{{short description|Semi-legendary Swedish king}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}} {{Other people}} {{Infobox royalty | succession = [[Legendary King of Sweden]] | image = | caption = | reign = | coronation = | full name = | predecessor = [[Ingvar Harra]] | successor = [[Ingjald]] | spouse = | issue = [[Ingjald]] | issue-link = | father = [[Ingvar Harra]] | mother = | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = Himinheiðr | burial_date = | burial_place = unknown; speculated to have been Anundshög, [[Västmanland]], modern-day [[Sweden]] }}
'''Anund''' ({{langx|sv|Bröt-Anund}}, meaning ''trail-blazer Anund'' or ''Anund the Land Clearer''), also called ''Brøt-Anundr'' ([[Old Norse#Old East Norse|Old East Norse]]) or ''Braut-Önundr'' ([[Old Norse#Old West Norse|Old West Norse]]) was a semi-legendary Swedish king of the [[House of Yngling]] who reigned in the mid-seventh century.<ref name="Fryxell 1866 p. 67">{{cite book | last = Fryxell | first = A. | title = Berättelser ur svenska historien ... | publisher = L.J. Hierta | year = 1866 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=S68NAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA67 | language = sv | access-date = 6 July 2018 | page = 67 }}</ref> The form of the name used during his lifetime would have been [[Proto-Norse]] *''Anuwinduz'', meaning "winning ancestor".<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.sofi.se/images/NA/pdf/urnord.pdf | title = Lexikon över urnordiska personnamn | last = Peterson | first = Lena | year = 2007 | publisher = [[Swedish Institute for Language and Folklore]] | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110518012642/http://www.sofi.se/images/NA/pdf/urnord.pdf | archivedate = 18 May 2011 }}(Lexicon of Nordic personal names before the 8th century)</ref>
==Life== [[File:Anundshög, Västerås1000.jpg|thumb|Anundshög runestone, Vs at a grave associated with Anund.|left]] In his ''[[Ynglinga saga]]'', [[Snorri Sturluson]] relates that Anund succeeded his father, king [[Yngvar]], who fell in battle with the [[Oeselians|″Estonian vikings″]]. After his father's wars against Danish and Estonian Vikings, 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.<ref>{{cite web |url =https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=18739 |title= Anund |website= Svenskt biografiskt lexikon |access-date= December 1, 2019 }}</ref>
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 [[Uppsala öd|a farm for himself in every district]] and used to stay as a guest in many homes.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://cornelius.tacitus.nu/heimskringla/ynglingasagan/31-40.htm#33|title = Om konung Anund|website= Ynglingaättens historia, Chapter 33|access-date=December 1, 2019}}</ref>
One autumn, King Anund was travelling between his [[hall]]s (see [[Husby (estate)|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]]'':
{| | :Varð Ǫnundr :Jónakrs bura :harmi heptr :und Himinfjǫllum. :Ok ofvæg :Eistra dolgi :heipt hrísungs :at hendi kom. :Ok sá frǫmuðr :foldar beinum :Hǫgna *reyrs :of horfinn vas.<ref name="yng">[https://skaldic.abdn.ac.uk/m.php?p=text&i=1440 ''Ynglingatal'' at Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages.]</ref> | :Ǫnundr was :killed by the pain :of the [[Jonakr's sons|sons of Jónakr]] [STONES] :beneath Himinfjǫll. :And the crushing hatred :of the bastard [STONES] :came upon the enemy :of the Estonians [= Ǫnundr]. :And that wielder of :the reed of Hǫgni <legendary hero> [SWORD > WARRIOR] :was surrounded :by the bones of the earth [STONES].<ref name="yng"/> | |}
The ''[[Historia Norwegiæ]]'' presents a Latin summary of ''Ynglingatal'', older than Snorri's quotation (continuing after [[Ingvar Harra]]): {| | Iste ergo genuit Broutonund, quem Sigwardus frater suus occidit in Himinheithi,<ref>Storm informs that he has corrected the name to ''Himinheithi'' (sky fields) in his edition, instead of the original ''Himinherthy''.</ref> quod loci vocabulum interpretatur coeli campus. Post istum filius suus Ingialdr [...].<ref>Storm, Gustav (editor) (1880). ''Monumenta historica Norwegiæ: Latinske kildeskrifter til Norges historie i middelalderen'', Monumenta Historica Norwegiae (Kristiania: Brøgger), p. 101.</ref> | Yngvar bred Braut-Ånund, whose brother, Sigurd, laid him low in Himinheid, a place-name which means 'field of heaven'. After him his son Ingjald [...]<ref>Ekrem, Inger (editor), Lars Boje Mortensen (editor) and Peter Fisher (translator) (2003). ''Historia Norwegie''. Museum Tusculanum Press. {{ISBN|87-7289-813-5}}, p. 79.</ref> | |}
The original text of ''[[Ynglingatal]]'' is hard to interpret, and it only says that Anund died ''und Himinfjöllum'' (under the sky mountains) and that stones were involved. According to ''[[Historia Norwegiæ]]'', he was murdered by his brother Sigvard ''in Himinherthy'' (which the source says means "the fields of the sky", ''cœli campus''). A place with this name is not known, and Swedish archaeologist [[Birger Nerman]] (1888–1971) 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.
''[[Thorsteins saga Víkingssonar]]'' says that Anund was not the son of [[Ingvar Harra]], but [[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 [[Ingjald]] (''Ingjald Illråde'').
==See also== *[[Anundshög]]
==References== {{reflist}}
== Primary sources == * [[Historia Norwegiæ]] * [[Thorsteins saga Víkingssonar]] * [[Ynglingatal]] * [[Ynglinga saga]] (part of the [[Heimskringla]])
== Secondary sources == *Birger Nerman (1925) ''Det svenska rikets uppkomst'' (Stockholm: Föreningen för svensk kulturhistoria)
{{s-start}} {{s-hou|[[Yngling|House of Yngling]] || || }} {{succession box | title =[[Legendary king of Sweden]] | years = | before = [[Ingvar Harra]] | after = [[Ingjald]] }} {{S-end}} {{Norse mythology}}
[[Category:640 deaths]] [[Category:7th-century monarchs in Europe]] [[Category:European people whose existence is disputed]] [[Category:Semi-legendary kings of Sweden]] [[Category:Year of birth unknown]]