Semi-legendary kings of Sweden
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The semi-legendary kings of Sweden are the long line of Swedish kings who preceded Eric the Victorious, according to sources such as the Norse Sagas, Beowulf, Rimbert, Adam of Bremen and Saxo Grammaticus, but who are of disputed historicity, due to the fact that many of them appear in more or less unreliable sources. They are called sagokungar in Swedish, a name that intentionally has the double meanings "fairy tale kings" and "Saga kings". Many belong to the House of Ynglings/Scylfings, others belong to the House of Ragnar Lodbrok and the house of Skjöldung (Scylding).
These kings belonged to an ancient dynasty mentioned in both the Norse sagas and in Beowulf. The preceding monarchs are mythological in character and have been given a separate section in mythological kings of Sweden. The kings mentioned in this article are slightly more credible as some of them appear in several independent, though much later sources.
- continued from Mythological kings of Sweden)
- Egil (or Ongentheow) (late 5th c. - early 6th c.)
- Ottar (Ohthere) (early 6th c.)
- Ale (Onela) (early 6th c.)
- Adils (Eadgils) (ca 530-ca 575)
- Östen (late 6th c.)
- Sölve (late 6th c.)
- Ingvar (late 6th c.)
- Anund (early 7th c.)
- Ingjald (mid 7th c.)
House of Skjöldung (
These are kings who succeeded the Yngling dynasty and who were part of the legends of Harald Hildetand and Ragnar Lodbrok. Björn Ironside should be included here, but he is considered to be the founder of the next dynasty. According to the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, Sigurd Ring belonged to the Ynglings and he was the son of Ingjald.
- Ivar Vidfamne (ca 655-ca 695)
- Harald Hildetand (ca 705-750)
- Sigurd Ring (ca 750 (sole ruler)-ca 770)
- Ragnar Lodbrok (ca 770-ca 785)
- Östen Beli (late 8th c.)
There are some differences between the sources, but they are unlikely to be due to the existence of competing Swedish kings, since Sweden was an elective monarchy. The most logical explanation is the tradition of co-rulership where two brothers were elected kings at the same time. The sources only seem to mention the details when there was civil war (Björn at Hauge and Anund Uppsale) or problems of succession (Eric the Victorious, Olof (II) Björnsson and Styrbjörn Starke). The names within parentheses are kings that are not mentioned in the recital of Swedish kings in Hervarar saga.
- Björn Ironside (late 8th c. - early 9th c.)
- Erik Björnsson, perhaps ruling with his brother Refil (early 9th c.)
- Erik Refilsson (early 9th c.)
- Björn at Hauge or Björn på Håga (ca 829-ca 831) and Anund Uppsale.
- (Olof, mid 9th c., ruled 854)
- Erik Anundsson (Erik Emundsson or Erik Weatherhat?, d. 882)
- (Ring)
- (Erik Ringsson)
- (Emund Eriksson, mid 10th c.)
- Björn (III) Eriksson (second half of the 10th c.)
- Eric the Victorious (985-995) and Olof (II) Björnsson (second half of the 10th c.)
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