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Halsten Stenkilsson (English exonym: Alstan;<ref name="Adam von Bremen 159">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Old Icelandic: Hallstein<ref name="Hervor">Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, Guðni Jónsson's og Bjarni Vilhjálmsson's edition at «Norrøne Tekster og Kvad». Template:Webarchive</ref>) was King of Sweden from c. 1067 to 1070. The son of King Stenkil and a Swedish princess, he became king some time after his father's death (1066), and he may have ruled together with his brother Inge the Elder.<ref name="Hervararsaga">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="NF"/><ref name="NE">Template:CitationTemplate:Dead link</ref> The date of his death is not known.<ref name="NF"/>
Brief kingshipEdit
Little is known of his time as king.<ref name="NF"/> In a scholia in the work of Adam of Bremen, he is reported to have been elected king after the violent death of two pretenders,<ref name="NF">The article Halsten in Nordisk familjebok (1909).</ref> but took over a highly volatile situation. While he was clearly a Christian like his father and brother, his influence may have been limited, since Adam relates that Christianity was so disturbed that the bishops appointed by the Archdiocese of Bremen did not even dare to travel to Sweden.<ref name="Adam von Bremen 159"/> He was deposed after a short while, in the late 1060s or early 1070s, and replaced by a princeling from Gardariki, Anund.<ref name="NF"/><ref name="NE"/>
Possible later reignEdit
That he later on ruled together with his brother Inge has some support from a papal letter from 1081, by Pope Gregory VII, which refers to two kings with the initials A and I, and where they are called kings of Västergötland<ref name="NF"/> (rege wisigothorum<ref>Kaliff, A. (2001) Gothic Connections, Contacts between eastern Scandinavia and the southern Baltic coast 1000BC-500AD. Occasional Papers in Archaeology 26. Uppsala. p. 16.</ref>). However, the king "A" could also be Håkan the Red.<ref>Inge in Nationalencyklopedin</ref> His co-rulership with his brother Inge is also mentioned in the Hervarar saga.<ref name="Hervararsaga"/> In the regnal list of the Westrogothic law, he is said to have been courteous and cheerful, and whenever a case was submitted to him, he judged fairly,<ref name="NF"/><ref name="NE"/> and this was why Sweden mourned his death.<ref name="NF"/> He was the father of the co-rulers Philip and Inge the Younger.<ref name="Hervararsaga"/><ref name="NF"/><ref name="NE"/>
The Hervarar saga, which is one of the few sources about the kings of this time, has the following to tell:
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Hallsteinn hét sonr Steinkels konungs, bróðir Inga konungs, er konungr var með Inga konungi, bróður sínum. Synir Hallsteins váru þeir Philippus ok Ingi, er konungdóm tóku í Svíþjóð eptir Inga konung gamla.<ref name="Hervor"/> |
King Steinkel had, besides Ingi, another son Hallstein who reigned along with his brother. Hallstein's sons were Philip and Ingi, and they succeeded to the Kingdom of Sweden after King Ingi the elder.<ref name="Hervararsaga"/> |
Notes and referencesEdit
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