Eymund's saga
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Eymund's saga is a part of Yngvars saga víðförla. It relates of the adventures of Eymund, who was the father of Ingvar the Far-Travelled. Eymund's adventures in Russia are supported by the Primary Chronicle, which dates them to 1019, but, it did not record his name. Eymund's son, Ingvar the Far-Travelled, was the leader of the Ingvar expedition to the Caliphate and Central Asia.
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[edit] Synopsis
[edit] Eymund's father Aki
The Yngvars saga víðförla relates that Eric the Victorious, the king of Sweden, had a daughter with Sigrid the Haughty. A Swedish chieftain named Aki proposed to her, but the king did not consent and instead he married her to one of his vassal kings in Russia. Aki did not accept this and sailed to Russia, slew the vassal king and kidnapped the princess. Aki then made an alliance with eight Swedish district kings, which deterred king Eric from attacking Aki, since he did not want to risk a bloody civil war in Sweden. Aki and the princess had the son Eymund.
There was a stalemate between king Eric and Aki until Aki offered reconciliation. The king consented and invited Aki and all the chieftains to his own marriage with Aud, the daughter of jarl Haakon Sigurdsson of Norway. However, Jarl Haakon had expressed that it was inappropriate that Eric did not deal with Aki more sternly. Therefore, Aki struck a deal with Eric that he would come on condition that the king did not punish him with confiscation of property or proclaiming him an outlaw.
At the wedding, there were great numbers of Norwegians and Swedes assembled at Uppsala and many halls had been constructed to house everyone. Since Aki's retinue was largest after Jarl Hakon's and the Swedish king's, king Eric had constructed a large hall specifically for Aki and his people. However, since Aki did not trust Eric he had not brought his wife (Eric's daughter) nor his son Eymund. The suspicion was warranted because late at night when everybody was relaxed and drunk after the festivities, king Eric and Jarl Haakon attacked Aki and his eight allied chieftains and killed them all.
[edit] Eymund's career
King Eric confiscated all the properties of Aki and the eight chieftains and brought his daughter and grand-son Eymund to Uppsala. Eymund did not fare ill because king Eric treated him like a grand-son, and Eric's successor, Eymund's uncle, Olof Skötkonung also treated him well. Eymund also became a dear friend of his cousin Ingegerd Olofsdotter, the future queen of Kievan Rus'.
However, when Eymund had grown up, he expressed his displeasure with having lost his inheritance from his father Aki. When he learnt that twelve of the king's men had departed to collect revenue from Aki's former properties, he also departed with twelve warriors. Eymund and his men attacked the king's men and there was a brutal fight. Later, Ingegerd passed through the forest and found everyone dead but Eymund. She put him in her wagon and hid him at a secret location where she healed his wounds.
When king Olof learnt of Eymund's iniative, he declared Eymund an outlaw in all of Sweden. Ingegerd kept Eymund hidden and when he was well, she provided him with a ship, which enabled him to go raiding, which he did successfully. He soon became a wealthy Viking.
[edit] The Kings' truce
A few years later king Yaroslav (Jarisleif) of Russia married Ingegerd and she went east to stay with him. When Eymund learnt of this, he went to Holmgard (Novgorod) and was well received by both Ingegerd and Yaroslav.
Yaroslav appreciated his arrival because he was in a war with his brother Burizleif (either Boris or a compound of Yaroslav's brother Sviatopolk I of Kiev and Boleslaus I of Poland). Eymund fought five battles and in the last battle Eymund captured Burizleif, blinded him and brought him to Yaroslav. Eymund was greatly recompensed by Yaroslav, and Eymund became rich in gold, silver and other treasures. Eymund fought many battles for Yaroslav and won every single one of them, bringing large parts of Eastern Europe into Yaroslav's fold.
Ingegerd sent messengers to her father Olof Skötkonung asking him to reconcile with Eymund and to give him back his father Aki's property. Olof agreed and Eymund was eager to see his homeland again, but now Eymund was not only wealthy, he had an army of his own.
Eymund came back to Sweden and settled down with his private army and ruled his land like a king. The Swedish king did not like this, but Eymund's reputation from Russia convinced king Olof to let Eymund live in peace. Eymund married the daughter of a rich man, and they had the son Ingvar, who would come down to history as Ingvar the Far-Travelled. It is possible that Eymund's wife was Tula, who is mentioned on the Gripsholm Runestone, which was found near another runestone mentioning an Eymund who lost a son in Ingvar's expedition.
Ingvar would become the best friend of Anund, the future king of Sweden, and it was Ingvar's success as the king's man that would lead to Eymund and Olof reconciling after many years of conflict.
[edit] The Runestone
The runestone Sö279, is a fragment of a larger runestone which is located south of the church tower in Strängnäs, Sweden. It is not known where it was originally located, but it should not have been far away.
This is a transliteration of the runes:
- ai... ... ...(u)a : --(a)- ... ...uni aimunt... ... sunarla : a : se(r)kl...
This is a transcription into the runestone's Swedish-Danish dialect of Old Norse:
- Æi... ... [hagg]va [st]æ[in] ... [s]yni Æimund[aR] ... sunnarla a Særkl[andi].
This is transcription into the Old Norse of the saga:
- Ey... ... [högg]va [st]e[in] ... [s]onu Eymund[ar] ... sunnarla á Serkl[andi].
Translation:
- Ey... ... carve the stone ... for the son of Eymund ... south in the Caliphate.
It may originally have said Eymund let carve the stone for Ingvar(?), the son of Eymund, who died south, in the Caliphate.
