Håkan the Red

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Runestone U 11 on Adelsö island in Lake Mälaren, probably carved at Håkan the Red's request.

Håkan the Red (Swedish: Håkan Röde) was a king of Sweden, reigning for about a decade in the second half of the 11th century.[1] There is little information on him, and it is mostly contradictory.[1] Nothing is known about his reign.[2]

Swedish historian Adolf Schück has asserted that, rather than Blot-Sweyn being an individual king, there are indications that that may have been another name for King Håkan.[3]

His cognomen the Red comes from the regnal list of the Westrogothic law, written in early 13th century. The same source claims that he was born in Levene, in Västergötland.[1]

Succession sequence[edit]

Despite contradiction in the sources, Håkan's position as a successor of Stenkil in the line of Swedish kings is generally accepted as correct.[2] He would have reigned from 1070 in some areas of Sweden (succeeding Halsten Stenkilsson also known as Halsten),[citation needed] and from 1075 in Uppland too (succeeding Anund Gårdske).[citation needed] The regnal line in Nationalencyklopedin omits Anund Gårdske and presents Håkan as successor of Halsten Stenkilsson.[4] Nationalencyclopedin also suggests that he may have ruled jointly with Inge the Elder in the 1080s.[1] A papal letter from Gregory VII is addressed to Inge together with either Håkan or Halsten Stenkilsson as kings of the västgötar, ordering them to collect tithe and send priests to Rome to educate themselves.[5]

According to Encyclopædia Britannica: "At the end of the Viking Age [approximately 1050], Sweden remained a loose federation of provinces. The old family of kings died out in 1060; after the death of the last of these kings' son-in-law, Stenkil, in 1066, a civil war broke out. Around 1080 Stenkil's sons, Ingi and Halsten, ruled, [...]."[6] If "civil war" is an appropriate characterisation of the period from 1066 to 1080, the rulers of that epoch would be in the grey area between "king" and "warlord". Describing this period for Sweden as a whole in a linear translatio imperii kind of regnal succession, can then only be achieved at least partially based on speculative historical reconstruction, which appears to have happened in diverging directions from the early 13th century on, at the latest.

Adam of Bremen[edit]

A scholion in Adam of Bremen's History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen (written 1070s–early 1080s) says that Håkan was elected king after Stenkil's son Halsten had been deposed, and after Anund Gårdske also had been rejected.[2][7]

Regnal list of the Westrogothic law[edit]

According to the regnal list of the Westrogothic law, Håkan the Red would have ruled 13 years, as Stenkil's predecessor.[2]


In Magnus Barefoot's Saga, a part of Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla (1225), he is given as the successor of Stenkil (who died in 1066):[2]

Steinkel, the Swedish king, died about the same time as the two Haralds fell, and the king who came after him in Svithjod was called Håkan. Afterwards Inge, a son of Steinkel,

was king, [...][8]

Similarly, in Hervarar saga (13th century):

Steinkel had a son called Ingi, who became King of Sweden after Håkan.[9]


Detail from U 11 showing the word kunungi or "king."

Presumably it was Håkan the Red who ordered the carving of a runestone found in Hovgården (Adelsö island in Lake Mälaren, Uppland, Sweden). The Rundata catalog number of this runestone is U 11.[10]

Notes and references[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Håkan Röde in Nationalencyklopedin:
      Håkan Röde, svensk kung på 1070-talet. [...] I Västgötalagens kungakrönika från 1200-talet anges att Håkan Röde hade tillnamnet "Röde" och att han regerade i tretton år; han skall ha varit född i Levene i Västergötland och även blivit begravd där. Möjligen regerade Håkan Röde under en period på 1080-talet tillsammans med Inge d.ä.   Håkan Röde, Swedish king in the 1070s. [...] In the regnal chronicle of the Westrogothic law it is said that he had the cognomen "Röde" [the Red] and that he ruled for thirteen years; he was supposedly born in Levene in Västergötland and also buried there. It is possible that Håkan Röde ruled for a period in the 1080s together with Inge the Elder.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Håkan" article in Nordisk familjebok (1910):
      H. Röde omtalas i den gamla vid Västgötalagen fogade konungalängden som konung före Stenkil (omkr. 1060-66).

    Enligt samma källa regerade han i 13 vintrar samt var både född och begrafven vid Lifvine i Västergötland. Ett scholion till Adams af Bremen historia uppgifver däremot, att sedan Stenkils son Halsten blifvit fördrifven och dennes efterträdare, den från Ryssland inkallade Anund, likaledes blifvit afsatt, valdes H. till konung. I Magnus Barfots saga omtalas H. som konung efter Stenkil, och där plägar man också vanligen inpassa honom i konungalängden. Om hans regering är intet bekant.

      H. Röde is mentioned in the regnal list added to the Westrogothic law as king before Stenkil (c. 1060-66). According to the same source, he ruled for 13 winters and was both born and buried at Lifvine in Västergötland. A scholion to the history of Adam of Bremen says instead that H[åkan] was elected after Stenkils son Halsten was driven out and his successor Anund, who had been summoned from Russia, also had been deposed. In the Saga of Magnus Barefoot, H[åkan] is mentioned as king after Stenkil, which is also were it is most common to put him in the line of kings. Nothing is known of his reign.
  3. ^ Adolf Schück, Saga och sed Kungl. Gustav Adolf Akademien, Uppsala 1957 p. 16
  4. ^ "Sverige" in Nationalencyklopedin:
      ca 1060–ca 1066 Stenkil

    död ca 1070 Halsten
    ca 1070 Håkan Röde
    död ca 1100 Inge d.ä.

      ca 1060–ca 1066 Stenkil

    dead ca 1070 Halsten
    ca 1070 Håkan Röde
    dead ca 1100 Inge the Elder

  5. ^ Inge in Nationalencyklopedin:
      I ett annat påvligt brev kallas I "västgötarnas" (latin wisigothorum) kung tillsammans med en kung "A". Härmed avsågs antingen Inges bror Halsten eller en viss Håkan Röde [...] Påven beordrar "I" och "A" att pålägga folket tionde samt ombesörja att präster sänds till Rom för att inhämta lärdom.   In another papal letter, I[nge] is called king of the "västgötar" (latin wisigothorum) together with a king "A". This would mean either Inge's brother Halsten or a certain Håkan Röde [...] The pope orders "I" and "A" to collect tithe and to make sure that priests are sent to Rome to become more learned.
  6. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica (15th edition, 1984). Macropedia vol. 16: "History of Scandinavia: I. Scandinavia to 1523: From 1050 to the Union of Kalmar: Sweden", p.308.
  8. ^ "Saga Magnús konungs berfœtts", in Heimskringla (W. Schultz, 1869–1872) at Norrøne Tekster og Kvad. English translation: "Magnus Barefoot's Saga" from Heimskringla at the Online Medieval & Classical Library.
  10. ^ U 11, Hovgården, Adelsö by Ingrid Karlmar and Urban Fredriksson, 27 February 1996.
Håkan Röde
Died: 1079
Regnal titles
Preceded by
as King of Sweden
King of Gothenland
Succeeded by
as King of whole Sweden
Preceded by
as King of Gothenland
King of Sweden
Succeeded by
Inge the Elder
& Halsten
Preceded by
Anund Gårdske