Randvér or Randver was a legendary Danish king. In Nordic

legends A legend is a historical narrative, a symbolic representation of folk belief. Legend(s) or The Legend(s) may also refer to: Narrative * Urban legend, a widely repeated story of dubious truth * A fictitious identity used in espionage Books, co ...

, according to '' Sögubrot'' and 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) * ...

'', he was the son of

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 ...

the king of

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 ...

and Auðr the Deep-Minded, the daughter of the Danish-Swedish ruler

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 ...

. In these two sources, Auðr had Randver's brother,

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 trad ...

, in a previous marriage. One of the genealogies in ''

Hversu Noregr Byggðist ''Hversu Noregr byggðist'' ( non, How Norway was inhabited) is an account of the origin of various legendary Norwegian lineages, which survives only in the ''Flateyjarbók''. It traces the descendants of the primeval Fornjót, a king of ''"Gotlan ...

'' seems to say that he is the son of Hrœrekr slöngvanbaugi and the brother of

. Hrœrekr was, according to ''Sögubrot'', a Danish king on

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 ...

who was killed by Ivar Vidfamne. According to '' Hervarar saga'' both Randver and Harald Wartooth were the sons of

Valdar Valdar was the name of several legendary Danish kings. The '' Hervarar saga'' tells the tale of a Valdar who was viceroy of Denmark under Ivar Vidfamne and he was the father of Randver and of Harald Wartooth (half siblings and fathers found were ...

and Alfhild, the daughter of

. This saga relates that Ivar appointed Valdar as the king of Denmark, and when Valdar died, he was succeeded by Randver. Randver married

Åsa Haraldsdottir of Agder Åsa Haraldsdottir of Agder (died c. 834?) was a semi-legendary Norwegian Viking Age queen regnant of the petty kingdom of Agder. According to sagas referencing the clan Yngling (''Ynglingaätten''), she was the mother of Halfdan the Black (''Halv ...

(in other sagas said to be the wife of

Gudrød the Hunter Gudrød the Hunter (Old Norse: ''Guðrøðr veiðikonungr'', Norwegian: ''Gudrød Veidekonge'', literally ''Gudrod Hunter-king''; died 820 AD), also known as Gudrød the Magnificent (Old Norse: ''enn gǫfugláti'', Norwegian: ''den gjeve''), is a l ...

Vestfold Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered th ...

), who gave birth to a son,

Sigurd Hring Sigurd Ring (Old Norse: ''Sigurðr Hringr'', in some sources merely called ''Hringr'') according to legend was a king of the Swedes, being mentioned in many old Scandinavian sagas. According to these sources he was granted rulership over Sweden a ...

. After his brother Harald had reclaimed

Götaland Götaland (; also '' Geatland'', '' Gothia'', ''Gothland'', ''Gothenland'' or ''Gautland'') is one of three lands of Sweden and comprises ten provinces. Geographically it is located in the south of Sweden, bounded to the north by Svealand, wit ...

(or

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...

depending on the manuscript), Randver fell in battle in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The ''Hervarar saga'' says that Randver was succeeded as Danish king by his son

(probably as Harald's viceroy). However, ''Sögubrot'' says that Harald Wartooth elevated Sigurd Hring as sub-king of Sweden and

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Väs ...

.The Danish chronicle of

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. ...

(c. 1200) does not clearly mention Randver, but rather asserts that Hring was the son of the Swedish king Ingjald and an unnamed sister of Harald Wartooth. The Danish scholar

Gudmund Schütte Gudmund Schütte (17 January 1872– 12 July 1958) was a Danish philologist, historian and writer who specialized in Germanic studies. Biography Gudmund Schütte was born at Eskjær, Salling, Denmark on 17 January 1872, the son of landowner The ...

drew a parallel between the pair Ráðbarðr - Randver in ''

Langfeðgatal The LangfeðgatalSometimes written Langfedgetal or Langfedgatal (Old Norse pronunciation: , ) is a 12th-century Icelandic genealogy of Scandinavian kings. The anonymous Icelandic Langfeðgatal is preserved in a manuscript that is part of the Arna ...

'' and the pair Rædhere - Rondhere that is mentioned in line 123 in the Anglo-Saxon poem ''

Widsith "Widsith" ( ang, Wīdsīþ, "far-traveller", lit. "wide-journey"), also known as "The Traveller's Song", is an Old English poem of 143 lines. It survives only in the ''Exeter Book'', a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late-10th c ...

'' (7th century?). Schütte's argument was that lists of heroic figures found in ''Widsith'' were reflected in the ordering of names in some later medieval sagas and chronicles.Schütte (1926), p. 44.

References

Literature

* Ellehøj, Svend (1965) ''Studier over de ældste norrøne historieskrivning''. Hafniæ: Munksgaard. * Nerman, Birger (1925) ''Det svenska rikets uppkomst''. Stockholm: Generalstabens litografiska anstalt. * Saxo Grammaticus (1905) ''The nine books of the Danish history of Saxo Grammaticus''. London: Norroena Societ

* Schütte, Gudmund (1926) "Dansk kongetals tusendaarige traad", ''Dansk Historisk Tidskrift'' 9:

Mythological kings of Denmark People whose existence is disputed {{Norse-myth-stub