1. Skiöldr, ancestor of Skiöldungar, corresponds to Scyld the ancestor
of Scyldungas.
2. The Danish King Halfdan corresponds to Healfdene.
3. His sons Hroarr and Helgi correspond to Hrothgar and Halga.
4. Hrölf Kraki corresponds to Hrothwulf, nephew of Hrothgar.
5. Frothi corresponds to Froda, and his son Ingialdi to Ingeld.
6. Otarr corresponds to Ohthere, and his son Athils to Eadgils.
With the exception of the Ynglinga tál all these records are quite
late, hence they do not afford any evidence for the dates of events
mentioned in Beowulf.
Further Scandinavian correspondences are seen in Böthvarr Biarki,
the chief of Hrölf Kraki's knights. He is supposed to correspond to
Beowulf. He came to Leire, the Danish royal residence, and killed a
demon in animal form. Saxo says it was a bear. This demon attacked
the King's yard at Yule-tide, but Biarki and Beowulf differ as to
their future, for Biarki stayed with Hrölf Kraki to the end and died
with him.
In the Grettis Saga the hero kills two demons, male and female. It is
true that the scene is laid in Iceland, but minor details of scenery,
the character of the demons, and other similarities make it impossible
to believe the two stories to be different in origin. They both
sprang out of a folk-tale associated after ten centuries with Grettis,
and in England and Denmark with an historical prince of the Geats.
FRENCH RECORDS
1. Historia Francorum and Gesta Regum Francorum (discovered by Outzen
and Leo).
In A.D. 520 a raid was made on the territory of the Chatuarii. Their
king Theodberht, son of Theodric I, defeated Chocilaicus, who was
killed. This Chocilaicus is identified with the Hygelac of our poem,
and the raid with Hygelac's raid on the Hetware (= Chatuarii), the
Franks, and the Frisians. This helps us to estimate the date for
Beowulf as having been born somewhere about the end of the fifth
century.
2. Historia Francorum, by Gregory of Tours. The author speaks of the
raider as the King of the Danes.
3. Liber Monstrorum. In this work the raider is Rex Getarum, King of
the Geats, who may correspond with the Geats of our poem. The Geats
were the people of Gautland in Southern Sweden. See Appendix XI.
ORIGIN OF THE ANGLO-SAXON POEM
It was probably written in Northumbrian or Midland, but was preserved
in a West Saxon translation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account