Ingvar

:"This article deals with the legendary Swedish king Ingvar. For a treatment of the name, see Ingvar (name)."

Ingvar or Yngvar Harra, Proto-Norse *"Ingu-Hariz" (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 Sölvi.

Snorri Sturluson relates in his "Ynglinga saga" that King Ingvar, Östen's son, was a great warrior who often spent time patrolling the shores of his kingdom fighting Danes and pirates from the east. King Ingvar finally came to a peace agreement with the Danes and could take care of the Estonian pirates.

He consequently started pillaging in Estonia in retribution, and one summer he arrived at a place called Stein (see also Sveigder). The Estonians ("sýslu kind") assembled a great army in the interior and attacked King Ingvar in a great battle. The Estonian forces were too powerful and Ingvar fell and the Swedish forces retreated. Ingvar was buried in a mound at a place called "Stone" or "Hill fort" ("at Steini") on the shores of Estonia ("Aðalsýsla").

Snorri then quotes a stanza from Þjóðólfr of Hvinir's "Ynglingatal":

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

"Ynglingatal" only mentions the location "Sysla" (area paying tribute), "Historia Norwegiae" only mentions that he died during a campaign on the island "Eycilla", i.e. "Eysysla" (Ösel). In addition to his son Anund (Broutonund), it also adds second son named Sigvard.

"Thorsteins saga Víkingssonar" skips Ingvar's generation and makes his father Östen the father of Anund and grandfather of Ingjald. It adds a second son to Östen named Olaf, who was the king of Fjordane in Norway.

Notes

Primary sources

*Ynglingatal
*Ynglinga saga (part of the Heimskringla)
*Historia Norwegiae
*Thorsteins saga Víkingssonar

econdary sources

Nerman, B. "Det svenska rikets uppkomst". Stockholm, 1925.