Emund Eriksson (?-c. 970), (English: Edmund), was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

king whose historicity is only known from a single source, the

Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum ''Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum'' (Medieval Latin for ''"Deeds of the Bishops of Hamburg"'') is a historical treatise written between 1073 and 1076 by Adam of Bremen, who made additions (''scholia'') to the text until his death (poss ...

which was written by

Adam of Bremen Adam of Bremen ( la, Adamus Bremensis; german: Adam von 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 ...

in c. 1075.

Reign

According to Adam of Bremen, a certain King Ring ruled the Swedes together with his sons Erik and Emund in about 936. In a later chapter, Adam mentions Emund Eriksson as ruling Sweden some time in the second half of the 10th century. He was presumably the son of Erik Ringsson. Adam relates that Emund was king at the same time as King

Harald Bluetooth Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson ( non, Haraldr Blátǫnn Gormsson; da, Harald Blåtand Gormsen, died c. 985/86) was a king of Denmark and Norway. He was the son of King Gorm the Old and of Thyra Dannebod. Harald ruled as king of Denmark from c. 95 ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

(c. 958/64-985) expanded his power overseas and subdued

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

(in about 970). Emund was an ally of Harald, and showed a friendly attitude to Christian people who came to him. That German missionary efforts were renewed about this time is related by Adam in the following chapter. The

Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen This list records the bishops of the Roman Catholic diocese of Bremen (german: link=no, Bistum Bremen), supposedly a suffragan of the Archbishopric of Cologne, then of the bishops of Bremen, who were in personal union archbishops of Hamburg (sim ...

Adaldag Adaldag (c. 90028 April 988; also Adelgis, Adelger, and Adalgag) was the seventh archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, from 937 until his death. He was of noble birth, a relation and pupil of Adalward, Bishop of Verden, and became canon of Hildesheim. Ot ...

(937-988), appointed a Dane called Odinkar the Elder for the Swedish lands. Being a pious man of noble stock, he could "easily convince the wild peoples about everything concerning our religion".

Dynastic position

Emund Eriksson is not known to the later

Norse saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to the Play ...

s and king-lists. Information about him may have come from Adam's interview with the Danish King Sweyn Estridsen, Harald Bluetooth's great-grandson. To the extent that he is historical, he may have ruled in the third quarter of the 10th century. The next Swedish king mentioned by Adam of Bremen is

Eric the Victorious Eric the Victorious (Old Norse: ''Eiríkr inn sigrsæli'', Modern Swedish: ''Erik Segersäll''; c. 945 – c. 995) was a Swedish monarch as of around 970. Although there were earlier Swedish kings, he is the first Swedish king in a consecutive reg ...

(died c. 995), but he does not tell how they were related. It has even been speculated that Eric the Victorious belonged to a Geatic clan which gained power in the

Mälaren Valley The Mälaren Valley ( sv, Mälardalen), occasionally referred to as Stockholm-Mälaren Region (''Stockholm-mälarregionen''), is the easternmost part of Svealand, the catchment area of Lake Mälaren and the surrounding municipalities. The term is ...

and founded

Sigtuna Sigtuna () is a locality situated in Sigtuna Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 8,444 inhabitants in 2010. It is the namesake of the municipality even though the seat is in Märsta. Sigtuna is for historical reasons often still referre ...

in c. 980.Niels Lund (1995), "Scandinavia c. 700-1066", in ''Cambridge Medieval History'' Vol. II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 202-27. Nevertheless, the name Emund was common in the late Viking Age dynasty of Sweden, but extremely rare outside of it, which suggests a dynastic continuity. An option is that Emund Eriksson was the brother of

Björn (III) Eriksson Bjorn (English, Dutch), Björn (Swedish, Icelandic, Dutch, and German), Bjørn (Danish, Faroese and Norwegian), Beorn (Old English) or, rarely, Bjôrn, Biorn, or Latinized Biornus, Brum (Portuguese), is a Scandinavian male given name, or less oft ...

, who the Norse sagas name as the son of

Eric Anundsson Eric Anundsson or Eymundsson was a semi-legendary Swedish king who supposedly ruled during the 9th century. The Norse sagas describe him as successful in extending his realm over the Baltic Sea, but unsuccessful in his attempts of westward expansi ...

and the father of Eric the Victorious. This would have been in accordance with the Germanic system of co-rulership (

Diarchy Diarchy (from Greek , ''di-'', "double", and , ''-arkhía'', "ruled"),Occasionally misspelled ''dyarchy'', as in the ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' article on the colonial British institution duarchy, or duumvirate (from Latin ', "the office of ...

) in which two brothers were elected kings and which, according to the sagas, was sometimes used by the Swedes. If this is the case, several generations of Swedish rulers were conflated by tradition, explaining the differences between Adam of Bremen and the Norse sagas.

References

{{authority control Semi-legendary kings of Sweden House of Munsö 10th-century Swedish monarchs

Reign

Dynastic position

See also

References