Riksantikvarieämbetet

Following  observations  by  Brocman  (1762)  and  Olson  (1912),  this  article  first summarises Adam of Bremen’s influence on Yngvars saga víðfQrla, in particular Adam’s dating of the death of King Óláfr Eiríksson to 1039 as the underlying chronological framework of the saga. Research into Viking Age history and runology tends to take the dating of Yngvarr’s expedition and year of death to c.1041 in the saga as credible. As there are 21–26 runestones, predominantly near Lake Mälar in Sweden, which can be linked to an expedition led by a certain Yngvarr, the dating of Yngvarr’s expedition has been used by a large number of runologists as a chronological pillar for the dating of the Upplandic runestones in general, although the plainness of the ornamentation on the Yngvarr stones does not seem to support a dating to c.1040, but to c.1020. By drawing on the dating of Óláfr Eiríksson’s death in Icelandic annals and Heimskringla to c.1022 and adjusting the chronological framework of Yngvars saga víðfQrla accordingly, this article suggests that the dating of Yngvarr’s expedition and death should also be shifted back in time to c.1020. This would also correspond to a dating of the Yngvarr stones according to the ornamentation.