Ragnvaldr was a captain of the

Varangian Guard The Varangian Guard () was an elite unit of the Byzantine army from the tenth to the fourteenth century who served as personal bodyguards to the Byzantine emperors. The Varangian Guard was known for being primarily composed of recruits from Nort ...

in the first half of the 11th century. He may appear on several runestones, some of which suggest that he was the son of an Ingvar connecting him to the

Jarlabanke clan The Jarlabanke Runestones () is the name of about 20 runestones written in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark rune script in the 11th century, in Uppland, Sweden. They were ordered by what appears to have been a Germanic chieftain, chieftain ...

. In Ed, there are two runic inscriptions named U 112 A and B on a large boulder which measures 18 metres in circumference, located at a path called Kyrkstigen ("church path").

Rundata The Scandinavian Runic-text Database () is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of transliterated runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future resea ...

The inscriptions are in the style Pr4, and they were ordered by a former captain of the

named Ragnvaldr in memory of himself and his mother.Enoksen 1998:131 :U 112 A: Ragnvaldr had the runes carved in memory of Fastvé, his mother, Ónæmr's daughter, (who) died in Eið. May God help her spirit. :U 112 B: Ragnvaldr had the runes carved; (he) was in Greece, was commander of the retinue. Very few could return home with the honour of having been the captain of the Varangian guard, and his name ''Ragnvaldr'' shows that he belonged to the higher echelons of Old Norse society,Enoksen 1998:134Jansson 1980:20 suggesting that he was probably even a relative of the ruling dynasty.Pritsak 1981:376 This Ragnvaldr is identified with the Ragnvaldr whose death is announced on the runestones U 309 and U 310,Pritsak 1981:389-393 which confirms him the son of Ingvar of the Jarlabanke clan. The inscription U 310 was made on the orders of Ingvar's second wife

Estrid Estrid (Old Norse: ''Æstriðr'', ''Ástríðr'') was a rich and powerful 11th-century Swedish woman whose long family saga has been recorded on five or six runestones in Uppland, Sweden. This Estrid was the maternal grandmother of the chieftain ...

(''Ástríðr'', ''Æstriðr''), who was not the mother of Ragnvaldr: :U 309: Sigviðr and Ingvarr and Jarlabanki had the runes carved in memory of Ingvarr, their father, and in memory of Ragnvaldr, their brother. :U 310: Ástríðr had the bridge made in memory of Ingvarr, her husbandman, and in memory of Ragnvaldr, his son. Ragnvald's maternal grandfather Ónæmr is mentioned on two additional runestones in

Uppland Uppland is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The name literally ...

, U 328 and U 336.Pritsak 1981:389 U 328 informs that Ragnvaldr had two aunts named Gyríðr and Guðlaug, and U 336 adds that

Ulf of Borresta Ulf of Borresta (Old Norse: ''Ulfr í Báristöðum'', modern Swedish: ''Ulf i Borresta'') was a runemaster in the eleventh century Uppland, Sweden, and a successful Viking who returned from England three times with a share of the Danegeld. He i ...

, who received three

danegeld Danegeld (; "Danish tax", literally "Dane yield" or tribute) was a tax raised to pay tribute or Protection racket, protection money to the Viking raiders to save a land from being ravaged. It was called the ''geld'' or ''gafol'' in eleventh-c ...

s in England, was Ónæm's paternal nephew and thus Ragnvald's first cousin.

Omeljan Pritsak Omeljan Yosypovych Pritsak (; 7 April 1919 – 29 May 2006) was the first Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of History of Ukraine, Ukrainian History at Harvard University and the founder and first director (1973–1989) of the Harvard Ukrainian Rese ...

notes that Ragnvaldr appears to have died simultaneously with his father Ingvar and uncle Ingifastr, and that their death should have happened before 1050.Pritsak 1981:393 He suggests that they died in the Rus'-Byzantine War of 1043, for which

Vladimir of Novgorod Vladimir Yaroslavich (; ; 1020 – October 4, 1052) was Prince of Novgorod from 1036 until his death in 1052. He was the eldest son of Yaroslav I the Wise by Ingegerd Olofsdotter, a daughter of Olof Skötkonung, the king of Sweden. He is venerat ...

had recruited Varangians.Pritsak 1981:394

Notes

Sources

*Enoksen, Lars Magnar. (1998). ''Runor : historia, tydning, tolkning''. Historiska Media, Falun. *Harrison, D. & Svensson, K. (2007). ''Vikingaliv''. Fälth & Hässler, Värnamo. *Jansson, Sven B. (1980). ''Runstenar''. STF, Stockholm. *Pritsak, Omeljan. (1981). ''The origin of Rus. Cambridge, Mass.: Distributed by Harvard University Press for the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ragnvald Ingvarsson Viking warriors Varangian Guard 11th-century Byzantine military personnel 11th-century Vikings