Agne (English: ''Agni''), ''Hogne'' or ''Agni Skjálfarbondi'' was a semi-legendary, king of Sweden, 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'' ...

. Snorri Sturluson relates that he was the son of

Dag the Wise Dag the Wise or Dagr spaki was a Swedish king of the House of Ynglings (dated to the 4th century by 16th-century historiographer Johannes Magnus). He was the son of Dyggvi, the former king. According to legend, he could understand the speech of ...

, and he was mighty and famous. He was also skilled in many ways. One summer, he went to

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 ...

with his army where he pillaged. The

Finns Finns or Finnish people ( fi, suomalaiset, ) are a Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these ...

gathered a vast host under a chief named Frosti. A great battle ensued which Agne won and many Finns were killed together with Frosti. Agne then subdued all of Finland with his army, and captured not only great booty but also Frosti's daughter Skjalf and her kinsman Logi. Agne returned to Sweden and they arrived at

Stocksund Stocksund () is an upper class suburb in Metropolitan Stockholm, Sweden. Located immediately across the Edsviken and Stocksundet from Bergshamra, Stocksund is one of four parts of Danderyd Municipality north of Stockholm, which is the most ...

( Stockholm) where they put up their tent on the side of the river where it is flat. Agne had a

torc A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large rigid or stiff neck ring in metal, made either as a single piece or from strands twisted together. The great majority are open at the front, although some had hook and ring closures and a few had ...

which had belonged to his alleged great-great-great-grandfather

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 ...

. Agne married Skjalf. Skjalf asked Agne to honour her dead father Frosti with a great feast, which he granted. He invited a great many guests, who gladly arrived to visit the now even more famous Swedish king. They had a drinking competition in which Agne became very drunk. Skjalf saw her opportunity and asked Agne to take care of Visbur's torc, which was around his neck. Agne bound it fast around his neck before he went to sleep. The king's tent was next to the woods and was under the branches of a tall tree for shade. When Agne was fast asleep, Skjalf took a rope which she attached to the torc. Then she had her men remove the tent, and she threw the rope over a bough. Then she told her men to pull the rope and they hanged Agne, avenging Skjalf's father. Skjalf and her men ran to the ships and escaped to Finland. Agne was buried at the place, now called

Agnafit Agnafit (Old Norse: ) or ''Agnefit'' was the name of a location where Lake Mälaren met the Baltic Sea. In the 14th century, an addition to the '' Historia Norwegiae'' described Agnafit as being where Stockholm had been founded. Some say that it wa ...

, which is east of the Tauren (the

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 ...

name for Södertörn) and west of Stocksund. ''Ynglingatal'' then gives Alrekr and Eiríkr as Agne's successors. 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: Agne is incorrectly called ''Hogne''. Unlike ''Ynglingatal'', ''Historia Norwegiæ'' does not give

Dagr Dagr (Old Norse: , "day")Lindow (2001:91). is the divine personification of the day in Norse mythology. He appears in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th ...

as Agne's predecessor, but Alrekr. Instead Alrekr is Agne's predecessor and Agne is succeeded by

Yngvi Old Norse Yngvi , Old High German Ing/Ingwi and Old English Ingƿine are names that relate to a theonym which appears to have been the older name for the god Freyr. Proto-Germanic *Ingwaz was the legendary ancestor of the Ingaevones, or more acc ...

(incorrectly called ''Ingialdr''). 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 it gives the same line of succession as ''Historia Norwegiæ'': ''xii Alrekr. xiii Agni. xiiii Yngvi''. The location indicated by Snorri Sturluson as the place of Agne's death has a barrow called ''Kung Agnes hög'' (King Agne's barrow) in Lillhersby, Sollentuna. The barrow was excavated by

Oxenstierna Oxenstierna ( , ) is a Swedish noble family, originally from Småland in southern Sweden which can be traced up to the middle of the 14th century. The Oxenstierna family held vast estates in Södermanland and Uppland during the late Middle Ages a ...

and dated to c. 400.The entry ''Agne'' in Ohlmarks, Åke. (1982). Fornnordiskt lexikon. Tiden. Moreover, this barrow may be proof that there is somewhat of a historical core to King Agne's story as told in the sagas.

Notes

Primary sources

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 ...

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 ...

(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 * ...

Secondary sources

Nerman, B. ''Det svenska rikets uppkomst''. Stockholm, 1925. {{Norse mythology Mythological kings of Sweden