Raum the Old

Raum the Old (Old Norse: Raumr inn gamli) is a legendary king in Norway in the Hversu Noregr byggdist and in Thorsteins saga Víkingssonar. The saga of Hversu Noregr byggðist tells of two kings known as Raum. It is not simple to tell them apart; although the author of the saga appears to have put in some clues.
The first King Raum is son of the eponymous first king of Norway, King Nór and Queen Hedda (Höððu). The second Raum is the first King Raum's and Queen Bergdis' grandson through their son Jötunbjörn the Old. The second Raum is by all probability King Raum the Old. In Hversu Noregr byggðist, as well as other sagas, such as Örvar Odd's saga, the cognomen inn gamli - the Old - refers to the person's longevity, not as in the elder or younger of two. Quite specifically the cognomen inn gamli refers to a certain capability of death-defiance acquired by certain sacrifices (bloþ), typically lasting for three hundred years (signifying 360 years as hundred in Norse meant 120, not 100). This is explained in the saga itself. At least three kings in this and other sagas has aquired this cognomen explicitly this way:
- Snœr the Old, the grandfather of King Nór, father to King Raum the First, who is grandfather to Raum the Old
- Halfdan the Old, grandson to Raum the Old and father to nine royal lineages, among them Næfill, the eponymous anchestor of the Niebelungen, famous through Richard Wagner's operacycle Der Ring des Nibelungen
- Örvar Odd, by Saxo Grammaticus depicted as father to Rurik, the eponymous anchestor to the first tsar-dynasty, the Rurikids. In the Primary Chronicle he is called Oleg the Wise.
It is not specified that Jötunbjörn the Old, or Raum the Old performs the same death-defying ritual sacrifice, yet they are in the specific lineage of kings that performs it.
In concordance with the apparent meaning of Raumr's name, the sagas tell that he looks more like a jotun than a human. It is stated that his daughter Bryngerd, who was married to Álf the Old, grandfather of Gandalf, was not beautiful, in spite of being the first queen of the Elves; because Raumr had a terryfying look (ljótr). Indeed, the word raumr meant in norse times an ugly, terrifying, or even disgusting person, sometimes clumsy, clownish. This Raum who is the father of Bryngerd, narrated in Þorstein saga Vikingsonar, appears less likely to be King Raum the Old Björnson but his grandfather Raum Nórson, as the crossreferences regarding the lineage of Alf and that of Raum seems more compelling.
In Hversu Noregr byggðist, Raum is one of the three sons of Nór, the legendary first king of Norway, and succeeds his father as king. His brothers are Thrond (Þranðr), the namesake of Trondheim (Þranðheim) and Gard (Garðr) who is called Agde (Agði), which is the name of the southernmost county in Norway - Agder.
Raum attended a Yule feast given by Bergfin (Bergfinnr) son of Thrym (Þrymr) the Giant of Vermland and bedded Bergfin's sister Bergdís (Bergdís). Bergdís subsequently bore three sons: Björn (Bjǫrn 'bear'), Brand (Brandr 'torch', 'fire', 'prow or stern-plank', 'sword-blade'), and Álf (Álfr 'elf'). Álf was fostered by Bergfin himself and so became known as Finnálf (Finnálfr). Björn was kept by his mother and his name was expanded to Jötunbjörn (Jǫtunbjǫrn 'Giant-bear'). Brand was sent to his father Raum who dedicated him to the gods (whatever guðunum means exactly), and so he was afterwards known as Gudbrand (Guðbrandr 'God-sword', 'Goth-torch'). Jotunbjörn in turn gets a son known as Raum the King
Raum the Old Björnsson
It is not obvious who is the mother of Hrossbjörnar by the text of Hversu Norégr byggðist alone, but the lineage may provide some answers from other sagas and texts. Vatsdælasaga starts with the third Raum, Ketil Raum, great grandson of Raum son of Jotunbjörn.
It seems quite clear that it is Raum, the son of Jotunbjörn, that after having the son Hrossbjörn had Hild (Hildr) daughter of Gudröd the Old (Guðrǫðr inn gamli) the son of King Sölvi (Sǫlvi) who first ruled the land now called Sóleyjar (cognate with the modern region of Solør comprising the municipalities of Grue, Åsnes, and Våler).
The passage in Ynglinga saga about Olaf Treteglju is one of the more obscure, or cryptic. Both Hversu Noregr byggðist and Ynglingasaga refers to King Sölva the Old who first cleared Sóleyar. Yet there are some distinctions. Actually Ynglingasaga doesn't refers directly to King Sölva, but tells that Olaf, through whom the ancient bloodline of the Uppsala High Kings of the Ynglings goes, gets Sölva, or Sölveig.. The text of Snorre Sturlasson's Ynglingesaga is curiously expressing a gender-confusion regarding the wife of Olaf Treteglju:
Ólafr fékk konu þeirrar, er Sölveig hét eða Sölva, dóttir Hálfdanar gulltannar vestan af Sóleyjum. Hálfdan var son Sölva, Sölvarssonar, Sölvasonar hins gamla, er fyrstr ruddi Sóleyjar.
Olaf got his wife who was named Sölveig, or Sölva, daughter to Hálfdan Goldtooth west of Soleyjum. Halfdan was son to Sölva, the sons of Sölvar, sons of Sölva the Old, that cleared the land of Sóleyjar first.
It may seem at first glance that there is a huge gap of generations, impossibilitating a coherence between the two sagas, but on the other hand not. The plurality of Sölvas, as well as the explicitly stated death defiance of several of the ones with the cognomen the Old, makes the puzzle possible; not as historical realism, but as in holding an inherent coherence.
lived much later, making this Sölvi to be the father of a second Sölvi, the father of Halfdan Goldtooth (Hálfdanr Gulltanni), the father of Sólveig or Sölva who married Ólaf Woodcutter (Ólafr Trételgja). But Af Upplendinga Konungum claims that Olaf's wife Sölva was the sister of King Sölvi the Old.
By his wife Hild, Raum the Old became father of four sons: Gudröd (Guðröðar), Hauk (Haukr), Hadding (Haddingr), and Hring (Hringr).
Gudbrand inherited the valley Gudbrandsdal from his father Raum. King Gudbrand was father of King Audleif (Auðleifr), father of King Gudmund (Guðmundr), father of Gudbrand who refused to be king, gave himself an earl's name (Jarl Guðbrand) instead, as he wanted to become the mightiest earl (or most rich) in the northern lands. Jarl Gudbrand's son was Jarl Geirmund (Geirmundr), father of Jarl Hródgeir (Hróðgeirr), father of Gudbrand who refused the title of jarl (earl) and called himself hersir (cf. centaurion, chief of a hundred) as did his descendants.
Jötunbjörn the Old inherited Raumaranes Dale from his father King Raum. (Raums Dale is the modern district of Romerike in the county of Akershus. Jötunbjörn was father of King Raum, father of Hrossbjörn (Hrossbjǫrn), father of Orm Broken-shell (Ormr Skjelamoli), father of Knatti who had two sons: Thórolf (Þórolfr) and Ketil Raum (Ketill Raumr). A variant of this genealogy appears at the beginning of the Vatnsdæla saga in which Ketil the Large is the direct son of Orm Broken-shell with no mention of either Knatti or of Ketil's brother Thórolf. Also nothing is said of Jötunbjörn's ancestry, only that he was from the north of Norway. The Hversu then relates that Thórolf was father of Helgi, the father of Bersi, the father of Thormód (Þormóðr), the father of Thórlaug (Þórlaugr) who was the mother of Tungu-Odd (Tungu-Oddr). In the Landnámabók (1:15) it is said that two brothers whose ancestry is not given settled the Akraness in Iceland between Kalman's river (Kalmansár) and Char river (Aurridaár). One was Thormod who settled the land to the south of Reymir, and dwelt at Holm; he was the father of Bersi and Geirlaug, the mother of Tungu-Odd (Tungu-Oddr). The other was named Ketil. Further information appears in the Landnámabók (1.20). Tungu-Odd is a major character in Hænsna-Thóris saga (Hen-Thórir's saga). Geirlaug rather than Thorlaug is the name of Tungu-Odd's mother in all accounts except for that of the Hversu.
According to the Hversu, Finnalf inherited the land of East Dale (Eystri-Dal, modern day Østerdalen) and all the land north of Lake Vænir (modern Lake Vänern) from the Gautelfr (the modern Göta älv river) north to the Raumelfi (the modern Rauma (river) ), and that the land was then called Álfheim.
Finnálf married Svanhild (Svanhildr) who was called Gold-feather (Gullfjǫðr) and was the daughter of Day (Dagr) son of Dayspring (Dellingr) by Sun (Sól) daughter of Mundilfari. Dag as a personification of day and the sun-goddess Sól are mentioned elsewhere, but only the Hversu mentions their daughter. Svanhild bore Finnálf a son named Svan the Red (Svanr inn rauðr) who was father of Sæfari, father of Úlf (Úlfr), father of Álf, father of Ingimund (Ingimundr) and Eystein (Eysteinn).
According to the eddic poem Hyndluljód (stanza 12), Óttar, whose genealogy is the subject of this poem, was son of Innstein (Innsteinn), son of Álf the Old, son of Úlf, son of Sæfari, son of Svan the Red. So the Innstein of the Hyndluljód and Eystein of the Hversu are presumably identical.
Gudröd, Raum's eldest legitimate son, inherited the largest portion of his father's lands. Gudröd's son was Eystein the Wicked (Eysteinn illráði) who conquered part of Trondheim and set his son Önund over it. When Önund was killed in a revolt, Eystein made his dog, Saur, king of the territory. The tale is also told more fully as a deed of long ago in the Saga of Hakon the Good in the Heimskringla where Eystein (no parentage given) is said to be King of the Uplands in Norway, part of the modern county of Oppland. See Snær for another use of the dog king motif.
Höd ruled over Hadeland (Haðaland). Höd was father of Höddbrodd (Hǫðbroddr). (The name Höd is identical to that born by the slayer of the god Baldr in other tales. And while the Höd of the Hversu is said to be father of a son named Höddbrodd, in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum (Book 3) Høtherus, the slayer of Balderus, is the son of Hothbrodus or Hothbroddus.)
The Hversu relates that Höddbrodd son of Höd was the father of Hrólf (Hrólfr), father of Hrómund Berserk (Hrómundr berserkr), father of three children: Hámund (Hámundr), Haki, and Gunnlöd (Gunnlǫð).
Hámund was Earl of Hordaland and father of Hrók the Black (Hrókr inn svartr) and Hrók the White (Hrókr inn hvítr). Haki was father of Hródgeir (Hróðgeirr), father of Haki Berserk. Gunnlöd was the mother of Útstein (Ústeinn) and Innstein (Innsteinn). In Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka ('The saga of Hálf and his heroes'), the two brothers named Hrók and the brothers Útstein (Útstein) and Innstein play prominent roles. This saga names the father of Útstein and Instein as a Jarl named Álf the Old of Hordaland, which is one of Hálf's kingdoms.
Hrók the Black was the father of Gunnlöd (Gunnlǫð) the mother of Hrómund Gripsson, the protagonist of Hrómundar saga Gripssonar ('Saga of Hrómund Gripsson'). Two sons of Hrómund named Björnólf (Bjǫrnólfr) and Hróald (Hróaldr) appear among the first Norse settlers in Iceland in the Landnámabók (1.3) and are mentioned in other sagas.
The Hversu tells that Hadding (Haddingr) son of Raum ruled over Haddingjadal and Telemark (Þelamǫrk). He was father of son also named Hadding, who himself was father of another Hadding, father of Högni the Red. The Hversu then comments cryptically that after him the three Haddings (Haddingjar) took power, that they ruled one after the other, and that Helgi Hadding-prince (Haddingjaskati) was one of them.
The Haddingjar are otherwise known as two of the sons of Arngrim of which the fullest account is in Hervarar saga and are certainly not the Haddingjar spoken of by the Hversu. (But some suspect all references to the Haddingjar are garblings of old traditions about the divine twins.) Helgi Haddingjaskati is mentioned in the prose epilogue to the eddic poem Helgavida Hundingsbana II which states that Helgi Hundingsbane and his Valkyrie and his lover Sigrún were afterwards reincarnated as Helgi Haddingjaskati and Kára as told in the Káraljód (Káraljóðr), a poem no longer extant. A version of this tale survives only in Hrómundar saga Gripssonar in which the Haldingjar are two concurrent kings of Sweden and Helgi is their champion. Helgi conquers in part through the magic of his lover, the sorceress Kára, who appears in the form of a swan. When Helgi accidentally kills her, he meets his own doom and the Halding kings flee. Haldingjar seems to a garblings of Haddingjar. The Hversu account probably indicates a version in which both Helgi and the two Haddingjar proper (probably here the sons of Högni the Red) were all three called Haddingjar and ruled in rotation. Also, in the text the name of Helgi's lover actually appears as Cára, which should have been normalized as Kára. But Cára was instead misread and transcribed as Lára in Jónsson and Vilhjálmsson's Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda and so appears in most later discussion.
Raum's son Hring was the eponym and ruler of Ringerike (Ringeríki) and also ruled Valdres (a valley of modern Oppland). Hring married the daughter of a sea-king named Vifil (Vifill) by whom he was the father of Halfdan the Old (Hálfdan gamli). See Halfdan the Old to follow this lineage further.
Alternative Anglicizations are: Álf: Alf ; Álfheim: Alfheim ; Bergdís: Bergdis ; Björn: Bjorn ; Björnólf: Bjornolf ; Finnálf: Finnalf ; Gudröd: Gudrod ; Gunnlöd: Gunnlod ; Hálf: Half ; Halfdan: Hálfdan ; Hámund: Hamund ; Hródgeir: Hrodgeir ; Hrossbjörn: Hrossbjorn ; Högni: Hogni ; Höd: Hod, Hodr, Hoder, Hother ; Höddbrodd: Hoddbrodd ; Hróald: Hroald ; Hrók the Black: Rook the Black ; Hrók the White: Rook the White ; Hrólf: Hrolf ; Hrómund: Hromund ; Jötunbjörn: Jotunbjorn ; Kára: Kara ; Ketil Raum: Ketil the Large ; Lára: Lara ; Ólaf: Olaf ; Önund: Onund ; Raumaríki: Raumarike, Raumarik, Raum's-ric ; Sæfari: Saefari ; Sigrún: Sigrun ; Sól: Sol ; Sóleyjar: Soleyjar ; Sölva: Solva ; Sólveig: Solveig ; Sölvi: Solvi ; Thórolf: Thorolf ; Thrym: Thrymr ; Úlf: Ulf ; Útstein: Utstein.