and a Legendary Kings of Sweden, Swedish and Legendary kings of Denmark, Danish king.duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

''".

Family

Sources on Guthorm describes him as the son of

and younger brother of

. Ragnhild Sigurdsdotter's parentage is controversial as two differing accounts appear in medieval genealogy varies in her parentage. He is alternatively described as the daughter of his son

Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye () or Sigurd Ragnarsson was a semi-legendary Viking warrior and Danish king active from the mid to late 9th century. According to multiple saga sources and Scandinavian histories from the 12th century and later, he is one ...

, while others describe her as the daughter of Sigurd Hart and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye's granddaughter, adding an additional generation. Attempts to fit the chronology of the sagas with history does not work with the additional generation between Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye and Harald Fairhair.

Sources

Heimskringla

In ''

Heimskringla () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland. While authorship of ''Heimskringla'' is nowhere attributed, some scholars assume it is written by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (117 ...

'', in the section labelled the "''Saga of Halfdan the Black''" tells of

, the grandson of

and great grandson of

berserker In the Old Norse written corpus, berserkers () were Scandinavian warriors who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English adjective ''wikt:berserk#Adjective, berserk'' . Berserkers ...

encountered her father in

Hadeland Hadeland () is a traditional district in the southeastern part of Norway. It is centered on the southern part of the large lake Randsfjorden in Innlandet and Akershus counties. The district consists of the municipalities Gran in Innlandet cou ...

and killed him, before kidnapping Ragnhild and Guthorm. Soon afterwards, Ragnhild and Guthorm were kidnapped by Halfdan the Black's sorcerer Horik Gand, so that Halfdan could marry Ragnhild. ''

Fagrskinna ''Fagrskinna'' ( ; ; trans. "Fair Leather" from the type of parchment) is one of the kings' sagas, written around 1220. It is assumed to be a source for what is known as the '' Heimskringla'', containing histories of Norwegian kings from the 9th ...

'' does not mention any of these details. However, both sagas agree that Ragnhild and Halfdan the Black were the parents of

. In the following "''Saga of Harald Fairhair''" Guthorm is said to have been made the leader of Halfdan's

hird The hird (also named "De Håndgangne Menn" in Norwegian), in Scandinavian history, was originally an informal retinue of personal armed companions, hirdmen or housecarls. Over time, it came to mean not only the nucleus ('Guards') of the royal arm ...

and played a instrumental role in the defence of Harald's kingdom during his minority. Halfdan the Black drowned while chasing thieves over a frozen lake. His son Harald was only ten years old at the time and Halfdan's various enemies attacked the kingdom. Through Guthorm's guidance, Harald managed to defeat all the invaders despite his young age, starting Harald's conquest of Norway. Guthorm did not take further part of the conquest, rather ruling Harald's original domains during the campaign. Harald named one of his sons after Guthorm and subsequently made his uncle the local governor of

Upland Upland or Uplands may refer to: Geography *Hill, an area of higher land, generally *Highland, an area of higher land divided into low and high points *Upland and lowland, conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level *I ...

and

Viken Viken may refer to: *Viken, Scandinavia, a historical region *Viken (county), a Norwegian county established in 2020 *Viken, Sweden, a bimunicipal locality in Skåne County, Sweden *Viken (lake), a lake in Sweden, part of the Göta canal *IF Viken, ...

, ruling from

Tønsberg Tønsberg (), historically Tunsberg, is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located about south-southwest of the capital city of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near ...

. He died of old age. ''Heimskringla'' gives Guthorm the title ''dux'' (''

duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

''), a title which was not known to have been used in Norway in the 9th and 10th century when Guthorm is supposed to have lived.

Ragnarssona þáttr

Ragnarssona þáttr The ''Tale of Ragnar's sons'' () is an Old Norse story about Ragnar Lodbrok and his sons. Summary Ragnar Lodbrok When Sigurd Ring dies, Ragnar Lodbrok succeeds him as the king of Sweden and Denmark. Many foreign kings come to take parts of hi ...

'' presents a near identical story to the account in Heimskringla of Sigurd Hart, his death and Ragnhild's marriage to Halfdan; as in ''Heimskringla'' Guthorm is described as Ragnhild's younger brother who is kidnapped and later rescued from Haki. Ragnarssona þáttr differs only in certain details from ''Heimskringla'' in certain details like the ages of Guthorm and Ragnhild: ''Heimskringla'' describes Ragnhild as twenty years old at her father's death while in Ragnarssona þáttr she's only fifteen. Likewise, ''Ragnarssona þáttr'' gives Guthorm's death at that time as fourteen while ''Heimskringla'' simply says he was a child, which implies an even younger age.

Egil's Saga

Guthorm appears in ''

Egil's Saga ''Egill's Saga'' or ''Egil's saga'' ( ; ) is an Icelandic saga (family saga) on the lives of the clan of Egill Skallagrímsson (Anglicised as Egill Skallagrimsson), an Icelandic farmer, viking and skald. The saga spans the years c. 850–1000 a ...

'' as ''Guttorm'' which tells of his otherwise unattested children. ''Guttorm'' is again described as the son of Sigurd Hart and the maternal uncle of Harald (who the saga refers to as ''Harald Lufa''). In this account he ruled as governor over Westfold, Ringerike and parts of

Agder Agder is a counties of Norway, county () and districts of Norway, traditional region in the southern part of Norway and is coextensive with the Southern Norway region. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Au ...

. His children are said to be two sons named Sigurd and Ragnar and two named daughters Ragnhild and Aslaug. Sigurd and Ragnar are killed in a revenge attack by the saga protagonist's grandfather Kveld-Ulf and father Skallagrim against two of Harald's retainers who participated in Harald's killing of Kveld-Ulf's son Thorulf. The collateral killing of the children mirrors Egil's later killing of Harald's grandson Rögnvald in a similar revenge attack aimed at the retainers of Harald's son Eirik Bloodaxe.

Flateyjarbók

Flateyjarbók ''Flateyjarbók'' (; "Book of Flatey, Breiðafjörður, Flatey") is an important medieval Iceland, Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name ''Codex Flateyensis''. It was commissioned by Jón Hákonarson and p ...

'' briefly mentions Guthorm in ''Haralds þáttr hárfagra'' and also gives him the title "duke". The account says that Guthorm was sixteen at Harald's ascension to the crown, while Harald himself was ten. Guthorm is described as the regent for Harald after Halfdan the Black's death and subsequently his military commander. Unlike ''Heimskringla'', Guthorm is said to have continued to fight alongside Harald during the conquest of Norway.Guðbrandur Vigfússon and Carl Rikard Unger, (ed.) (1860–1868). Flateyjarbok: En samling af Norske Konge-saegar, 3 Vols. Christiania slo P. T. Mallings forlagsboghandel.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Fairhair dynasty Harald Fairhair 9th-century Norwegian people Legendary Danish people