The Relation of the Hrólfs Saga Kraka and the Bjarkarímur to Beowulf: A Contribution To The History Of Saga Development In England And The; Scandinavian CountriesOlson, Oscar Ludvig
History
The Relation of the Hrólfs Saga Kraka and the Bjarkarímur to Beowulf: A Contribution To The History Of Saga Development In England And The; Scandinavian Countries
It will be observed that the following changes have been made to produce
the family relationship as we find it in the _Skjọldungasaga_. Frothi is
removed as Halfdan's brother and becomes his father, a change suggested,
probably, by the tradition related in Saxo's second book that Frothi was
Halfdan's father, and facilitated by the fact that, in the _Hrólfssaga_,
the father of Halfdan and Frothi is not mentioned, and, as a result,
presents no impediment to the change. But to explain how Halfdan has
become Frothi's son, a new relationship has to be invented, so Frothi is
said to have the son Halfdan by the daughter of Jorund. According to the
_Hrólfssaga_, Halfdan is slain by his brother. This idea, in the
abstract, is retained. But, according to the new arrangement, Ingjald,
Frothi's son, has become Halfdan's brother, i.e., half-brother; hence,
Ingjald slays Halfdan. According to the _Hrólfssaga_, Halfdan's brother
and slayer marries his widow, Sigrith.[182] This idea is also retained.
In the _Hrólfssaga_, it is Frothi who slays his brother, Halfdan, and
marries his widow, Sigrith. But, according to the new arrangement,
Ingjald is Halfdan's brother and slayer; hence, it is now he who marries
Sigrith. According to the _Hrólfssaga_, Agnar is Hroar's son; but this,
apparently, is not according to current tradition. According to Saxo's
second book, he is Ingjald's son and is slain by Bjarki. This conception
of him occurs in the _Hrólfssaga_ also, but towards the close, where
Bjarki, in recounting his own achievements, mentions his having slain
Agnar. This Agnar is not Hroar's son, but the Agnar of the
_Skjọldungasaga_ and of Saxo's second book. The _Skjọldungasaga_,
therefore, properly retains him as Ingjald's son and omits him as
Hroar's son. Hrok and Hrörik are the same person. According to the
_Hrólfssaga_, he is the son of Sævil and Signy. Olrik has about a page
of comment on him,[183] in which he shows that he (Hrethric, Hrothgar's
son, in _Beowulf_) was originally regarded as Hroar's son, but, for
reasons that need not here be rehearsed, became a fluctuating character.
The _Skjọldungasaga_ has made him the son of Ingjald. In the
_Hrólfssaga_, Hroar is said to have married an English lady named Ögn.
The _Skjọldungasaga_ also says that Hroar married an English lady, but
omits her name. Finally, Ingjald is given another son, Frothi. He
corresponds to Frothi V in Saxo. In Saxo, however, Frothi is the slayer
of his brother and corresponds to the Frothi who appears in the
_Hrólfssaga_ as the slayer of Halfdan. As the Frothi who appears in the
_Hrólfssaga_ becomes, in the _Skjọldungasaga_, the father of Halfdan,
and Ingjald becomes Halfdan's slayer, Frothi, Ingjald's son, is, as a
consequence, assigned the rôle of joining his brother Hrörik in slaying
his half-brother Hroar. Thus the idea of Frothi (corresponding to Frothi
V in Saxo) as a fratricide is retained. But as Ingjald is succeeded on
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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