Notes
Note N169
Index
Agne, Agni, Hogne or Agni Skjálfarbondi was a mythological king of Sweden , of the House of Yngling .
Agne being hanged by his wife Skjalf. Artwork by Hugo Hamilton, 1830
Agne's barrow in Sollentuna , Sweden .
Snorri Sturluson relates that he was the son of Dag the Wise , and he was mighty and famous. He was also skilled in many ways.
One summer, he went to Finland with his army where he pillaged. The Finns gathered a vast host under a chief named Frosti .[1]
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 .[2]
Agne returned to Sweden and they arrived at Stocksund (Stockholm ) where they put up their tent on the side of the river where it is flat. Agne had a torc which had belonged to Agne's great-great-great-grandfather Visbur (who, interestingly, was the son of Skjalf's niece Drífa). Although, they were related, Agne married Skjalf who became pregnant with two sons, Erik and Alrik .
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 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 torc 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, leaving her sons behind.
Agne was buried at the place and it is presently called Agnafit , which is east of the Tauren (the Old Norse name for Södertörn ) and west of Stocksund.
Þat tel ek undr, ef Agna her Skalfar ráð at sköpum þóttu, þar gœðing með gullmeni Loga dís at lopti hóf svalan hest Signýjar vers.[3][4] How do ye like the high-souled maid, Who, with the grim Fate-goddess' aid, Avenged her sire? - made Swithiod's king Through air in golden halter swing? How do ye like her, Agne's men? Think ye that any chief again Will court the fate your chief befell, To ride on wooden horse to hell?.[5][6]
Ynglingatal then gives Alrekr and Eiríkr as Agne's successors.
The Historia Norwegiæ presents a Latin summary of Ynglingatal, older than Snorri's quotation:
Qui [Dagr] genuit Alrik; hunc frater suus Erikr freno percussit ad mortem. Alricr autem genuit Hogna; istum uxor sua juxta locum Agnafit, qui nunc Stokholmr dicitur, propriis manibus interfecit suspendendo ad arborem cum catena aurea. Cujus filius Ingialdr [...][7] This man [Dag] engendered Alrek, who was beaten to death with a bridle by his brother, Eirik. Alrek was father to Agne, whose wife dispatched him with her own hands by hanging him on a tree with a golden chain near a place called Agnafit. His son, Ingjald, [...][8]
Agne is incorrectly called Hogne[7]. Unlike Ynglingatal, Historia Norwegiæ does not give Dagr as Agne's predecessor, but Alrekr . Instead Alrekr is Agne's predecessor and Agne is succeeded by Yngvi (incorrectly called Ingialdr[7]). The even earlier source Íslendingabók cites the line of descent in Ynglingatal and it gives the same line of succession as Historia Norwegiæ: xii Alrekr. xiii Agni. xiiii Yngvi[9].
The location indicated by Snorri Sturluson as the place of Agne's death has a barrow called Agnehögen (Agne's barrow) in Lillhersby . The barrow was excavated by Oxenstierna and dated to c. 400.[10]
Notes
Note N170
Index
Dag the Wise or Dagr Spaka (2nd or 3rd century AD) was a mythological Swedish king of the House of Ynglings . He was the son of Dyggvi , the former king. According to legend, he could understand the speech of birds and had a sparrow that gathered news for him from many lands. When the bird was killed on one of these trips, Dag invaded Reidgotaland (considering the date and location, apparently Gothiscandza ), in order to avenge it. There he was ambushed by a thrall and killed.
The earliest two versions based on Ynglingatal , i.e. Historia Norwegiæ and Íslendingabók (see below) say that Dag was succeeded by his son Alrekr and Eírikr who in their turn were succeeded by Dag's grandson Agne (in Historia Norwegiæ incorrectly called Hogne[1]):
Historia Norwegiæ :
Cui [Dyggui] successit in regnum filius ejus Dagr, quem Dani in quodam vado, quod Sciotanvath vel Wapnavath dicitur, dum passeris injurias vindicare conaretur, publico bello occiderunt. Qui genuit Alrik; hunc frater suus Erikr freno percussit ad mortem. Alricr autem genuit Hogna[2] His [Dyggve's] son Dag succeeded to his throne; he was killed by the Danes in a royal battle at a ford named Skjotansvad, while he was trying to avenge the violence done to a sparrow. This man engendered Alrek, who was beaten to death with a bridle by his brother, Eirik. Alrek was father to Agne, [...][3]
Íslendingabók only lists the line of succession: x Dyggvi. xi Dagr. xii Alrekr. xiii Agni. xiiii Yngvi''[4].
However, in the Ynglinga saga , Snorri Sturluson gives Agne as Dag's son and successor, and the two brothers Alrekr and Eiríkr as his grandsons.
This is what Snorri tells of Dag:
Dagr hét son Dyggva konungs, er konungdóm tók eptir hann; hann var maðr svá spakr, at hann skildi fugls rödd. Hann átti spörr einn, er honum sagði mörg tíðindi; flaug hann á ymsi lönd. Þat var eitt sinn, at spörrinn flaug á Reiðgotaland, á bœ þann, er á Vörva heitir; hann flaug í akr karls ok fékk þar matar. Karl kom þar ok tók upp stein ok laust spörrinn til bana. Dagr konungr varð illa við, er spörrinn kom eigi heim; gékk hann þá til sónarblóts til fréttar, ok fékk þau svör, at spörr hans var drepinn á Vörva. Síðan bauð hann út her miklum ok fór til Gotlands; en er hann kom á Vörva, gékk hann upp með her sinn ok herjaði: fólkit flýði víðs vegar undan. Dagr konungr sneri herinum til skipa, er kveldaði, ok hafði hann drepit mart fólk ok mart handtekit. En er þeir fóru yfir á nökkura, þar sem heitir Skjótansvað eða Vápnavað, þá rann fram ór skógi einn verkþræll á árbakkann ok skaut heytjúgu í lið þeirra, ok kom í höfuð konungi skotit; féll hann þegar af hestinum ok fékk bana. Í þann tíma var sá höfðingi gramr kallaðr er herjaði, en hermennirnir gramir.[5] King Dygve's son, called Dag, succeeded to him, and was so wise a man that he understood the language of birds. He had a sparrow which told him much news, and flew to different countries. Once the sparrow flew to Reidgotaland, to a farm called Varva, where he flew into the peasant's corn-field and took his grain. The peasant came up, took a stone, and killed the sparrow. King Dag was ill-pleased that the sparrow did not come home; and as he, in a sacrifice of expiation, inquired after the sparrow, he got the answer that it was killed at Varva. Thereupon he ordered a great army, and went to Gotland ; and when he came to Varva he landed with his men and plundered, and the people fled away before him. King Dag returned in the evening to his ships, after having killed many people and taken many prisoners. As they were going across a river at a place called Skjotan's [the Weapon's] Ford, a labouring thrall came running to the river-side, and threw a hay- fork into their troop. It struck the king on the head, so that he fell instantly from his horse and died. In those times the chief who ravaged a country was called Gram , and the men-at-arms under him Gramer.[6][7]
Then Snorri quoted Ynglingatal (9th century):
Frák at Dagr dauða orði frægðar fúss of fara skyldi, þá er valteins til Vörva kom spakfrömuðr spörs at hefna. Ok þat orð á austrvega vísa ferð frá vígi bar, at þann gram af geta skyldi slöngviþref Sleipnis verðar.[8][9] What news is this that the king's men, Flying eastward through the glen, Report? That Dag the Brave, whose name Is sounded far and wide by Fame -- That Dag, who knew so well to wield The battle-axe in bloody field, Where brave men meet, no more will head The brave - that mighty Dag is dead Varva was wasted with the sword, And vengeance taken for the bird -- The little bird that used to bring News to the ear of the great king. Varva was ravaged, and the strife Was ended, when the monarch's life Was ended too - the great Dag fell By the hay-fork of a base thrall [10][11]
The fact that Skjótansvað/Vápnavað appear both in Ynglinga saga and in Historia Norwegiæ's earlier summary of Ynglingatal but not in Snorri's later quotation from it, suggests that all of Ynglingatal was not presented by him.