King Eystein is knocked off his ship. (''Illustration by Gerhard Munthe'') Eystein Halfdansson (

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 settlement ...

: ''Eysteinn Hálfdansson'') was the son of

Halfdan Hvitbeinn Halfdan Whiteshanks (Old Norse: ''Hálfdan hvítbeinn'') was a semi-historical petty king in Norway, described in the ''Ynglinga saga''. The following description is based on the account in Ynglinga saga, written in the 1220s by Snorri Sturluson. ...

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'' ...

according to Norse tradition. He inherited the throne of

Romerike Romerike is a traditional district located north-east of Oslo, in what is today south-eastern Norway. It consists of the Viken municipalities Lillestrøm, Lørenskog, Nittedal, Rælingen and Aurskog-Høland in the southern end (Nedre Romerike) ...

. Ari Thorgilsson in his

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 ...

calls him Eystein the Swift (Old Norse: ''Eystein fret/fjert'') without comment, in his king list, just naming his father and his son. Snorri does not call him by this nickname, but does give us a colorful story of his life. His wife was Hild, the daughter of the king of

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 ...

, Erik Ragnarsson. Erik had no son, so Eystein obtained

as his wife's inheritance. According to Ynglingasaga, Eystein died returning from a viking raid to Varna, on the eastern side of the

Oslofjord The Oslofjord (, ; en, Oslo Fjord) is an inlet in the south-east of Norway, stretching from an imaginary line between the and lighthouses and down to in the south to Oslo in the north. It is part of the Skagerrak strait, connecting the N ...

. Eystein's men had finished looting and pillaging the area and were already almost across the fjord, when King Skjöld of Varna, a great

warlock A warlock is a male practitioner of witchcraft. Etymology and terminology The most commonly accepted etymology derives '' warlock'' from the Old English '' wǣrloga'', which meant "breaker of oaths" or "deceiver" and was given special applicati ...

, arrived at the beach and saw the sails of Eystein's ships. He waved his cloak and blew into it which caused a sailbearing spar (boom) of one close sailing ship in heavy sea to swing and hit Eystein so that he fell overboard and drowned. His body was salvaged and buried in a mound at Borre. Eystein was succeeded by his son

Halfdan the Mild Halfdan the Mild (Old Norse: ''Hálfdan hinn mildi ok hinn matarilli'', (meaning the generous and stingy on food)) was the son of king Eystein Halfdansson, of the House of Yngling and he succeeded his father as king, according to Heimskringla. He ...

References

Sources

Heimskringla in EnglishGuðni Jónsson's edition of ÍslendingabókÍslendingabók in English
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eystein Halfdansson Norwegian petty kings 730 deaths Deaths by drowning Year of birth uncertain House of Yngling