View source for Agne

{{Short description|Mythological king of Sweden}}
'''Agne''' (English: ''Agni''), ''Hogne'' or ''Agni Skjálfarbondi'' was a semi-legendary king of [[Sweden]], of the [[Yngling|House of Yngling]].
[[Image:Konung Agne blir om natten upphängd i ett träd by Hugo Hamilton.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Agne being hanged by his wife Skjalf. Artwork by Hugo Hamilton, 1830]]
[[Image:Agni of the Swea Region alleged tumulus 2009 (4).jpg|right|250px|thumb|King Agni's Barrow just southeast of [[Sollentuna Station]] in [[Sweden]].]]
[[Snorri Sturluson]] relates that he was the son of [[Dag the Wise]], and he was mighty and famous. He was also skilled in many ways.

One summer, he went to [[Finland]] with his army where he pillaged. The [[Finns]] gathered a vast host under a chief named [[Fornjót|Frosti]].<ref>This chief has the same name as the [[Jötunn|Jotun]] Frosti who was the father of [[Snær]] the Old, and consequently Agne's great-great-great-great-grandfather.</ref>

A great battle ensued which Agne won and many Finns were killed together with Frosti. Agne then subdued all of Finland with his army, and captured not only great booty but also Frosti's daughter Skjalf and her kinsman [[Fornjót|Logi]].<ref>In the older [[Ynglingatal]] only her kinsman, but in Heimskringla he was her brother, which seems to be a mistake by [[Snorri Sturluson]].</ref>

Agne returned to Sweden and they arrived at [[Stocksund]] ([[Stockholm]]) where they put up their tent on the side of the river where it is flat. Agne had a [[torc]] which is said to have belonged to his alleged great-great-great-grandfather [[Visbur]]. Agne married Skjalf.

Skjalf asked Agne to honour her dead father Frosti with a great feast, which he granted. He invited a great many guests, who gladly arrived to visit the now even more famous Swedish king. They had a drinking competition in which Agne became very drunk. Skjalf saw her opportunity and asked Agne to take care of Visbur's [[torc]], which was around his neck. Agne bound it fast around his neck before he went to sleep. The king's tent was next to the woods and was under the branches of a tall tree for shade. When Agne was fast asleep, Skjalf took a rope which she attached to the torc. Then she had her men remove the tent, and she threw the rope over a bough. Then she told her men to pull the rope and they hanged Agne, avenging Skjalf's father. Skjalf and her men ran to the ships and escaped to Finland.

Agne was buried at the place, now called [[Agnafit]], which is east of the Tauren (the [[Old Norse language|Old Norse]] name for [[Södertörn]]) and west of Stocksund.

{|
|
:Þat tel ek undr,
:ef Agna her
:Skalfar ráð
:at sköpum þóttu,
:þar gœðing
:með gullmeni
:Loga dís
:at lopti hóf
:svalan hest
:Signýjar vers.<ref>[http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20070508153342/http%3A//www.heimskringla.no/original/heimskringla/ynglingasaga.php ''Ynglinga saga'' at ''Norrøne Tekster og Kvad'']</ref><ref>[http://www.home.no/norron-mytologi/sgndok/kvad/yngli.htm A second online presentation of ''Ynglingatal''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060928181924/http://www.home.no/norron-mytologi/sgndok/kvad/yngli.htm |date=2006-09-28 }}</ref>
|
:How do ye like the high-souled maid,
:Who, with the grim Fate-goddess' aid,
:Avenged her sire?&nbsp;– made Swithiod's king
:Through air in golden halter swing?
:How do ye like her, Agne's men?
:Think ye that any chief again
:Will court the fate your chief befell,
:To ride on wooden horse to hell?.<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/heim/02ynglga.htm Laing's translation at the Internet Sacred Text Archive]</ref><ref>[http://www.northvegr.org/lore/heim/001_05.php Laing's translation at Northvegr] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311071027/http://www.northvegr.org/lore/heim/001_05.php |date=2007-03-11 }}</ref>
|
|}

''Ynglingatal'' then gives [[Alrek and Eirík|Alrekr and Eiríkr]] as Agne's successors.

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

{|
|
Qui [Dagr] genuit Alrik; hunc frater suus Erikr freno percussit ad mortem. Alricr autem genuit Hogna; istum uxor sua juxta locum Agnafit, qui nunc Stokholmr dicitur, propriis manibus interfecit suspendendo ad arborem cum catena aurea. Cujus filius Ingialdr [...]<ref name=Storm>Storm, Gustav (editor) (1880). ''Monumenta historica Norwegiæ: Latinske kildeskrifter til Norges historie i middelalderen'', Monumenta Historica Norwegiae (Kristiania: Brøgger), p. 99</ref>
|
This man [Dag] engendered Alrek, who was beaten to death with a bridle by his brother, Eirik. Alrek was father to Agne, whose wife dispatched him with her own hands by
hanging him on a tree with a golden chain near a place called
Agnafit. His son, Ingjald, [...]<ref>Ekrem, Inger (editor), Lars Boje Mortensen (editor) and Peter Fisher (translator) (2003). ''Historia Norwegie''. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN
8772898135, p. 77.</ref>
|
|}

Agne is incorrectly called ''Hogne''.<ref name="Storm"/>  Unlike ''Ynglingatal'', ''Historia Norwegiæ'' does not give [[Dag the Wise|Dagr]] as Agne's predecessor, but [[Alrek and Eirík|Alrekr]]. Instead Alrekr is Agne's predecessor and Agne is succeeded by [[Yngvi and Alf|Yngvi]] (incorrectly called ''Ingialdr''<ref name="Storm"/>).  The even earlier source ''[[Íslendingabók]]'' cites the line of descent in ''Ynglingatal'' and it gives the same line of succession as ''Historia Norwegiæ'': ''xii Alrekr. xiii Agni. xiiii Yngvi''.<ref>[http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20070508145441/http://www.heimskringla.no/original/islendingesagaene/islendingabok.php Guðni Jónsson's edition of Íslendingabók]</ref>

The location indicated by Snorri Sturluson as the place of Agne's death has a barrow called ''Kung Agnes hög'' (King Agne's barrow) in Lillhersby, [[Sollentuna Municipality|Sollentuna]]. The barrow was excavated by [[Oxenstierna]] and dated to c. 400.<ref>The entry ''Agne'' in Ohlmarks, Åke. (1982). Fornnordiskt lexikon. Tiden. {{ISBN|91-550-2511-0}}</ref> Moreover, this barrow may be proof that there is somewhat of a historical core to King Agne's story as told in the sagas.

==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Primary sources==
*[[Ynglingatal]]
*[[Ynglinga saga]] (part of the [[Heimskringla]])
*[[Historia Norvegiæ|Historia Norwegiae]]

==Secondary sources==
Nerman, B. ''Det svenska rikets uppkomst''. Stockholm, 1925.

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[Yngling|House of Yngling]]||||}}
{{succession box|title=[[Legendary king of Sweden]]|years=|before=[[Dag the Wise]]|after=[[Alrek and Eirík]]}}
{{end}}

{{Norse mythology}}

[[Category:Semi-legendary kings of Sweden]]