Anund

Brøt-Anundr (Old East Norse) or Braut-Önundr (Old West Norse) (meaning "trail-blazer Anund" or "Anund the land-clearer") was a legendary Swedish king of the House of Yngling who reigned in the mid-seventh century. The name would have been Proto-Norse *"Anuwinduz" [http://www.sofi.se/GetDoc?meta_id=1464] , meaning "winning ancestor".

In his "Ynglinga saga", Snorri Sturluson relates that Anund succeeded his father Ingvar on the Swedish throne, and after his father's wars against Danish vikings and Estonian pirates, peace reigned over Sweden and there were good harvests. Anund was a popular king who became very rich, not only because of the peace and the good harvests but also because he avenged his father in Estonia. That country was ravaged far and wide and in the autumn Anund returned with great riches.

In those days Sweden was dominated by vast and uninhabited forests, so Anund started making roads and clearing land and vast districts were settled by Swedes. Consequently he was named "Bröt-Anund". He made a house for himself in every district and used to stay as a guest in many homes.

One autumn, King Anund was travelling between his halls (see Husbys) and came to a place called "Himinheiðr" (sky heath) between two mountains. He was surprised by a landslide which killed him.

After presenting this story of Anund, Snorri Sturluson quotes Þjóðólfr of Hvinir's "Ynglingatal":

The "Historia Norwegiæ" presents a Latin summary of "Ynglingatal", older than Snorri's quotation (continuing after Ingvar):

The original text of "Ynglingatal" is hard to interprete, and it only says that Anund died "und Himinfjöllum" (under the sky mountains) and that stones were implied. According to "Historia Norwegiae", he was murded by his brother Sigvard "in Himinherthy" (which the source says means "the fields of the sky", "cœli campus". Such a place name is not known and Birger Nerman suggests that the original place of death was under the "sky mountains", i.e. under the clouds (cf. the etymology of "cloud"). Consequently, he may have been killed outdoors, by his brother and with a stone. In the translation above, Laing has made the same interpretation as Nerman.

"Thorsteins saga Víkingssonar" says that Anund was not the son of Ingvar, but the son of his grandfather Östen. It also relates that he had a brother named Olaf who was the king of Fjordane.

All sources say that Anund was the father of the infamous Ingjald ill-ruler.

Notes

Primary sources

*Ynglingatal
*Ynglinga saga (part of the Heimskringla)
*Historia Norwegiae
*Thorsteins saga Víkingssonar

econdary sources

Nerman, B. "Det svenska rikets uppkomst". Stockholm, 1925.