Mother of Alrek and Eirik - Her Name

Started by Debbie Gambrell on Saturday, December 18, 2021
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12/18/2021 at 11:38 PM

I was just reading on Wikipedia:

According to the Ynglinga saga, Alaric and Eric were sons and heirs of the previous king Agni by his wife Skjálf.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaric_and_Eric

but I see that in her About section it states there's no evidence of that. Is there evidence that she wasn't?

12/21/2021 at 5:59 AM

I think you (and the Wikipedia author) are misreading Ynglinge saga.

Skjalf murdered Agni shortly after their wedding; I don't think the story leaves room for her to bear him two sons.

In that age, it was common for kings to have multiple wives.

12/21/2021 at 4:16 PM

I was just sharing what's on Wikipedia and trying to get clarification. I haven't read the original Ynglinga saga.

What's on Wikipedia doesn't mention that she killed him shortly after their wedding, as far as I can tell. All I read was:

"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."

which indicates a feast honoring her father and nothing about the timing or a wedding. I realize that could be taken out of context of the original, which is why it's not very clear about the timing or the why of it all.

12/29/2021 at 1:32 PM

Yep, I corrected the impliied mtherhood statement on Wikipedia too.
There's simply no way we can tell whether the saga author intended to call her the mother of the following kings or not.

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