Håkan the Red (
Swedish: ''Håkan Röde'') was a
King of Sweden
The monarchy of Sweden is centred on the monarchical head of state of Sweden,See the #IOG, Instrument of Government, Chapter 1, Article 5. by law a constitutional monarchy, constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system.Parl ...
, reigning for about half a decade in the second half of the 11th century.
[''Håkan Röde'' in '']Nationalencyklopedin
(; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia with several hundred thousand articles. It is available both online and via a printed version.
History
The project was ...
'':
There is little information on him, and it is mostly contradictory.
Nothing is known about his reign.
["Håkan"](_blank)
article in '' Nordisk familjebok'' (1910):
Swedish historian Adolf Schück has asserted that, rather than ''
Blot-Sweyn
Blot-Sweyn (Swedish: ''Blot-Sven'') was a Sweden, Swedish king c. 1080, of disputed historicity, who was said to have replaced his Christians, Christian brother-in-law Inge I of Sweden, Inge as King of Sweden, when Inge had refused to administer t ...
'' being an individual king, there are indications that that may have been an
epithet
An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...
for King Håkan.
His cognomen ''the Red'' comes from the
regnal list of the ''
Westrogothic law'', written in early 13th century. The same source claims that he was born in
Levene, in
Västergötland
Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden.
Vä ...
.
Succession sequence
Despite contradiction in the sources, Håkan's position as a ''successor'' of
Stenkil in the
line of Swedish kings is generally accepted as correct.
Perhaps he reigned from c. 1066/1070 in some areas of
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
(succeeding
Stenkil or
Halsten Stenkilsson), and from c. 1075 in
Uppland
Uppland is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea.
The name literally ...
as well (succeeding
Anund Gårdske). The regnal line in ''
Nationalencyklopedin
(; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia with several hundred thousand articles. It is available both online and via a printed version.
History
The project was ...
'' omits
Anund Gårdske and presents Håkan as successor of Halsten Stenkilsson.
["Sverige" in '']Nationalencyklopedin
(; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia with several hundred thousand articles. It is available both online and via a printed version.
History
The project was ...
'':
Nationalencyclopedin also suggests that he may have ruled jointly with
Inge the Elder
Inge the Elder ( Swedish: ''Inge Stenkilsson''; Old Norse: ''Ingi Steinkelsson''; died c. 1105–1110) was a king of Sweden. In English literature he has also been called ''Ingold''. While scant sources do not allow a full picture of his term of ...
in the 1080s.
A papal letter from
Gregory VII is addressed to Inge together with either Håkan or
Halsten Stenkilsson as kings of the
västgötar, ordering them to collect
tithe
A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...
and send priests to Rome to educate themselves.
According to
Encyclopædia Britannica
The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
, "
the end of the
Viking Age
The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...
pproximately 1050 Sweden remained a loose federation of provinces. The
old family of kings died out in 1060; after the death of the last of these kings' son-in-law, Stenkil, in 1066, a civil war broke out. Around 1080 Stenkil's sons, Ingi and Halsten, ruled,
.." If "civil war" is an appropriate characterisation of the period from 1066 to 1080, the rulers of that epoch would be in the grey area between "king" and "
warlord
Warlords are individuals who exercise military, Economy, economic, and Politics, political control over a region, often one State collapse, without a strong central or national government, typically through informal control over Militia, local ...
". Describing this period for Sweden as a whole in a linear
translatio imperii kind of regnal succession, can then only be achieved at least partially based on speculative
historical reconstruction, which appears to have happened in diverging directions from the early 13th century on, at the latest.
Adam of Bremen
A
scholion in
Adam of Bremen's ''History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen'' (written 1070s–early 1080s) says that Håkan was elected king after
Stenkil's son
Halsten had been deposed, and after
Anund Gårdske also had been rejected.
At his enthronement he was obliged to "take the mother of young Olof in marriage". It is not clear from Adam's text which Olof is meant, but it has been suggested that he might be King
Olav Kyrre of
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
, whose mother
Tora Torbergsdatter was a cognatic descendant of the Norwegian branch of the
Yngling dynasty. While this remains unproven, the marriage was probably a politically well-planned act to gain support for Håkan's rule. Historian
Sture Bolin has argued that the passage about Olof's mother in fact refers to Tora Torbergsdotter marrying the Danish King
Sweyn Estridsen, and has nothing to do with Håkan. However, while Adam of Bremen mentions a Tora at Sweyn's court, he characterises her as his concubine rather than wife.
Regnal list of the ''Westrogothic law''
According to the regnal list of the ''
Westrogothic law'', Håkan the Red would have ruled 13 years, as Stenkil's ''predecessor''.
He was born in Levene in Viste Hundred in
Västergötland
Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden.
Vä ...
, and was buried there after his demise. The Levene estate is also associated with King Stenkil, suggesting that Håkan might have sprung from the same kin group. Another Swedish king list from the 13th century has the sequence Stenkil - Halsten - Näskonung -
Blot-Sweyn
Blot-Sweyn (Swedish: ''Blot-Sven'') was a Sweden, Swedish king c. 1080, of disputed historicity, who was said to have replaced his Christians, Christian brother-in-law Inge I of Sweden, Inge as King of Sweden, when Inge had refused to administer t ...
- Håkan the Red (Haquinus rufus) -
Inge the Elder
Inge the Elder ( Swedish: ''Inge Stenkilsson''; Old Norse: ''Ingi Steinkelsson''; died c. 1105–1110) was a king of Sweden. In English literature he has also been called ''Ingold''. While scant sources do not allow a full picture of his term of ...
.
Sagas
In ''
Magnus Barefoot
Magnus III Olafsson (Old Norse: ''Magnús Óláfsson'', Norwegian: ''Magnus Olavsson''; 1073 – 24 August 1103), better known as Magnus Barefoot (Old Norse: ''Magnús berfœttr'', Norwegian: ''Magnus Berrføtt''), was the King of Norway ...
's Saga'', a part of
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 ...
's ''
Heimskringla'' (1225), he is given as the ''successor'' of Stenkil (who died in 1066):
Steinkel, the Swedish king, died about the same time as the two Haralds fell, and the king who came after him in
Svithjod was called Håkan. Afterwards Inge, a son of Steinkel,
was king, ..ref name="Magnus Barefoot
"Saga Magnús konungs berfœtts"
, in '' Heimskringla'' (W. Schultz, 1869–1872) at ''Norrøne Tekster og Kvad''. English translation
"Magnus Barefoot's Saga"
from ''Heimskringla'' at the ''Online Medieval & Classical Library''.
Similarly, in ''
Hervarar saga'' (13th century):
Steinkel had a son called Ingi, who became King of Sweden after Håkan.["Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks"](_blank)
Guðni Jónsson's and Bjarni Vilhjálmsson's edition at ''Norrøne Tekster og Kvad''. English translation by N. Kershaw
in ''Stories and Ballads of the Far Past, translated from the Norse (Icelandic and Faroese)''. Cambridge University Press, 1921.
Runestone

Presumably it was Håkan the Red who ordered the carving of a
runestone found in
Hovgården (
Adelsö island in
Lake Mälaren,
Uppland
Uppland is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea.
The name literally ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
). The
Rundata catalog number of this runestone is
U 11.
U 11, Hovgården, Adelsö
by Ingrid Karlmar and Urban Fredriksson, 27 February 1996.
Notes and references
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hakan Red
11th-century Swedish monarchs
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
House of Stenkil