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AUNSSON Egil (Ongentheow) ("Vendikraka")
Birth:          ABT  530 Uppsala, Sweden

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ongentheow
Ongentheow (Old English: Ongenþeow, Ongenþio, Ongendþeow; Swedish: Angantyr) 
(died ca. 515) was the name of a semi-legendary Swedish king of the house of 
Scylfings, who appears in Old English sources.

He is generally identified with the Swedish king Egil Vendelcrow mentioned in 
Ynglingatal, Historia Norwegiae and in Ynglinga saga.[1][2][3][4] The reason why they 
are thought to have been the same is that they have the same position in the line of 
Swedish kings and are described as the fathers of Ohthere and grandfathers of 
Eadgils.[5]

The name Ongentheow contains as its second element þeow "servant, slave". The 
first appears to be ongean "against, opposite".[6]
Old English sources[edit]

In the Old English epic Beowulf Ongentheow is described as a fearsome warrior and it 
took two warriors Eofor and Wulf Wonreding to take him down.

The epic tells that the Geats under their new king Hæþcyn captured the Swedish 
queen, but old king Ongenþeow saved her, at a hill fort called Hrefnesholt, although 
they lost her gold.[7] Ongentheow killed Hæþcyn,[8] and besieged the Geats at 
Hrefnesholt.[9] The Geats were, however, rescued by Hygelac, Hæþcyn's brother,[10] 
who arrived the next day with reinforcements.[11] Having lost the battle, but rescued 
his queen, Ongenþeow and his warriors returned home.[12]

However, the war was not over. Hygelac, the new king of the Geats, attacked the 
Swedes.[13] The Geatish warriors Eofor and Wulf fought together against the hoary 
king Ongenþeow.[14] Wulf hit Ongentheow's head with his sword so that the old king 
bled over his hair, but the king hit back and wounded Wulf.[15] Then, Eofor retaliated 
by cutting through the Swedish king's shield and through his helmet,[16] giving 
Ongentheow a death-blow.[17] Eofor took the Swedish king's helmet, sword and 
breastplate and carried them to Hygelac.[18] When they came home, Eofor and Wulf 
were richly awarded,[19] and Eofor was given Hygelac's daughter.[20] Because of this 
battle, Hygelac is referred to as Ongentheow's slayer.[21]

Ongentheow is also mentioned in passing by the earlier poem Widsith as the king of 
Sweden:

lines 30–33: 
Wald Woingum, Wod þyringum, Wald [ruled] the Woings, Wod the Thuringians, 
Sæferð Sycgum, Sweom Ongendþeow, Saeferth the Sycgs, the Swedes Ongendtheow, 
Sceafthere Ymbrum, Sceafa Longbeardum Sceafthere the Ymbers, Sceafa the 
Lombards, 

Egil[edit]

In Ari Þorgilsson's Íslendingabók and in Historia Norwegiae, he was called Egil 
Vendelcrow (Vendilcraca/Vendilkráka, a name traditionally given to those living at the 
royal estate of Vendel in Sweden).[22] Snorri Sturluson, however, gave the name 
Vendelcrow to Egil's son Ottar (Ohthere). In these sources, Egil was the son of Aun 
the Old, and like him, not very warlike. After he had made the thrall Tunni (or Tonne) 
responsible for the treasury, Tunni rebelled against Egil. They fought eight battles 
after which Egil fled to Denmark, according to the Ynglinga saga (Ynglingatal does not 
mention where he fled and Historia Norwegiae does not mention any escape at all). 
Snorri wrote that Fróði, the Danish king, aided Egil in defeating Tunni, and made Egil 
a tributary to the Danish king.

Egil was killed by a bull during the sacrifices at Gamla Uppsala.

Ok lofsællór landi flóTýs óttungrTunna ríki,en flæmingfarra trjónujötuns eykrá Agli 
rauð.Sás of austráðan hafðibrúna hörgof borinn lengi,en skíðlaussSkilfinga niðhœfis 
hjörrtil hjarta stóð.[23][24] The fair-haired son of Odin's race,Who fled before fierce 
Tunne's face,Has perished by the demon-beastWho roams the forests of the East.The 
hero's breast met the full bruntOf the wild bull's shaggy front;The hero's heart's 
asunder tornBy the fell Jotun's spear-like horn.[25][26]  

The Historia Norwegiæ presents a Latin summary of Ynglingatal, older than Snorri's 
quotation:

Auchun vero genuit Eigil cognomento Vendilcraco, quem proprius servus nomine 
Tonne regno privavit, et cum domino pedisseqvus VIII civilia bella commisit, in 
omnibus victoria potitus, in nono tandem devictus occubuit; sed paulo post ipsum 
regem truculentus taurus confodiens trucidavit. Cui successit in regnum filius suus 
Ottarus [...][27]
 
Aukun's son was Egil Vendelkråke, whose own bondman, Tunne, drove him from his 
kingdom; and though a mere servant he joined in eight civil combats with his master 
and won supremacy in all of them, but in a ninth he was finally defeated and killed. 
Shortly afterwards however the monarch was gored and slaughtered by a ferocious 
bull. The successor to the throne was his son Ottar, [...][28]
  
The even earlier source Íslendingabók also cites the line of descent in Ynglingatal 
and it also gives Egil as the successor of Aunn and the predecessor of Óttarr: xvi Aun 
inn gamli. xvii Egill Vendilkráka. xviii Óttarr.[29]

Interpretation[edit]

The argument for connection between Ongenþeow and Egil being the same figure are 
as follows. It is important, though, to note that this is an interpretation of the facts and 
not definite proof of a connection.

The two versions seem contradictory, but it has been shown that the two stories may 
very well describe the same event (Schück H. 1907, Nerman B. 1925), and that 
Ynglingatal was probably misinterpreted by Snorri due to a different dialectal meaning 
of the word farra. In Ynglingatal, it says

en flæmingfarra trjónujötuns eykrá Agli rauð.  

If there is any authenticity behind the traditions, the origin of Ynglingatal was most 
probably a Swedish poem which has not survived (see also Sundquist 2004). In Old 
Swedish, farra did not mean "bull" but it meant "boar" (cf. English farrow meaning 
"young pig"). Moreover, in Old Norse Trjóna normally meant a pig's snout (modern 
Scandinavian tryne). Flæmingr meant "sword" (originally a Flemish sword imported by 
Vikings).

Moreover, the sword of the snout can hardly refer to the horns of a bull, but it is more 
natural to interpret it as the tusks of a boar. In English, the lines can be translated as 
but the giant beast coloured its tusk red on Egil.

In Old English, the name eofor meant "boar" and consequently Ynglingatal could very 
well relate of Eofor (the boar) killing Egil with kennings for boars. These kennings, 
sung originally by Swedes, were later misinterpreted by Norwegians and Icelanders as 
literal expressions due to the different dialectal meanings of farra.

Moreover, according to Schück, the name Tunni which has no meaning in Old Norse 
should in Proto-Norse have been *Tunþa and derived from *Tunþuz. Consequently, it 
would have been the same word as the Gothic Tunþus which meant "tooth". This 
would mean that the name of Egil's enemy, actually meant "tooth" and Tunni and the 
bull/boar would consequently have been the same enemy, i.e. Eofor.

Some scholars have suggested that the name Ongentheow is connected to the Danish 
king Ongendus, (fl. c. 700) who appears in one sentence of Alcuin's life of Willibrord.
[30][31]
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id=I00713

Parents
JORUNDSSON Aun "the Aged" "Ani" (ABT  509 - )
----- ----- ()

Siblings
AUNSSON Egil (Ongentheow) ("Vendikraka") (ABT  530 - )

Marriage To ----- ----- () m. Notes Children by ----- -----
EGILSSON Ottar "Vendrilkraka" (ABT 551 - )
Produced by Fzip 1.7 6/20/2017