The Myrgings were a clan and people of

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

origin who, together with their king

Eadgils Eadgils, ''Adils'', ''Aðils'', ''Adillus'', ''Aðísl at Uppsölum'', ''Athisl'', ''Athislus'' or ''Adhel'' was a semi-legendary king of Sweden, who is estimated to have lived during the 6th century. ''Beowulf'' and Old Norse sources present ...

, are only mentioned in the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

poem ''

Widsith "Widsith" ( ang, Wīdsīþ, "far-traveller", lit. "wide-journey"), also known as "The Traveller's Song", is an Old English poem of 143 lines. It survives only in the '' Exeter Book'', a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late-10th ...

''. They are mentioned as the people of the scop Widsith. They appear to have been the neighbours of the

Angles The Angles ( ang, Ængle, ; la, Angli) were one of the main Germanic peoples who settled in Great Britain in the post-Roman period. They founded several kingdoms of the Heptarchy in Anglo-Saxon England. Their name is the root of the name ...

and

Offa of Angel Offa (nickname for Wulf) is a semi-legendary king of the Angles in the genealogy of the kings of Mercia presented in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''. He is the son of Wermund and the father of Angeltheow. His name is also mentioned in the Old ...

, who was involved in a war against them. Perhaps they were a dynasty or clan competing for power with Offa over the rule of the

, though Offa slew two Myrging princes, probably the sons of Eadgils (not to be confused with the Swedish king

); this Eadgils was later killed by Ket and Wig, the sons of

Freawine Freawine, ''Frowin'' or ''Frowinus'' figures as a governor of Schleswig in ''Gesta Danorum'' and in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' as an ancestor of the kings of Wessex, but the latter source only tells that he was the son of Friðgar and the father ...

, a governor of

Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ...

who challenged Eadgils to combat while he was pillaging in the Angle lands. Freawine was killed in combat and the Myrgings may then have overrun Schleswig, as they are said to have settled or had holdings at Schleswig, though they were eventually defeated by Offa, who extended the boundary with them to Fifeldor. Although the Myrgings only appear in the

poem

and not in any other source, there is enough evidence to say that the Myrgings vanished leaving no other trace: if a rival clan, they were assimilated into the surrounding Angles; and if non-Angles conquered by Offa, who was said to have won a great Kingdom, very likely that of the conquered Myrgings, they seem to have been assimilated under his son

Angeltheow The Angles were a dominant Germanic tribe in the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, and gave their name to the English, England and to the region of East Anglia. Originally from Angeln, present-day Schleswig-Holstein, a legendary list of their k ...

, who abolished the title of King of the Myrgings. The Myrgings lived south of Angeln near the

Eider (river) The Eider (german: Die Eider; da, Ejderen; Latin: ''Egdor'' or ''Eidora'') is the longest river in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The river starts near Bordesholm and reaches the southwestern outskirts of Kiel on the shores of the B ...

and according to some sources near

which was the center of the

. They were descended from

Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

who probably had settled in that area a few centuries earlier and probably merged with another tribe to form the Myrgings. Kemp Malone, an American etymologist writing in 1944, suggested that the word "Myrging" means "Mire Dweller" or "Mire-District Dweller"; he also suggested that the name points to a miry or marshy habitat for the tribe and that the With-Myrgings were a sub-tribe of Myrgings who expanded across the Eider into Schleswig. Malone claimed that the With-Myrgings lived in the valley of the

Vidå The Vidå (german: Wiedau, North Frisian ''Widuu'') is a creek in The Jutland region of, Denmark. The creek starts east of Tønder and flows to the west, ending in the North Sea. In places the Vidå marks the border between Denmark and Germany (' ...

river and that they were the ones at war with

. He also said that the With-Myrgings joined the Angles on their migration to

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

.Malone, Kemp. "The With-Myrgings of Widsith." The Modern Language Review, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Jan., 1944), pp. 55-56.

Kings of the Myrgings

lists two kings of the Myrgings. So the following list of the kings is what has been listed in

, with hypothetical dates, and including that on Eadgils' death the Myrgings were conquered by

, who installed himself as their king. When he died in 456, his son

abolished the kingdom and unified the Myrgings under one ruler. After this the Myrgings disappeared.

References

{{Reflist

Kemp Malone Myrgings. English heroic legends Germanic families Saxons