Agne (English: ''Agni''), ''Hogne'' or ''Agni Skjálfarbondi'' was a semi-legendary king of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, of the House of Yngling.

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 he was the son of

Dag the Wise Dag the Wise or Dagr spaki was a mythological Swedish king of the House of Ynglings (dated to the 4th century by 16th-century historiographer Johannes Magnus). He was the son of Dyggvi, the former king. According to legend, he could understan ...

, and he was mighty and famous. He was also skilled in many ways. One summer, he went to

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

with his army where he pillaged. The

Finns Finns or Finnish people (, ) are a Baltic Finns, Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these cou ...

gathered a vast host under a chief named Frosti. A great battle ensued which Agne won and many Finns were killed together with Frosti. Agne then subdued all of Finland with his army, and captured not only great booty but also Frosti's daughter Skjalf and her kinsman Logi. Agne returned to Sweden and they arrived at Stocksund (

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

) where they put up their tent on the side of the river where it is flat. Agne had a

torc A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large rigid or stiff neck ring in metal, made either as a single piece or from strands twisted together. The great majority are open at the front, although some have hook and ring closures and a few hav ...

which is said to have belonged to his alleged great-great-great-grandfather Visbur. Agne married Skjalf. Skjalf asked Agne to honour her dead father Frosti with a great feast, which he granted. He invited a great many guests, who gladly arrived to visit the now even more famous Swedish king. They had a drinking competition in which Agne became very drunk. Skjalf saw her opportunity and asked Agne to take care of Visbur's

, which was around his neck. Agne bound it fast around his neck before he went to sleep. The king's tent was next to the woods and was under the branches of a tall tree for shade. When Agne was fast asleep, Skjalf took a rope which she attached to the torc. Then she had her men remove the tent, and she threw the rope over a bough. Then she told her men to pull the rope and they hanged Agne, avenging Skjalf's father. Skjalf and her men ran to the ships and escaped to Finland. Agne was buried at the place, now called Agnafit, which is east of the Tauren (the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

name for Södertörn) and west of Stocksund. ''Ynglingatal'' then gives Alrekr and Eiríkr as Agne's successors. The ''

Historia Norwegiæ ''Historia Norwegiæ'' is a short history of Norway written in Latin by an anonymous monk. The only extant manuscript is in the private possession of the Earl of Dalhousie, and is now kept in the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh. The manu ...

'' presents a Latin summary of ''Ynglingatal'', older than Snorri's quotation: Agne is incorrectly called ''Hogne''. Unlike ''Ynglingatal'', ''Historia Norwegiæ'' does not give

Dagr Dagr (Old Norse 'day')Lindow (2001:91). is the divine personification of the day in Norse mythology. He appears in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th cen ...

as Agne's predecessor, but Alrekr. Instead Alrekr is Agne's predecessor and Agne is succeeded by

Yngvi Old Norse Yngvi , Old High German Ing/Ingwi and Old English Ing are names that relate to a Lists of deities, theonym which appears to have been the older List of names of Freyr, name for the god Freyr. Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic Ingw ...

(incorrectly called ''Ingialdr''). The even earlier source ''

Íslendingabók (, , ; ) is a historical work dealing with early history of Iceland, Icelandic history. The author was an Icelandic priest, Ari Þorgilsson, working in the early 12th century. The work originally existed in two different versions but only the y ...

'' cites the line of descent in ''Ynglingatal'' and it gives the same line of succession as ''Historia Norwegiæ'': ''xii Alrekr. xiii Agni. xiiii Yngvi''. The location indicated by Snorri Sturluson as the place of Agne's death has a barrow called ''Kung Agnes hög'' (King Agne's barrow) in Lillhersby, Sollentuna. The barrow was excavated by

Oxenstierna The Oxenstierna family ( , ) is a Swedish nobility, Swedish noble family, originally from Småland in southern Sweden, and is part of the Swedish ''uradel'', the ancient nobility. History The Oxenstierna family held vast estates in Södermanl ...

and dated to c. 400.The entry ''Agne'' in Ohlmarks, Åke. (1982). Fornnordiskt lexikon. Tiden. Moreover, this barrow may be proof that there is somewhat of a historical core to King Agne's story as told in the sagas.

Notes

Primary sources

Ynglingatal ''Ynglingatal'' or ''Ynglinga tal'' (Old Norse: 'Enumeration of the Ynglingar') is a Skaldic poem cited by Snorri Sturluson in the ''Ynglinga saga'', the first saga of Snorri's ''Heimskringla''. Þjóðólfr of Hvinir (Thjodolf), who was a poet ...

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 ...

(part of the

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 ...

) * Historia Norwegiae

Secondary sources

Nerman, B. ''Det svenska rikets uppkomst''. Stockholm, 1925. {{Norse mythology Semi-legendary kings of Sweden