Håkan the Red (Swedish: Håkan Röde) was a King of Sweden, reigning for about half 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 an epithet 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]
See main article: List of Swedish monarchs. 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] Perhaps he reigned from c. 1066/1070 in some areas of Sweden (succeeding Stenkil or Halsten Stenkilsson), and from c. 1075 in Uppland as well (succeeding Anund Gårdske).[4] The regnal line in Nationalencyklopedin omits Anund Gårdske and presents Håkan as successor of Halsten Stenkilsson.[5] Nationalencyclopedin also suggests that he may have ruled jointly with Inge the Elder in the 1080s. 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.[6]
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, "[a]t 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, [...]."[7] 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.
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] [8] At his enthronement he was obliged to "take the mother of young Olof in marriage". It is not clear from Adam's text which Olof is meant, but it has been suggested that he might be King Olav Kyrre of Norway, whose mother Tora Torbergsdatter was a cognatic descendant of the Norwegian branch of the Yngling dynasty. While this remains unproven, the marriage was probably a politically well-planned act to gain support for Håkan's rule.[9] Historian Sture Bolin has argued that the passage about Olof's mother in fact refers to Tora Torbergsdotter marrying the Danish King Sweyn Estridsen, and has nothing to do with Håkan.[10] However, while Adam of Bremen mentions a Tora at Sweyn's court, he characterises her as his concubine rather than wife.
According to the regnal list of the Westrogothic law, Håkan the Red would have ruled 13 years, as Stenkil's predecessor.[2] He was born in Levene in Viste Hundred in Västergötland, and was buried there after his demise.[11] The Levene estate is also associated with King Stenkil, suggesting that Håkan might have sprung from the same kin group. Another Swedish king list from the 13th century has the sequence Stenkil - Halsten - Näskonung - Blot-Sweyn - Håkan the Red (Haquinus rufus) - Inge the Elder.[12]
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 inSvithjod was called Håkan. Afterwards Inge, a son of Steinkel,was king, [...][13]
Similarly, in Hervarar saga (13th century):
Steinkel had a son called Ingi, who became King of Sweden after Håkan.[14]
See main article: Uppland Rune Inscription 11. 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.[15]
| 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. |
| 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 |
| 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. |