Battle of the Fýrisvellir
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Fýrisvellir was a battle for the throne of Sweden
which was fought in the 980s on the plain called Fýrisvellir
, where modern Uppsala
is situated, by Eric the Victorious and his nephew Styrbjörn the Strong
. It is mentioned in a number of medieval sources, such as Eyrbyggja saga
, Knýtlinga saga
, Hervarar saga
and Saxo Grammaticus
' Gesta Danorum
(Book 10), but the most detailed account is found in the short story Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa
.
had denied him on his father's death, a death of poisoning of which he suspected his uncle Eric.
Styrbjörn's method was to pillage far and wide in the newly created kingdom of Denmark
until its king Harald Bluetooth asked for a settlement. Harald gave Styrbjörn his daughter Tyra
as his wife and Styrbjörn went away, but he then returned to Denmark with 1000 longships
. He forced the Danes to give him 200 ships and whoever among them he saw fit to take with him, including the king himself. He then set sail for Sweden with his armada of longships.
, he sent the fiery cross
in all directions and amassed the leidang
at Uppsala
. Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker
, a friend of Eric, advised him to put stakes in the waterway which led to Uppsala. When Styrbjörn's navy arrived and saw that they could not sail further, Styrbjörn vowed never to leave Sweden, but to win or die. In order to encourage his men to fight to the death, he set the ships on fire. King Harald Bluetooth, however, did not want to take part in this and left with the Danish navy.
Styrbjörn swallowed his pride at this treachery and marched towards Uppsala with the Jomsvikings. When the Swedes wanted to stop their advance in the forest, Styrbjörn threatened to start a forest fire, and this convinced the Swedes to let Styrbjörn and his men pass through the forest without harm. Þorgnýr told king Eric to tie together cattle and harness them with spears and swords. When the enemy approached on the Fýrisvellir, thrall
s pushed the herd towards the Jomsvikings, which caused havoc among their ranks. However, Styrbjörn was an excellent warchief and restored order in his ranks. The fight lasted all day and in the evening there was a stalemate. The next day also ended in stalemate, even though King Eric had received large reinforcements.
During the night, Styrbjörn sacrificed to Thor
, but the red-bearded god showed himself angry and foretold a great defeat. Eric, on the other hand, went to the Temple at Uppsala
and sacrificed to Odin
, promising himself to him after ten years. A tall man in a blue cloak and a broad-brimmed hat showed himself to Eric. It was Odin, who gave Eric a cane and told him to throw it over the Jomsvikings and to say "I give all of you to Odin".
The third day, Eric obeyed Odin's command and a hail of arrows fell over the Jomsvikings, a hail that the men called "Odin's arrows". When Styrbjörn understood that it was all over, he screamed to his men to stand and fight, thrust his banner into the soil and rushed into the Swedish army with his best champions. Few men fled that day.
skald
named Þórvaldr Hjaltason
, who immediately composed a skaldic poem about the victory, for which the king rewarded him with a golden bracelet.
As a result of this battle, King Eric became known as "the Victorious".
Runestones are counted as historic documents about the events of the Viking Age in Scandinavia. The following four runestones mentions people who may have died in the battle. Note that the first runestone mentions a warleader named Tóki Gormsson and he may have been a son of the Danish king Gorm the Old
, an interpretation which fits the fact that Styrbjörn was allied with another son of Gorm, Harald Bluetooth.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
which was fought in the 980s on the plain called Fýrisvellir
Fyrisvellir
Fyrisvellir, Fyris Wolds or Fyrisvallarna was the marshy plain south of Gamla Uppsala where travellers had to leave the ships and walk to the Temple at Uppsala and the hall of the Swedish king....
, where modern Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
is situated, by Eric the Victorious and his nephew Styrbjörn the Strong
Styrbjörn the Strong
Styrbjörn the Strong was, according to late Norse sagas, the son of the Swedish king Olof, and the nephew of Olof's co-ruler and successor Eric the Victorious, who defeated and killed Styrbjörn at the Battle of Fyrisvellir...
. It is mentioned in a number of medieval sources, such as Eyrbyggja saga
Eyrbyggja saga
Eyrbyggja saga is one of the Icelanders' sagas. The name means the saga of the inhabitants of Eyrr, which is a farm on Snæfellsnes on Iceland. The name is slightly misleading as it deals also with the clans of Þórsnes and Alptafjörðr. The most central character is Snorri Þorgrímsson or Snorri goði...
, Knýtlinga saga
Knýtlinga saga
Knýtlinga saga is an Icelandic kings' saga written in the 1250s, which deals with the kings who ruled Denmark since the early 10th century....
, Hervarar saga
Hervarar saga
Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks is a legendary saga from the 13th century combining matter from several older sagas. It is a valuable saga for several different reasons beside its literary qualities. It contains traditions of wars between Goths and Huns, from the 4th century, and the last part is used as...
and Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus also known as Saxo cognomine Longus was a Danish historian, thought to have been a secular clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, foremost advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author of the first full history of Denmark.- Life :The Jutland Chronicle gives...
' Gesta Danorum
Gesta Danorum
Gesta Danorum is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus . It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history...
(Book 10), but the most detailed account is found in the short story Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa
Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa
Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa is a short story, a þáttr on the Swedish claimant and Jomsviking Styrbjörn the Strong preserved in the Flatey Book ....
.
Prelude
Styrbjörn had made himself the ruler of the Jomsvikings but wanted to amass an even greater force in order to take the crown of Sweden, which the Swedish ThingThing (assembly)
A thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
had denied him on his father's death, a death of poisoning of which he suspected his uncle Eric.
Styrbjörn's method was to pillage far and wide in the newly created kingdom of Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
until its king Harald Bluetooth asked for a settlement. Harald gave Styrbjörn his daughter Tyra
Tyra
-People:*Tyra Banks, an African-American former model, and creator/host of the long-running model series America's Next Top Model*Tyra Banxxx, an American pornographic actress*Tyra Bolling, an American singer who often goes by the stage names "Tyra" or "Tyra B"...
as his wife and Styrbjörn went away, but he then returned to Denmark with 1000 longships
Longships
Longships is the name given to a group of rocky islets situated approximately 1 miles west of Land's End, Cornwall, United Kingdom....
. He forced the Danes to give him 200 ships and whoever among them he saw fit to take with him, including the king himself. He then set sail for Sweden with his armada of longships.
Battle
When Eric the Victorious learnt that the navy had entered MälarenMälaren
Lake Mälaren is the third-largest lake in Sweden, after Lakes Vänern and Vättern. Its area is 1,140 km² and its greatest depth is 64 m. Mälaren spans 120 kilometers from east to west...
, he sent the fiery cross
Fiery cross
The Fiery cross is the English language term for a piece of wood, such as a baton, that North Europeans, e.g. Scotsmen and Scandinavians, used to send to rally people for things for defence or rebellion ....
in all directions and amassed the leidang
Leidang
The institution known as leiðangr , leidang , leding, , ledung , expeditio or sometimes lething , was a public levy of free farmers typical for medieval Scandinavians. It was a form of conscription to organise coastal fleets for seasonal excursions and in defence of the realm...
at Uppsala
Gamla Uppsala
Gamla Uppsala is a parish and a village outside Uppsala in Sweden. It had 16,231 inhabitants in 1991.As early as the 3rd century AD and the 4th century AD and onwards, it was an important religious, economic and political centre...
. Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker
Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker
Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker is the name of one of at least three generations of lawspeakers by the name Þorgnýr, who appear in the Heimskringla by the Icelandic scholar and chieftain Snorri Sturluson, and in the less known Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa and Hróa þáttr heimska...
, a friend of Eric, advised him to put stakes in the waterway which led to Uppsala. When Styrbjörn's navy arrived and saw that they could not sail further, Styrbjörn vowed never to leave Sweden, but to win or die. In order to encourage his men to fight to the death, he set the ships on fire. King Harald Bluetooth, however, did not want to take part in this and left with the Danish navy.
Styrbjörn swallowed his pride at this treachery and marched towards Uppsala with the Jomsvikings. When the Swedes wanted to stop their advance in the forest, Styrbjörn threatened to start a forest fire, and this convinced the Swedes to let Styrbjörn and his men pass through the forest without harm. Þorgnýr told king Eric to tie together cattle and harness them with spears and swords. When the enemy approached on the Fýrisvellir, thrall
Thrall
Thrall was the term for a serf or unfree servant in Scandinavian culture during the Viking Age.Thralls were the lowest in the social order and usually provided unskilled labor during the Viking era.-Etymology:...
s pushed the herd towards the Jomsvikings, which caused havoc among their ranks. However, Styrbjörn was an excellent warchief and restored order in his ranks. The fight lasted all day and in the evening there was a stalemate. The next day also ended in stalemate, even though King Eric had received large reinforcements.
During the night, Styrbjörn sacrificed to Thor
Thor
In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...
, but the red-bearded god showed himself angry and foretold a great defeat. Eric, on the other hand, went to the Temple at Uppsala
Temple at Uppsala
The Temple at Uppsala was a religious center in Norse paganism once located at what is now Gamla Uppsala , Sweden attested in Adam of Bremen's 11th century work Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum and in Heimskringla, written by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century...
and sacrificed to Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
, promising himself to him after ten years. A tall man in a blue cloak and a broad-brimmed hat showed himself to Eric. It was Odin, who gave Eric a cane and told him to throw it over the Jomsvikings and to say "I give all of you to Odin".
The third day, Eric obeyed Odin's command and a hail of arrows fell over the Jomsvikings, a hail that the men called "Odin's arrows". When Styrbjörn understood that it was all over, he screamed to his men to stand and fight, thrust his banner into the soil and rushed into the Swedish army with his best champions. Few men fled that day.
Aftermath
After the victory, King Eric mounted one of the royal mounds and promised a great reward to whoever who could compose a poem about the victory. Among his ranks was an IcelandicIcelanders
Icelanders are a Scandinavian ethnic group and a nation, native to Iceland.On 17 June 1944, when an Icelandic republic was founded the Icelanders became independent from the Danish monarchy. The language spoken is Icelandic, a North Germanic language, and Lutheranism is the predominant religion...
skald
Skald
The skald was a member of a group of poets, whose courtly poetry is associated with the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic leaders during the Viking Age, who composed and performed renditions of aspects of what we now characterise as Old Norse poetry .The most prevalent metre of skaldic poetry is...
named Þórvaldr Hjaltason
Þórvaldr Hjaltason
Þórvaldr Hjaltason was an Icelandic skald in the service of the Swedish king Eric the Victorious. He took part in the Battle of the Fýrisvellir against Styrbjörn the Strong and composed the following two lausavísur:...
, who immediately composed a skaldic poem about the victory, for which the king rewarded him with a golden bracelet.
As a result of this battle, King Eric became known as "the Victorious".
Mentions on runestones
Gorm the Old
Gorm the Old , also called Gorm the Sleepy , was the first historically recognized King of Denmark, reigning from to his death . He ruled from Jelling, and made the oldest of the Jelling Stones in honour of his wife Thyra. Gorm was born before 900 and died .-Ancestry and reign:Gorm is the reported...
, an interpretation which fits the fact that Styrbjörn was allied with another son of Gorm, Harald Bluetooth.
- The Hällestad Runestone DR 295 in Skåne says: "Áskell placed this stone in memory of Tóki Gormr's son, to him a faithful lord. He did not flee at Uppsala. Valiant men placed in memory of their brother the stone on the hill, steadied by runes. They went closest to Gormr's Tóki".
- The Sjörup RunestoneSjörup RunestoneThe Sjörup Runestone is a runestone in Scania, Sweden, from approximately 1000 AD that is classified as being in runestone style RAK.-History:...
, Skåne, relates: "Saxi placed this stone in memory of Ásbjörn Tófi's/Tóki's son, his partner. He did not flee at Uppsala, but slaughtered as long as he had a weapon". - On the Högby RunestoneHögby RunestoneThe Runestones of Högby are runestones located in the village of Högby in Östergötland, Sweden, but the name Högby runestone usually refers to the notable Ög 81. It is famous for its eloquent epitaph in fornyrðislag for all the five sons of a man. The runestone was found when the church was...
, it says: "The good freeman Gulli had five sons. The brave champion Asmund fell on the Föri". - The Karlevi RunestoneKarlevi RunestoneThe Karlevi Runestone, designated as Öl 1 by Rundata, is commonly dated to the late 10th century and located near the Kalmarsund straight in Karlevi on the island of Öland, Sweden...
, on the island of ÖlandÖland' is the second largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area of 1,342 km² and is located in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Småland. The island has 25,000 inhabitants, but during Swedish Midsummer it is visited by up to 500,000 people...
near the water, was possibly raised by Danish warriors in memory of their war chief on their way from Uppsala.