Björn at Haugi ("Björn at the Barrow" from the Old Norse word ''haugr'' meaning mound), Björn på Håga, Björn II or Bern was, according to '' Hervarar saga'', a Swedish king and the son of Erik Björnsson, and Björn ruled together in

diarchy Diarchy (from Greek , ''di-'', "double", and , ''-arkhía'', "ruled"),Occasionally spelled ''dyarchy'', as in the ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' article on the colonial British institution duarchy, or duumvirate. is a form of government charac ...

with his brother

Anund Uppsale Anund Uppsale or Anoundus, 'Anund of Uppsala', (Old Norse: ''Önundr Uppsali''), a son of Erik Björnsson of the House of Munsö, ruled Sweden together with his brother Björn at Haugi, according to ''Hervarar saga''. He is called ''Uppsale'' beca ...

. Björn at Haugi is sometimes identified with the historically attested Björn, a local Swedish ruler mentioned in the 9th-century ''

Vita Ansgarii The ''Vita Ansgarii'', also known as the ''Vita Anskarii'', is the hagiography of saint Ansgar, written by Rimbert, his successor as archbishop in the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen. The ''Vita'' is an important source not only in detailing Ansgar ...

'' by

Rimbert Saint Rimbert (or Rembert) (''c.'' 830 - 11 June 888 in Bremen) was archbishop of Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, Hamburg-Bremen, in the northern part of the East Francia, Kingdom of East Frankia from 865 until his death in 888. He most famously wr ...

The account of the ''Hervarar saga''

The ''Hervarar saga'' is an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic work from the 13th century. At the end of a saga, a short chronicle of the Swedish kings from Ivar the Wide-Fathoming to

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male name derived from the Macedonian Old Koine language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominen ...

(d. 1118) has been appended, where Björn at Haugi is mentioned: This account dates king Björn to the first half of the 9th century, as his nephew Eric Anundsson was the contemporary of Harald Fairhair. Jónsson, Finnur (1890).
Om skjaldepoesien og de ældste skjalde
, in Kock, Axel (Ed.). ''Arkiv för nordisk filologi, sjätte bandet. Ny följd: andra bandet.'' C.W.K. Gleerups förlag, Lund. p. 144. ''

Landnámabók (, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE. is divided into five parts and ov ...

'' mentions a Swede named Þórðr knappr who was one of the first settlers in

and whose father was called Björn at Haugi. Moreover, Björn and his court skald Bragi the Old are mentioned also in ''

Skáldatal ''Skáldatal'' (''Catalogue of Poets'') is a short prose work by Snorri Sturluson in Old Norse. It was preserved in two manuscripts: DG 11, or ''Codex Uppsaliensis'', which is one of the four main manuscripts of the ''Prose Edda'' (first quarter of ...

'', where a second court skald also is mentioned, Erpr lútandi. Jónsson, Finnur (1890).
Om skjaldepoesien og de ældste skjalde
, in Kock, Axel (Ed.). ''Arkiv för nordisk filologi, sjätte bandet. Ny följd: andra bandet.'' C.W.K. Gleerups förlag, Lund. p. 143. The Icelandic scholar Jón Jóhannesson has argued that Björn at Haugi may in fact have been a petty ruler in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

around the late 9th century, and is consequently ''not'', as often hypothesized in older history writings, the same person as the Swedish king ''Bern'' (Björn) in the

Vita Ansgari The ''Vita Ansgarii'', also known as the ''Vita Anskarii'', is the hagiography of saint Ansgar, written by Rimbert, his successor as archbishop in the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen. The ''Vita'' is an important source not only in detailing Ansgar ...

i who ruled around 829-830. The more original version of the

seems to have contained two passages which associate Björn with persons from

Sogn Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway (''Vestlandet''). It is located in the county of Vestland, surrounding the Sognefjord, the largest/longest fjord in Norway. The district of Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestra ...

and Halogaland. Though evidence is not conclusive, Jóhannesson suggests that later tradition moved Björn from Norway (possibly Trondelag) to Svithiod due to certain legendary associations, or even since he had Swedish ancestry. The Icelanders may also have known about the Swedish Björn via the chronicle of

Adam of Bremen Adam of Bremen (; ; before 1050 – 12 October 1081/1085) was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. Adam is most famous for his chronicle '' Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum'' ('' ...

(c. 1075), and assimilated him with the king in ''Skáldatal'' and ''Landnámabók''.Jóhannesson, Jón (1966-69) "Bjorn at Haugi", ''Saga-Book of the Viking Society'' 17, p. 293-30

/ref>

Notes and references

{{authority control Semi-legendary kings of Sweden 9th-century monarchs in Europe House of Munsö 9th-century Swedish people Germanic pagans

The account of the ''Hervarar saga''

See also

Notes and references