Notes |
- BIOGRAPHY
Ragnvald Ulfsson, known as 'the Old', was the son of Ulf Tostesson, jarl of Sweden. He was jarl of Westrogothia about 1010-1020, and later of Staraja Ladoga and Ingria.
When Ragnvald lived in Skara the Norwegians pillaged in Westrogothia. However Olav II, king of Norway, proposed marriage to the Swedish princess Ingegerd Olofsdotter, the daughter of Sweden's King Olof III Skötkonung, who was a cousin of Ragnvald. This pleased Ragnvald, who was related to both royal houses as he was at that time married to Ingeborg Tryggvasdotter, a Norwegian princess and the sister of Olav Tryggveson, who would later become king of Norway.
At the _Ting_ (governing assembly) at Ganda Uppsala, Ragnvald pressed King Olof Skötkonung to promise his daughter to Norway's Olaf II, but when the Swedish king failed to deliver his daughter, Ragnvald had not only fallen out of grace with the Swedish king, but he could also expect the revenge of the Norwegians.
During a visit by the _skald_ (court poet) Sigvat Thordarsson, Ragnvald learnt that Jaroslav I Vladimirovitch, grand duke of Kiev, had proposed marriage to Ingegerd. He then proposed that Olav II of Norway should marry Olof Skötkonung's illegitimate daughter Astrid, who was staying with Ragnvald. Sigvat delivered the message, and the Norwegian king accepted. Ragnvald delivered Astrid at Sapsborg in Norway, and she was married to the king after Christmas in 1019.
Olof Skötkonung was furious and intended to hang Ragnvald at the next Ting. However, when Ingegerd Olofsdotter married Jaroslav Vladimirovitch, she managed to arrange that Ragnvald became the jarl of Staraja Ladoga (Aldeigjuborg) and Ingria, and Olof Skötkonung allowed him to depart with Ingegerd in the summer of 1019.
Ragnvald had two sons, Ulf and Eilif, from his first marriage to Ingeborg Tryggvasdotter; they are not recorded with progeny. With his second wife Astrid Njalsdottir, of the house of Skjalg in Halogaland, Norway, he had a son Stenkil Ragnvaldsson who would have progeny and become king of Sweden.
The year of Ragnvald's death is not recorded, but his widow Astrid returned to Sweden with her son Stenkil and married the Swedish King Emund Slemme 'the Old', the illegitimate son and successor of Olof Skötkonung. They did not have progeny.
|