army, since Sigurd Fanisbane made the Norse champion Starkad flee in panic. Historical origins It has been suggested that a report of a struggle for the Danish crown may have given rise to the legend of Sigurd Ring. Following the death of Hemming in 812, a civil war broke out between his brother or cousin Sigifridus and Anulo. This Anulo was the nephew or grandson (nepos) of an earlier king Harald. The rivals fought a battle for the succession in which both were killed. The names Sigfred and Sigurd were often conflated in medieval texts. As for Anulo, the name might originally represent Old Norse Ánleifr or Áli, though it was misunderstood by medieval Scandinavian chroniclers as Latin annulus which means ring. Saxo Grammaticus and some other medieval compilers of king lists clearly combine the names Sigfred/Sigurd and Anulo/Ring into one person, having received knowledge of 9th century historical events from the chronicle of Adam of Bremen (c. 1075). Their historical successor Ragnfred (r. 812-813) is mixed up by Saxo with the Viking leader Ragnar Lodbrok, who is identified as the son of Sigurd Ring. The Danish list of early Viking Age kings is therefore in part a High Medieval construction. One possibility is thus that the struggle of 812 is reflected in the legendary Battle of the Brávellir, fought by Sigurd Ring, nephew of Harald Wartooth. Other scholars have suggested that the original name of the ruler was Ring, that he was a historical king of the Swedes, and that he won a battle against a Danish or East Geatic host in the 8th century. Still others regard the battle as mythical or purely legendary. Modern Swedish historians are skeptical to the prospects of establishing a chronology from the information of the High Medieval saga literature, and generally decline to discuss the possible historicity of Sigurd Ring or the Brávellir battle. The name Ring occurs in the royal Swedish clan in the Viking Age, since the ecclesiastic chronicle of Adam of Bremen (c. 1075) says that a ruler in the first half of the 10th century bore that name. References Sources Primary sources Bósa saga ok Herrauds Chronicon Lethrense Gesta Danorum Gríms saga loðinkinna Heimskringla (Saga of Harald Fairhair) Hervarar saga Hversu Noregr byggdist Norna-Gests þáttr Orvar-Odd's saga Ragnar Lodbrok's saga Ragnarssona þáttr Skjöldunga saga Sögubrot Secondary sources Ellehøj, Svend (1965) Studier over den ældste norrøne historieskrivning. Hafniæ: Munksgaard.