Fyrisvellir, Fyris Wolds or Fyrisvallarna was the marshy

plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

(''vellir'') south of

Gamla Uppsala Gamla, alt. sp. Gamala ( he, גַּמְלָא, The Camel) was an ancient Jewish city on the Golan Heights. It is believed to have been founded as a Seleucid fort during the Syrian Wars which was turned into a city under Hasmonean rule in 81 ...

where travellers had to leave the ships on the river

Fyris Fyrisån (, "the Fyris river") is a river in the Swedish province of Uppland, which passes through the city of Uppsala and ends in Lake Mälaren. The "Sala" river in Uppland was changed in the 17th century in memory of the Fyrisvellir battle, m ...

(Fyrisån) and walk to the

Temple at Uppsala The Temple at Uppsala was a religious center in the ancient Norse religion once located at what is now Gamla Uppsala (Swedish "Old Uppsala"), Sweden attested in Adam of Bremen's 11th-century work ''Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum'' and i ...

and the

hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...

of the Swedish king. The name is related to, or derived from,

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

''Fyrva'' which meant "to ebb" and it referred to the partially inundated soggy plains that today are dry farmland and the modern town of

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

. In mediaeval times, a royal estate called ''Førisæng'', "Fyris meadow", was located near this field. The small lakes ''Övre Föret'', "the Upper Fyri", and ''Nedre Föret'', "the Lower Fyri", are remains of this marsh and retain a modern form of ''Fyri'' (the -''t'' suffix is the definite article, which lake names always take in Swedish). The field went alongside what was renamed the ''Fyris river'' (Fyrisån) in the 17th century to make the connection between the river and the

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 (video game company), Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, ...

s more obvious. Thunberg, Carl L. (2012). ''Slaget på Fyrisvallarna i ny tolkning''. Göteborgs universitet. CLTS. pp. 73-80. . In

Scandinavian mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

, the battle between

Haki Haki, Hake ( Old Norse: ) or Haco, the brother of Hagbard, was a famous Scandinavian sea-king, in Norse mythology. He is mentioned in the 12th century '' Gesta Danorum'', and in 13th-century sources including '' Ynglinga saga'', ''Nafnaþulur' ...

and

Hugleik Hugleik or Ochilaik (a namesake of Hygelac) was a Swedish king of the House of Yngling, according to the ''Ynglinga saga''. He was the son of Alf and Bera. Some commentators assimilate Hugleik with his namesake, the Geatish king Hygelac. However, ...

took place on these wolds, as well as that between Haki and

Jorund Jorund or Jörundr (5th century) was a Swedish king of the House of Yngling. He was the son of Yngvi, and he had reclaimed the throne of Sweden for his dynasty from Haki (the brother of Hagbard, the hero of the legend of Hagbard and Signy. Snorri c ...

. It was also the location of the

Battle of the Fýrisvellir A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

between

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 ...

and his nephew

Styrbjörn the Strong Styrbjörn the Strong ( non, Styrbjǫrn Sterki ; died about 985) according to late Norse sagas was a son of the Swedish king Olof, and a nephew of Olof's co-ruler and successor Eric the Victorious, who defeated and killed Styrbjörn at the Battle ...

, in the 980s. According to a story about Hrólf Kraki found in many texts, Hrólf spread gold on this plain as he and his men were fleeing the Swedish king

Adils Eadgils, ''Adils'', ''Aðils'', ''Adillus'', ''Aðísl at Uppsölum'', ''Athisl'', ''Athislus'' or ''Adhel'' was a semi-legendary king of Sweden, who is estimated to have lived during the 6th century. ''Beowulf'' and Old Norse sources present h ...

. The king's men then dismounted to collect the gold. In

skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditionally ...

ic poetry gold was often referred to with the

kenning A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech in the type of circumlocution, a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English po ...

''the seed of the Fyris Wolds''.

References

External links

Carl L. Thunberg (2012): ''Slaget på Fyrisvallarna i ny tolkning (The Battle of Fýrisvellir in a New Interpretation)''
Uppland Locations in Norse mythology Plains of Sweden {{norse-myth-stub