Everything about Battle Of Br Valla totally explained
The
Battle of Brávellir or the
Battle of Bråvalla was a legendary battle that's described in the
Norse sagas as taking place on the
Brávellir between
Sigurd Ring, king of
Sweden and the
Geats of
West Götaland, and his uncle
Harald Wartooth, king of
Denmark and the Geats of
East Götaland.
Sources
This battle is said to have taken place in the mid 8th century and it's retold in several sources, such as the
Norse sagas
Hervarar saga,
Bósa saga ok Herrauds and
Sögubrot af Nokkrum, but it's most extensively described in the Danish
Gesta Danorum. According to the Swedish journalist and best selling historian
Herman Lindquist, the
Rök Stone tells of this battle.
Cause
Harald had inherited Sweden from his maternal grandfather
Ivar Vidfamne, but ruled Denmark and
East Götaland, whereas his subordinate king
Sigurd Ring was the ruler of
Sweden and
West Götaland. According to legend,
Harald Wartooth realised that he was growing old (150) and may die of old age and so never go to
Valhalla. He consequently asked Sigurd if he'd let him leave this life gloriously in a great battle.
Preparation
According to
Saxo Grammaticus, both hosts prepared for seven years, and mustered armies of 200 000 men. Harald was joined by the legendary heroes Ubbe of Friesland, Uvle Brede, Are the One-eyed, Dag the Fat, Hroi Whitebeard and Hothbrodd the Indomitable as well as 300
shieldmaidens led by Hed, Visna and Hedborg. Sigurd recruited the legendary heroes
Starkad, Egil the Bald, Grette the Evil (a Norwegian), Blig Bignose, Einar the Fatbellied and Erling Snake. Famous Swedes were Arwakki, Keklu-Karl, Krok the peasent, Gummi and Gudfast from Gislamark. They were joined by scores of
Norwegians,
Finns,
Estonians,
Curonians,
Bjarmians,
Livonians,
Saxons,
Angles,
Frisians,
Irish,
Rus'etc. All picking their sides. Whole forests were chopped down in order to build 3000 longships to transport the Swedes. Harald's Danes had built so many ships that they could walk across
The Sound.
The numbers are obviously exaggerated, certainly tenfold or more. For comparison with the 3000 Swedish ships, the
leidang fleets of the Scandinavian kingdoms numbered around 300 ships each during the
Viking Age.
Location
The
Hervarar saga speaks about
Brávelli í eystra Gautlandi (for example Bråvalla in
East Götaland), and in
Sögubrot af Nokkrum the battle is said to have taken place south of
Kolmården which separated
Sweden (for example
Svealand) from
East Götaland and where Bråviken is located:
... Kolmerkr, er skilr Svíþjóð ok Eystra-Gautland ... sem heitir Brávík. and Saxo ends his account by saying "thus ended the battle of Bråvik". Most historians have held the battle to have taken place near Bråviken,. a minority view appears to have located it in Småland at Lake Åsnen.
Battle
The accounts found in
Gesta Danorum and
Sögubrot are essentially the same.
At first the two armies fought collectively, but after a while Ubbi was in the centre of attention. He slew first Ragnvald the Wise Councilor, then the champion Tryggvi and three Swedish princes of the royal dynasty. Humbled, king Sigurd Ring sent forth the champion
Starkad who managed to wound Ubbi but was himself even more seriously wounded. Then Ubbi killed Agnar, and took the sword in both hands and slashed a path through the Swedish host, until he fell riddled with arrows from the archers of
Telemark. Then the
shieldmaiden Veborg killed the champion Soti and managed to give additional wounds to Starkad who was greatly angered. Furious Starkad went forth in the Danish army killing warriors all around him and cut off the shieldmaiden Visna's arm, which held the Danish banner. Starkad then proceeded to slay the champions Brai, Grepi, Gamli and Haki. When Harald had observed these heroic feats, he stood on his knees in his chariot with one sword in each hand and killed a great many warriors both to his left and to his right. After a while, Harald's steward Bruni deemed that his liege had amassed enough glory and crushed the king's skull with a club.
Outcome
Sigurd won the battle and became the sovereign ruler of all of
Sweden and
Denmark (40,000 warriors had died).
Historicity
The general agreement on the historicity of the battle has turned back and forth during the last two centuries depending on what was the prevalent ideology among Scandinavian historians. In
1925, the Swedish archaeologist
Birger Nerman summarized the ebbs and tides of its historicity. He stated that older scholarship had treated the accounts of the battle uncritically and perceived the accounts as largely historical.
Further Information
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