{{short description|Semi-legendary Swedish king}} {{For|other people with the same name|Ingeldaz (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox royalty | succession = [[Legendary King of Sweden]] | image = | caption = | reign = | coronation = | full name = | predecessor = [[Anund]] | successor = [[Ivar Vidfamne]] | spouse = [[Gauthild Algautsdóttir]] | issue = [[Olof Trätälja]], Åsa, [[Sigurd Ring]] | issue-link = #Issue | house = [[House of Yngling]] | house-type = Dynasty | father = [[Anund]] | mother = | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = Raening | burial_date = | burial_place = }} [[File:Konung Ingjald Illråda bränner upp 6 Fylkiskonungar by Hugo Hamilton.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Ingjald burning six local rulers in order to centralize Sweden, as depicted by Hugo Hamilton in 1830]] '''Ingjald illråde''' or '''Ingjaldr hinn illráði''' (''Ingold Illruler'' or ''Illready'') was a [[List of legendary kings of Sweden|semi-legendary Swedish king]] of the [[Yngling|House of Ynglings]], son and successor of King [[Anund]],<ref name="Hans Gillingstam">{{citation |author=Hans Gillingstam |contribution=Ingjald Illråde|title=[[Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon]] | volume=20 |year=1973–1975 }}</ref> and the father and predecessor of King [[Olof Trätälja]]. As with many of the 5th-7th century Yngling Kings of [[Sweden]], his historicity is contested. {{fact|date=April 2021}}
Ingjald is mentioned in medieval historiographical sources including the ''[[Ynglinga saga]]'', ''[[Historia Norvegiæ]]'', ''[[Hervarar saga]]'', ''[[Upplendinga Konungum]]'', ''[[Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar]]'' and ''[[Íslendingabók]]''. The setting of ''Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar'' is roughly the 7th century. [[Johannes Magnus]] in his 16th-century list of kings places Ingjald (''Ingevallus, Ingellus'') in AD 883. {{fact|date=April 2021}}
== ''Ynglinga saga'' == [[Snorri Sturluson]] gave an extensive account on the life of Ingjald in the ''[[Ynglinga saga]]'' which is part of the ''[[Heimskringla]]''.
=== Youth === The ''Ynglinga saga'', a part of the ''[[Heimskringla]]'' relates that the [[viceroy]] of [[Fjärdhundraland]] was named Ingvar and he had two sons, Alf and Agnar, who were of the same age as Ingjald. Svipdag the Blind was the viceroy of [[Tiundaland]], the province of [[Gamla Uppsala|Uppsala]] where the [[Thing (assembly)|Tings]] and the [[Yule]] (Midwinter) sacrifices were held (see the [[Temple at Uppsala]]).
One midwinter, when Ingjald and Alf were six years old, many people had assembled at [[Gamla Uppsala|Uppsala]] for the sacrifices. Alf and Ingjald played, but Ingjald found that he was the weaker boy and became so angry that he almost started to cry (which was strange because people named Ingjald were known to be stronger than average). His foster-brother Gautvid led him to his foster-father Svipdag the Blind and told Svipdag about Ingjald's lack of manliness and strength. Svipdag said that it was a shame and the next day he gave Ingjald a roasted wolf's heart to eat. From that day, Ingjald became a very ferocious person and had a bad disposition and breath.{{cn|date=April 2021}}
[[Anund]] arranged a marriage for his son Ingjald with [[Gauthildr Algautsdóttir|Gauthild]], the daughter of the [[Geatish king]] [[Algaut]], who was the son of [[Gautrek]] the Mild and the grandson of [[Gaut]]. Gautrek consented as he believed that Ingjald had inherited his father's disposition. Gauthild's maternal grandfather was [[King of Nerike|Olof the Sharp-sighted]], the king of [[Närke]].
=== The deceit === [[Snorri Sturluson]] relates that when his father Anund had died, Ingjald became the king of Sweden. The kings at [[Gamla Uppsala|Uppsala]] were the foremost among the kings of the various provinces since [[Odin]] ruled the country, and they were the supreme chiefs of the other kingdoms since the death of [[Agne]] and Sweden was divided between [[Erik and Alrik]]. The descendants of these two kings had spread, cleared land and settled new territories, until there were several petty kings.
In honour of his own ascendance to the throne, Ingjald invited the kings, the [[Jarl (title)|jarls]] and other important men to a grand feast in a newly built [[hall]], just as large and sumptuous as the one in Uppsala. It was called the hall of the seven kings and had seven high seats. [[Algaut]] the [[Geatish king]] of [[West Götaland]], King Ingvar of [[Fjädrundaland]] with his two sons Agnar and Alf, King [[Sporsnjall]] of [[Nerike]] and King Sigvat of [[Attundaland]] came, but not King [[Granmar]] of [[Södermanland]]. The kings filled all seven seats but one. All the prominent people of Sweden had seats, except for Ingjald's own court whom he had sent to his old hall in Uppsala.
According to the custom of the time, for those who inherited kings and jarls, Ingjald rested at the footstool until the [[Bragarfull|Bragebeaker]] was brought in. Then he was supposed to stand up, take the beaker and make solemn vows, after which he would ascend his father's high seat. However, when the beaker was brought in, he took a bull's horn and made the solemn vow that he would enlarge his own kingdom by half towards all the four-quarters, towards which he pointed his horn, or die.
When all the prominent guests were drunk, he ordered Svipdag's sons, Gautvid and Hylvid, to arm themselves and their men and to leave the building. Outside, they set fire to the building which burnt down and those who tried to escape were killed.
Thus Ingjald made himself the sole ruler of the domains of the murdered kings.
=== Wars === Granmar won allies in his son-in-law the [[sea-king]] [[Granmar|Hjörvard]] of the [[Ylfing]]s and his father-in-law [[Högne]] the [[Geatish king]] of [[East Götaland]]. They successfully withstood Ingjald's invasion where Ingjald realised that the men from the provinces he had conquered were not loyal to him. After a long standstill there was peace for ''as long as the three kings lived''. However, one night Ingjald and his men surrounded a farm where Granmar and Hjörvard were at a feast and burnt the house down. He later disposed of five more kings, and he thus earned the name ''Illråde'' (ill-ruler) as he fulfilled his promise.
[[Snorri Sturluson]] tells that it was a common saying that Ingjald killed twelve kings by deceiving them that he only wished for peace, and that he thus earned his cognomen ''Illråde'' (''ill-ruler'' or ''ill-adviser'').
=== Downfall === [[File:Ynglingesaga 23 Gerhard Munthe.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Ingjald and his daughter Åsa]] Ingjald had two children, a son [[Olof Trätälja]] and a daughter [[Åsa of Skåne|Åsa]]. His daughter had inherited her father's psychopathic disposition. She married King [[Guðröðr of Skåne]]. Before she murdered her husband she managed to make him kill his own brother [[Halfdan the Valiant]], the father of the great [[Ivar Vidfamne]].
In order to avenge his father, [[Ivar Vidfamne]] gathered a vast host and departed for Sweden, where he found Ingjald at Ræning. When Ingjald and his daughter realized that it was futile to resist, they set the hall on fire and succumbed in the flames.
== ''Ynglingatal'' and ''Historia Norwegiae'' == The citation from ''[[Ynglingatal]]'' does not appear to describe Ingjald as an evil king. It calls his life a brave life ''frœknu fjörvi'':
{| | :Ok Ingjald :í fjörvan trað :reyks rösuðr :á Ræningi, :þá er húsþjófr :hyrjar leistum :goðkonung :í gegnum steig. :Ok sá urðr :allri þjóðu :sjaldgætastr :með Svíum þótti, :er hann sjálfr :sínu fjörvi :frœknu fyrstr :um fara vildi.[http://www.heimskringla.no/original/heimskringla/ynglingasaga.php] {{Webarchive|url=http://web.archive.bibalex.org/web/20051231070651/http://www.heimskringla.no/original/heimskringla/ynglingasaga.php |date=2005-12-31 }} | :With fiery feet devouring flame :Has hunted down a royal game :At Raening, where King Ingjald gave :To all his men one glowing grave. :On his own hearth the fire he raised, :A deed his foemen even praised; :By his own hand he perished so, :And life for freedom did forego."[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/heim/02ynglga.htm] | |}
The ''[[Historia Norwegiæ]]'' presents a Latin summary of ''Ynglingatal'', older than Snorri's quotation (continuing after [[Anund]]): {| | Post istum filius suus Ingialdr in regem sublimatur, qui ultra modum timens Ivarum cognomine withfadm regem tunc temporis multis formidabilem se ipsum cum omni comitatu suo cenaculo inclusos igne cremavit. Ejus filius Olavus cognomento tretelgia [...]<ref>Storm, Gustav (editor) (1880). ''Monumenta historica Norwegiæ: Latinske kildeskrifter til Norges historie i middelalderen'', Monumenta Historica Norwegiae (Kristiania: Brøgger), pp. 101-102.</ref> | After him his son Ingjald ascended the throne. Being abnormally terrified of King Ivar Vidfadme, at that time an object of dread to many, he shut himself up in a dining-hall with his whole retinue and burnt all its inmates to death. His son, Olav, known as Tretelgje,[...]<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> | |}
== Archaeological evidence == Rällinge is hill fort in Raä Helgarö 32:1, Helgarö parish, [[Södermanland]]<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=L1985:9523 Fornborg Fornlämning|url=https://app.raa.se/open/fornsok/lamning/298e00f9-1369-428d-9b1b-2f031a5f599b|access-date=2021-02-07|website=Riksantikvarieämbetet fornsök}}</ref> that has small ramparts near [[Lake Mälaren]] that is thought to be a misinterpretation or incorrect spelling for the hill fort Ræning of the sagas. According to Nordic legends, Ræning was the place where Ingjald and his daughter [[Åsa of Skåne|Åsa]] had both met their ends at the hands of the semi-legendary [[Ivar Vidfamne]]. Throughout the last century thermoluminescence dating has found evidence of a burning that happened at the Rällinge hill fort from the supposed time of Ingjald's demise (600-650 A.D.). Moreover, the dating of the fort burning and heating does not contradict assumptions about where and when Ingjald was burned to death.<ref>Kresten, P (editor) and Kresten, P (Translator) (2001) ''Fornvännen'' </ref>
[[File:Tumulus of Ingold Illready 2019 (2).jpg|thumb|Royal [[tumulus|barrow]] at Kråktorp, near [[Vårfruberga Abbey]], named for Ingjald (as is a road leading to it) and traditionally, though not reliably, identified as his grave.]]
== Notes == {{reflist}}
== Primary sources == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20041204085145/http://www.northvegr.org/lore/heim/001_07.php "The Burning at Upsal"] in the ''Ynglinga saga'' at the [[Northvegr]] website. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20061227085107/http://www.home.ix.netcom.com/~kyamazak/myth/norse/kershaw/Kershaw1s-hervor-and-heithrek.htm N. Kershaw's English translation of the Hervarar saga] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930201433/http://www.northvegr.org/lore/oldheathen/016.php English translation at Northvegr "Of The Kings of the Uplands"] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050414154443/http://www.northvegr.org/lore/viking/001_02.php A translation in English of Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar]
== Secondary sources == *Nerman, B. ''Det svenska rikets uppkomst''. Stockholm, 1925. *[http://samla.raa.se/xmlui/bitstream/handle/raa/3007/2001_279.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.php A thermoluminescence date for the Rällinge hill fort, Raä 32, Helgarö parish, Södermanland : possible evidence of Ingjald's fiery demise?]{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
{{s-start}} {{s-hou | [[Yngling|House of Yngling]] }} {{s-reg | leg }} {{s-bef | before = [[Anund]] | rows = 2 }} {{s-ttl | title = [[Legendary king of Sweden]] }} {{s-aft | after = [[Ivar Vidfamne]] }} {{s-break}} {{s-ttl | title = [[Yngling|Head of the House of Yngling]] }} {{s-aft | after = [[Olof Trätälja]] }} {{s-end}}
{{Norse paganism topics}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:7th-century monarchs in Europe]] [[Category:Semi-legendary kings of Sweden]] [[Category:Year of birth unknown]]