Sölve was a sea-king who conquered

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

by burning the Swedish king

Östen Eysteinn (Swedish: Östen; died ca 600) was the son of Eadgils and Yrsa of Saxony. He was the father of Ingvar. The Eysteinn tumulus ''(Östens hög)'' in Västerås near Östanbro has been linked to King Eysteinn by some popular historians. The ...

to death inside his

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 ...

. The '' Heimskringla'' relates that he was the son of

Högne ''For other people named Högne, see Haguna.'' Högne was a king of Östergötland who appears in sources of Norse mythology. ''Heimskringla'' Snorri Sturluson wrote that he was the king of Östergötland and that he had a son named Hildur and ...

of Nærøy, and that he had his home in Jutland (however, according to the older source '' Historia Norwegiae'', he was Geatish). He pillaged in the Baltic Sea and at night they made shore in the hundred of Lofond/Lovund (perhaps

Lovön Lovön is an island in the Swedish Lake Mälaren in Ekerö Municipality of Stockholm County. It was a municipality of its own until 1952, when it was joined with Ekerö Municipality. Lovön's greatest attraction is Drottningholm Palace and its ma ...

or the

Lagunda Hundred A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in northern Germanic countries and related colonies, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions. The equivalent term in Swedish is (in Uppland als ...

) where they surrounded a house and set it on fire killing everybody inside. In the house there was a feast where the Swedish king

was invited. Then Sölve and his men arrived in Sigtuna (

Old Sigtuna Signhildsberg (historically Fornsigtuna, where ''forn'' means ''ancient'', Old Sigtuna, ''Sithun'', ''Signesberg'') is a manor that formerly was a royal estate (Uppsala öd), located in the parish of Håtuna approximately west of the modern tow ...

) and declared that the Swedes had to accept him as king. The Swedes refused and fought Sölve for eleven days until they lost. Sölve then ruled Sweden until the Swedes rebelled and killed him. ''Historia Norwegiae'' only relates that the Geats burnt Östen and his people to death inside his house. Sölvi also appears in '' Half's saga'', of which there is a version from the year 1300. This saga relates that Sölvi was the son of Högne the rich of Nærøy ''fyrir Naumundalsminni'' in Norway and that he was the brother of Hild the Slender. Sölvi's brother-in-law, Hjorleiv, was the king of Hordaland and

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...

and Hjorleiv killed Hreidar, the king of Zealand. Then Hjorleiv put Sölvi as the

jarl Jarl is a rank of the nobility in Scandinavia. In Old Norse, it meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. ''Jarl'' could also mean a sovereign prince. For example, the rulers of several of the petty k ...

of Zealand. Later in the saga, Sölvi is no longer the jarl of Zealand, but the king of Sweden. Hjorleiv had a son named Half (after whom the saga is named), and after the Norwegian king Asmund had killed Half, a couple of his champions go to Sweden and king Sölvi (''til svíþjóðar ; fóru þeir ... á fund Sölva konungs'') (see also Gard Agdi). Sölvi is also mentioned in a few other sources, but none of them relate of his Danish and Swedish dominions. He was succeeded by Ingvar of the Swedish royal dynasty, the House of Yngling.

References

Primary sources

* '' Ynglingatal'' * '' Ynglinga saga'' (part of the '' Heimskringla'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Solve Viking warriors Semi-legendary kings of Sweden 7th-century rulers in Europe