Domaldi- Norse FigureMortal"King of Sweden"
Also known as: Dómaldi and Dómaldr
Titles & Epithets
Description
After three years of famine struck his kingdom, the Swedes offered oxen, then human victims, but the harvests still failed. By the third autumn they turned on their own king. Domaldi's blood reddened Uppsala's altars, and the land bore fruit again.
Mythology & Lore
The Three Autumns
Domaldi inherited the throne at Uppsala from his father Vísburr, who had been burned alive by his own sons. As a king of the Yngling line, descended from Freyr, he answered for the land's fertility. The land stopped giving.
For three years the harvests failed. The first autumn, the Swedes gathered at the great temple and sacrificed oxen. The grain did not return. The second autumn, they offered human victims. Still nothing grew. By the third autumn, the chieftains looked at each other and then at the king.
The Blood at Uppsala
They fell on Domaldi and killed him. His blood reddened the altars of the temple. The famine broke. Snorri records it plainly in Ynglinga saga, drawing on ÞJóðólfr of Hvinir's Ynglingatal: the Swedes sacrificed their king, and the land bore fruit again. His son Domar succeeded him and ruled in peace.
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