becausedamnsun replied to your post “becausedamnsun replied to your post “There is a myth with Røskva and...”
I'm from Denmark, and the one with the corssdressing is also a big hit here or at least it was for me. But I have never heard the stories from Uppsala. But I was also the kid after julekalenderen Jul i Valhal that went full on nerd in the nordic mythology.
oh the ones about the kings of uppsala is one of snorres stories. it is when he lists mythological kings, he beginns in “the kingdom of sweden/svitjod” (which ofcourse really make no sense for iron age scandinavia haha because there were no kingdom of sweden during the iron age, but he is writing from his medieval icelandic pov). WELL anyway, in he starts the listing of mythological kings in uppsala, sweden (which is right next to Stockholm btw. so basically places some mythic king in the power centre of sweden when snorre were alive).
well anyway, he list these kings as “ynglingätten”, and then he just keeps going, and starts listing relationships with norwegian kings AND well his final destination is ofcourse to connect all these mythological royal families with iceland lol.
but basically he takes us on a little poetic mythological trip of the nordic countries. and we know, he is not like, just totally making up all these myths on the spot, because the places he mention in sweden, are indeed real place names for locations in sweden which he has put vaguelly on the right spot.
and this knowledge of obscure small villages in the swedish, can not just be explained with snorre owning a map, because we are often talking small small places. THAT being said, ofcourse, the kings he talk about are mythological, and there were no such thing as a swedish kingdom during the iron age. but ya know, east-south scandinavia still existed haha, even if there were no swedish kingdom!
this stories were also often repeated by swedes of like, the 16th-19th century, who took them as the truth, and used it to distance sweden from danish rule after the union of kalmar. which is also why i must point out they are not real haha. some swedes that have had *cough* old-fashioned *chough* history education, are not aware of that these swedish kings are just... mythological, not real.
Snorre wrote the saga of the ynglingeätten in heimskringla. the story is called “the yngling saga”. here is a excerpt from it.
Snorre goes on to describe the gods. Snorre follow a common medieval convention here, were he tries to explain all pre-christian gods of europe as being real life kings. which is why, Odin suddenly here is king of Swithjod (Svitjod/Sweden). this was most likely NOT how the story were originally told haha.
Odin died in his bed in Swithiod; and when he was near his death
he made himself be marked with the point of a spear, and said he
was going to Godheim, and would give a welcome there to all his
friends, and all brave warriors should be dedicated to him; and
the Swedes believed that he was gone to the ancient Asgaard, and
would live there eternally. Then began the belief in Odin, and
the calling upon him.
still we are in the realm of myth, but now suddenly a real place shows up! Upsal (most likely referncing uppsala fields/uppsala the settlement):
Frey took the kingdom after Njord, and was called drot by the
Swedes, and they paid taxes to him. He was, like his father,
fortunate in friends and in good seasons. Frey built a great
temple at Upsal, made it his chief seat, and gave it all his
taxes, his land, and goods. Then began the Upsal domains, which
have remained ever since.
FINALLY THAT YNGVE SHOW UP!! ALSO, THERE IS SIBLING RIVARLY! and people mentioned are not only literal gods anymore. also snorre here starts listing names, and family relations, in that classic way too long way of norse sagas:
Alric's sons, Yngve and Ali, then succeeded to the kingly power
in Sweden. Yngve was a great warrior, always victorious;
handsome, expert in all exercises, strong and very sharp in
battle, generous and full of mirth; so that he was both renowned
and beloved.
Alf was a silent, harsh, unfriendly man, and sat at
home in the land, and never went out on war expeditions. His
mother was called Dageid, a daughter of King Dag the Great, from
whom the Dagling family is descended. King Alf had a wife named
Bera, who was the most agreeable of women, very brisk and gay.
One autumn Yngve, Alric's son, had arrived at Upsal from a viking
cruise by which he was become very celebrated. He often sat long
in the evening at the drinking-table; but Alf went willingly to
bed very early.
Queen Bera sat often till late in the evening,
and she and Yngve conversed together for their amusement; but Alf
soon told her that she should not sit up so late in the evening,
but should go first to bed, so as not to waken him. She replied,
that happy would be the woman who had Yngve instead of Alf for
her husband; and as she often repeated the same, he became very
angry.
One evening Alf went into the hall, where Yngve and Bera
sat on the high seat speaking to each other. Yngve had a short
sword upon his knees, and the guests were so drunk that they did
not observe the king coming in.
King Alf went straight to the high seat, drew a sword from under his cloak, and pierced his brother Yngve through and through. Yngve leaped up, drew his short sword, and gave Alf his death-wound; so that both fell deadon the floor. Alf and Yngve were buried under mounds in Fyrisvold. Thus tells Thjodolf of it: --
"I tell you of a horrid thing,
A deed of dreadful note I sing --
How by false Bera, wicked queen,
The murderous brother-hands were seen
Each raised against a brother's life;
How wretched Alf with bloody knife
Gored Yngve's heart, and Yngve's blade
Alf on the bloody threshold laid.
Can men resist Fate's iron laws?
They slew each other without cause."
ah the years swedish archeologists spend looking for this dudes grave mound in uppsala lol. but anyway, now the majority of swedish archeologists consider this mythological, and that those historical archeologists desperatly looking for real life proofs of these stories were a bit..... to obsesses with finding a “glorious past of sweden.”
Sources
translation used of “the saga of ynglingätten”
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/heim/02ynglga.htm
about ynglings saga, swedish wiki article. rec this for being a pretty good wiki article, if you do not get a headache from reading all that swedish! (which i would not blame you for, trying to adapt to danish and norwegian spelling rules, can sometimes be lots of work)
https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ynglinga%C3%A4tten
