Ynglinga saga
Also known as: Saga of the Ynglings, Ynglingasaga, The Yngling Saga
Snorri’s opening of Heimskringla traces the semi-legendary Yngling dynasty from divine ancestors—Odin, Njǫrðr, and Yngvi-Freyr—through a chain of Swedish and early Scandinavian kings, ending with the migration of the line toward Norway.
Description
Framed as sober history yet steeped in myth, Ynglinga saga euhemerizes Norse gods as ancient rulers and recounts a rapid sequence of short reigns, strange deaths, and dynastic turns. Drawing chiefly on the skaldic genealogy Ynglingatal, Snorri anchors cultic centers such as Uppsala and blends etiological tales with royal biography. The saga establishes key figures—Fjölnir, Dómaldi, Aun the Old, Adils, Ingjald illráði, and Óláfr trételgja—and depicts ritual politics, sacrificial crises, feud, and treachery. It closes as the Yngling line leaves Svealand for Värmland and then Norway, preparing the stage for later Norwegian kings.
Historiography
The work survives within the Heimskringla manuscript tradition (e.g., Kringla, Jöfraskinna, and later copies), with notable textual variation and medieval redactional layers. Snorri’s prose closely paraphrases and organizes earlier verse (especially Ynglingatal) while integrating antiquarian lore about Uppsala cult and Swedish royal customs. Medieval and early modern historians read the saga as primordial Scandinavian history; modern scholarship treats it as a literary historiography fusing myth, genealogy, and political ideology.
Date Notes
Prose compilation opening Heimskringla; Snorri adapts earlier verse (notably Þjóðólfr ór Hvini’s Ynglingatal) and oral lore into a euhemerizing royal history.
Archetypes
Symbols
Major Characters
- Odin
- Njord
- Freyr
- Aun
- Ingjald
- Halfdan
Myths
- Odin’s Coming to the North
- The Divine Ancestry of the Ynglings
- The Sacrifice of King Dómaldi
- Deaths of the Early Yngling Kings
Facts
- Opens Heimskringla and establishes the mytho-historical frame for Scandinavian royal history.
- Euhemerizes Odin, Njord, and Freyr as ancient human rulers who founded cult and law.
- Relies heavily on the skaldic genealogy Ynglingatal attributed to Þjóðólfr ór Hvini.
- Centers on Uppsala as religious and political heart of early Swedish kingship.
- Depicts ritual regicide and crisis-sacrifice (e.g., Dómaldi’s death to end famine).
- Presents a series of terse reigns with striking, often violent or uncanny deaths.
- Connects to Danish and Geatish traditions via Adils/Eadgils and the Hrólfr Kraki cycle.
- Transitions the Yngling line from Sweden to Värmland and then to Norway.
- Provides etiologies for customs, place-names, and royal prerogatives in Svealand.
- Served as a key source for later Scandinavian historiography and antiquarianism.