Surname, Widing - King Inge. Is Widing Now the Name Bestowed: from Wid the Wood; Plus Inge the King

King Inge of Sweden in 1000 AD

Is Inge the King,
that rewarded the Knave,
that killed the Bear,
that Attacked the King, 
and bestowed the name of Widing?

Roots of Widing
The Widinga Saga
King Inge

Curiosity about roots:  Searching for NG or ING in the name Widing, the name bestowed (according to family tall tale) upon the fellow who saved the king's life in an old hunt, so they say.  We found us a King.  Stop there.

King Inge:  He was King of Sweden 1079-1084 (co with another); and King of Gothenland 1084-1088; and King of Sweden 1088-1105. Story so far:

• Widings of this family twig harbor a tale about some poor knave who managed to save the King who was attacked by a bear during a hunt in the woods.  In gratitude, the King gave him the name "Widing".  Spellings change, particularly if this was an oral tradition to begin with, or runes, or other linguisic gymnastics and memory problems intervened over a thousand years. 
• We have considered the possibility that the name came from versions of Widukind, the Saxon King whose people, loosely federated tribes apparently, fought Charlemagne and his structured militants for 30 years before being conquered.  Even after that, there was not a consistent peace, and Widukind and allies ducked frequently into friendly Denmark; the boundaries of Norway, Sweden and Denmark and German areas fluctuated. Was he our King in the woods?

Here is the next possibility:

1.  Name elements of Wid and Ing again, but looking closer at each . Or, instead of Wid / Ing, try Wi (small exercise machine?) / and Ding (half a bell). DingDong.

a. Wid - Note that some 92 people in the United States enjoy the distinguished first name, Wid. See ://names.whitepages.com/first/Wid/  Where's Wid? There is a map at the site showing where the names live, state by state.  And then


WID -

a.  First, we found from earlier rune sites that it is so that the element "wid" is "wood" or "woods". That may or may not be so, but we start here with that interpretation.

- ING

b.  Then, a feasible idea for the Ing in the etymology of this surname is with the 11th Century King Inge, a/k/a Ingi/  Inge has surfaced after a number of wild goose chases on the internet, and appears to be a ruler or co-ruler with his brother, on the Swedish throne or thrones, in about 1080 AD.

Enter Wikipedia at ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inge_I_of_Sweden/  Dastardly dealings removing our King from the throne, and then Christian zeal and desire to get the throne back leading our King to burn up people in their houses, but Gotland and Ostergotland, and the Hervarar Saga Ok Heibreks may be helpful connections.  He founded the monastery at Vreta (where?).

He had a nephew, Inge the Younger.

2.  Sources to check further:

• Nordisk Familjebok at  ://runeberg.org/nfbl/0346.html at page 620; that has to be translated.
• Introduction to the Saga of Hervor and Heithrek at ://www.home.ix.netcom.com/~kyamazak/myth/norse/kershaw/Kershaw1s-hervor-and-heithrek.htm, written down 1325 AD and now in the Royal Library at Copenhagen,
• and the Saga itself -- there is the information Wikipedia uses, do a search for Ingi. See the King at pages 141-42. And in English. There is no reference to our poor fellow and the hunt, however. 
• The Northvegr Center at ://www.northvegr.org/
• Magnus Barefoot's Saga, at  ://omacl.org/Heimskringla/barefoot.html/  

3.  This fits the tale of the Bear.

That Magnus Barefoot's Saga specifically mentions Varmaland (now Varmland) in Sweden where there are lots of Widings now, aha, see section 13 of Magnus Barefoot's Saga.  The Swedish King Inge there, had quarreled with another King, the Norwegian King Magnus, about land rights.

• Enter the Wids from the Woods?  Ah, conjecture.  The Saga says, however, that there were also forest-dwellers and forest-settlements in the area, and those people's allegiances were not to the Norwegian Magnus until he rampaged about and plundered and burnt in a persuasive way. That is in the same section 13. King Inge returned and whupped Magnus' men, and the forest-men again were loyal to King Inge. Inge was not to be taken lightly. Magnus' Norwegians made up a ditty about the delay in Inge's getting going: apparently he could barely make it to get on the horse.
  
  

  "The fat-hipped king, with heavy sides,
       Finds he must mount before he rides." 

  . 

  There was a bloody battle, and Magnus claimed victory, then there was a meeting of three kings, from Norway, Sweden and Denmark; and a treaty about boundaries each would accept, and an exchange of guarantees including Inge's daughter to marry Magnus.  Inge is said to be large, stout and dignified, and Magnus gallant and brisk, and the third king, Danish King Eirik, the handsomest.  All were well-spoken. And so they parted. 

Conjecture rules.

Now: there is also a King Inga of Nidaros, and is that Norway?

See old history, The World's Story in Fourteen Volumes, with illustrations; Volume VIII,  about the unification of Norway, Sweden and Denmark, then their separations again, medieval and renaissance, see p 90 at ://books.google.com/books?id=TKhDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA90&lpg=PA90&dq=king+inga+sweden&source=bl&ots=jnufqnttRi&sig=76v-hp01frYwa4S-oI6UayE19Xk&hl=en&ei=huJMTInAHcmxngf98KHYCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CCwQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q&f=false