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Ingvar the Far-Travelled was the leader of the Swedish Ingvar expedition, which was an unsuccessful Swedish Viking attack against Persia, in 1036-1042.
Ingvar was probably a relation of the Swedish royal house (the House of Munsö). It is possible that it was king Anund Jakob or his brother and successor Emund the Old who mustered the Swedish leidang.
The participants were evenly distributed along the husbys, and 24 of the 26 Ingvar Runestones were from Sweden (in the contemporary sense, i.e. Svealand) and 2 from the Geatish district of Ostrogothia. The folkland of Attundaland did not take part and this was probably done on purpose in order to keep a defensive army in Sweden, while the main force was away.
Anund Jacob was the brother of Ingegerd Olofsdotter who was married to Yaroslav I of Novgorod and who conquered Kiev in 1019 from his brother Sviatopolk. This was done with the help of varangians, and according to Ingvar's saga, they were led by Ingvar's father Eymund.
Later Yaroslav had trouble with the Pechenegs, a nomad tribe. The expedition stayed for a few years in Kiev fighting against the Pechenegs, then (in 1042) they continued to the Black Sea and the christian country, called Särkland (Georgia).
A Georgian chronicle
to be completed
See also Battle of Sasireti
Aftermath
According to the Icelandic saga about Ingvar, only one ship returned. The 26 remaining rune stones testify to this as no one mentions a surviving participant. The most common phrases are similar to the one on the Gripsholm Runestone:
- They died in the East, in Särkland.
Adam of Bremen considered the disaster to be a punishment for the king's rejection of bishop Adalvard of Bremen and his electing his own bishop, Osmundus.
The Saga
To be completed
Sources
- Mats G. Larsson (1990). "Ett ödesdigert vikingatåg. Ingvar den vittfarnes resa 1036-1041"
- Peter Tunstall (2005). The Saga of Yngvar the Traveller. http://www.oe.eclipse.co.uk/nom/Yngvar.htm
Viking Age | History of Europe | History of the Germanic peoples | Nordic folklore
"Ingvar the Far-Travelled"