Håkan the Red

Håkan the Red (in Swedish: Håkan Röde) was a king of Sweden reigning for about a decade in the second half of the 11th century."Håkan Röde" in "Nationalencyklopedin":] From 1079 he was succeeded by Inge the Elder.Fact|date=February 2007

According to Encyclopædia Britannica: "At the end of the Viking Age [approximately 1050] , Sweden remained a loose federation of provinces. The old family of kings died out in 1060; after the death of the last of these kings' son-in-law, Stenkil, in 1066, a civil war broke out. Around 1080 Stenkil's sons, Ingi and Halsten, ruled, [...] ." ["Encyclopædia Britannica" (15th edition, 1984). Macropedia vol. 16: "History of Scandinavia: I. Scandinavia to 1523: From 1050 to the Union of Kalmar: Sweden", p.308.] If "civil war" is an appropriate characterisation of the period from 1066 to 1080, the rulers of that epoch would be in the grey area between "king" and "warlord". Describing this period for Sweden as a whole in a linear translatio imperii kind of regnal succession, can then only be achieved at least partially based on speculative historical reconstruction, which appears to have happened in diverging directions from the early 13th century on, at the latest.

Adam of Bremen

A scholion in Adam of Bremen's "History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen" (written 1070s-early 1080s) says that Håkan was elected king after Stenkil's son Halsten had been deposed, and after Anund Gårdske also had been rejected. [Adam of Bremen, "History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen", English translation by F.J. Tschan, Columbia UP, 2002, ISBN 0-231-12575-5.]

Regnal list of the "Westrogothic law"

According to the regnal list of the "Westrogothic law", Håkan the Red would have ruled 13 years, as Stenkil's "predecessor".

agas

In "Magnus Barefoot's Saga", a part of Snorri Sturluson's "Heimskringla" (1225), he is given as the "successor" of Stenkil (who died in 1066):

Steinkel, the Swedish king, died about the same time as the two Haralds fell, and the king who came after him in
Svithjod was called Håkan. Afterwards Inge, a son of Steinkel,was king, [...] [http://www.heimskringla.no/original/heimskringla/sagamagnuskonungsberfoetts.php "Saga Magnús konungs berfœtts"] , in "Heimskringla" (W. Schultz, 1869-1872) at "Norrøne Tekster og Kvad". English translation: [http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Heimskringla/barefoot.html "Magnus Barefoot's Saga"] from "Heimskringla" at the "Online Medieval & Classical Library".]

Similarly, in "Hervarar saga" (13th century):

Steinkel had a son called Ingi, who became King of Sweden after Håkan. [http://www.heimskringla.no/original/fornaldersagaene/hervararsaga.php "Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks"] , Guðni Jónsson's and Bjarni Vilhjálmsson's edition at "Norrøne Tekster og Kvad". English translation by N. Kershaw: [http://www.home.ix.netcom.com/%7Ekyamazak/myth/norse/kershaw/Kershaw1s-hervor-and-heithrek.htm "The Saga of Hervör and Heithrek"] in "Stories and Ballads of the Far Past, translated from the Norse (Icelandic and Faroese)". Cambridge University Press, 1921.]

Runestone

Presumably it was Håkan the Red who ordered the carving of a runestone found in Hovgården (Adelsö island in Lake Mälaren, Uppland, Sweden). The Rundata ID of this runestone is U 11. [ [http://www.canit.se/~griffon/diverse/runes/stenar/u11.htm U 11, Hovgården, Adelsö] by Ingrid Karlmar and Urban Fredriksson, 27 February 1996.]

Notes and references