Olaf Trätelgja

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Ynglingasaga : Olaf, the wood chopper (illustration by Gerhard Munthe , 1889)

Olaus or Olof Trätälja († 640) (Norwegian Olav Tretelgja , Swedish Olof Trätälja , Old Norse / Old Icelandic Óláfr trételgja , d. E. About "Olaf, the woodcutter, ax, or loggers") actually Olaf Ingjaldsson was a legendary Yngling -Prinz or a Swedish-Norwegian legend king . He is considered the progenitor of the Norwegian Ynglinger kings , but has not been historically proven.

According to Swedish and Norwegian-Icelandic legends ( Ynglingatal , Ynglingasaga ), Olaf was the son of King Ingjald Ildraade (Illråde) of Old Uppsala , who had united Svear and Gauten under his rule around 600 . According to Heimskringla , his mother was Princess Gauthild of West Gotland . The various traditions agree that Ingjald and his daughter Asa burned to death in their enemy-surrounded residence. There were various reports as to whether Olaf was burned to death or was able to flee, or whether he followed his father as king before he was overthrown and driven out.

According to some traditions, he fled via Närke and Västergötland to Värmland , where around 600 he and other Swedish refugees founded a new kingdom that extended over the Norwegian Vestfold . (The clearing work necessary in the densely wooded Värmland should have been the reason for Olaf's nickname.

He is said to have founded a new place of worship and residence in Skiringssal (later called Kaupang) in Vestfold. From there he tried to conquer Jutland and Schleswig , but had to leave it to the Danes . Ultimately, however, Olaf is said to have burned to death in his residence during an uprising of his subjects, who were angry about increasing taxes and dearth His son and successor Halfdan Hvitbeinn (Halfdan Weißbein), who is also historically unproven, is said to have ruled from 640 to around 700.

literature

  • Peter A. Munch : The heroic age of the Nordic-Germanic peoples and the Viking trains . Bremen 1854/2011, p. 105 ff.
  • Wilhelm Wägner : Our prehistory , 1st volume (Germanic legends of the gods). Neufeld & Henius Verlag, Berlin 1921, p. 310 ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ German spelling after Meyers
  2. ↑ Olaf . In: Universal Lexicon of the Present and Past . 4., reworked. and greatly increased edition, Volume 12:  Nishnei-Novgorod-Pfeufer , self-published, Altenburg 1861, p.  254 .
  3. ↑ Sweden . In: Universal Lexicon of the Present and Past . 4., reworked. and strongly increased edition, Volume 15:  Säugethiere – Sicilicus , self-published, Altenburg 1862, p.  548 .
  4. ↑ Olaf Trätelgja . In: Christian Blangstrup (Ed.): Salmonsens Konversationsleksikon . 2nd Edition. tape 18 : Nordlandsbaad – Perleøerne . JH Schultz Forlag, Copenhagen 1924, p. 471 (Danish, runeberg.org ).
  5. ^ Meyers Konversations-Lexikon , Twelfth Volume, page 129 (Norway: History). Third edition, Leipzig 1877 ... also twelfth volume, page 252 , fourth edition, Leipzig and Vienna 1885-1892 ... but no longer in the fifth edition from 1897
  6. ↑ Norway . In: Universal Lexicon of the Present and Past . 4., reworked. and greatly increased edition, Volume 11:  Matelica – Nishnei-Kolymsk , self-published, Altenburg 1860, p.  124 .