Ohthere

This article is about the Swedish king. For the Norwegian voyager by the same name, see Ohthere of Hålogaland.

Ohthere's Mound located at Vendel parish, Uppland, Sweden.

Ohthere, also Ohtere (Old Norse: Óttarr vendilkráka, Vendelcrow; in modern Swedish Ottar Vendelkråka), was a semi-legendary king of Sweden of the house of Scylfings, who is said to have lived during the Germanic Heroic Age, possibly during the early 6th century (fl. c. 515 – c. 530).

His name can be reconstructed as Proto-Norse *Ōhta-harjaz or *Ōhtu-harjaz. The harjaz element is common in Germanic names and has a meaning of "warrior, army" (whence English harry); by contrast, the oht element is less frequent, and has been tentatively interpreted as "fearsome, feared".

A prince of the Swedes, Ohthere and his brother Onela conducted successful raids against the Geats after King Hrethel had died. In 515, their father Ongentheow was killed in battle by the Geats, and Ohthere succeeded his father as the king of Sweden. Ohthere led an army against the Geats, and besieged one of their armies. He nearly killed the Geatish king Hygelac but lost many of his forces in the conflict. Ohthere managed to get back to Sweden. In the 520s, Ohthere led a large raid to Denmark and plundered the Danish coast. A Danish army led by two Jarls, however, was waiting for him. Battle broke out. The Danish were reinforced, and Ohthere was killed in the battle. His corpse was taken back to Sweden and buried in an earthwork mound.

Beowulf

In the Old English poem Beowulf, the name of Ohthere appears only in constructions referring to his father Ongenþeow (fæder Ohtheres), mother (Onelan modor and Ohtheres), and his sons Eadgils (suna Ohteres, sunu Ohteres) and Eanmund (suna Ohteres).

When Ohthere and his actions are concerned, he is referred to as Ongenþeow's offspring, together with his brother Onela. The following section deals with Ohthere and Onela pillaging the Geats at the death of their king Hreðel, restarting the Swedish-Geatish wars:

Þa wæs synn and sacu Sweona and Geata, ofer wid wæter wroht gemæne, here-nið hearda, syððan Hreðel swealt, oððe him Ongenþeowes eaferan wæran frome fyrd-hwate, freode ne woldon ofer heafo healdan, ac ymb Hreosna-beorh eatolne inwit-scear oft gefremedon.

There was strife and struggle 'twixt Swede and Geat o'er the width of waters; war arose, hard battle-horror, when Hrethel died, and Ongentheow's offspring grew strife-keen, bold, nor brooked o'er the seas pact of peace, but pushed their hosts to harass in hatred by Hreosnabeorh.

Later, it is implied in the poem that Ohthere has died, because his brother Onela is king. Ohthere's sons Eadgils and Eanmund fled to the Geats and the wars began anew.

Scandinavian sources

Ynglingatal, Ynglinga saga, Íslendingabók, and Historia Norvegiae all present Óttarr as the son of Egill (called Ongenþeow in Beowulf) and as the father of Aðísl/Aðils/athils/Adils (Eadgils).

According to the latest source, Ynglinga saga, Óttarr refused to pay tribute to the Danish king Fróði for the help that his father had received. When Fróði sent two men to collect the tribute, Óttarr answered that the Swedes had never paid tribute to the Danes and would not begin with him. Fróði gathered a vast host and looted in Sweden, but the next summer he pillaged in the east. When Óttarr learnt that Fróði was gone, he sailed to Denmark to plunder in return and went into the Limfjord where he pillaged in Vendsyssel. Fróði's jarls Vott and Faste attacked Óttarr in the fjord. The battle was even and many men fell, but the Danes were reinforced by the people in the neighbourhood and so the Swedes lost (a version apparently borrowed from the death of Óttarr's predecessor Jorund). The Danes put Óttarr's corpse on a mound to be devoured by wild beasts, and made a wooden crow that they sent to Sweden, with the message that the wooden crow was all that Óttarr was worth. After this, Óttarr was called Vendelcrow.

It is only Snorri who uses the epithet Vendelcrow, whereas the older sources Historia Norvegiae and Íslendingabók use it for his father Egill. Moreover, only Snorri's work tells the story of Óttarr's death in Vendsyssel, and it is probably his own invention. Ynglingatal mentions only that Óttarr was killed by the Danish jarls Vott and Faste in a place named Vendel (Laing has been influenced by Snorri's version in his translation):

Féll Óttarr und ara greipar dugandligr fyrir Dana vápnum, þann hergammr hrægum fœti viti borinn á Vendli sparn. Þau frá ek verk Vötts ok Fasta sœnskri þjóð at sögum verða; at eylands jarlar Fróða vígframað um veginn höfðu.

By Danish arms the hero bold, Ottar the Brave, lies stiff and cold. To Vendel's plain the corpse was borne; By eagles' claws the corpse is torn, Spattered by ravens' bloody feet, The wild bird's prey, the wild wolf's meat. The Swedes have vowed revenge to take On Frode's earls, for Ottar's sake; Like dogs to kill them in their land, In their own homes, by Swedish hand.

The Historia Norwegiæ presents a Latin summary of Ynglingatal, older than Snorri's quotation (continuing after Egil):

Cui successit in regnum filius suus Ottarus, qui a suo æquivoco Ottaro Danorum comite et fratre ejus Fasta in una provinciarum Daniæ, scilicet Wendli, interemptus est. Cujus filius Adils [...]

The successor to the throne was his son Ottar, who was assassinated in Vendel, a law province of Denmark, by his namesake, a Danish jarl, and this man's brother, Fasta. His son Adils [...]

Historia Norvegiæ informs only that Ohthere was killed by the Danish brothers Ottar [sic.] and Faste in a Danish province called Vendel.

Ohthere's Barrow

Ohthere's barrow (Swedish: Ottarshögen) (60°08′N 17°34′E) is located in Vendel parish, Uppland, Sweden. The barrow is 5 metres high and 40 metres wide. In the 17th century, the barrow was known locally as Ottarshögen. The term Hög is derived from the Old Norse word haugr, meaning mound or barrow.

The barrow was excavated in the period 1914–16. It showed the remains of both a man and a woman, and the finds were worthy of a king. The Swedish archaeologist Sune Lindqvist reported that in its centre, there was a wooden vessel with ashes. There were few finds but they were well-preserved. There were some decorative panels similar to those found in the other Vendel era graves nearby. A comb with a case was found, as well as a golden Roman coin, a solidus, dated to be no later than 477. It had been perforated and was probably used as decoration, but it showed signs of wear and tear and had probably been worn for a longer time. Lindqvist stated that the identification of the barrow as that of Ohthere could not receive more archaeological confirmation than those provided by the excavation.

See also

• Óttar of Dublin

References

• Nerman, B. Det svenska rikets uppkomst. Stockholm, 1925.