Alfheim (, "elf home" or "land between the rivers") is an ancient name for an area corresponding to the modern Swedish province of

Bohuslän Bohuslän () is a Provinces of Sweden, Swedish province in Götaland, on the northernmost part of the country's west coast. It is bordered by Dalsland to the northeast, Västergötland to the southeast, the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea to the ...

About the region and its folk

The

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

, when relating the events of the reign of King Gudröd (''Guðröðr'') the Hunter relates:

Álfheim, at that time, was the name of the land between the ''Raumelfr'' Raum river', lower parts of the modern Glomma river">Glomma.html" ;"title="Raum river', lower parts of the modern Glomma">Raum river', lower parts of the modern Glomma riverand the ''Gautelfr'' ['Gaut river', the modern
Göta älv The (; "River of (the) Geats") is a river that drains lake Vänern into the Kattegat, at the city of Gothenburg, on the western coast of Sweden. It was formed at the end of the last glaciation, as an outflow channel from the Baltic Ice Lake to ...
].

The words "at that time" indicates the name for the region was archaic or obsolete by the 13th century. The element ''elfr'' is a common word for 'river' and appears in other river names. It is cognate with

Middle Low German Middle Low German is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented in writing since about 1225–34 (). During the Hanseatic period (from about 1300 to about 1600), Mid ...

''elve'' 'river' and the name of the river

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

. The Raum Elf marked the border of the region of Raumaríki and the Gaut Elf marked the border of Gautland (modern

Götaland Götaland (; also '' Gothia'', ''Gothland'', ''Gothenland'' or ''Gautland'') is one of three lands of Sweden and comprises ten provinces. Geographically it is located in the south of Sweden, bounded to the north by Svealand, with the deep wo ...

). It corresponds closely to the former Norwegian province of

, now in Sweden. The name Álfheim here may have nothing to do with ''Álfar'' 'Elves', but may derive from a word meaning 'gravel layer'. However, the '' Saga of Thorstein, Viking's Son '' claims that the two rivers and the country was named from King Álf the Old (''Álfr hinn gamli'') who once ruled there, and that his descendants were all related to the Elves and were more handsome than any other people except for the giants, one of several references to giants (jǫtnar and risar) being especially good looking. The ''

Sögubrot af nokkrum fornkonungum ''Sögubrot af nokkurum fornkonungum í Dana- ok Svíaveldi'' ("Fragment of a Saga about Certain Ancient Kings in Denmark and Sweden", often abbreviated to ''Sögubrot'' or ''Sögubrot af fornkonungum'') is a fragmentary Old Icelandic text dealing ...

'' also mentions the special good looks of the kindred of King Álf the Old.

Traditions of Álf the Old

According to ''The Saga of Thorstein, Viking's Son'', King Álf the Old was married to Bryngerd (''Bryngerðr'') the daughter of King Raum of Raumaríki. But according to the ''

Hversu Noregr byggðist ''Hversu Noregr byggðist'' () is an account of the origin of various legendary Norwegian lineages, which survives only in the ''Flateyjarbók''. It traces the descendants of the primeval Fornjót, a king of ''"Gotland, Kænland and Finnland"'', d ...

'', Álf, also called Finnálf, was a son of King Raum who inherited from his father the land from the Gaut Elf river (the modern

Göta älv The (; "River of (the) Geats") is a river that drains lake Vänern into the Kattegat, at the city of Gothenburg, on the western coast of Sweden. It was formed at the end of the last glaciation, as an outflow channel from the Baltic Ice Lake to ...

river) north to the Raum Elf river (the modern

Glomma The Glomma or Glåma is Norway's longest and most voluminous river. With a total length of , it has a drainage basin that covers 13% of Norway's surface area, all in the southern part of the country. Geography At its fullest length, the river r ...

river), and that the land was then called Álfheim. Finnálf married Svanhild (''Svanhildr'') who was called Gold-feather (''Gullfjǫðr'') and was the daughter of Day (''

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 cen ...

'') son of Dayspring (''

Dellingr In Norse mythology, Dellingr (Old Norse possibly "the dayspring"Bellows (1936:75). or "shining one"Orchard (1997:32).) is a god. Dellingr is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and in the ...

'') by Sun ('' Sól'') daughter of ''

Mundilfari In Norse mythology Mundilfari (Old Norse: ; rendered variously ''Mundilfari'', ''Mundilföri'' and ''Mundilfœri'') (Old Norse, possibly "the one moving according to particular times"Simek (2007:222).) is the father of Sól, goddess associated ...

''. Dag as a personification of day and the sun-goddess Sól are mentioned elsewhere, but only the ''Hversu'' mentions their daughter. Svandhild bore Finnálf a son named Svan the Red (''Svanr inn rauði'') who was father of Sæfari, father of Úlf (''Úlfr''), father of Álf, father of Ingimund (''Ingimundr'') and Eystein (''Eysteinn''). According to the eddic poem ''

Hyndluljóð ''Hyndluljóð'' (Old Norse: 'The Lay of Hyndla') is an Old Norse poem often considered a part of the ''Poetic Edda''. It is preserved in its entirety only in ''Flateyjarbók'', but some stanzas are also quoted in the ''Prose Edda'', where they ...

'' (stanza 12), Óttar, whose genealogy is the subject of this poem, was son of Innstein (''Innsteinn''), son of Álf the Old, son of Úlf, son of Sæfari, son of Svan the Red. So the Innstein of the ''Hyndluljód'' and ''Eystein'' of the ''Hversu'' are presumably identical.

Later kings of Álfheimr

Stuff of Legend

Later kings are mentioned in some sagas. According to

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author ...

' ''

Gesta Danorum ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essentia ...

'' (Book 8), the sons of King Gandálf the Old joined King Harald for the

battle of Bråvalla A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

. The ''Sögubrot'' names the sons of Gandálf as Álfar (''Álfarr'') and Álfarin (''Álfarinn'') and makes them members of King Harald's bodyguard. Presumably they died in the battle. But the kingdom of this Gandálf is not identified in these texts. The ''Sögubrot'' also relates that Sigurd Hring (''Sigurðr Hringr''), who was Harald's viceroy on the Swedish throne, married Álfhild, the daughter of King Álf the Old of Álfheim. But in a later passage she appears as a descendant of King Álf. The ''Hversu Noregr byggdist'' provides instead a lineage of King Álf the Old of Álfheim who was father of Álfgeir the father of Gandálf the father of Álfhild the mother of the famous

Ragnar Lodbrok Ragnar Lodbrok (Old Norse: ''Ragnarr loðbrók'', ), according to legends, was a Viking hero and a Legendary Kings of Sweden, Swedish and Legendary kings of Denmark, Danish king.Áslaug (''Áslaugr'') the mother of Sigurd Hart (''Sigurðr Hjǫrt'') whose daughter Ragnhild (''Ragnhildr'') married Halfdan the Black and bore to him

Harald Fairhair Harald Fairhair (; – ) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from 872 to 930 and was the first Monarchy of Norway, King of Norway. Supposedly, two ...

, the first historic king of all Norway. ''

Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra is a ''fornaldarsaga'' about a young Dane named Illugi who delivers a female troll and her daughter from a curse. The earliest manuscript (of 36 which are known to exist) dates from the first half of the 16th century (AM ...

'' relates of a king Áli of Alfheim and his queen Alfrun. When the queen died, the king married a beautiful but evil woman named Grimhild. She murdered him and tyrannized Alfheim until it was laid waste. His daughter Signy would marry king Hringr of Denmark.

On the borders of history

The ''Ynglinga saga'', ''Saga of Halfdan the Black'', and ''Saga of Harald Fairhair'', all included in the ''

Heimskringla () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland. While authorship of ''Heimskringla'' is nowhere attributed, some scholars assume it is written by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (117 ...

'', tell of kings of Álfheim at the end of the legendary period: * Álf: His daughter Álfhild (''Álfhildr'') married King Gudröd the Hunter of Raumaríki and Westfold who brought with her half of the territory of Vingulmork as her dowry. She bore to Gudröd a son named Óláf (''Óláfr'') who was afterwards named Geirstada-Álf (''Geirstaða-Álfr'') and was the elder half-brother of Halfdan the Black. * Álfgeir: He was son of Álf. He regained Vingulmork and placed his son Gandálf (''Gandálfr'') over it as king. * Gandálf: He was son of Álfgeir. Since this Gandálf was an older contemporary of Harald Fairhair and since the historical Viking leaders identified as sons of Ragnar Lodbrok in some traditions were also contemporaries of Harald Fairhair, it is not impossible that Álfhild, the supposed mother of Ragnar Lodbrok, was the daughter of this Gandálf as the ''Hversu Noregr byggdist'' states. What is told in the ''Heimskringla'' is that after many indecisive battles between Gandálf and Halfdan the Black, Vingulmork was divided between them, Halfdan regaining the portion which had been the dowry of his grandfather's first wife Álfhild. Two sons of Gandálf named Hýsing (''Hýsingr'') and Helsing (''Helsingr'') later led a force against Halfdan but fell in battle and a third son named Haki fled into Álfheim. When Halfdan's son Harald Fairhair succeeded his father, Gandálf and his son Haki were both part of an alliance of kings who attacked Harald. Haki was slain but Gandálf escaped. There was further war between Gandálf and Harald. At last Gandálf fell in battle and Harald seized all of Gandálf's land up to the Raum Elf river, at that time not taking Álfheim itself. But later parts of his saga show Harald in full control of the land west of the Gaut Elf river showing that Álfheim did soon become part of his kingdom. From that point it ceased to be an independent region. The Saga of Harald Fairhair relates that it was first conquered by the Swedish king Eirik Eymundsson (

Erik Anundsson Eric Anundsson or Eymundsson was a semi-legendary Swedish king who supposedly ruled during the 9th century. The Norse sagas describe him as successful in extending his realm over the Baltic Sea, but unsuccessful in his attempts of westward expans ...

) who lost it to Harald Fairhair.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alfheimr (region) Places in Norse mythology History of Bohuslän