Faravid
King Faravid of Kvenland sought military aid from Thorolf against Karelian raiders who were harrying his land.
King Faravid of Kvenland sought military aid from Thorolf against Karelian raiders who were harrying his land. Kvens sent by Faravid came to Thorolf with the request, and a joint force of three hundred Kvens and one hundred Norsemen marched together to fight the Kiriales on the fell (Egil's Saga, Chapter 14. Thorolf Again in Finmark). The campaign was successful: Faravid and Thorolf took immense spoil from the Kiriales and parted in friendship (Egil's Saga, Chapter 14).
Egil's Saga provides six attestations for Faravid, all within a single chapter, painting a coherent picture of a foreign king who enters the saga world through a specific military alliance. The account is notable for its detail on the economic terms of the arrangement: Thorolf was offered booty equal to the king's share, with each Norseman receiving twice a Kven's share (Egil's Saga, Chapter 14). The saga also preserves Kven legal custom, noting that under Kven law the king received one-third of all booty plus all bearskins and sables (Egil's Saga, Chapter 14).
The narrative treats Faravid as a legitimate sovereign whose realm lies beyond the Norse sphere but is reachable through the Finmark trade routes. His appeal to Thorolf reflects the practical alliances of the northern frontier, where Norse, Kven, and Karelian interests overlapped. The specificity of the booty-sharing terms suggests either a well-established convention or a negotiation the saga author considered worth preserving.
Appears in: Beings, Entities in Egil's Saga, Norse Tradition