Ivar Vidfamne

Ivar Vidfamne (or Ívarr inn víðfaðmi; English exonym Ivar Widefathom; Danish Ivar Vidfadme – in Norwegian and Danish the form Ivar Vidfavne is sometimes used as an alternative form) was a semi-legendary king of Sweden, who originated in Scania. He apparently died circa 700 CE, in Karelia, at a place called Karjálabotnar (Finnish Karjalanpohja), which may have been the modern, in Lakhdenpokhsky District of Russia. 12th and 13th century sources like Heimskringla and Hervarar saga, attributed to Ivar Vidfamne kingship of a wider empire that included parts of Norway, Saxony and England. However, no such figure was mentioned in medieval Saxon or English sources regarding the 8th and 9th centuries. Ivar in the sagas The Ynglinga saga and Sögubrot make clear that his homeland was Scania. The sagas say that the Danish lands were divided into two kingdoms at the time, namely Scania and Zealand. Scania was ruled by a set of brothers, Guðröðr and Halfdan the Valiant, sons of a Gothic princess called Hervor (or Hild). Hervor's husband was Harald the Old, son of Valdar, son of Roar (Hroðgar) of the house of Skjöldung (Scylding). While Guðröðr married Åsa, daughter of the Swedish king Ingjald Illruler, Halfdan's queen was Moald Digra, an aunt of the Anglo-Saxon aristocrat Kinrik (Cynric). According to Hversu Noregr byggðist and Njáls saga he had a son Ivar, and the same paternity is stated in Ynglinga saga and Hervarar saga. However, Queen Åsa was not content with the state of things, and therefore incited Guðröðr to kill his brother. Later, she murdered her own husband. The Ynglinga saga implies that Ivar had to flee Scania after the murder of his father. After the demise of Guðröðr, he however returned home, while Åsa had to flee to her father in Sweden. Ivar hastily gathered an army and approached Sweden to exact revenge on the murderous queen. King Ingjald was at a feast in Raening with his daughter when he heard that Ivar's army was in the neighbourhood. Ingjald and Åsa then committed suicide by burning themselves and their drunk retainers in the feast hall. The Ynglinga saga, Historia Norwegiæ, Hervarar saga and Upplendinga Konungum tell that Ivar conquered Svearike after Ingjald's suicide, and later returned to take Denmark. Apart from the Danish lands, he conquered "a great deal of Saxland, all the East Country (Austrríki), and a fifth part of England".