Halsten Stenkilsson

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Halsten Stenkilsson
King of Sweden
Reign 1067–1070
Predecessor Eric and Eric
Successor Håkan the Red
(as King of Gothenland)
Anund Gårdske
(as King of Svealand)
King of Sweden
with Inge the Elder
Reign 1079–1084
Predecessor Håkan the Red
Successor Inge the Elder
(as King of Gothenland)
Blot-Sweyn
(as King of Svealand)
Born c. 1050
Died 1084 (aged 33–34)
Issue Philip of Sweden
Inge the Younger
House House of Stenkil
Father Stenkil
Mother Saint Ingamoder Emundsdotter of Sweden

Halsten Stenkilsson, English exonym: Alstan[1][2] (Old Icelandic: Hallstein[3]) was a king of Sweden, son of King Stenkil and a Swedish princess. He became king after his father Stenkil's death (1066), and he may have ruled together with his brother Inge the Elder.[4][5][6] The date of his death is not known.[5]

Little is known of his time as king.[5] In a scholia in the work of Adam of Bremen, he is reported to have been elected king after the death of two pretenders,[5] but deposed after a short while.[5][6] That he ruled together with his brother Inge has some support from a papal letter from 1081, by Pope Gregory VII, which refers to two kings with the initials A and I, and where they are called kings of Västergötland[5] (rege wisigothorum[7]). However, the king "A" could also be Håkan the Red.[8] His co-rulership with his brother Inge is also mentioned in the Hervarar saga.[4] In the regnal list of the Westrogothic law, he is said to have been courteous and cheerful, and whenever a case was submitted to him, he judged fairly,[5][6] and this was why Sweden mourned his death.[5] He was the father of the co-rulers Philip and Inge the Younger.[4][5][6]

The Hervarar saga, which is one of the few sources about the kings of this time, has the following to tell:

Hallsteinn hét sonr Steinkels konungs, bróðir Inga konungs, er konungr var með Inga konungi, bróður sínum. Synir Hallsteins váru þeir Philippus ok Ingi, er konungdóm tóku í Svíþjóð eptir Inga konung gamla.[3]

King Steinkel had, besides Ingi, another son Hallstein who reigned along with his brother. Hallstein's sons were Philip and Ingi, and they succeeded to the Kingdom of Sweden after King Ingi the elder.[4]

Notes and references

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  3. 3.0 3.1 Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, Guðni Jónsson's og Bjarni Vilhjálmsson's edition at «Norrøne Tekster og Kvad».
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 The Saga of Hervör and Heithrek, in Stories and Ballads of the Far Past, translated from the Norse (Icelandic and Faroese), by N. Kershaw. Cambridge at the University Press, 1921.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 The article Halsten in Nordisk familjebok (1909).
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. Kaliff, A. (2001) Gothic Connections, Contacts between eastern Scandinavia and the southern Baltic coast 1000BC-500AD. Occasional Papers in Archaeology 26. Uppsala. p. 16.
  8. Inge in Nationalencyklopedin
Halsten
Born: c. 1050 Died: 1084
Regnal titles
Preceded by King of Sweden
1067–1070
Succeeded by
Håkan the Red
as King of Gothenland
Succeeded by
Anund Gårdske
as King of Svealand
Preceded by King of Sweden
1079–1084
with Inge the Elder
Succeeded by
Inge the Elder
as King of Gothenland
Succeeded by
Blot-Sweyn
as King of Svealand