''Yngvars saga víðförla'' (also known as ''Sagan om Ingwar Widtfarne och hans Son Swen'') is a

legendary saga A legendary saga or ''fornaldarsaga'' (literally, "story/history of the ancient era") is a Norse saga that, unlike the Icelanders' sagas, takes place before the settlement of Iceland.The article ''Fornaldarsagor'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (1991 ...

said to have been written in the twelfth century by Oddr Snorrason. The tale tells of a

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

expedition to somewhere in southern

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, probably the present day region of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

Description

It describes what was the last Viking campaign in the Caspian (

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

) in 1041, adding much legend to the historical facts. This expedition was launched from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Ingvar the Far-Travelled Ingvar the Far-Travelled (Old Norse: ''Yngvarr víðfǫrli'', Swedish: ''Ingvar Vittfarne'') was a Swedish Viking who led an expedition that fought in the Kingdom of Georgia. The Rus' undertook several Caspian expeditions in the course of t ...

(Ingvar Vittfarne), who went into the land of the

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

(

Serkland In Old Norse sources, such as sagas and runestones, Serkland (also ''Særkland'', ''Srklant'', ''Sirklant'', ''Serklat'', etc.) was the "land of the ''Serkir''", usually identified with the Saracens. The exact etymology is disputed. ''Serk''- may ...

). There, they apparently took part in the Battle of Sasireti in

(1042).

Publication history

The earliest extant text is dated to the early 15th century, and is thought to be an Icelandic translation of a Latin text, now lost; the Latin version may have been written by Oddr Snorrason at Þingeyraklaustur in the years preceding 1200. In 1920

Finnur Jónsson Finnur Jónsson (May 29, 1858 – March 30, 1934) was an Icelandic philologist and Professor of Nordic Philology at the University of Copenhagen. He made extensive contributions to the study of Old Norse literature. Finnur Jónsson was born a ...

only attributed '' Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar'' to Oddr, but the authorship claim has gained more acceptance over time, with the attribution to 'Odda the Wise' now thought to be the same as Oddr Snorrason. Key arguments for the attribution were made by - one such was that both 'Oddr' and 'Odda' mention one ''Gizurr Hallsson'' as recipients of ''Olaf's saga'' and ''Yngvar's saga''. The story was published in 1762 by N.R. Brocman (Stockholm) as ''Sagan om Ingwar Widtfarne och hans Son Swen'' he Saga of Ingvar Widtfarne and his son Swen

Physical and historical evidence

There are many

Ingvar Runestones The Ingvar runestones () is the name of around 26 Varangian Runestones that were raised in commemoration of those who died in the Swedish Caspian expeditions of the Rus, Viking expedition to the Caspian Sea of Ingvar the Far-Travelled. The Ingvar ...

raised in commemoration of warriors who died in the raid, mostly in the Lake

Mälaren Mälaren ( , , or ), historically referred to as Lake Malar in English, is the third-largest freshwater lake in Sweden (after Vänern and Vättern). Its area is and its greatest depth is 64 m (210 ft). Mälaren spans from east to west. The l ...

region of

Uppland Uppland is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The name literally ...

in Sweden. A stone to Ingvar's brother indicates that he went east for gold but that he died in Saracen land. It has been noted that the names of several figures in the saga are shared by people mentioned on the Ingvar Runestones.Mats G. Larsson: Ett ödesdigert vikingatåg. Ingvar den vittfarnes resa 1036-1041. Stockholm 1990. Evidence both archaeological and literary is convincing for a Viking (or 'rus') presence in the

and or Caspian region in the period dated in the tale, as well as substantial circumstantial evidence that may directly related to the events in the tale, including 11th century Arabic sources. The interchange between Scandinavia and Russia, as well as a 'rus' presence, both trading and mercenary, in that region (and in Byzantium) in the period was substantial. Some scholars have attempted to identify the saga with Viking (rus) journeys to Byzantium in 1043, not the Caspian in 1041, or even with 'rus' raids on Emirs of the Caucasus between 1030 and 1033. The Georgian Chronicles confirm the presence of Varangians (Norsemen) in the area c.1040, though the dating is not completely precise; the chronicles give more details on the activities of a small army of Varangians, and though similarities can be drawn with the saga, a direct association between the two records is not certain, and a very selective interpretive reading is needed to get the two to fit. further analyzed the two historical accounts - he saw no reason ''not'' to conflate the two accounts - finding chronological order matches between the saga text, and likely inferred journey to

, and the historical events - and suggests that the alternative of the Georgian account referring to another 'Viking' expedition is relatively unlikely. One argument for the theory that the journey was to Byzantium (and not the Caspian) is supported by references to fire being used against their ships and the knowledge of "

Greek fire Greek fire was an incendiary weapon system used by the Byzantine Empire from the seventh to the fourteenth centuries. The recipe for Greek fire was a closely-guarded state secret; historians have variously speculated that it was based on saltp ...

" by the Byzantines, which is recorded to have been used in such a way in 1043.

Source material

The saga also draws on learned literature, including the late twelfth-century translation of '' The Book of Joseph and Aseneth''.Richard Cole,
Echoes of the ''Book of Joseph and Aseneth'', Particularly in ''Yngvars saga víðfǫrla''
, ''Saga-Book'', 41 (2017), 5–34.

References

Sources

* * * * * * *

Texts

* , scanned pages
alt link
* * * , translation * *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yngvars saga vidforla Legendary sagas 12th-century books History of the Caspian Sea