Vanlandi or ''Vanlande'' (

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

"Man from the Land of the Vanir"McKinnell (2005:70).) according to mythology 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 at

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Located north of the c ...

of the

House of Yngling The Ynglings were a dynasty of kings, first in Sweden and later in Norway, primarily attested through the poem ''Ynglingatal''. The dynasty also appears as Scylfings (Old Norse ''Skilfingar'') in '' Beowulf''. When ''Beowulf'' and ''Ynglingatal'' ...

in Norse mythology. He was the son of

Sveigðir Sveigðir, ''Sveigder'' or ''Swegde'' (Old Norse "Waving One"McKinnell (2005:70).) was a Swedish king of the House of Yngling in Norse mythology. He was the son of Fjölner, whom he succeeded as king, and he married Vana of Vanaheimr, probably ...

whom he succeeded as king. He married a girl from ''Finnland'', but forgot about her. In revenge, the girl arranged so that Vanlandi was hag ridden to death. He was succeeded by his son

Visbur Visbur or Wisbur (Old Norse "Certain/Undoubted Son"McKinnell (2005:70).) was a legendary Swedish king of the House of Ynglings and the son of Vanlandi. He was burned to death inside his hall by the arson of two of his own sons in revenge for reje ...

Attestations

Snorri Sturluson wrote of Vanlandi in his ''

Ynglinga saga ''Ynglinga saga'' ( ) is a Kings' saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It is the first section of his ''Heimskringla''. It was first translated into English and published in 184 ...

'' (1225) (note that the translator has rendered ''Finnland'' as

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

):
Snorri also quoted some lines from ''

Ynglingatal ''Ynglingatal'' or ''Ynglinga tal'' (Old Norse: 'Enumeration of the Ynglingar') is a Skaldic poem cited by Snorri Sturluson in the ''Ynglinga saga'', the first saga of Snorri's ''Heimskringla''. Þjóðólfr of Hvinir (Thjodolf), who was a poet ...

'' composed in the 9th century: The ''

Historia Norwegiæ ''Historia Norwegiæ'' is a short history of Norway written in Latin by an anonymous monk. The only extant manuscript is in the private possession of the Earl of Dalhousie, and is now kept in the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh. The manu ...

'' presents a Latin summary of ''Ynglingatal'', older than Snorri's quotation: The even earlier source ''

Íslendingabók ''Íslendingabók'' (, Old Norse pronunciation: , ''Book of Icelanders''; ) is a historical work dealing with early Icelandic history. The author was an Icelandic priest, Ari Þorgilsson, working in the early 12th century. The work originally ex ...

'' cites the line of descent in ''Ynglingatal'' and also gives Vanlandi as the successor of Svegðir and the predecessor of

: ''v Svegðir. vi Vanlandi. vii Visburr. viii Dómaldr''.Guðni Jónsson's edition of Íslendingabók

Geography

''Geographical note'': According to the article ''Skuttunge'' in ''

Nationalencyklopedin ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia, initiated by a favourable loan from the Government of Sweden of 17 million Swedish kronor in 1 ...

'', the creek ''skutá'' passed its name onto the village of Skuttunge and the parish of '' Skuttunge'' ('' sv''). The area does not only contain raised stones, but also 45 grave fields (most from the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

), including a dolmen. The creek is today named after the village. The area has undergone considerable

Post-glacial rebound Post-glacial rebound (also called isostatic rebound or crustal rebound) is the rise of land masses after the removal of the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, which had caused isostatic depression. Post-glacial rebound ...

. Rising about 0.5 m each 100 years. This has significantly changed the position of the seashore, lakes, rivers and human settlements over time.

Notes

References

*McKinnell, John (2005). ''Meeting the Other in Norse Myth and Legend''. DS Brewer.

Sources

(part of the

Heimskringla ''Heimskringla'' () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorre Sturlason (1178/79–1241) 1230. The name ''Heimskringla'' was first used in the 17th century, derive ...

) *

Historia Norwegiae Historia may refer to: * Historia, the local version of the History channel in Spain and Portugal * Historia (TV channel), a Canadian French language specialty channel * Historia (newspaper), a French monthly newspaper devoted to History topics * ...

{{Norse mythology Mythological kings of Sweden Witchcraft in Sweden