page_title: Domalde
section_title: Attestations
hierarchical_section_title: Domalde / Attestations
context_page_description: In Norse mythology, Domalde, Dómaldi or Dómaldr was a Swedish king of the House of Ynglings, cursed by his stepmother, according to Snorri Sturluson, with ósgæssa, "ill-luck". He was the son of Visbur.
context_section_description: The luck of the king is the luck of the land, and Domalde's rule was marked by bad crops and starvation. The first autumn, the Swedes sacrificed oxen at the temple at Uppsala, but the next harvest was not better. The second autumn, they sacrificed men, but the following crops were even worse.
  The third year many Swedes arrived at Gamla Uppsala at the Thing of all Swedes and the chiefs decided they had to sacrifice the king. They sprinkled the statues of the gods with his blood (see Blót) and the good harvests returned.
  He was succeeded by his son Domar whose reign was prosperous.
  Snorri Sturluson wrote of Domalde in his Ynglinga saga (1225):
  Snorri included a piece from Ynglingatal (9th century) in his account in the Heimskringla:
  Hitt var fyrr
  at fold ruðu
  sverðberendr
  sínum drótni,
  ok landherr
  af lífs vönum
  dreyrug vápn
  Dómalda bar,
  þá er árgjörn
  Jóta dolgi
  Svía kind
  of sóa skyldi.
  It has happened oft ere now,
  That foeman's weapon has laid low
  The crowned head, where battle plain,
  Was miry red with the blood-rain.
  But Domald dies by bloody arms,
  Raised not by foes in war's alarms
  Raised by his Swedish liegemen's hand,
  To bring good seasons to the land.
  The Historia Norwegiæ presents a Latin summary of Ynglingatal, older than Snorri's quotation:
  The even earlier source Íslendingabók cites the line of descent in Ynglingatal and also gives Dómaldr as the successor of Visburr and the predecessor of Dómarr: vii Visburr. viii Dómaldr. ix Dómarr.
caption: Midvinterblot (1915) by Carl Larsson portrays Domalde as a willing sacrifice.
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