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The Historians' History of the World (1904)
The Historians' History of the World - 1904 Author:Henry Smith Williams Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II THE AGE OF THE VIKINGS [To 1050 A.d.] THE ANCIENT KINGS OF SWEDEN After briefly relating the legend of Odin, the Ynglinga Saga 6 proceed... more »s to deduce the history of the dynasty of that name in Sweden, during the first seven centuries of the Christian era. Of the sovereigns descended from Magog who are alleged to have reigned before that epoch, no record worthy of credit has been preserved, nor of the events that took place prior to the death of Gylfe, when the crown was transferred to the sacred line of the Ynglings. We shall therefore entirely discard those lists of primeval mon- archs, who could only be local chiefs, or petty rulers, alternately the conquerors and the vassals of each other, and adopt the theory of commencing from the arrival of Odin, as accredited by the most judicious and enlightened of the old Northern annalists — our only guides through a long period of darkness and fable.1 The following table represents the names and number of the kings, in the order of their succession, who reigned at Upsala until the beginning of the tenth century: 1 Our authorities, besides the Ynglinga Saga, for the order and chronology of these ancient 'kings, are Torfaens, Suhm, Qeijer, and the Langfedgatal in the Scriptores Rerun Danicarum ifeaiijEvi, etc., a Jocobo Langebek, 8 torn, ffafmte, 1778, et seq. In this valuable collection of Scandinavian antiquities, above twenty different catalogues of ancient kings are given, whose genealogies are traced back " fra Noa till varra konunga," a Noacho ad reges nostros. a. w. — Vol. xvi. D 38 TRADITIONAL LIST OP THE ANCIENT KINGS OF SWEDEN — THE YNGLINQ8 Odin arrived in the North NjOrd .... Frey-Yngve . Ill'llIT , . B.c. 70 died " 20 . A.d. 10 Fiolner 14 Svegdir 84 Vanlanu or Valiand .......« less