Ulleråker Hundred

Ulleråker Hundred, or "Ulleråkers härad", was a hundred of Uppland and Uppsala County in Sweden.

The area of the hundred stretches from the border of Hagunda hundred in the south-west to the Rivers Jumkil and Fyris in the northwest and Lake Ekoln in the south-east. The area of the hundred was described by Wilhelm Tham in 1850 as consisting of mostly unforested fields with occasional swampy areas around the streams which flow into the Fyris or Lake Ekoln.

The medieval "Ullarakers hundare" (the name later changed into "Ulleråker") had its name after "Ullaraker", the place of the "thing", which was close to the Church of the Holy Trinity or the Castle in Uppsala. The hundred consisted of the parishes of Bondkyrka, Börje, Jumkil, Läby, Näs and Vänge.

The hundred was (1920) part of the middle court district of Uppsala County, Tiunda "tingslag" and Tiunda bailliwick. In the 19th and early 20th centuries it consisted of the parishes of Bondkyrka, Börje, Uppsala-Näs, Vänge, Läby, and one half of Jumkil, of which the other half belonged to Bälinge Hundred.

The antiquities in Ulleråker Hundred were described by the antiquarian Johan Peringskiöld in his large, illustrated work "Monumenta ullerakeriensia", published in 1719.

Ulleråker is also the name of a deanery in the Archdiocese of Uppsala.

In Old Norse sources

*According to Snorri Sturluson, Olof Skötkonung's daughter Ingegerd Olofsdotter had a farm in Ulleråker. [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Saga_of_Olaf_Haraldson%2C_Part_II#Eilif_of_Gautland.27s_Murder] .
*It was also the residence of a much earlier Swedish princess in "Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar": "Konungr mælti: "Frétt hefi ek, at hún er bæði vitr ok væn, ok svá er mér flutt, at svá sé hún stór ok stolt, at hún vili, at engi maðr kvenkenni hana ok hún sé tekin til konungs yfir þriðjung Svíþjóðar ok hennar atseta sé á Ullarakri ok haldi þar hirð sem aðrir konungar" [http://www.snerpa.is/net/forn/hr-gaut.htm] .
*It is moreover, mentioned in "Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar", where it is said that it had a jarl named Herfinn whose daughter Ingeborg was the maid of a Swedish district king named Ring: "Sú hét Ingibjörg, er næst henni gekk, dóttir Herfinns jarls af Ullarakri." [http://www.snerpa.is/net/forn/thorstei.htm]
*It is also mentioned in "Krákumál" as the site where king Östen Beli fell: "Hjoggum vér með hjörvi. Hótt grenjuðu rottar, áðr á Ullarakri Eysteinn konungr felli".

The name

The name is first recorded in Old Norse literature as "Ullarakr" (the late 12th century in the case of "Krákumál", and 1225 in the case of "Heimskringla"). In Sweden, where written sources appear much later than on Iceland, the first appearance is in 1298 as "Vllarakir". The first element is the genitive case of the name of the Norse god Ullr. The last element is "åker" m "field, acre".

References

*"Nordisk familjebok", vol. 30 [http://runeberg.org/nfcj/0499.html]
*Wilhelm Tham, "Beskrifning öfver Upsala län" (1850), pp. 154ff. [http://runeberg.org/thamupps/0158.html]