Hroðgar

Hrothgar ( ang, Hrōðgār ; on, Hróarr) 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 and Scandinavian tradition, Hrothgar is a Scylding, the son of Halfdan, the brother of Halga, and the uncle of Hrólfr Kraki. Moreover, in both traditions, the mentioned characters were the contemporaries of the Swedish king Eadgils; and both traditions also mention a feud with men named Fróði and Ingeld. The consensus view is that Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian traditions describe the same person.

Names

Hrothgar, also rendered ''Hrōðgār'', is an Old English form attested in ''Beowulf'' and ''Widsith'', the earliest sources to mention the character. In non-English sources, the name appears in more or less corresponding Old Icelandic, Old Danish, and Latinized versions. He appears as ''Hróarr'', ''Hroar'', etc., in sagas and poetry, and as ''Ro'' or ''Roe'' in the Danish Latin chronicles. The form ''Hrōðgār'' is thought to have derived from the proto-Norse *''Hrōþigaizaz''Lexikon över urnnordiska personnamn
PDF "famous spear", i.e. ''Roger''. The corresponding Old Norse name ''Hróarr'' and its variations are derived from *''Hrōþigaizaz'', and from the very close names *''Hrōþiwarjaz'' "famous defender" or *''Hrōþiharjaz'' "famous warrior".

Anglo-Saxon poems

Hrothgar appears in two Anglo-Saxon poems, ''Beowulf'' and ''Widsith''. ''Beowulf'' gives the fuller account of Hrothgar and how the Geatish hero Beowulf visited him to free his people from the trollish creature Grendel. ''Widsith'' only mentions Hrothgar, Heorot, his nephew Hroðulf and their enemy Ingeld, but can complete ''Beowulf'' in some cases where ''Beowulf'' does not give enough information. This is notably the case concerning the ending of his feud with Ingeld.

''Beowulf''

In the epic poem ''Beowulf'', Hrothgar is mentioned as the builder of the great hall Heorot, and ruler of Denmark, when the Geatish hero Beowulf arrives to defeat the monster Grendel.

When Hrothgar is first introduced in ''Beowulf'', it is explained that he was the second of four children of King Healfdene: he had an older brother, Heorogar, who was king before him; a younger brother Halga; and a sister, who was married to the king of Sweden. The sister is not named in the manuscript and most scholars agree this is a scribal error, but suggested names are Signy and Yrsa. Friderich Kluge (1896) accordingly suggested that the line be restored as ''hyrde ic þ igeneow wæs Sæwlan cwen'', rendering the Norse names in Old English forms. However, the only certain Swedish (Scylfing) royal name ending in -ela that has come down to us is Onela, and according to the rules of alliteration, this means that the queen's name must have begun with a vowel. Sophus Bugge consequently identified her with the Swedish queen Yrsa. He thus suggested the line should be emended to read ''hyrde ic þ �t Ȳrse wæs Onlan cwen''. Most 20th-century translators followed this suggestion. However, in Norse tradition, Yrsa was the daughter and lover/rape victim of Hrothgar's younger brother Halga, and the mother of Halga's son Hroðulf, and most modern translators simply leave the line as it is.

The poem further tells that Hrothgar was "slain in war" and so his kinsmen eagerly followed him. He is both honest and generous: "He broke no oaths, dealt out rings, treasures at his table". When Beowulf leads his men to Denmark, he speaks of Hrothgar to both a coast-guard and to Hrothgar's herald: he calls Hrothgar a "famed king", "famed warrior", and "protector of the Scyldings" (the ruling clan), and describes him as "old and good." The poet emphasizes that the Danes "did not find fault" with Hrothgar, "for that was a good King". When Beowulf defeats Grendel, Hrothgar rewards Beowulf and his men with great treasures, showing his gratitude and open-handedness. The poet says that Hrothgar is so generous that "no man could fault him, who wished to speak the truth."

Hrothgar was married to a woman named Wealhþeow, who was a Helming, probably defining her as a relative of Helm, the ruler of the Wulfings. When Hrothgar welcomes Beowulf, he recalls his friendship with Beowulf's family. He met Beowulf's father Ecgþeow "when I first ruled the Danes" after the death of Heorogar; he laments Heorogar's fall ("He was better than I!") and recalls how he settled Ecgþeow's blood feud with the Wulfings. Hrothgar thanks God for Beowulf's arrival and victory over Grendel, and swears to love Beowulf like a son.

The poem introduces Hroðulf (Hrólfr Kraki in Scandinavian sources) as Hrothgar's supporter and right-hand man; and we learn that Hroðulf is Hrothgar's nephew and that "each was true to the other". The common piece of information that Hrothgar's younger brother Halga is Hroðulf's father comes from Scandinavian sources (see below), where Halga was unaware that Yrsa was his own daughter and either raped or seduced her. Yrsa herself was tragically also the result of Halga raping a woman.

Wealhþeow has borne Hrothgar two sons, Hreðric and Hroðmund, and Hroðulf is to be regent if Hrothgar dies before his sons are grown. (Since Hrothgar is an old man at this time—he tells Beowulf he has been king for "fifty winters"—and Wealhþeow's two sons are not yet grown, it seems likely that Wealhþeow is much younger than Hrothgar, and may not be his first wife.)

Hrothgar is plunged into gloom and near-despair after Grendel's mother attacks the hall and kills Hrothgar's best friend and closest advisor; but when Beowulf advises him not to despair, and that "it is better to avenge our friends than to mourn overmuch", Hrothgar leaps to his feet and thanks God for Beowulf's wise words, and leads the Danes and Geats out to attack the small lake ( mere) where Grendel's mother lives.

After Beowulf defeats Grendel's mother, Hrothgar rewards him again, and then preaches a sermon in which he warns Beowulf to beware of arrogance and forgetfulness of God.

Beowulf takes his leave of Hrothgar to return home, and Hrothgar embraces him and weeps that they will not meet again (because Hroðgar is a very old man). This is Hrothgar's last appearance in the poem. When Beowulf reports on his adventure to his lord Hygelac, he mentions that Hrothgar also had a daughter, Freawaru; it is not clear whether Freawaru was also the daughter of Wealhþeow or was born of an earlier marriage. Since the Danes were in conflict with the Heaðobards, whose king Froda had been killed in a war with the Danes, Hrothgar sent Freawaru to marry Froda's son Ingeld, in an unsuccessful attempt to end the feud.

Beowulf predicts to Hygelac that Ingeld will turn against his father-in-law Hrothgar. Earlier in the poem, the poet tells us that the hall Heorot was eventually destroyed by fire:

It is tempting to interpret the new war with Ingeld as leading to the burning of the hall of Heorot, but the poem separates the two events (by a ''ne wæs hit lenge þā'' meaning "nor far way was that day when", in Gummere's translation). According to ''Widsith'' (see below), Hrothgar and Hroðulf defeat Ingeld, and if Scandinavian tradition (see the more detailed discussion below) is to be trusted Hrothgar himself is killed by a relative, or by the king of Sweden, but he is avenged by his younger brother Halga. Halga dies in a Viking expedition; Hroðulf succeeds him and rises in fame, and according to Hroðulf's own saga and other sources, Hroðulf's cousin and/or brother-in-law Heoroweard slays Hroðulf (is this the event referred to as the burning of Heorot?). Heoroweard himself dies in that battle, and according to two sources, this happens only a few hours later, as an act of vengeance by a man loyal to Hroðulf, called Wigg. This is the kin-slaying end of the Scylding dynasty.

''Widsith''

Whereas ''Beowulf'' never dwells on the outcome of the battle with Ingeld, the possibly older poem ''Widsith'' refers to Hrothgar and Hroðulf defeating Ingeld at Heorot:

This piece suggests that the conflict between the Scyldings Hrothgar and Hroðulf on one side, and the Heaðobards Froda and Ingeld on the other, was well known in Anglo-Saxon England. This conflict also appears in Scandinavian sources, but in the Norse tradition the Heaðobards had apparently been forgotten and the conflict is instead rendered as a family feud (see ''Gesta Danorum'', '' Hrólf Kraki's saga'' and '' Skjöldunga saga'', below, for more information). The Norse sources also deal with the defeat of Ingeld and/or Froda.

Scandinavian sources

In the Scandinavian sources, consisting of Norse sagas, Icelandic poems and Danish chronicles, Hrothgar also appears as a Danish king of the Scylding dynasty. He remains the son of Healfdene and the elder brother of Halga. Moreover, he is still the uncle of Hroðulf. The Scandinavian sources also agree with ''Beowulf'' by making Hrothgar contemporary with the Swedish king Eadgils. These agreements with ''Beowulf'' are remarkable considering that these sources were composed from oral tradition 700 to 800 years after the events described, and 300 to 400 years later than ''Beowulf'' and ''Widsith''.

There are also notable differences. The Heaðobards Ingeld and Froda also appear in Scandinavian tradition, but their tribe, the Heaðobards, had long been forgotten, and instead the tribal feud was rendered as a family feud. Their relationship as father and son had also been reversed in some sources, and so either Ingeld or Froda is given as the brother of Healfdene. Ingeld or Froda murdered Healfdene, but was himself killed in revenge by Hrothgar and Halga. Moreover, in Scandinavian tradition, Hrothgar is a minor character in comparison to his nephew Hroðulf. Such differences indicate that ''Beowulf'' and Scandinavian sources represent separate traditions.

The names of Hrothgar and others appear in the form they had in Old Icelandic or Latinized Old Danish at the time the stories were put to paper, and not in their Old English or more "authentic" Proto-Norse forms.

It has been a matter of some debate whether the hero Beowulf could have the same origin as Hroðulf's berserker Bödvar Bjarki, who appears in Scandinavian sources.''The Relation of the Hrolfs Saga Kraka and the Bjarkarimur to Beowulf'' by Olson, 1916, at Project Gutenberg
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Among these sources, it is the most famous one, the '' Hrólfr Kraki's saga'', which is most different from ''Beowulf'', and a notable difference is that Hrothgar leaves the rule of Denmark to his younger brother Halga and moves to Northumbria. The focus is consequently on the ''Hrólfr Kraki's saga'' when a scholar questions the comparison of Hrothgar and other characters from ''Beowulf'' with counterparts in Scandinavian tradition. Scandinavian sources have added some information that appear in ''Beowulf'' studies, without having any founding in the work itself, such as the information that Halga was, or probably was, Hroðulf's father. Another example is the existence of a woman named Yrsa, who, however, has been transposed to a role she never had in any source texts, that of Hrothgar's sister.

Norse sagas and poems

In Icelandic sources, Hrothgar, Halga and Hroðulf appear under the Old Icelandic forms of their names; that is, as ''Hróarr'', ''Helgi'' and ''Hrólfr'', the last one with the epithet ''Kraki''. In the case of the ''Skjöldunga saga'' ("Saga of the Scyldings") only a Latin summary has survived, and so their names are Latinized. The Icelandic sources can be divided into two groups: the ''Hrólfr Kraki's saga'' on the one hand, and the ''Skjöldunga saga'' and ''Bjarkarímur'' on the other. Both groups tell a version of Hrothgar and Halga's feud with Froda (Fróði) and Ingeld (Ingjaldr). However, whereas the ''Hrólfr Kraki's saga'' make Froda the brother of Healfdene, the ''Skjöldunga saga'' and ''Bjarkarímur'' make Ingeld the brother of Healfdene. ''Hrólfr Kraki's saga'' also disagrees with all the other works by moving Hrothgar from the throne of Denmark to Northumbria.

''Hrólfr Kraki's saga''

'' Hrólfr Kraki's saga'' relates that Halfdan has three children, Hróarr, Helgi, and the daughter Signý, who is married to Sævil Jarl. Halfdan has a brother named Fróði and both of them rule a kingdom, but Halfdan is good-natured and friendly, whereas Fróði is savage. Fróði attacks and kills Halfdan and makes himself the king of a united Denmark. He then sets out to neutralize his nephews Hróarr and Helgi. However, the two brothers survive on an island, protected by a man called Vivil; and after some adventure they avenge their father by killing Fróði.

Hróarr is presented as "meek and blithe", and he is completely removed from ruling the kingdom, leaving the rule to his brother Helgi. Instead he joins Norðri, the king of Northumberland, where he marries Ögn, the king's daughter. As recompense for Hróarr's share of the Danish kingdom, Helgi gives him a golden ring.

Sævil Jarl's son Hrókr (Hróarr and Helgi's nephew) becomes jealous that he has not inherited anything from his grandfather Halfdan; he goes to his uncle Helgi to claim his inheritance. Helgi refuses to give him a third of Denmark, and so instead he goes to Northumbria to claim the golden ring. He asks Hróarr if he at least could have a look at the ring, whereupon he takes the ring and throws it into the water. Hróarr naturally becomes angry, and cuts off Hrókr's feet and sends him back to his ships. Hrókr cannot live with this, and so he returns with a large army and slays Hróarr. Helgi avenges his brother by also cutting off Hrókr's arms. Hróarr's son Agnar retrieves the ring by diving in the water, which gives him great glory. Agnar is said to have become greater than his father, and much talked of in the old sagas.

Helgi attacks Sweden to retrieve Yrsa, his daughter and lover, but is killed by Aðils, the king of Sweden. He is succeeded by Hrólfr Kraki, his son by Yrsa.

Although it agrees with all the other Scandinavian sources in telling the story of Halga's incestuous relationship with his daughter Yrsa, it disagrees with all of them and with ''Beowulf'' by removing Hrothgar altogether as the king of Denmark. Instead, his place is taken by his brother Halga, and Hrothgar is sent to Northumberland, where he marries Ögn, the daughter of a positively fictive king Norðri who is named after Northumberland (''Norðimbraland''). Opinion is divided on whether there is any connection between Hrothgar's wife Wealhþeow in ''Beowulf'' and his wife Ögn in ''Hrólfr Kraki's saga''; it has been suggested that Ögn shows that Wealhþeow and her family (the Helmings) were Anglo-Saxon. Another difference is that Hrothgar's sons Hreðric and Hroðmund do not appear in the Scandinavian tradition, but correspond to Agnar, in ''Hrólfr Kraki's saga''.

''Skjöldunga saga'' and ''Bjarkarímur''

The '' Skjöldunga saga'' and '' Bjarkarímur'' tell a similar version to that of the ''Hrólfr Kraki's saga'', but with several striking differences. Ingeld (Ingjaldus) of ''Beowulf'' reappears, but it is Ingeld who is the father of Froda (Frodo), and unlike in ''Hrólf Kraki's saga'', Ingeld takes Froda's place as the half-brother of Healfdene (Haldan).

The sources relate that Haldan has a half-brother named Ingjaldus and a queen Sigrith with whom he has three children: the sons Roas and Helgo and the daughter Signy.

Ingjaldus is jealous of his half-brother Haldan and so he attacks and kills him, and then marries Sigrith. Ingjaldus and Sigrith then have two sons named Rærecus and Frodo. Their half-sister Signy stays with her mother until she is married to Sævil, the jarl of Zealand. Ingjaldus, who is worried that his nephews will want revenge, tries to find them and kill them, but Roas and Helgo survive by hiding on an island near Skåne. When they are old enough, they avenge their father by killing Ingjaldus.

The two brothers both become kings of Denmark, and Roas marries the daughter of the king of England. When Helgo's son Rolfo (whom Helgo begat with his own daughter Yrsa) is eight years old, Helgo dies and Rolfo succeeds him. Not much later, Roas is killed by his half-brothers Rærecus and Frodo, whereupon Rolfo becomes the sole king of Denmark.

This version agrees with all other versions of the legend of Hrothgar (Roas) and Halga (Helgo) by making them sons of Healfdene (Haldan) and by presenting Hrothgar as the uncle of Hroðulf (Rolfo). It agrees with ''Beowulf'' and ''Hrólfr Kraki's saga'' by mentioning that they had a sister, and by dealing with their feud with Froda (Frodo) and Ingeld (Ingjaldus), although there is a role reversal by making Ingeld the father of Froda instead of the other way round. It agrees with the other Scandinavian versions by treating Halga's incestuous relationship with his own daughter Yrsa. Moreover, it agrees with all other versions, except for ''Hrólfr Kraki's saga'', by presenting Hrothgar as a king of Denmark, although it agrees with ''Hrólfr Kraki's saga'' by marrying Hrothgar to an Anglo-Saxon woman. Another agreement with ''Hrólfr Kraki's saga'' is the information that their sister was married to a Sævil Jarl, and that they had to hide on an island fleeing their kin-slaying uncle, before they could kill him and avenge their father.

''Hversu Noregr byggdist''

The Old Norse genealogy work '' Hversu Noregr byggdist'' tells that Hróarr had a son named Valdar, the father of Harald the Old, the father of Halfdan the Valiant, the father of Ivar Vidfamne, who was the maternal grandfather of Harald Wartooth. Harald fell at the Battle of the Brávellir against his nephew Sigurd Hring, a king of Sweden and the father of Ragnar Lodbrok.

This account is not about presenting the life of Hrothgar, but in presenting how Harald Fairhair was descended from kings and heroes in Scandinavian legend. The only reason for assuming that Hróarr is the same as Hrothgar, the Scylding, is that only Hrothgar would be a personage of old so famous so as not to need any further identification than his name. However, the '' Skjöldunga saga'' tells that a Valdar disputed that Rörek, the cousin of Halga succeeded Hroðulf (Hrólfr Kraki) as the king of the Daner. After the war, Rörek took Zealand, while Valdar took Skåne. If based on the same tradition as ''Hversu Noregr byggdist'', Valdar had the right to claim the throne being the son of the former king Hrothgar.

Danish medieval chronicles

In the ''Chronicon Lethrense'', ''Annales Lundenses'' and ''Gesta Danorum'' (12th-century works of Danish history, written in Latin), King Hrothgar is mentioned by the Old Danish form of the name ''Ro'' or ''Roe''. His father Healfdene appears as ''Haldan'' or ''Haldanus'', while his brother Halga appears as ''Helghe'' or ''Helgo''. Hroðulf appears with an epithet as ''Roluo Krage'' or ''Rolf Krage''. Their Swedish enemy, King Eadgils, appears as ''Athislus'' or ''Athisl'' (the ''Chronicon Lethrense'' calls him ''Hakon''.)

The only Danish work that retains traditions of the feud with Ingeld and Froda is the ''Gesta Danorum''.

''Chronicon Lethrense'' and ''Annales Lundenses''

The ''Chronicon Lethrense'' and the included ''Annales Lundenses'' report that Ro and Helghe were the sons of Haldan, who died of old age. The two brothers shared the rule, Ro taking the land and Helghe the water. They also tell that Ro founded and gave his name to the market town of Roskilde and that he was buried in Lejre

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