Vanlade, Vanlande was a Swedish king at Uppsala of the House of Yngling. He was the son of Sveigder and he was a great warrior.

Once he stayed for the winter in Finland with Snær the Old, and was married to his daughter Drífa. When he left in spring, he left Drífa behind. Although he had promised her to come back in three years time, she had to wait ten years. Then she sent her and Vanlade's son Visbur to Sweden, and sent a message to the völva Huld. She asked the völva to either bring Vanlade back to Finland or kill him.

As the völva worked to bring Vanlade back, he was staying at Uppsala and he felt a great need to travel to Finland. His advisors and friends told him not to go and claimed that it was the witchraft of the Finns that made him want to go. Having resisted the wish to leave, he became drowsy and went to bed. A little later he screamed that he was hagridden and his men came to help him. However, when they grasped his head the Mara stepped on his legs and when they held his legs she trod on his head. This caused him to die. The Swedes burnt his body by the river Skytån (one of the tributaries of the river Fyrisån) and raised a stone over him.

And Vanlande, in a fatal hour,

Was dragg'd by Grimhild's daughter's power,

The witch-wife's, to the dwelling-place

Where men meet Odin face to face.

Trampled to death, to Skytå's shore

The corpse his faithful followers bore;

And there they burnt, with heavy hearts,

The good chief killed by witchcraft's arts.[1]

Geographical note: Skytån is no longer called so, but according to the encyclopedias Nationalencyklopedin and Nordisk familjebok it passed its name onto the village and the parish of Skuttunge . The area does not only contain raised stones, but also 45 grave fields (most from the Iron Age), including a dolmen.

Sources

• Ynglingatal
• Ynglinga saga (part of the Heimskringla)
• Historia Norwegiae