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A map showing the modern-day area of Sweden in 840 AD. The colors point out to which people formed the majority of inhabitants in the various areas.
The pink and red areas represent the easternmost Kven-Norse petty kingdoms in the extreme southeastern coastline of what today is Norway.
The red dots represent major Kven territorial centers in the area shown during the 9th century. For more Kvenland news and images please visit us on Facebook - click the logo above.

Rurik's Kven origins

The DNA research project by Dr. Andrzej Bajor of Poland in 2007, under the auspices of the Family Tree DNA Rurikid Dynasty Project of Family Tree DNA company, sought to more accurately place Rurik within the light of history and out of the shadows of legend, while simultaneously trying to map his modern descendants.

The DNA results of 191 men claiming to be Rurikid descendants indicate that most - 68% - of the them had haplogroup N1C1, formerly designated N3a1, typical for people of Finnic and Finno-Ugric descend.

Further genetic studies seem to indicate the existence of two major haplogroups among modern Rurikids:

1. The descendants of Vladimir II Monomakh (Monomakhoviches) and some others are of N1c1 group ( 68% / 130 people)

2. The descendants of a junior prince from the branch of Oleg I of Chernigov (Olgoviches) and some others (24% / 45 people) are of R1a and R1b haplogroups typical for Slavic, Germanic and Celtic peoples.

According to the Russian Newsweek magazine, this indicates that there could have been a non-paternity event in the Chernihiv ('Chernigov' in the past) branch during wars between royal clans.

The project of Bajor started with a test of 12 well documented genealogy-traced Rurikid descendants, from widely varying branches (two Gagarins, a Khilkov, Vadbolsky, Puzyna, Kropotkin, Lobanov-Rostovsky, Shakhovskoy, Myshetsky, Solomin, Rzhevsky, Putyatin), whose Y-DNA shows they belong to the same N1C1 agnatic lineage. Some of them did additional 67 markers' test, which allowed to establish a unique Rurikid DNA pattern.

Based on medieval sources, Rurik was born on the Roslagen seashore, which is located north of Stockholm in the modern-day Sweden.

The rule of the Norse (later Norwegians), Geats and Sveas (later Swedes) at the time of Rurik's birth in the start of the 9th century covered only the southernmost parts of Scandinavia. Their lands were bordered by Kvenland in north, parts of what were the areas of Norrland and Finnmark in Northern Scandinavia.

Thus, Rurik's Finnic DNA most presumably can be explained by the fact that he was a Kven, an apparent Viking Age descendant of the earliest known Kven kings, similarly to many other royal Viking leaders who led voyages to outside of Scandinavia.

When Rurik was born, the territory ruled by the Kvens - i.e. Kvenland - bordered Roslagen in south, and only in quite recently had the Swedes (Old English: Sweonas; Latin: Suiones, Suehans or Sueones) intergated with the Kvens of the region.

The birth of Sweden

1. Neolithic hunter-gatherers in Gotland - a part of the modern area of Sweden - show the greatest similarity to modern-day Finns. Click picture for the article.

2. A miniature face on a fifth century gilded cast copper-alloy display buckle discovered at Finnestorp in Västergötland in Southern Sweden.

What eventually became known as the Swedes, were referred to as Suiones by the Roman historian Julius Cornelius Tacitus in 97 AD. The Suiones and the Norse then inhabited the southernmost parts of the areas today known as Sweden and Norway.

The rest of Scandinavia and Fennoscandia were Finnish-speaking areas of Kvenland and Finland, as the countries were referred to e.g. in the Orkneyinga saga in 1230 AD.

Up till the end of the Viking Age, the central and northern parts of the modern-day Sweden were still a part of Kvenland.

Following the Viking Age, the formation of a new European "super power", the nation of Sweden (a.k.a Sweden-Finland in Finland), gradually - over several centuries - took place in the primeval territories of Kvenland and Finland.

Parts of Kvenland never became a part of Sweden, but instead eventually became integrated into the modern-day countries of Finland, Norway and Russia.

The primeval areas of Kvenland and the Kven people had provided the framework for the foundation of these new nations.

By the start of the 13th century AD, the northbound expansion of the Norse (red) and the combined Svea-Göta (yellow) populations had reached the middle part of the Scandinavian peninsula, now covering a large part of the historic Kvenland (click picture to enlarge)

Northern Kvenland

In 1595 in the Teusina Treaty of Peace between Sweden and Russia, Kvenland ("Kaianske landet") for the first time was referred to in an official government document as a territory governed by Sweden, although in reality that claim can be seen as not entirely merited.

Once King Karl IX had strengthened his hold on the crown of Sweden, he appended to it the title "King of the Kainulaiset" (Kvens), apparently using it the first time on March 16, 1607.

Still, Kainu (Kvenland) occupied a separate position from the rest of Finland for a long time to come (Kvenland, Julku, 1986, 187).

From 1679 to 1702, Olaus Rudbeckius wrote a 3000-page treatise in four volumes called Atlantica (Atland eller Manheim in Swedish), where he purported to prove that the ancient Sweden was Atlantis, the cradle of civilization.

Based on Rudbeckius, much of the modern-day Sweden - Västerbotten north from Piteå - and Finland was still Kvenland then.

However, some of the utmost northern parts of the anciet Kvenland never became a part of Sweden, but were annexed into the countries of Norway, Finland and Russia instead.

Since the Viking Age, parts of the medieval territories of Kvenland played an important role in several conflicts and wars.

In the year 1809 Swedish-Russian peace treaty following the War of Finland, the northwestern border of the newly autonomous Russian Grand Duchy of Finland was nearly drawn to the River Kalix - Kainuunjoki in Finnish ("Kvenland River") - in the modern-day Northern Sweden.

In the end, however, the Swedish-Finnish border was drawn to much further east, to the Torne River. All Finnish speaking areas of the medieval Kvenland west from there were left a part of Sweden, while the rest of the Finnish speaking areas of what up till then had been Sweden-Finland became the Russian Autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland.

Tornedalian Kvens

The official flag of the Tornedalians.

The Kven people of the modern-day Northern Sweden west from the Torne River are referred to as Tornedalians.

They are the ancestors of the Finnic Kvens who inhabited the area of today's Northern Sweden starting from the last ice age on or ancestors of the immigrants from Southern Finland, mainly from historical Tavastia (Häme) area, who settled to the area starting from the Viking Age.

The Tavastia migrants are called the Birkarls. Their settling began around the northern end of the Gulf of Bothnia (originally: Kven Sea, Kainuunmeri) and along the river valleys there, including the valleys of Kalix (originally 'Kainuunväylä'), Torne and Kemijoki Rivers. This migration is viewed to have taken place mostly between the 11th and 14th centuries AD.

Olaus Magnus mentions both Kvens and Birkarls in his publication Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus ("A Description of the Northern Peoples") from 1555.

A few of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in Scandinavia and the modern-day area of Finland can be found from within or near the Torne Valley region, including some continuously inhabited ever since the ending of the last ice age, but perhaps even before.

In the early Sami language dictionaries the area of Tornio - and/or Helsing-byn close to Tornio - in the heart of the historic Kvenland (Kainu, Kainuu) by the Bay of Bothnia was referred to as Cainho (Lexicon lapponicum, 1780).

Accordingly, Cainho is believed to refer to Kainu / Kainuu. Adding the letter 'h' - as in Cain-h-o - inside Finnish language words has for long been a tradition among the speakers of some of the most widely spread Finno-Ugric languages of the North (e.g. Kven) and/or their dialects. However, the ethymology and origins behind the term 'Kainu' (or 'Kainuu') still remain uncertain and a matter of debate.

In or near the Torne Valley region there are other ancient place names which include the term "kainu" (or "kainuu") as a part of the name. One such name is Kainuunväylä, or 'Kaihnuunväylä' in the local Kven language called Tornedalen ("meänkieli" in Finnish, in Tornedalen and in Kven languages).

Kainuunväylä refers to the lower part of what is known today in Swedish as Kalix River, which is a Gulf of Bothnia tributary.

The original name of the Gulf of Bothnia too had the term 'Kainuu' in it, and 'Kven' in non-Finno-Ugric languages. Up to the Middle Ages and beyond, the sea was referred to as "Kainuunmeri" by those speaking Finno-Ugric languages, and "Kven Sea" by all others.

Historically, the cultural environment around the River Torne is characterized by agriculture, reindeer farming and fishing. Taxation of the Sami people, fur trade and large hunting grounds were also among the most important factors contributing to the interest of the new migrants to move up north.

The Tornedalians eventually helped the Swedish expansion to the areas that today are a part of Northern Sweden.

Cultural Imperialism, in combination with a fear of Russia, led to Swedish attempts to assimilate and Swedify the Finnish-speaking population of Sweden between 1850 and 1950.

Since the 1970s, efforts have been made to reverse some of the effects of the Swedification, notably in education.

The minority status of the Tornedalians was officially ratified by the Swedish government in 1999 by the recognition of the local Finnish dialect Meänkieli as one of the legally acknowledged minority languages in Sweden.

A written standard of Meänkieli has been established and taught, which has given rise to critical remarks from Finland, suggesting that standard Finnish would be of more use to the pupils.

Remaining Kven areas in Sweden today. Since ancient times, the valleys of the Torne and Muonio Rivers and their tributaries such as the Meras, Palo, Parka and Tervanto Rivers and the surrounding territories provided great fishing and hunting grounds and easy access for the Kvens to the Atlantic coastline, to the area that today is known as Tromsa as well as the entire Hálogaland, the first known kingdom in what today is Norway.

Finnveden in the modern-day Southern Sweden represented the southernmost part of the primeval Kvenland.
The area provided great access for the Kvens westward to the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Click to enlarge.
The black dots represent Finnveden's Viking Age runestones, most of which describe men who died in England.

Kven Sweden

Medieval sources introduced on this site make references to Kvens and Kvenland associated with the foundation of Sweden.

Like nearly all of Scandinavia, at the start of the Middle Ages the modern-day Sweden was a part of Kvenland, from Finnveden in south to Finnmark in north. Much of the modern-day Finland too was a part of Kvenland, except for the southernmost part, which was Finland.

The sources referred to below provide information about the Swedish royal families descending from the primeval Finnic rulers of Kvenland, Finland, Gotland and Finnmark, and about Kvenland gradually becoming assimilated with and devided into the coutries of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.

The Kvens founded and established the countries of Norway and Russia, in that order, and Kvenland and the Kvens - together with the Sveas and Geats - provided the framework for the birth of the country of Sweden.

In the medieval Orkneyinga saga and the account of 'Hversu Noregr byggðist', Fornjót is described as the King who reigned over Finland, Kvenland and Gotland.

The royal family lineages sprung from King Fornjót's descendants Nór and Gór leading to the royal families ruling Sweden and many other countries are discussed in several medieval accounts, including - but not limited to - the following:

The Beowulf (8th-10th c.), Íslendingabók (8th-10th c.), Poetic Edda (c. 800-1000), the Ynglingatal (late 9th c.), Historia Norvegiæ (late 12th c.), Skáldskaparmál (c. 1220), Hyndluljóð (13th c.), Gesta Danorum (started c. 1185, finished c.1216), Ynglinga saga (c. 1225), Orkneyinga Saga (1230), Hversu Noregr byggðist (1387), Ættartolur (1387).

A part of Kvenland becomes Sweden

In 97 (c.), the Roman P.C. Tacitus discusses the Kvens ("Sitones") and Sami ("Fenni") in 'Agricola' and in 'Germania':

"Upon the Suiones, border the people Sitones; and, agreeing with them in all other things, differ from them in one, that here the sovereignty is exercised by a woman. So notoriously do they degenerate not only from a state of liberty, but even below a state of bondage."

In 150 (c.), in 'Geographia', Ptolemy mentions twice the Phinnoi ("Finns") of Scandinavia.

In 600 (c.), Widsith, the originally 6th or 7th century Old English poem - copied in the 10th century Exeter Book - claims King Caelic (Kaleva) to be the ruler of Finland:

"Caesar ruled the Greeks, Caelic the Finns ... I was with the Greeks and Finns and also with Caesar ..."

In 750 (c.), the Norna-Gests þáttr saga mentions that the king of Denmark and Sweden, Sigurd Ring, fought against the invading Curonians and Kvens in the southern part of modern Sweden:

"Sigurd Ring (Sigurðr) was not there, since he had to defend his land, Sweden (Svíþjóð), since Curonians (Kúrir) and Kvens (Kvænir) were raiding there."

In 760, Kvens and Norse cooperate in defense against the invading Karelians, according to Egil's saga (c. 1240).

In 790 (c.), Paul the Deacon decribes how the Lombards descended from the Winnili, believed to be the Kvens of Finnweden. They ruled a kingdom in Italy from 567 to 774. The Skridfinnar (Sami) are also discussed.

"Europe at the death of Charles the Great 814" - from The Public Schools Historical Atlas edited by C. Colbeck, published by Longmans, Green, and Co. in 1905. This ia a portion of a larger map of Europe (click picture for full size map). At this time - at the birth of Rurik, the founder of Russia -, the Roslagen seashore formed the border of Kvenland ("Quenland") in north and what was forming to become Sweden during the following centuries in south.
Roslagen is located on the coast of the province of Uppland, north from Stockholm, in the northeasternmost edge of the land inhabited by the "Swedes" and the "Goths" in the 9th century (pink area).

In 862 (c.), Prince Rurik founds Russia, according to the Primary Chronicle (c. 1113). Based on medieval sources, Rurik was born in Roslagen, Uppland, a part of the prehistoric Kvenland. Recent DNA studies confirm Rurik to have been Finnic.

In 873, the Kvens and Norse cooperate in fencing off the invading Karelians, according to the Egil's saga (written in c. 1240). The chapter XVII of Egil's saga describes how Thorolf Kveldulfsson (King of Norway's tax chief starting 872) from Namdalen, located in the southernmost tip of the medieval Hålogaland, goes to Kvenland again:

"That same winter Thorolf went up on the fell with a hundred men; he passed on at once eastwards to Kvenland and met King Faravid."

Based on medieval documents, the above meeting took place during the winter of 873-874.

In 888 (c.), the oldest known written use of the term 'Kven', with nearly that spelling, is made in the 'Account of the Viking Othere', a report of the geopolitical landscape of the North, based on the Norse Viking adventurer Ottar's voyage on the oceanic coast of Northern Scandinavia and today's extreme Northwestern Russia.

In this account, the Kvens are referred to as "Cwenas" who live in "Cwena land". This was the first genuine and comprehensive account of the North. Thus, it is a principle source in studies relating to the Nordic history.

In 890, Ottar reports the findings to King Alfred of Wessex, who has Ottar's account included to the omissions and additions added to the Universal History of Orosius, republished by King Alfred. The book is partially a work of Orosius and partially of King Alfred.

The Kven Sea is mentioned as the northern border for ancient Germany. The location of Kvenland is also explained in the following ways:

Ottar (Ohthere) said that the Norwegians' (Norðmanna) land was very long and very narrow ... and to the east are wild mountains, parallel to the cultivated land. Sami people (Finnas) inhabit these mountains ... Then along this land southwards, on the other side of the mountain (sic), is Sweden ... and along that land northwards, Kvenland (Cwenaland).
The Cwenas (Kvens) sometimes make depredations on the Northmen over the mountain, and sometimes the Northmen on them; there are very large freshwater meres amongst the mountains, and the Kvens carry their ships over land into the meres, and thence make depredations on the Northmen; they have very little ships, and very light.

(Notably, there is a reference in the Orkneyinga saga to the Southern Norwegian lake district, including the Lake Mjøsa area, the inhabitants of which were attacked by men from Kvenland.)

... the Swedes (Sweons) have to the south of them the arm of the sea called East (Osti), and to the east of them Sarmatia (Sermende), and to the north, over the wastes, is Kvenland (Cwenland), to the northwest are the Sami people (Scridefinnas), and the Norwegians (Norðmenn) are to the west.

In 1007 (c), King Olaf II of Norway (Olaf II Haraldsson, Saint Olaf) plundered in Finland and almost got himself killed at the Battle at Herdaler, according to the Saga of Olaf Haraldson, a saga within the Heimskringla saga.

In 1075, the German chronicler Adam of Bremen discusses Kvens in 'Gesta'. He calls Kvenland "Terra Feminarum" ("Women's Territory"), paralleling the remarks made by P.C. Tacitus in 97.

In 1154, the Arab historian and scientist Muhammad al-Idrisi tells that the King of FMRK has possessions in Norway.

"Fmrk" refers to Finnmark (Finn "land"), the northernmost territory of Scandinavia, which during the Viking Age was a part of Kvenland. In the Northern Norwegian modern-day county of Troms alone there are at least 12 prehistoric Kven place names (Julku, Kvenland - Kainuunmaa, 1986).

The northernmost province of Norway is still today called 'Finnmark'. However, most of the medieval area of Finnmark has become parts of Sweden, Finland and Russia.

In 1157 (c.), in his geographical chronicle 'Leiðarvísir og borgarskipan', the Icelandic Níkulás Bergsson provides descriptions of the lands near Norway:

Closest to Denmark is little Sweden (Svíþjóð), there is Öland (Eyland); then is Gotland; then Hälsingland (Helsingaland); then Värmland (Vermaland); then two Kvenlands (Kvenlönd), and they extend to north of Bjarmia (Bjarmalandi).

In 1170, Historia Norvegiae discusses Kvenland and the Kvens who serve pagan gods.

In 1187, Sigtuna - in the modern area of Sweden - is attacked by raiders from east, according to Eric's Chronicle in c. 1335.

Professor Kustaa Vilkuna suggests the raid to have been a revenge for the Sigtuna merchants having intruded Kven fisheries at the River Kemijoki and hunting grounds of the Karelians.

The medieval naming of a settlement by the River Kemijoki as "Sihtuuna" may derive from this.

In 1216, Danish Saxo Grammaticus writes in 'Gesta Danorum' about Finnish kings and Scandinavian royal families, which - based on medieval sources - descend from them.

Grammaticus' writings share a likeness and many characters and stories with those of Snorri Sturluson. Based on Grammaticus, many heroic Scandinavian figures have Finnic roots. Of the legendary Battle of Bråvalla (c. 750) - Swedes against the Geats - he writes:

''Now the bravest of the Swedes were these: Arwakki, Keklu-Karl ..."

In 1220, in the Ynglinga Saga, the Icelandic Snorri Sturluson discusses marriages between and wars of the Finnish and Swedish royal families. Fornjót's great-grandson Old Snow is mentioned in relation to Finland.

The saga tells about the Ynglings, the oldest known Nordic dynasty and a semi-legendary royal clan during the Age of Migrations, 300–700. The clan's kings, including e.g. Ongenpeow (d. c. 515) and his sons Onela and Ohthere, descended from Kven kings.

The spelling "Ongenpeow" refers to the Finnish 'Ongenpoika' ("fisher boy") or 'Onnenpoika' ("lucky boy").

"Onela" (Onnela) in Finnish means "happy place". The double consonants of Finnish names (Onnela) are regularly substituted by a single consonant in Germanic texts ("Onela"), up to date.

"Ohthere" derives from the Proto-Norse 'Ōhtaharjaz', which derives from the Finnish 'Ohtaharjas'. "Ohta" means "forehead" in the Ostrobothnian dialect of Finnish, and "harjas" means "bristle", "prickle" and "brush". Ostrobothnia is widely considered to have been the epicenter of the primeval Kvenland.

The word 'ohta' is also found e.g. in a name of a peninsula in Troms, Northern Norway, a Kven territory since ancient times.

These Kven kings led the Sveas in battles against the Geats in the modern area of Southern Sweden, at the time when over 2/3 of today's area of Sweden was still Kvenland.

'Ynglings' also refers to the Fairhair dynasty, descending from the Kven kings of Oppland, Norway, who had sprung from Nór's great-grandson Halfdan the Old. According to the Orkneyinga Saga, Nór founded Norway. He was a direct descendant of Fornjót, the King of Finland, Kvenland and Gotland.

In 1220 (c.), in the Skáldskaparmál section of Edda, Snorri Sturluson discusses King Halfdan the Old, Nór's great-grandson and his nine sons who are the forefathers of various royal lineages, including ...

"... Yngvi, from whom the Ynglings are descended".

In Skáldskaparmál, Snorri Sturluson also points in another way to the Finnish/Kven origin of the royal Yngling dynasty:

"One war-king was named Skelfir; and his house is called the House of Skilfings: his kindred is in Eastern Land."

At the time, the Swedish name for the modern area of Southern Finland was "Eastern Land" - Österland -, referring to the eastern part of Sweden.

From 1353 up to 1809, "Sweden proper" included a gradually increasing part of the present-day Finland as a fully integrated part of the realm. After 1809 the use of the term Österland has been to distinguish the western part from the former eastern half of the realm, or Sweden from Finland.

In 1230, the introduction to the Orkneyinga Saga - a.k.a. Fundinn Noregr ('Foundation of Norway') - provides information about Fornjót, ruler of Finland, Kvenland and Gotland, and the conquest of Norway by his descendant, Nór. The saga also provides details on the royal descendants of Gór, Nór's brother.

Based on the information given, the ruling families of Sweden, Norway, the Orkney Islands, Normandy and England descend from these Finnish kings.

The Southern Norwegian lake district - including Lake Mjøsa (100 km north from Oslo) - is said to have been attacked by the Kvens.

In 1240 (c.), the Egil's saga tells about cooperation between the Kvens and Norse in fencing off the invading Karelians. In chapter XVII, Thorolf Kveldulfsson (King of Norway's tax chief from 872 on) from Namdalen, located in the southernmost tip of the historical Hålogaland, goes to Kvenland again:

"That same winter Thorolf went up on the fell with a hundred men; he passed on at once eastwards to Kvenland and met King Faravid."

Based on medieval documents, that meeting took place during the winter of 873-874.

In 1251, the Karelians fight against the Norwegians.

In 1271, Icelandic annals report the following to have happened in Norway:

"Then Karelians and Kvens pillaged widely in Hålogaland."

In 1335, the Eric's Chronicle reports raiders from east to have attacked Sigtuna in 1187.

In 1387, Hversu Noregr byggðist traces the royal descendants of the primeval Finnish ruler Fornjót.

In 1539, the map of Scandinavia by Olaus Magnus shows a Kven settlement south from the modern city of Tromsø in Northern Norway, named "Berkara Qvenar".

In mid 1500s, the first known Norwegian tax records mention Kvens. These records are stored at the Norwegian national archives (Riksarkivet).

In 1595, in the Teusina Treaty of Peace between Sweden and Russia, Kvenland ("Kaianske landet") for the first time was referred to in an official government document as a territory governed by Sweden, although in reality that claim can be seen as not entirely merited.

In 1607, once King Karl IX of Sweden had strengthened his hold on the crown of Sweden, he appended to it the title 'King of the Caijaners', referring to the inhabitants of Kainuu/Kvenland, apparently using the title the first time on March 16, 1607.

However, Kainuu (Kvenland) "occupied a separate position from the rest of Finland for a long time to come" (Julku, 1986), and a large part of Kvenland never became a part of Sweden.

In 1702, the most important Swedish scientist of the 17th century Olaus Rudbeckius publishes Atlantica. The territories of Västerbotten north from Piteå and Österbotten in Northern Scandinavia and Fennoscandia are referred to as Kvenland. In the 3000-page treatise Rudbeckius purports to prove that the ancient Sweden was Atlantis, the cradle of civilization.

Ynglings - Scandinavia's oldest clan

Hversu Noregr byggðist ("How Norway was inhabited") is an account of the origin of various legendary Norwegian lineages. It traces the descendants of the primeval Finnish ruler Fornjót down to Nór, who is here the eponym and first great king of Norway, and then gives details of the descendants of Nór and of his brother Gór in the following section known as the Ættartölur ('Genealogies', a.k.a. Fundinn Noregr, 'Founding of Norway').

The Hversu account is closely paralleled by the opening of the Orkneyinga saga - both found in the Flatey Book. The Orkneyinga saga provides details on the descendants of Gór only, including information not found in the Hversu or Ættartölur.

In Ynglinga Saga, Snorri Sturluson discusses marriages between Swedish and Finnish royal families and in the Skáldskaparmál section of Edda Nór's great-grandson Halfdan the Old and nine of his sons, who are the forefathers of various royal lineages, including Yngvi:

"Yngvi, from whom the Ynglings are descended".

In Skáldskaparmál, Snorri Sturluson provides the origin for the Yngling dynasty:

"One war-king was named Skelfir; and his house is called the House of Skilfings: his kindred is in the Eastern Land." ("Österland" meant Finland).

The Genealogies also claims many heroic families famed in Scandinavian tradition but not located in Norway to be of the Yngling stock, mostly sprung from Nór's great-grandson Halfdan the Old. Almost all lineages sprung from Halfdan are shown to reconvert in Harald Fairhair, the first king of "all Norway".

Where the information here is comparable in other sources, it can be confirmed.

The 'Ættartölur' account ends with a genealogy of Harald's royal descendants down to Olaf IV of Norway - with a statement that the account was written in 1387 - and a list of the kings of Norway from this Olaf back to Harald Fair-hair and a mention of the accession of Margaret, Olaf's mother, as the direct ruler of Norway.

"Upon the Suiones, border the people Sitones; and, agreeing with them in all other things, differ from them in one, that here the sovereignty is exercised by a woman. So notoriously do they degenerate not only from a state of liberty, but even below a state of bondage."

~ P.C. Tacitus, 97