Harald Valdarsson, also known as Harald the Old (Old Norse: Harald hinn Gamli, born circa 568) appears only by name in Hversu Noregr byggðist, but his father, sons and their descendants played a central role in the politics of Scandinavian legends.
Contents
-
Hversu Noregr byggðist 1
-
Skjöldunga saga 2
-
Ynglinga saga 3
-
Hervarar saga 4
Hversu Noregr byggðist
Hversu Noregr byggðist tells that he was the son of Valdar, who was the son of Hróarr (i.e. king Hroðgar of Beowulf), and Harald was the father of Halfdan the Valiant and the grandfather of Ivar Vidfamne.
Skjöldunga saga
Skjöldunga saga tells that the same Valdar (i.e. Harald's father) disputed that Rörek, the cousin of Hróarr (Hroðgar) should succeed Hrólfr Kraki (Hroðulf) as the king of the Daner. After the war, Rörek took Zealand, while Valdar took Scania.
Ynglinga saga
In his Ynglinga saga, Snorri Sturluson wrote that Harald's son Halfdan the Valiant was the father of Ivar Vidfamne. Halfdan's brother was king Guðröðr of Scania. Guðröðr married Åsa, the daughter of the Swedish king Ingjald illråde (Ill-ruler) and she prodded Guðröðr to murder Halfdan. She was said to later cause Guðröðr's death as well, and fled to her father's protection. Afterwards, people called her Åsa Ill-ruler like her father Ingjald.
Halfdan's son Ivar Vidfamne mustered a large army and besieged Ingjald and his daughter at Ræning, whereupon the two committed suicide by burning themselves to death inside the hall.
Hervarar saga
Whereas Hversu and Ynglinga saga have no information about Halfdan's mother (who was presumably Harald's wife), Hervarar saga provides the information that she was Hild, the daughter of the Gothic king Heiðrekr Ulfhamr, the son of Angantyr who defeated the Huns.
It then tells that Halfdan's son Ivar Vidfamne attacked Ingjald Ill-ruler, which led to Ingjald's suicide by burning down his own hall at Ræning together with all his retinue.
This article was sourced from Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. World Heritage Encyclopedia content is assembled from numerous content providers, Open Access Publishing, and in compliance with The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Public Library of Science, The Encyclopedia of Life, Open Book Publishers (OBP), PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and USA.gov, which sources content from all federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government publication portals (.gov, .mil, .edu). Funding for USA.gov and content contributors is made possible from the U.S. Congress, E-Government Act of 2002.
Crowd sourced content that is contributed to World Heritage Encyclopedia is peer reviewed and edited by our editorial staff to ensure quality scholarly research articles.
By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. World Heritage Encyclopedia™ is a registered trademark of the World Public Library Association, a non-profit organization.