Adilis "Athils" Ottarsson

• Birth Notes
  • B: Abt. 572

• General Notes
  • #
    
        He ruled for a long time and had great riches., going on viking raids several summers. On a raid in Saxony he captured Yrsa and married her. He killed King Ali of Oppland in a battle. He took great delight in fine horses and gave a prize horse toKing Godgest in Halogaland who rode him but could not rein him and was thrown and killed. He himself later was killed by a fall from a horse at a sacrifice for the godess Disarat Uppsala. His head hit a rock and broke his skull and his brainsspilled out.
    
        Ruled Svithiod after his father King Ottar. Mentioned in Beowulf as Eadgils of the royal Swedish line of the Scylfingas (Skilfings). Audils ruled for a long time and often went on viking expeditions to Saxonland, Denmakr and Norway. In Saxonland, Audils captured the household of King Geirthiof, among whom was a remarkably beautiful girl, called Yrsa. The king married her, but she was afterward taken to Denmark by King Helge of Leire after a successful plundering expedition in Svithiod. As King Audils once rode around the hall at a sacrifice his horse stumbled and fell, and the king was killed. [History of Sweden, p. 38]
    
        !He and his father Ottar are mentioned in Beowulf as Ohthere and his son Eadgils of the royal Swedish line of the Scylfingas (Skilfings). This fact gives to Swedish history its first reliable date -- abt the 6th century. Audils captured the household of King Geirthiof and married Yrsa, a beautiful young
        girl who was part of the household. King Audils once rode around the hall at a sacrifice where his horse stumbled and fell, killing the king. [WBH - Sweden]
    
        !Ruled for a long time and often went on viking expeditions to Saxonland, Denmark and Norway. [WBH - Sweden]
    
        !Had great quarrels with his uncle, King Ali the Upplander. They had a battle on the ice of Lake Vaner, where King Ali fell and Athils had the victory. There is a long account of his battle in Skjoldunga Saga. Athils was a true Swede in his love of fine horses, but the poets and sagamen have not dealt kindly with him: it is a grotesque and baffled mischief-maker who squinnies at us from their pages. Even with horses his touch was not held to be infallible: according to the Kalfsvisa he fell off one, a grey, at Lake Vaner, when they rode to the ice, and according to Snorri fell off another at a sacrifice and knocked his brains out on a stone. This happened at Uppsala and he was buried in a mound there. Saxo Grammaticus would have us believe that he died of strong drink, while celebrating with immoderate joviality the death of his enemy Hrolf/Hrothulf. [A History of the Vikings, p. 38-9]
    
    # Reference Number: G6T0-2S
    
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    # Note:
    
        The twentieth king of the Yngling dynasty in Sweden was said to be Adil. This legendary monarch was married to Yrsa, the daughter of King Helge of Denmark. Yrsa, although Helge's daughter, had also been his lover and had born him a son name Rolf, who later became king of Denmark.
    
    # Note: There was, predictably, a great deal of jealousy and fighting between Adil of Sweden and Helge of Denmark. In the end, Helge was treacherously murdered by Adil.
    
        Adil did not live long after this. While at a great sacrifice in Uppsala, he died by falling from a horse, a death which was considered shameful. Yrsa's son Rolf, on the other hand, died in battle, which was considered glorious. Rolf's praises were then sung over all of Scandinavia.
    
    # Note: (legends of early Swedish kings) [Royal Families of Medieval Scandinavia, Flanders, and Kiev]
    
    # Note: Title: Royal Families of Medieval Scandinavia, Flanders, and Kiev, by Rupert Alen & Anna Dahlquist, 1997, King's River Publ.
    # Note: Page: 3-4