Halvdan Eysteinssonof Norway Jarl of Vestfold, Ringerike, Hadeland, and the Opplands

Halfdan Eysteinsson, 746-800, Jarl of Vestfold, Ringerike, Hadeland, and the Opplands. He was born in Vestfold at a place called Holtar, the present Holtan in Borre, and is buried under a mound at Borre. He was known as a great warrior who often pillaged and gathered great booty. His nicknames were Halfdan The Mild, signifying his generous nature, and Halfdan The Bad Entertainer. There seems to bea contradiction here, but I think it is easily explained. He was generous to his men by way of rewarding them with money and land, but, when they were guests at his house, they received rather stingyamounts of food and drink. This could have been due to him encouraging their fitness, or, more likely, that his wife, Hlif Dagsdottir, 748-810, whose name derived from the Old Norse Hilfar, meaning shield, ran an extremely economical household. She was the daughter of Jarl Dag of Vestmar.

Halfdan and Hlif had three sons:
Firstly, Gudrod The Hunter Halfdansson, 770-810. The Norwegian historian, P. A. Munch, identified this Gudrod with Godefrid [Gottrick] Halfdannson, who was assassinated in 810. He succeeded his uncle as Godefrid, King of the Danes. In the first year of his government the Saxons rebelled, and he raised a powerful army to suppress them, which he soon effected, by giving them a signal overthrow, and obliging them, upon the birth of a Danish prince, to send a present to the king of an hundred milk white horses, in token of their submssiion and vassalage to the crown of Denmark. After many years ofconflict, in 827, the kingship of Denmark fell to Godefrid's son, Horic I.
He married Alfhildr Alfarinsdottir, 772-807, a daughter of King Alfarin of Alfheim, a district between the Glommen and Gotha rivers. He got with her half the district of Vingulmark. They had a son named Olaf Gudrodsson, 790-841. 'He was a great warrior, and an able man; and was besides remarkably handsome, very strong and large of growth' [Ynglinga Saga, ch. 54].
Olaf succeeded his father in Vestfold when he was about 20 years old. He died of a wound to his foot, and was buried at Geirstad, which has been identified with the existing Gjerstad, near Skiringsale. Great warrior or not, he lost a great part of his father's possessions, and only ruled over Vestmar - a southern portion of Vestfold. His son was Ragnvald Mountain High Olafsson, 809-862.
Gudrod Halfdansson married, secondly, Aasa Haraldsdottir, 788-840. Gudrod proposed marriage to Aasa, daughter of Harald Redbeard, Jarl of Agder, after the death of his first wife, but was refused. Gudrod then invaded Agder, killed Harald and his son, Gyrd, and abducted and married Aasa. Gudrod was killed when his son by Aasa was one year old, by one of his wife's servants, whom she had bribed: 'Helay with his ship in Stiflesund, where they had been drinking hard, so that the king was very tipsy. In the evening, about dark, the king left the ship; and when he had got to the end of the gangway from the ship to the shore, a man ran against him, thrust a spear through him, and killed him. The man was instantly put to death, and in the morning when it was light the man was discovered to be Aasa's page-boy: nor did she conceal that it was done by her orders.' [Ynglinga Saga, ch. 53.]
Aasa was the queen who was buried in the famous Oseberg ship, which has been dated to c. 840.
Gudrod's son by Aasa was Halfdan The Black Gudrudsson, 809-849, so called by reason of his black hair. He was notably stout and strong. After his father's death, his mother took him to Agder, where hebecame Jarl, when aged eighteen. His first action as jarl was the conquest of all the lands his father had lost, after which time he went to Vestfold and shared that kingdom with his older half-brother, Olaf. His conquests did not end here, however, as is first marriage to Ragnhild Haraldsdottir, daughter of Harald Gulskeg, Jarl of Sogn, brought him that territory, which is situated in the west of Norway.
He died, aged 40, after falling through the ice as he rode over Rykinsvik bight.
He had married, secondly, Ragnhild Sigurdsdottir, 825-860, daughter of Sigurd The Stag Helgasson, 805-855, and Thorny Haraldsdottir, 810-872, daughter of the above mentioned Harald Klak Halfdansson, Gudrod's second cousin. Sigurd The Stag was the son of Helge Hvasse, 780-820, and Aslaug Sigurdsdottir, 790-837; daughter of Sigurd Dragon Eye Ragnarsson, 770-825. Halfdan The Black Gudrudssonson and Ragnhild Sigurdsdottir were the parents of Harald Halfdansson, 839-c.921, a.k.a Harald Harfager, King of Norway. He succeeded his father as Jarl of Vestfold when he was about 10 years old.
Secondly, Sigurd Halfdansson, who was killed in the Battle of Bardowick. 810. King Godefrid's brother is named Sigurd in Europäische Stammtafeln [ES II. 104]. His son was Hemming Sigurdsson, who was killed in battle in 812. The Gesta Francorum states that he succeeded his uncle in 810. Another son of Sigurd Halfdansson was Sigfrid Sigurdsson. Einhard's Annales record that, at the news of the deathof Hemming, Sigfid and his second cousin, Anulo, both claimed the succession, and that the faction supporting Anulo was victorious, with his brothers Harald Klak and Reginfred being installed as joint rulers of Denmark.
Thirdly, Ivar Halfdansson, 777-840, Jarl of the Opplands. He married Solveig Eysteinsdottir, 790-855, daughter of Eystein Hognasson, Jarl of Trondheim. Trondheim is situated in central Norway, which is a dramatic fjiord-riven plateau.
1 _UPD 04 MAR 2009 14:15:47 GMT+1 - Michael Stanhope - The Origins of the Stanhope Family - 1 RIN MH:S162 - 1 _UID 8384B8AB-04A7-4C48-A7A6-51BEC29C14A0