Freawaru, introduced in l. 2020 of the poem ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...

'', is the daughter of King

Hroðgar Hrothgar ( ; ) was a semi-legendary Danish king living around the early sixth century AD. Hrothgar appears in the Anglo-Saxon epics ''Beowulf'' and ''Widsith'', in Norse sagas and poems, and in medieval Danish chronicles. In both Anglo-Saxon an ...

and Queen

Wealhþeow Wealhtheow (also rendered Wealhþēow or Wealthow; ) is a queen of the Danes in the Old English poem ''Beowulf'', first introduced in line 612. Character overview Wealhtheow is of the Wulfing clan, Queen of the Danes. She is married to Hrothga ...

. Freawaru is a ''freoðuwebbe'' or

peace-weaver Peace-weavers () were Anglo-Saxon women who were married to a member of an enemy tribe for the purpose of establishing peace between feuding groups.Dorothy Carr Porter, , "The Social Centrality of Women in ''Beowulf'': A New Context," ''The Heroic ...

(an important concept in the poem) who is married to

Ingeld Ingeld or Ingjaldr (Old Norse: ) was a legendary warrior who appears in early English and Norse legends. Ingeld was so well known that, in 797, Alcuin wrote a letter to Bishop Higbald of Lindisfarne questioning the monks' interest in heroic legend ...

, King of the Heaðobards and son of Froda. This marriage was created as a means of ending a feud between the two kingdoms (due to the murder of Froda by the Danes). It was an unsuccessful attempt to end the feud. An old warrior urged the Heaðobards to revenge, and

predicts to

Hygelac Hygelac (; ; ; or ''Hugilaicus''; died 516 or 521) was a king of the Geats according to the poem ''Beowulf''. It is Hygelac's presence in the poem which has allowed scholars to tentatively date the setting of the poem as well as to infer tha ...

that Ingeld will turn against his father-in-law Hroðgar.lines 2067-2069. In a version given in the Danish chronicle ''

Gesta Danorum ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essentia ...

'' (see below), the old warrior appears as

Starkad ''Starkad'' ( or ; Latin: ''Starcaterus''; in the Late Middle Ages also ''Starkodder''; Danish language, modern Danish: ''Stærkodder'')The article ''Starkad'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin''. was either an eight-armed giant or the human grandson of ...

, and he succeeded in making Ingeld divorce his bride and in turning him against her family.The article ''Starkad'' in ''Nordisk familjebok'' (1909).
/ref>

Scandinavian sources

In ''

'' (book 6), Freawaru also appears, but unnamed. Froda and Ingeld are rendered as Danish kings, in conflict with the

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

s, and Freawaru is a Saxon princess. The Danish king Frotho (Froda) was killed through treachery by a Saxon named

Swerting Swerting (Proto-Norse *''Swartingaz' is briefly mentioned in ''Beowulf'', where he had a son or son-in-law, Hrethel, who was the maternal grandfather of the hero Beowulf. The Heaðobard tradition A Swerting of the same timeframe also appears in Sc ...

(Swertingus). Frotho's son Ingeld (''Ingellus'') lived a wanton life and married one of Swerting's daughters. This angered

so much that he enlisted at the Swedish king

Halfdan Halfdan (, , Medieval : "half Dane") was a late 5th and early 6th century legendary Danish king of the Scylding (Skjöldung) lineage, the son of king named Fróði in many accounts, noted mainly as the father to the two kings who succeeded hi ...

's (Haldanus) court instead. As Ingeld continued his sinful life and did not do his duty to avenge his father, Starkad appeared during a banquet that Ingeld had with the sons of Swerting, his father's slayer. Starkad strongly admonished Ingeld and humiliated his queen who tried to calm Starkad with kindness and her costly ribbon. Starkad succeeded in exciting Ingeld to kill Swerting's sons and to divorce his Saxon bride.

Notes

Sources and external links

Book 6 of ''Gesta Danorum'' at the Online Medieval & Classical library

English heroic legends Characters in Beowulf