Notizen zu dieser Person
Emund the Old or Edmund (Swedish: Emund den gamle, Old Swedish: Æmunðær gamlæ, Æmunðær gammal, Æmunðær slemæ) was King of Sweden from c. 1050 to c. 1060. His short reign was characterised by disputes with the Archbishopric of Bremen over churchpolicies, and a historically debated delimitation of the Swedish-Danish border
Emund was the son of Olof Skötkonung, the first Christian ruler of Sweden. His mother was a co-wife, Edla, daughter of a Slavic chief from the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. He had two uterine sisters called Astrid and Holmfrid. His half-siblings, born by Olof's legitimate Queen Estrid of the Obotrites, were Anund Jacob and Ingegerd According to the 13th-century historian Snorri Sturluson, Estrid was ill-tempered and treated her stepchildren poorly. King Olof later sent Emund to beraised with his mother's Slavic family. While staying there he failed to hold on to the Christian religion.
Olof was succeeded by his other son Anund Jacob, who however did not have any known sons of his own. Snorri relates that Emund was ruling in Sigtuna, an important center in the Swedish realm, by 1035.However, other sources show that Anund Jacobwas still alive then; the names Anund and Emund might have been mixed up. The German ecclesiastical chronicler Adam of Bremen, in his Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum (Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church), says that Anund Jacob diedin or shortly after 1049 and was succeeded by Emund; there is nothing to suggest that the succession was irregular.
Our only near-contemporary source for Emund's reign is Adam of Bremen, who paints a very negative picture of the new ruler. This is mainly due to the self-willed attitude of Emund vis-à-vis the Archdiocese of Bremen. Adam relates that Emund wasbaptised but cared very little for the Christian faith. He also gives Emund the cognomen pessimus (worst), which is later reflected by the short chronicle of the Westrogothic law (c. 1240) which likewise knows the king as Slemme, the bad. The Westrogothic law states that Emund was a disagreeable man when wanting to pursue a goal.
The dispute with Bremen was triggered by Emund's insistence on maintaining a bishop called Osmundus. Originally a protegé of the Norwegian-based missionary Sigfrid, Osmundus had been raised at a school in Bremen but failed to be ordained bishopby the Pope. Eventually he was ordained by the Polish archbishop of Gniezno and proceeded to Sweden where he won the confidence of King Emund. In the mid-1050s the Archbishop of Bremen sent envoys to Sweden, headed by Adalvard the Elder who wasintended as the new bishop. The delegation was highly offended when encountering Osmundus who sported the habits of an archbishop and "seduced the still recently converted wild peoples through incorrect education in our faith". On Osmundus' insistence, Emund turned the envoys away from an assembly. However, the Swedish magnate Stenkil, a relation of the king, escorted the delegation on its way back.
Emund's wife is not explicitly mentioned in the sources. Through a combination of information from the Hervarar saga and Adam of Bremen, it has sometimes been assumed that he was married to Astrid Njalsdotter of Skjalgaätten (d. 1060). Astrid was the daughter of Norwegian nobleman Nial Finnsson (d. 1011), son of Gunhild Halvdansdotter of the Skjalga family in Hålogaland, Norway. Emund sired two known children with his consort: Anund who died before his father, and a daughter, whose name is not known but who was the Queen Consort of King Stenkil of Sweden and the mother of two more Swedish kings, Inge I and Halsten.
The cognomen "Gamle" is known from Adam of Bremen, although he mistakes it as a proper name and mentions in one episode a "King Gamle" when it is in fact Emund. The name means "old" and could signify that he was old when he became king or that he was the older brother to his predecessor Anund Jakob. Emund was the last king of the ancient royal house of the Swedes (sometimes known in modern history writing as the House of Munsö). He is known to have been alive as late as the summer of 1060, and probably died shortly after.[24] Adam of Bremen relates in his work that Emund was succeeded by his "nephew or stepson", in fact probably son-in law, Stenkil. With him began a new dynasty that would last until the 1120s.
Thomas Wolfgang
Ackermann
