Eystein Halfdansson (725 - 780)

Solveig Halfdansdotter, Eysteins Hardråde's wife wife

Hogne Eysteinsson, Earl of Trondheim son

Frode Eysteinsson son

Asa Eysteinsdotter daughter

Halfdan Eysteinson son

Trond Haraldson, of Hålogaland father

N Sigurdsdatter mother

N.N. Bårdsdatter stepmother

Åsa Trondsdatter, of Hålogaland half sister

About Eystein Hardråde «the Severe» Trondsson, Konge over Hedmark og Opplandene

(Osten, Eystein) Øystein Hardråde (Eysteinn hinn harðráða)

(In English: Eystein the Severe)

King in part of Norway: Hedmark

http://lind.no/nor/index.asp?lang=gb&emne=nor&person=%D8ystein%20Hardr%E5de&list=&vis=

Nicknames:

"Fret", "Fart", "The Fart", "Øystein Halvdansson /Fret/", "/Fret/", "Fretr", "of Vestfold", "Eysteinn Fart", "an Old Norse name", "possibly meaning "the swift""

Occupation: Konge i Romerike/Vestfold, nicknamed "The Fart", King of Norway, Kung av Vestfold och romerike, Ruled 750-80

Immediate Family

Hild (Hildi) Eiriksdotter wife

Halvdan Eysteinsson «the Meek» den Milde son

Asa Østeinsdottir daughter

Harold Østeinsson son

Geva von Westfold daughter

Østein Heithmork son

King Olaf son

King Siegfried ROMERIKE

son

Halfdan Olafsson «Whiteshanks» Kvitbein father

Asa Eysteinsdotter mother

Gudrød Halfdansson brother

Eystein Halfdansson (Old Norse: Eysteinn Hálfdansson) was the son of Halfdan Hvitbeinn of the House of Yngling according to Heimskringla. He inherited the throne of Romerike and Vestfold.

His wife was Hild, the daughter of the king of Vestfold, Erik Agnarsson. Erik had no son, so Eystein inherited Vestfold.

Eystein died while pillaging in Varna. King Skjöld of Varna, a great warlock, arrived at the beach and saw the sails of Eystein's ships. He waved his cloak and blew into it which caused a boom of one ship to swing and hit Eystein so that he fell overboard and drowned. His body was salvaged and buried in a mound. Eystein was succeeded by his son Halfdan the Mild.

Preceded by Halfdan Hvitbeinn Head of the House of Yngling

Succeeded by Halfdan the Mild

The Ynglings were the oldest known Scandinavian dynasty. It can refer to the following clans:

The Scylfings (Old Norse: Skilfingar), the semi-legendary royal Swedish clan during the Age of Migrations, with kings such as Eadgils, Onela and Ohthere. When Beowulf and Ynglingatal were composed sometime in the eighth-tenth centuries, the respective scop and skald expected his audience to have a great deal of background information about these kings, which is shown in the allusiveness of the references.

The Fairhair dynasty, descending from the kings of Oppland, Norway. According to surviving early sources, such as Ynglingatal and Íslendingabók, these kings were descended from the Swedish Scylfings of Uppland, Sweden.

The House of Munsö, a Swedish dynasty. The earliest kings of this dynasty that historians generally agree are historical are Eric the Victorious and Olof Skötkonung.

Some early kings were probably mythical, whereas others probably existed in real life. Especially, Egil, Ottar, Ale and Adils are mentioned in several sources and are very likely to have been real kings

In the Scandinavian sources they are the descendants of Yngvi-Frey of Vanaheim. Yngling means descendant of Frey, and in the Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus they are called the sons of Frey.

Several of these kings appear in Beowulf: Eadgils (Adils), Onela (Ale), and Ohthere (Ottar Vendelkråka), but here they are called Scylfings (see the Beowulf section below). Snorri Sturluson hints at a less divine origin in Skáldskaparmál for this dynasty: One war-king was named Skelfir; and his house is called the House of Skilfings: his kindred is in the Eastern Region (Sweden is the eastern part of Scandinavia, and the Swedish kings could be called east kings).

Another origin for the name skilfing is possible: Snorri described Erik and Alrik, the sons of Skjalf to be the de facto ancestors of this Norse clan.

The kings who resided at Upsal had been the supreme chiefs over the whole Swedish dominions until the death of Agne, when, as before related, the kingdom came to be divided between brothers (Alrek and Erik). After that time the dominions and kingly powers were spread among the branches of the family as these increased; but some kings cleared great tracts of forest-land, and settled them, and thereby increased their domains

From Sweden to Norway

According to Snorri Sturluson, the dynasty led the settlement of the Swedish provinces and established themselves as the kings of its provinces, accepting the overlordship of the Swedish king at Uppsala, until the dynasty all but exterminated itself with Ingjald Ill-Ruler and his downfall. A survivor Olof Trätälja was the ancestor of the Norwegian branch

However, both Snorri (as in the earlier quote) and Saxo described the clan as remaining in Sweden after this date.

Saxo on the Battle of Bråvalla (ca 750):

Now the bravest of the Swedes were these: Arwakki, Keklu-Karl (Kelke-Karl), Krok the Peasant, (from Akr), Gudfast and Gummi from Gislamark. These were kindred of the god Frey, and most faithful witnesses to the gods. Ingi (Yngwe) also, and Oly, Alver, Folki, all sons of Elrik (Alrek), embraced the service of Ring (Sigurd Ring); they were men ready of hand, quick in counsel, and very close friends of Ring. They likewise held the god Frey to be the founder of their race. Amongst these from the town of Sigtun (Old Sigtuna) also came Sigmund, a champion advocate, versed in making contracts of sale and purchase; besides him Frosti surnamed Bowl: allied with him was Alf the Lofty (Proud?) from the district of Upsala (Old Uppsala); this man was a swift spear-thrower, and used to go in the front of the battle.

Moreover, both in Icelandic sources and in the Gesta Danorum, king Sigurd Ring would become the ancestor of the houses of Ragnar Lodbrok and would thus be the semi-legendary ancestor of later Swedish and Danish royal houses. (See the House of Munsö.)