The final battle between Odin and Thor — Fyrisvellir

[Micael]

This is a battle which has got several interesting aspects to it, which I will attempt to convey below.

But first, where and when are we? The Battle at Fyrisvellir was fought to the south of the historic Uppsala in Sweden (probably in the middle of the modern city of Uppsala), and took place in the 980’s, possibly in 985.

There has been a lot of differing opinions over the years over how much we can say for certain of the battle, or even if it happened at all. It is however the most well documented battle in Sweden from the ”true Norse” age (I’ll explain what I mean by this below.) There’s (varying in details) accounts in no less than six sagas, one chronicle, and three or possibly four surviving runestones that are also believed to refer to it.

So what was it all about then? The background is that there were two brothers that were co-kings at Uppsala, Erik and Olof. However Olof died from poisoning, and whoever did it wasn’t caught. Two suspects are mentioned, either the brother Erik, or Olof’s son Styrbjörn. Styrbjörn was twelve years old at the time and is described as generally vicious, violent and uncontrollable already at that point in time. He immediately tried to claim his right to replace his father as co-king but was rebuffed by Erik on account of his young age, and told to wait until he turned sixteen. Once he became sixteen he made a second attempt, but this time the thing assembly flat out refused to make him king, because of his persona which appears to have become no less vicious, violent and uncontrollable. Perhaps there was also suspicions that he’d posioned his father to be able to claim the throne for himself.

Erik instead sends him off with a number of ships and warriors to find another destiny for himself, and Styrbjörn proves to be an extremely capable viking leader, now with the addendum ”the Strong” to his name. The sagas claim that he became the leader of the Jomsvikings, which are of uncertain historicity, but is usually described as a particularly frightening viking warrior order/mercenary band based in the southern Baltic Sea. Fast forward a bit and Styrbjörn has been terrorizing the Baltic Sea with his Jomsvikings for a while, but has not forgotten about the throne of Uppsala. The sagas claim, with varying details, that he then went to the Danish king Harald Bluetooth and through some manner of extortion or another both got one of his daughters in marriage and a substantial addition to his fleet. The rather improbable figure claimed is that he had 1,000 ships before this, and added another 200. Assuming an average crew of 25 this would make his force close to 30,000 strong, which seems to be greatly exagerrated. Somewhere in the 5,000-15,000 span is perhaps a bit more realistic.

But now Styrbjörn felt that he had enough of a force to be able to defeat the Svea kingdom, and take the throne for himself.

Styrbjörn’s fleet enters lake Mälaren from the Baltic Sea, which is the way to reach Uppsala by water as it lies along a connected river to its north. At this point the alarm is sounded and word quickly reaches king Erik that a massive war fleet has entered Mälaren. This is a bit problem for him of course, not just in the general sense with regards to being invaded, but the Scandinavian kingdoms at the time had only small standing militaries, with the bulk of forces being provided through the leidang system which mobilized set numbers of warriors depending on population numbers in the different regions of the realm. The first problem with that was that while some of those would be close to Uppsala, most would be further away and would need time to respond to an alert. The second problem is that Styrbjörn’s forces, and Erik likely knew that it was him that was coming, were based around the Jomsvikings, which were full time warriors and raiders who were very much battle hardened. Erik’s forces would have consisted of a more mixed group, many likely battle hardened as well but also many of those pribably middle aged, younger warriors that hadn’t yet taken part in battle and so on.

But the most pressing issue was the time aspect. Erik immediately sent out messengers with budkavlar, that is the traditional means of summoning subordinate forces into service, in all directions. But again, it would take time to gather enough of an army to oppose Styrbjörn. Among the assembled senior officials at Uppsala was the elderly Torgny the lawspeaker, which is described as a clever individual. He advised king Erik to immediately block the waterway leading north from the lake to Uppsala with a wooden pallisade, and Erik heeded this advise. Styrbjörn is claimed to have thrown a fit when he realized that his path was blocked, landed his forces on the spot and then burned his ships to ensure that his army would fight to the death. One account claim that King Harald was aboard the Danish part of the fleet and when he saw the ships being burned he took the opportunity to turn his ships around and head back home. Another that he had to turn around and face another military threat, this latter version probably being closer to the truth since it would appear that a brother of his would meet his end at the battle, indicating that a Danish component was indeed present.

So Styrbjörn is now marching on land towards Uppsala, and frantic preparations are being made there to assemble an army. Then came Torgny’s second piece of advice. If the defenders couldn’t assemble a large enough force quickly enough they had to make Styrbjörn’s army smaller. So Torgny asked king Erik to order all cattle and horses that could be mustered in the vicinty to be brought together, as well as any blades, spears or pikes that could be spared. When Styrbjörn’s force came out into the open grazing fields to the south of Uppsala he formed up his army in a wedge formation, a socalled Svinfylking with the most able men at the point. He was met by an expected sight in the form of Erik’s initial army having taken the high ground and assembled in a defensive shield wall. But soon also the much more unexpected sight of a stampeding herd of cattle and horses charging them, with a variety of sharp objects strapped to their bodies and being driven on by slaves running behind them. They charged through Styrbjörn’s army and left mayhem and utter chaos in their wake. Styrbjörn was however a very capable leader and eventually managed to restore order, putting his troops back in formation, but apparently not without losses.

The battle proper was the joined, and the assembled armies were seemingly relatively evenly matched as the battle progressed during the first day, and then the second with neither side managing to bring it to a decisive end, despite Erik gradually having received substantial reinforcements during this time. At the end of the second day both of the leaders are said to have resorted to other means to achieve victory, and this is what makes it a battle between Odin and Thor. Because while Styrbjörn was an adherent of the old Norse religion all along, he now made a particular plea to Thor to intervene and bring him victory. The choice of god to summon is a bit interesting in itself because while Thor was a strong warrior and protector of travellers and raiding vikings, the Svear at Uppsala tended to call on the chief and war god Odin himself when it came to waging war. Styrbjörn being from that culture would perhaps have been expected to adhere to that tradition, but it seems not. One of the sagas contains a fantastical account of a red haired stranger (Thor was red haired) entering the camp and scolding Styrbjörn for his arrogance. Not very likely, but par for the course in poetic saga explanations.

Erik on the other hand had become a Christian some years earlier, but now reverted back to the old ways and did was would have been expected from a Svea king of old, he called upon Odin to help him win the battle. Making this the last major battle known between two armies both fighting under the aegis of the Norse gods. Moreover he promised that if he won the battle he would give himself to Odin once ten years had passed. In other words after a decade he would die and join Odin as a warrior in Valhalla. The same saga that was a bit fantastical with Thor here claim that Odin appeared and gave Erik a reed which he was to throw against the enemy whilst invoking his name. Once the battle resumed the next day Erik did so, crying out ”Odin owns you all!” and watched the reed transform into Odin’s spear Gungnir in the air. A less fantastical account says that he simply threw a spear while exclaiming the same.

Either way, it seemed to work and Erik’s army finally gaining the upper hand, and soon Styrbjörn’s army collapsed. Himself slain in battle, and according to one account two thirds of his army as well. Odin had won.

After the battle was over Erik climbed atop one of the great mounds at Uppsala and proclaimed a great reward for anyone who could compose a poem commemorating the victory. An icelandic skald by the name of Torvald Hjaltason is then said to have composed the following two poems on the spot, making them the possibly only surviving first hand account of the battle.

”Let every charger of the ogress [wolf] that hungers go to Fyris-field. There (it is no vaunt) Eric has cut down in battle quarry enough for every one of them.”

”Unlucky was then the vikings' journey from home to Sweden for those who laid claim to the kingdom [themselves]; of their innumerable forces, only those are alive who fled; they had a larger force [than we]; it was easy to seize them [and kill them].”

With that we have all the components of the real Norse age in place. Invading Vikings, grand battle, the old gods, and the skaldic poetry perpetuating great deeds. The new God had arrived, and soon society would start to change, slowly but surely. As such one could say that this battle marked the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one.

As for Erik he became known to posterity as the Victorius. He died ten years after the battle in 995, as he had promised to Odin.

[Nathan45]

That is fascinating stuff, thanks for sharing

[pandion]

A nice text relating to the age of fairy tales!

But the poem text "... from home to Sweden ..." is hardly contemporary. Several centuries would pass before "Sweden" became a geographical, not to mention political, concept.

[Micael]

A nice text relating to the age of fairy tales!

But the poem text "... from home to Sweden ..." is hardly contemporary. Several centuries would pass before "Sweden" became a geographical, not to mention political, concept.

It was ”Svíþjóðar” in the original, which ”Sweden” is a fair translation for as that term in English derives from the Svitjod/Swithiod term (as with the name for modern Sweden in most languages apart from the Scandinavian/Baltic ones.) In the contemporary context it would have referred to the area under the control of the Svea people/Uppsala king of course.

[Edit] For additional context: The two additional terms ”Sviaveldi” (Sveaväldet in modern Swedish, and ”Sviariki” (Svea Realm, what the modern term Sverige as the country name stems from) are also attested from the time period. Sviariki/Sverige won out as the go to term a bit later on and was of course used as the name for the later larger country that formed, but Svitjod had already become established internationally as the go to name and Sweden/Schweden/Suecia etc. are all derived from it.

[Micael]

About the runestones believed to refer to the battle.

There’s three that has a pretty likely connection with the battle, and a fourth that might have to do with it.

One is believed to possibly refer to a brother or half brother to the Danish king, it has the following inscription:

”Áskell placed this stone in memory of Tóki Gormr's son, to him a faithful lord. He did not flee at Uppsala. Valiant men placed in memory of their brother the stone on the hill, steadied by runes. They went closest to Gormr's Tóki."

Note that it not only stresses that he was an important man, but it unusually states the name of his father twice, indicating a particular importance of him. The name of the father, Gorm, is not known to have been a particularly common one, but it was the name of the previous king of Denmark, father of king Harald. It does seem likely that king Harald wasn’t present at the battle itself, regardless of the reason why. Toki may then possibly have been in command of the Danish component of Styrbjörn’s army due to him being a son/brother of a king.

A second runestone is clearly connected to this one:
”Saxi placed this stone in memory of Ásbjörn Tófi's/Tóki's son, his comrade. He did not flee at Uppsala, but slaughtered as long as he had a weapon.”
The use of an identical phrase ”he did not flee at Uppsala” indicates that the two carvings were coordinated, making it likely that Asbjörn was a son of specifically the Toki mentioned on the first stone. Toki is not the most common name either.

Both of the above are in Skåne, then under Danish rule.

The third runestone reads:
”The good freeman Gulli had five sons. The brave champion Asmund fell on the Föri/Fyris.”
This one is in Östergötland, which was then between Denmark and Skåne. It makes it hard to estimate what side this Asmund would have fought on, as he could have been in the service of either.

A fourth runestone is more mysterious, it is on the island of Öland which lies about halfway between Uppsala and Denmark along the Baltic Sea, and it contains a poem:
”Tree of Thrúd of hostilities, the man whom the greatest virtues accompanied - most men know that - lies buried in this mound; a more upright chariot-Vidur of wondrous-wide ground of Endil will not rule, strife-strong, land in Denmark.”
On the back there is an unclear inscription in roman letters probably intended to read ”in nomine Jesu”, in the name of Jesus.

The content and style of the inscription indicates that it was erected by Danes, and on land not Danish which is unusual. It is moreover considered contemporary with the battle. As a result a possible explanation is that a Danish chieftain/lord who were among those who escaped wounded after the battle then died during the sea voyage back to Denmark and his men buried him in a mound on Öland and also took the time (it takes a while) to carve this stone to memorialize him.

When it comes to archeological remnants of the battle it becomes difficult. The battlefield was likely on the spot where the modern central Uppsala was established later on, which would have either destroyed or buried most traces which were left after the battle. There are however two burials of men of high standing in Uppsala which have been dated to the time of the battle, and both have sword injuries to their heads. So it is likely that they were among those who partook in the battle on king Erik’s side and fell in it.

[pandion]

A nice text relating to the age of fairy tales!

But the poem text "... from home to Sweden ..." is hardly contemporary. Several centuries would pass before "Sweden" became a geographical, not to mention political, concept.

It was ”Svíþjóðar” in the original, which ”Sweden” is a fair translation for as that term in English derives from the Svitjod/Swithiod term (as with the name for modern Sweden in most languages apart from the Scandinavian/Baltic ones.) In the contemporary context it would have referred to the area under the control of the Svea people/Uppsala king of course.

[Edit] For additional context: The two additional terms ”Sviaveldi” (Sveaväldet in modern Swedish, and ”Sviariki” (Svea Realm, what the modern term Sverige as the country name stems from) are also attested from the time period. Sviariki/Sverige won out as the go to term a bit later on and was of course used as the name for the later larger country that formed, but Svitjod had already become established internationally as the go to name and Sweden/Schweden/Suecia etc. are all derived from it.

It's a fairly minor point in this very interesting post of yours, but I think ”Svíþjóðar/Svea Realm" would have honored the original as well as given current readers a historically/geographically correct reference.

[Micael]

A nice text relating to the age of fairy tales!

But the poem text "... from home to Sweden ..." is hardly contemporary. Several centuries would pass before "Sweden" became a geographical, not to mention political, concept.

It was ”Svíþjóðar” in the original, which ”Sweden” is a fair translation for as that term in English derives from the Svitjod/Swithiod term (as with the name for modern Sweden in most languages apart from the Scandinavian/Baltic ones.) In the contemporary context it would have referred to the area under the control of the Svea people/Uppsala king of course.

[Edit] For additional context: The two additional terms ”Sviaveldi” (Sveaväldet in modern Swedish, and ”Sviariki” (Svea Realm, what the modern term Sverige as the country name stems from) are also attested from the time period. Sviariki/Sverige won out as the go to term a bit later on and was of course used as the name for the later larger country that formed, but Svitjod had already become established internationally as the go to name and Sweden/Schweden/Suecia etc. are all derived from it.

It's a fairly minor point in this very interesting post of yours, but I think ”Svíþjóðar/Svea Realm" would have honored the original as well as given current readers a historically/geographically correct reference.

Well the translation was by Finnur Jónsson, and I didn’t see much need to correct anything. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnur_J%C3%B3nsson