Auðr the Deep-Minded (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

: ''Auðr in djúpúðga'') was a legendary Norse princess, the daughter of

Ivar Vidfamne Ivar Vidfamne (or ''Ívarr inn víðfaðmi''; English exonym ''Ivar Widefathom''; Danish ''Ivar Vidfadme'' – in Norwegian and Danish the form ''Ivar Vidfavne'' is sometimes used as an alternative form) was a semi-legendary king of Sweden, who ...

, and the mother of

Harald Wartooth Harald Wartooth or ''Harold Hiltertooth'' (Old Norse: Haraldr hilditǫnn; Modern Swedish and Danish: Harald Hildetand; Modern Norwegian: ''Harald Hildetann''; flourished 8th century) was a legendary king of Denmark who is mentioned in several ...

, who appears in '' Sögubrot'', '' Hversu Noregr byggdist'' and in the ''

Lay of Hyndla Lay may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada *Lay, Loire, a French commune *Lay (river), France *Lay, Iran, a village *Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community People * Lay (surname) * ...

''. She would have lived during the 7th or 8th century. She was given in marriage to Hrœrekr slöngvanbaugi, the king of

Zealand Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020. It is the 1 ...

, but she would rather have had his brother Helgi the Sharp. Ivar Vidfamne took advantage of the situation by telling Hrœrekr that Auðr was unfaithful with Helgi. The ruse was successful and Hrærekr slew his brother Helgi, after which it was easy for Ivar to attack Hrœrekr and to kill him as well. Auðr fled to

Garðaríki (anglicized Gardariki or Gardarike) or is the Old Norse term used in medieval times for the states of Kievan Rus. As the Varangians dealt mainly with Northern Kievan Rus' lands, their sagas regard the city of (, Veliky Novgorod) as the capi ...

with her son

, and married its king,

Ráðbarðr Ráðbarðr, Raðbarðr or ''Rathbarth'' (late 7th century) was a legendary king of Garðaríki, who appears in '' Sögubrot'' and the ''Lay of Hyndla''. ''Sögubrot'' tells that he married the fugitive princess Auðr the Deep-Minded without the ...

, with whom she later had a son named

Randver Randvér or Randver was a legendary Danish king. In Nordic legends, according to '' Sögubrot'' and the '' Lay of Hyndla'', he was the son of Ráðbarðr the king of Garðaríki and Auðr the Deep-Minded, the daughter of the Danish-Swedish ru ...

. Her father, King Ivar, was upset that his daughter had married without his consent. Although he was old, he departed to Garðaríki with a large

leidang The institution known as ''leiðangr'' (Old Norse), ''leidang'' ( Norwegian), ''leding'' ( Danish), ''ledung'' ( Swedish), ''expeditio'' (Latin) or sometimes lething (English), was a form of conscription ( mass levy) to organize coastal fleets for s ...

. One night, as they were harboured in the Gulf of Finland, he had a strange dream, and he asked his foster-father Hörð what it meant. Hörð told Ivar that the dream foretold the death of Ivar and the end of his evil deeds. Ivar and Hörð were standing on a high cliff at the time, and Hörð's words made Ivar so that he threw himself into the sea, whereupon Hörð did the same thing. As the throne of Sweden and Denmark was vacant, Auðr's son

departed to

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne ...

to claim his inheritance, with the help of his stepfather Ráðbarðr.

References

* Henrikson, Alf. (1998) ''Den Stora mytologiska uppslagsboken''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Audr the Deep-Minded Legendary Norsemen Scyldings Mythological princesses