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 settlement ...

"Man from the Land of the Vanir"McKinnell (2005:70).) according to mythology was a Swedish 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 ca ...

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'' ...

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern per ...

. 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.

Attestations

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

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 1 ...

'' (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 Bot ...

):
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'' 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 Visbur: ''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 mostly ...

), including a

dolmen A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were some ...

. The creek is today named after the village. The area has undergone considerable 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) * Historia Norwegiae {{Norse mythology Mythological kings of Sweden Witchcraft in Sweden