View source for Onela

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{short description|Semi-legendary Swedish king}}
{{Kraki}}
'''Onela''' was, according to ''[[Beowulf]]'', a [[Suiones|Swedish]] king, the son of [[Ongentheow]] and the brother of [[Ohthere]]. He usurped the Swedish throne, but was killed by his nephew [[Eadgils]], who won by hiring foreign assistance.

In Scandinavian sagas a Norwegian king by the same name exists, '''Áli''' (the [[Old Norse]] form of ''Onela'', also rendered as ''Ole'', ''Åle'' or ''Ale''), who had the cognomen {{Lang|non|hinn Upplenzki}} ("from [[Oppland]]").

== Etymology ==
The name stems from the [[Proto-Norse]] ''Anulā'', attested on the spear shaft SJy 68 from [[Nydam Mose]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stoklund |first1=Marie |date=2003 |title=Arbejdet ved Runologisk Laboratorium, København |journal=Nytt Om Runer |volume=18 |pages=4 |issn=0801-3756 |url=http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-45073}}</ref><ref>Inscription/entry SJy 68 in the RuneS-Database of the research project "Runic Writing in the Germanic Languages (RuneS)" of Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 2024. https://runesdb.de/find/370</ref> It is a [[diminutive]] with l-suffix to a name starting with *''anu-'', or directly of an appellative {{Lang|mis|*anuz}}<!-- Proto-Norse -->, "ancestor".<ref name="urnordiska">{{cite web
| url         = https://www.isof.se/lar-dig-mer/publikationer/publikationer/2004-10-10-lexikon-over-urnordiska-personnamn
| title       = Lexikon över urnordiska personnamn
| last        = Peterson
| first       = Lena
| year        = 2007
| publisher   = [[Swedish Institute for Language and Folklore]]
| pages       = 37
}}(Lexicon of nordic personal names before the 8th century)</ref>

== Beowulf ==
In the [[Anglo-Saxon literature|Anglo-Saxon]] [[epic poetry|poem]] ''[[Beowulf]]'', Onela plays a central part in the [[Swedish-Geatish wars]]. Onela and his brother [[Ohthere]] were the sons of the Swedish king [[Ongenþeow]]. When the [[Geatish king]] [[Hreðel]] died, Onela and Ohthere saw the opportunity to pillage in [[Götaland|Geatland]] starting 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.<ref>Lines 2473–2480.</ref>
|
: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.<ref>''[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/981 Modern English translation]'' by [[Francis Barton Gummere]]</ref>
|
|}

The war ended with Ongenþeow's death.<ref>Lines 2485–2490, 2977–2982</ref>

It is implied by the poem that Onela eventually became king, because Ohthere's two sons, [[Eanmund]] and [[Eadgils]], had to seek refuge with [[Heardred]], [[Hygelac]]'s successor as [[king of the Geats]].<ref>Lines 2380–2391</ref> This caused Onela to attack the Geats. During the battle, Eanmund was killed by Onela's champion [[Weohstan]]<ref>Lines 2610–2617</ref> and [[Heardred]] was killed as well,<ref>Line 2389</ref> after which Onela returned home.<ref>Lines 2388–2391</ref>

Eadgils, however, survived and later, [[Beowulf (hero)|Beowulf]] helped him avenge Eanmund by slaying Onela.<ref>Line 2392–2397</ref>

By a conjectural emendation of line 62 of this poem some editors represent Onela as the son-in-law of [[Healfdene]]/Halfdan king of Denmark.
{{Scyldings of Beowulf family tree}}

== Norse sagas ==
The animosity between Eadgils and Onela also appears in Scandinavian tradition. In the Norse sagas, which were mostly based on Norwegian versions of Scandinavian legends, Onela seems to appear as ''Áli of Uppland'', and is called Norwegian. By the time ''Ynglingatal'' was used as a source by Snorri Sturluson, there appears no longer to have been a Scandinavian tradition of Áli as a relation of Eadgils.<ref>{{Cite book
| last       = Anderson
| first      = Carl Edlund
| url        = http://www.carlaz.com/phd/cea_phd_chap4.pdf
| title      = Formation and Resolution of Ideological Contrast in the Early History of Scandinavia
| year       = 1999
| chapter    = The Scylding-Skjoldung Historical Legends: Some Historiography and Considerations
| pages      = 102
}}</ref>

The earliest extant Scandinavian source where Onela appears is the 9th century [[skaldic poem]] ''[[Ynglingatal]]'', Eadgils (''Aðils'') is called Onela's enemy ({{Lang|non|Ála dólgr}}). ''Ála'' is the genitive case of ''Áli'', the [[Old Norse]] form of the name Onela.<ref name="urnordiska" />

{|
|
:Þat frá ek enn,
:at Aðils fjörvi
:vitta vettr
:um viða skyldi,
:ok dáðgjarn
:af drasils bógum
:Freys áttungr
:falla skyldi.
:Ok við aur
:œgir hjarna
:bragnings burs
:um blandinn varð;
:ok dáðsæll
:deyja skyldi
:Ála dólgr
:at Uppsölum.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.heimskringla.no/original/heimskringla/ynglingasaga.php |title=The Ynglinga saga in Old Norse |access-date=30 October 2006 |archive-date=31 December 2005 |archive-url=http://web.archive.bibalex.org/web/20051231070651/http://www.heimskringla.no/original/heimskringla/ynglingasaga.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|
:Witch-demons, I have heard men say,
:Have taken Adils' life away.
:The son of kings of [[Freyr|Frey]]'s great race,
:First in the fray, the fight, the chase,
:Fell from his steed{{spaced ndash}}his clotted brains
:Lie mixed with mire on Upsal's plains.
:Such death (grim Fate has willed it so)
:Has struck down Ole's [Onela's] deadly foe.<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/heim/02ynglga.htm Laing's translation]</ref>
|
|}

In ''[[Skáldskaparmál]]'', compiled by [[Snorri Sturluson]] and in [[Arngrímur Jónsson]]'s Latin summary of ''[[Skjöldunga saga]]'', the battle hinted at in ''Beowulf'' is treated in more detail.

Snorri first quotes the ''[[Kálfsvísa]]'' but only small parts of it:<ref>Nerman 1925:102</ref>
{|
|
:Ali Hrafni,
:es til íss riðu,
:en annarr austr
:und Aðilsi
:grár hvarfaði,
:geiri undaðr.<ref>[http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/eddubrot.php heimskringla.no – Eddukvæði : Eddubrot<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20070509013858/http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/eddubrot.php |date=9 May 2007 }}</ref>
|
:Áli rode Hrafn,
:They who rode onto the ice:
:But another, southward,
:Under Adils,
:A gray one, wandered,
:Wounded with the spear.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.northvegr.org/lore/prose/209212.php |title=Brodeur's translation |access-date=30 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313111310/http://www.northvegr.org/lore/prose/209212.php |archive-date=13 March 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|
|}

Snorri then relates that Aðils was in war with a Norwegian king named Áli, and they fought in the [[Battle on the Ice of Lake Vänern]]. Aðils was married to [[Yrsa]], the mother of Hrólfr ([[Hroðulf]]) and so sent an embassy to Hrólfr asking him for help against Áli. He would receive three valuable gifts in recompense. Hrólfr was involved in a war against the [[Saxons]] and could not come in person but sent his twelve berserkers, including [[Bödvar Bjarki]]. Áli died in the war, and Aðils took Áli's helmet ''Battle-boar'' and his horse Raven. The berserkers demanded three pounds of gold each in pay, and they demanded to choose the gifts that Aðils had promised Hrólfr, that is the two pieces of armour that nothing could pierce: the helmet battle-boar and the mailcoat ''[[Finn (Frisian)|Finn]]'s heritage''. They also wanted the famous ring Svíagris. Aðils considered the pay outrageous and refused.

In the ''[[Ynglinga saga]]'', Snorri relates that king Eadgils fought hard battles with the Norwegian king who was called {{Lang|non|Áli hinn upplenzki}}. They fought on the ice of Lake [[Vänern]], where Áli fell and Adils won. Snorri relates that much is told about this event in the ''Skjöldunga saga'', and that Adils took Hrafn (Raven), Áli's horse.

The ''[[Skjöldunga saga|Saga of the Skjöldungs]]'' is lost but in the end of the 16th century, [[Arngrímur Jónsson]] saved a piece of information from this saga in Latin. He wrote: ''There was animosity between king Adils of Sweden and the Norwegian king Áli of Uppland. They decided to fight on the ice of Lake [[Vänern]]. Adils won and took his helmet, chainmail and horse.''

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== Secondary sources ==
[[Birger Nerman|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 = [[Ohthere]]
| after = [[Eadgils]]
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Beowulf}}
{{Norse mythology}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:European people whose existence is disputed]]
[[Category:Characters in Beowulf]]
[[Category:English heroic legends]]
[[Category:Scandinavian folklore]]
[[Category:Semi-legendary kings of Sweden]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]