Sweyn Asleifsson

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Sweyn Asleifsson (about 1115–1171) was a 12th century Viking who is only mentioned in the Orkneyinga saga . He is described as the archetype of the Viking and the writer Eric Linklater (1899–1974) called him the "Ultimate Viking".

Sweyn (or Sveinn) was born in Caithness , Scotland , in the early 12th century, the grandson of Olaf Hrolfsson (of Gairsay ) and his wife Åsleik , and died in the attack on Dublin in 1171 . His father was murdered in 1135 by "Olvir Rosta", a Scottish clan leader from Helmsdale , while he was escaping to Swona .

According to the Orkneyinga saga, Sweyn Asleifsson gained notoriety in 1136 or 1137 (not known historically) through the murder of a certain "Sweyn Breastorpe" at the court of the Earl in Orphir . He fled to Tiree to seek refuge with a certain "Holdbodi Hundason". He later returned to Orkney and kidnapped Earl Paul Haakonsson of Orkney , thus enabling Rognvald Brusasson II to get his lands back on Orkney in the Earltum operated by Harald Gille King of Norway. In 1140 Holdbodi and Sweyn attempted to raid the coast of Wales , but they were repulsed. Holdbodi went to the Isle of Man and Sweyn withdrew to Lewis . In 1141 Sweyn came to the Isle of Man to rejoin Holdbodi. But Holdbodi had been persuaded to join the forces of the Cambro-Norman Lord Robert I. Fitz-Harold de Ewyas (1088–1147), who had foiled his attack the previous year and attacked Sweyn. This led to the feud between the former friends. After the assassination of Rognvald in 1146, Sweyn, who had his possessions on Gairsay, was driven out by the new Earl "Rögnvald Kali Kolsson" (St Ronald of Orkney), and possibly fled via Muckle Green Holm to Sanday, but the Scottish King David I ( King from 1124 to 1153) convinced them to make peace. As a result, Sweyn Asleifsson regularly raided the shores of the Irish Sea and its surroundings. When the Normans conquered Dublin he was killed.

literature

  • Finnbogi Guðmundsson: Orkneyinga saga. In: Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder. Volume 12: Mottaker - Orlogsskib. Rosenkilde og Bagger, Copenhagen 1967, Sp. 699-702.
  • Helgi Guðmundsson: Um haf innan. Vestrænir menn og íslenzk menning a miðöldum. Háskólaútgáfan, Reykjavík 1997, ISBN 9979-54-196-2 .
  • Eric Linklater : The Ultimate Viking. Macmillan, London 1955.
  • Preben Meulengracht Sørensen: The Sea, the Flame, and the Wind. The Legendary Ancestors of the Earls of Orkney. In: Preben Meulengracht Sørensen: At fortælle historien. Study in the gamle nordiske literature. = Telling history. Studies in Norse literature (= Hesperides. 16). Parnaso, Trieste 2001, ISBN 88-86474-31-8 , pp. 221-230.
  • Maria-Claudia Tomany: Destination Viking and Orkneyinga saga. Historiography and Regional Identity Problems in Orkney. Utz, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-8316-0417-3 (also: Munich, University, dissertation, 2004).