Erik the Victorious' wives
Jared Olar
On Wed, 8 May 1996, Stewart Baldwin wrote:
> Jared Olar <ol...@UIS.EDU> wrote:
>
> > Snorri Sturluson obviously did not invent Sigrid the Haughty--
> >though earlier sagamen could have. Between the unreliability of
> >Icelandic sagas and the unreliability of Adam of Bremen, identifying the
> >mother of Olaf Skotkonung is well nigh impossible. There is no reason
> >that I can see to say that Sigrid the Haughty was the Icelandic
> >equivalent of Adam of Bremen's Wendish wife of Erik the Victorious--they
> >could be confused memories of two separate wives of Erik.
>
> Although I agree that Adam of Bremen is not always reliable, I feel
> compelled to come to his defense in this case, as I don't think that
> comparing him with the sagas in this way is entirely fair. There are
> several reasons why Adam of Bremen should be regarded as a much more
> reliable source for early Scandinavian history than the sagas.
I agree with your appraisal of Adam of Bremen's value as compared to
traditions found in Icelandic sagas. I was referring more specifically
to the details recorded by Adam concerning the mother of Olaf Skotkonung,
not to issues of general trustworthiness.
> First, Adam wrote at an earlier time than the saga authors, and
> therefore was closer in time to the relevant events.
This is true enough--but when it comes to Norwegian history in these
early times Adam as completely unreliable. For example, he claims that
St. Olaf Haraldsson was the son of Olaf Tryggvasson, and claims that
Olaf's father Tryggvi was the son of Jarl Hakon the Powerful.
Furthermore, Adam's Hakon seems to be a garbled composite of Harald
Haarfagr, Hakon the Good, and Jarl Hakon. Also, he says Jarl Hakon's
successor was an otherwise unknown "Hartild."
I only read recently that Adam's classic description of the
temple at Uppsala in Sweden may not have much basis in reality after all.
> (You could make an excellent case that the saga authors were better
> informed than Adam about Norwegian (and Icelandic) history, but Adam
> certainly gets the edge with regard to Sweden and Denmark.)
Overall, I'd have to agree.
> Third, Adam of Bremen's work is a work of history, whereas the sagas
> contain a layer of literature superimposed on the historical material which
> dilutes their value as a historical source.
True, but Gregory of Tours is also a work of history--and yet he had to
make use of oral tales and songs of the early Frankish kings. Adam also
made use of such sources at first, second, or third-hand.
> Since I have never looked at this problem in any detail, perhaps
> someone who has done so could outline exactly what the early primary
> sources have to say on the matter of Erik's wife/wives and Olaf's
> mother. In particular, are there any other relevant sources on this
> matter other than Adam and the sagas?
I might be able to help you out a little, but I haven't examined all the
evidence either. Anyway, here's what I have:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Scholium 24(25) of Adam of Bremen says that Erik the Victorious made
an alliance with Boleslav (Chrobry), and sealed it by marrying Boleslav's
"daughter or sister." Note that Adam does not tell us whether this
Polish princess was Erik's chief wife--Adam was not even sure how Erik's
Polish wife was related to Boleslav.
According to Thietmar _Chronicon_ VIII.xxxix (VII.28) Boleslav Chrobry of
Poland gave Erik his sister in marriage. If I remember correctly,
Thietmar was relating Polish/Wendish history, not Swedish history. I
have not examined this source, so I do not know what Thietmar has to say
about Erik the Victorious' offspring (if anything).
Continuing with Adam of Bremen, we read, "After the long-wished-for death
of Erik, Svein returned from exile and regained the kingdom of his
fathers in the 14th. year of his deposition and wanderings. And he
married Erik's widow, the mother of Olaf, and she bore him Knut . . . ."
Note that Adam of Bremen does not say that "Erik's widow" is the same as
the "daughter or sister" of Boleslav.
So, was Olaf Skotkonung the son of Erik by his Wendish marriage? Or was
Olaf's mother the Sigrid Storrade of Northern tradition? Icelandic
sources unanimously state that "Erik's widow" whom Svein Tjuguskegg
married was Sigrid Storrade--they mention no other wife of Erik (to my
knowledge), though our knowledge of Scandinavian pagan culture makes it
highly doubtful that Erik had only one wife at a time.
There may be other sources which mention Erik and his son Olaf, and they
might tell us more about Olaf's maternity. But Adam and Thietmar do not
(as far as I can tell) settle the matter one way or the other. If anyone
else can shine some light on this point, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Jared Olar
Stewart Baldwin
Jared Olar <ol...@UIS.EDU> wrote:
(snip)
Thietmar also stated that Harald and Knut were the sons of Svein by a
sister of Boleslav whom he later abandoned. (This reference is not
directly from Thietmar's Chronicon, but Thietmar is cited as making
this statemant by Lawson's book "Cnut: the Danes in England in the
early eleventh century", p.24.) Since Thietmar is a contemporary
authority, this seems to pretty much settle the matter, at least as
far as the parentage of Olaf, Harald, and Knut goes. We have:
a. (Thietmar) Erik married a sister of Boleslav. This is further
confirmed by Adam, who was not sure wherther she was Boleslav's sister
or daughter. (By the way, Adam's expression of uncertainty should not
be viewed as a negative factor here. There is no contradiction
between Adam and Thietmar on this point. Adam knew that it was one or
the other, but admitted that he could not remeber which, and
Thietmar's contemporary statement nails down which one is correct.)
b. (Thietmar) Harald and Knut were the sons of Svein by a sister of
Boleslav whom he later abandoned.
c. (Adam) Svein married the widow of Erik, mother of Olaf, by whom he
had Knut.
Thus, Thietmar's contamporary statements confirm that both Erik and
Svein were married to a sister of Boleslav, and Adam's statement
confirms that it was in fact the same sister. So we have a sister of
Boleslav who md. 1st Erik and had Olaf, and then md. 2nd Svein and had
Harald and Knut, all confirmed by good contemporary or near
contemporary evidence, and not contradicted by any eleventh contury
source.
So, what about Heimskringla? The Thietmar/Adam version clearly has
priority over this very noncontemporary account. I see three main
possibilities:
1. Sigrid never existed.
2. Sigrid existed, but the sagas are wrong about her parentage.
3. Sigrid existed, but was married only to Svein, and was not the
mother of Harald and Knut. This is the version I prefer. The
Icelandic sources state that Svien was married twice, first to a
daughter of Burislav, king of the Wends, and next to Sigrid, the widow
of Erik and mother of Olaf. The sagas are a late source that could
have easily confused things. I suggest that the saga account is the
result of two bits of confusion, both of which could easily arise in a
noncontemporary source.
a. The daughter of Burislav could easily be a confused reporting of
the sister of Boleslav.
b. Knowing that Svein had married Erik's widow, the sagas could have
become confused as to which of Svein's two wives was the widow of
Erik. Note that Heimskringla only briefly mentioned the marriage of
Sigrid and Erik. That part could have easily been added later when a
reference in one of Snorri's sources (Adam?) that Svein married Erik's
widow was misinterpreted as referring to Sigrid instead of Svein's
earlier wife.
This suggestion also fits well with the contemporary evidence.
Theitmar stated that Svein abandoned the sister of Boleslav, which is
a clear indication that he married again, while the contemporary
records give no indication that Erik was married more than once
(though he could very well have been).
Well, there's my 2c worth. Any comments?
Stewart Baldwin
Anders Berg
Stewart Baldwin <sb...@AUBURN.CAMPUS.MCI.NET> wrote:
>Thus, Thietmar's contamporary statements confirm that both Erik and
>Svein were married to a sister of Boleslav, and Adam's statement
>confirms that it was in fact the same sister. So we have a sister of
>Boleslav who md. 1st Erik and had Olaf, and then md. 2nd Svein and had
>Harald and Knut, all confirmed by good contemporary or near
>contemporary evidence, and not contradicted by any eleventh contury
>source.
A couple of comments:
Adam's account that the sister of Boleslaw was the mother of Olaf is
discarded by most historians today. It is chronologically impossible.
Olaf Sko:tkonung must have been at least 15 years old when his father
Erik died in ~995, and Erik married the polish princess no more than
a couple of years prior to his death. We can say this because Boleslaw
Chobry became king in 992, and it was he who gave his sister to
Erik (see Adam's skolium 24).
The obvious conclusion is that Olaf was born in an earlier marriage
between Erik and a woman not known/mentioned in the contemporary or near-
contemporary sources (that is, Thietmar/Adam).
>So, what about Heimskringla? The Thietmar/Adam version clearly has
>priority over this very noncontemporary account. I see three main
>possibilities:
>1. Sigrid never existed.
>2. Sigrid existed, but the sagas are wrong about her parentage.
>3. Sigrid existed, but was married only to Svein, and was not the
>mother of Harald and Knut. This is the version I prefer. The
>Icelandic sources state that Svien was married twice, first to a
>daughter of Burislav, king of the Wends, and next to Sigrid, the widow
>of Erik and mother of Olaf. The sagas are a late source that could
>have easily confused things. I suggest that the saga account is the
>result of two bits of confusion, both of which could easily arise in a
>noncontemporary source.
I think we can all agree that both the sagas and Adam have confused things.
Hovwever, today I think most historians favor the following confusion!
4. Sigrid existed, but was married only to Erik, and was the mother
of Olaf.
Another point:
The sagas knew about Svein's wendish/polish marriage, but says that
he married Burislaw's daughter Gunnhild. They must be refering to
Boleslaw's sister mentioned by Theitmar. The name (or a matching
Slavic name) may however very well be correct. Svein's son Cnut
had a daughter by this name, probably named after her grandmother.
This gives the following:
Erik segersa:ll, + ~995, king of Sweden, married
1. ? Sigrid Storra*da,
2. Gunhild, + after 1014, dau. of Mieszko I of Poland
(married 2. Svein "forkbeard" of Denmark).
References: /all in Swedish :-)
Gottfrid Carlsson: _Sigrid Storra*da och Sigridlev_ (Personhistorisk
Tidskrift 1957, p. 37)
Bjarne Beckman: _Erik Segersa:lls polska a:ktenskap (Personhistorisk
Tidskrift 1975, p. 82)
Hans Gillingstam: _Utomnordiskt och nordiskt i de a:ldsta svenska
dynastiska fo:rbindelserna_ (Personhistorisk Tidskrift 1981, p. 17)
(I've sent private copies to Stewart and Jared, since I'm not sure
my messages are posted correctly to the newsgroup. Please excuse
duplicate messages)
/Anders Berg
Jared Olar
Thanks to Stewart, Rafal, and Anders for the information
concerning Sigrid Storrade and the maternity of Olaf
Skotkonung--especially concerning Thietmar's Chronicon. Stewart, you say
he was a contemporary source. When exactly did Thietmar flourish, and
when did he compile his work?
Jared Olar
Anders Berg
Thietmar of Merseburg died in 1019. This is really a contemporary source.
I don't think he says anything about Olaf's maternity, so we have to
pick out pieces from the less reliable sources on that one.
Cheers,
/Anders
Nathaniel Taylor
In article <Pine.HPP.3.91.960603...@eagle.uis.edu>, Jared
Olar wrote:
> Thanks to Stewart, Rafal, and Anders for the information
> concerning Sigrid Storrade and the maternity of Olaf
> Skotkonung--especially concerning Thietmar's Chronicon. Stewart, you say
> he was a contemporary source. When exactly did Thietmar flourish, and
> when did he compile his work?
Thietmar, bishop of Merseburg, died in 1018. His chronicle was composed
toward the end of his career, or at least it includes events up through
the 1010s.
Nat Taylor