King Eystein is knocked off his ship. Illustration by Gerhard Munthe (1899) Eystein Halfdansson (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

: ''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 (, ) in ''Beowulf''. When ''Beowulf'' and ''Ynglingatal'' were composed sometim ...

according to Norse tradition. He inherited the throne of

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

. Ari Thorgilsson in his

Íslendingabók (, , ; ) is a historical work dealing with early history of Iceland, Icelandic history. The author was an Icelandic priest, Ari Þorgilsson, working in the early 12th century. The work originally existed in two different versions but only the y ...

calls him Eystein Fart (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 county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...

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

as his wife's inheritance. According to ''

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 ...

'', Eystein died returning from a viking raid to Varna, on the eastern side of the

Oslofjord The Oslofjord (, ; ) is an inlet in southeastern Norway. The fjord begins at the small village of Bonn in Frogn, Frogn Municipality and stretching northwards to the city of Oslo, and then curving to the east and then south again. It then flows s ...

. 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". The term came to apply special ...

, 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 (, , Medieval : "half Dane") was a late 5th and early 6th century legendary Danish king of the Scylding (Skjöldung) lineage, the son of king named Fróði in many accounts, noted mainly as the father to the two kings who succeeded hi ...

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