Sven Alfivason

Sven Alfivason (* around 1016 in Denmark , † 1036 in Denmark) was Jarl in Norway under his father Knut the Great , who was ruler of a North Sea empire , from 1029 to 1035 .

His mother was a concubine of Knuts named Alfiva (Aelfigja; Anglo-Saxon Ælgifu) from an Anglo-Saxon noble family.

After the expulsion of the Norwegian King Olav the Saint from Norway, King Canute installed his nephew, Ladejarl Håkon Eriksson , as a jarl over all of Norway. He died at sea in 1029 after visiting Knut in England. Olav wanted to use this power vacuum to regain his kingship in Norway, but failed and ended with his death in 1030. Meanwhile, in 1029 Knut sent his son Sven with his mother and a number of Danish nobles as Jarl to Norway.

This met with determined resistance from Norwegian aristocrats. In particular, the aristocrats Einar Tambarskjelve and Kalv Arnesson had expected that Knut would confer this dignity on one of them. Sven Alfivason is considered a weak personality, and even then it was believed that it was actually Alfiva who ruled the country. However, it should be taken into account that the saga authors exaggerated Alfiva's role. Because it is part of the topos of saga literature to characterize the rule of women as haphazard and evil. The two ruled with a hard hand, and especially the new tax laws and penalties adopted from England, which were supposed to help reorganize the state finances, aroused the indignation of the population. Snorri writes that even the trip abroad was made dependent on the king's permission. Anyone who left anyway lost all property in Norway to the king. The king also appropriated the inheritance that was granted to a peacemaker. In addition, there was a bad year with a bad harvest that was blamed on him. An alleged son of Olav Tryggvason , who called himself Tryggve Olavsson, came from England and claimed the royal throne. There was a battle in Soknasund in Ryfylke in 1033 , which Sven won with the help of Danish elite troops. Tryggve was killed.

The aristocrats Kalv Arneson and Einar Tambarskjelve then decided to go to Novgorod and fetch Magnus from there . When he arrived in Norway, the entire population joined him against the Danes. Sven had to flee with his mother and died soon after.

literature

• Claus Krag: Article "Svein Alfivason" in Norsk biografisk leksikon