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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 - )
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