Onela
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Template:KrakiOnela, Proto-Norse *Anula, was according to Beowulf a Swedish king during the first half the 6th century. He was the son of Ongentheow and the brother of Ohthere. He usurped the Swedish throne but was killed by his nephew Eadgils, who won by hiring foreign assistance.
In Scandinavian mythology exists a king by the same name, Áli (the Old Norse form of Onela, also rendered as Ole, Ĺle or Ale), who had the cognomen hinn Upplenzki ("from Uppland"). He was also defeated by a Swedish king , Adils, who corresponds to Eadgils, and who won by hiring foreign assistance (see also Origins for Beowulf and Hrólf Kraki).
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Beowulf
The oldest source for Onela is the Old English poem Beowulf which relates that Onela usurped the Swedish throne. Ohthere's sons Eadgils and Eanmund fled to king Heardred of Geatland, the son of Hygelac who had killed their grandfather Ongentheow. Onela then had both a father to avenge and two pretenders to neutralize, in Geatland. Onela attacked the Geats and killed Heardred, while Onela's warrior Weohstan killed Eanmund. Beowulf became king of the Geats and helped Eadgils defeat and kill Onela.
By a conjectural emendation of line 62 of this poem some editors represent Onela as the son-in-law of Healfene/Halfdan king of Denmark. See Halfdan for details.
Norse sagas
In the Norse sagas, which were mostly based on Norwegian versions of Scandinavian legends, Onela seems to appear as Áli of Uppland, but is called Norwegian. This is generally regarded as a late confusion between the Swedish Uppland, the core province of the Swedes, and its namesake, the Norwegian Oppland). The part about Onela concerns the Battle on the Ice.
In the Ynglinga saga, Snorri relates that king Adils (who corresponds to Eadgils) fought hard battles with the Norwegian king who was called Áli hin upplenzki. They fought on the ice of Lake Vänern, where Áli fell and Adils won. Snorri relates that much is told about this event in the saga of the Sköldungs, and that Adils took Hrafn (Raven), Áli's horse.
In Ynglingatal, Áli only appears in passing, when Adils is called Ála dolgr ("Onela's enemy").
In Snorri's Edda, Áli is mentioned in two places. One of them is the Kalfsvisa of which Snorri quotes small parts. Kalfsvisa says that Áli rode Hrafn, as they rode to the ice, but a second one, a grey one, hastened, wounded by spears, eastwards under Adils. The second part relates very much the same as the Ynglinga saga: They decided to fight on the ice of the water which is called Vänern... In this fight king Áli died and a great many of his people. Then king Adils took from him his helmet Hildisvín and his horse Hrafn.
The saga of the Sköldungs is lost but in the end of the 16th century, Arngrímur Jónsson saved a piece of information from this saga in Latin. He wrote: There was animosity between king Adils of Sweden and the Norwegian king Áli of Uppland. They decided to fight on the ice of Lake Vänern. Adils won and took his helmet, chainmail and horse.
| Preceded by: Ohthere | Semi-legendary king of Sweden | Succeeded by: Eadgils Primary sourcesSecondary sourcesNerman, B. Det svenska rikets uppkomst. Stockholm, 1925. |