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 ...

Scylding (plural Scyldingas) and

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

Skjǫldung (plural Skjǫldungar), meaning in both languages "children of Scyld/Skjǫldr" are the members of a legendary royal family of

Danes Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. Danes generally regard t ...

, especially kings. The name is explained in many texts, such as

Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann (13 May 1785, Wismar5 December 1860, Bonn) was a German historian and politician. Biography He came of an old Hanseatic family of Wismar, then controlled by Sweden. His father, who was burgomaster of the town, int ...

's 'Research on the Field of History' (german: Forschungen auf dem Gebiete der Geschichte),

, ''Forschungen auf dem Gebiete der Geschichte'', p. 386 by the descent of this family from an eponymous king Scyld, but the title is sometimes applied to rulers who purportedly reigned before him, and the supposed king may be an invention to explain the name. There was once a

Norse saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to the Pl ...

on the dynasty, the '' Skjöldunga saga'', but it survives only in a Latin summary by

Arngrímur Jónsson Arngrímur Jónsson the Learned ( is, Arngrímur Jónsson hinn lærði; 1568 – 27 June 1648) was an Icelandic scholar and a Christian apologist. His father was Jón Jónsson, who died in 1591. Arngrímur studied in Copenhagen, completing his ...

Descent from Sceaf

According to Anglo-Saxon legends recounted in ''Widsith'' and other sources such as Æthelweard (''Chronicon''), the earliest ancestor of Scyld was a culture-hero named Sceaf, who was washed ashore as a child in an empty boat, bearing a '' sheaf'' of corn. This is said to have occurred on an island named Scani or

Scandza Scandza was described as a "great island" by Gothic-Byzantine historian Jordanes in his work '' Getica''. The island was located in the Arctic regions of the sea that surrounded the world. The location is usually identified with Scandinavia. ...

(

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skån ...

), and according to

William of Malmesbury William of Malmesbury ( la, Willelmus Malmesbiriensis; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as " ...

(''Gesta regum Anglorum'') he was later chosen as King of the Angles, reigning from

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 ...

. His descendants became known as Scefings, or more usually Scyldings (after Sceldwea).

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

adopted this tradition in his

Prologue to the Prose Edda The Prologue is the first section of four books of the ''Prose Edda'', and consists of a euhemerized account of the origins of Norse mythology: the Norse gods are described descended from the Thracians. Regarding the euhemerization in the ''Pro ...

, giving Old Norse forms for some of the names. The following list gives the supposed pedigree.

From Skjöld to Halfdan

The number, names, and order of the Skjöldung kings vary greatly in different texts until one comes to Halfdan/Healfdene. All Old English texts call Scyld's son and successor Beaw or some similar name. (The name was expanded to Beowulf in the poem ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. ...

'', probably in error by a scribe who thought it was an abbreviation for the name of the poem's hero, who is quite a different person). Halfdan/Healfdene seems to be the direct son of Beaw in the poem. But all Scandinavian sources that mention both Skjöld and Halfdan put Halfdan some generations after Skjöld and make no mention of King Beaw (save for a genealogy in the Prologue to

's '' Edda'' which is taken from English traditions). According to Saxo Grammaticus' ''

Gesta Danorum ''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 an ...

'' (Book 1), Skjöld was succeeded by a son named

Gram The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one one thousandth of a kilogram. Originally defined as of 1795 as "the absolute weight of a volume of pure water equal to th ...

. Since ''gram'' is also a simple adjective meaning "fierce" and a common kenning for "king", it might be that Saxo or a source has misunderstood some account referring to Beaw as being ''gram'' or a ''gram'' and wrongly taken it here as a personal name. Saxo has much to tell of this Gram who becomes the father of

Hadingus Hadingus was one of the earliest legendary Danish kings according to Saxo Grammaticus' ''Gesta Danorum'', where he has a detailed biography. Georges Dumézil and others have argued that Hadingus was partially modelled on the god Njörðr. '' ...

of whom he has even more to relate, Hadingus in turn becomes the father of a king Frotho I who is father of Haldanus I. Snorri Sturluson in his ''Edda'', along with some other Old Norse texts, makes Skjöld to be father of Fridleif father of Fróði under whose reign the world was at peace. Snorri mentions this Fróði son of Fridleif in the ''

Ynglinga saga ''Ynglinga saga'' ( ) is a Kings' saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It is the first section of his '' Heimskringla''. It was first translated into English and published in 1 ...

'' also. But in this work Snorri also introduces a second, later Fróði, said to be son of certain

Dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

Mikilláti. The second Fróði is known both as Fróði Mikilláti and Fróði the Peace-lover and looks suspiciously like a duplicate of the other peaceful Fróði. Snorri makes this second Fróði the father of Halfdan and of another son named Fridleif. Saxo in Books 4–5, long after the reign of Halfdan and the fall of the Skjöldung dynasty, also introduces a king named Dan, the third king with that name in his account, whose son is Fridleif whose son is Fróði under whose reign the world achieves peace. This Fróði is also the father of a son named Fridleif according to Saxo. There are other differing accounts of Halfdan's ancestors. The names, number, and order of legendary Danish kings are very inconsistent in extant texts and it would appear that different writers and story tellers differently arranged what tales of legendary Danish kings they knew in whatever order seemed best to them.

Halfdan and his descendants

In all accounts Halfdan is father of Helgi (called Halga in ''Beowulf'') and Hróar (called Hrothgar in ''Beowulf''). Helgi is father of the famous Hrólf Kraki (called Hrothulf in ''Beowulf''). In ''Beowulf'', another son of Healfdene/Halfdan named Heorogar is father of

Heoroweard Heoroweard is a character who appears in ''Beowulf'' and also in Norse legends, where he is named ''Hjörvarðr'' or ''Hiartuar''. If he existed in real life, his name would have been Proto-Norse *''Heruwarduz In the Norse sources, Hereoweard re ...

who corresponds to Hjörvard in the Old Norse accounts where Hjörvard's parentage is not told. The Old Norse accounts make Hjörvard to be the husband of Hrólf's sister and tell how Hjörvard rebelled against King Hrólf and burned him in his hall. But Hjörvard was himself soon slain and with him the rule of the Skjöldung dynasty ended.

Other Skjöldungar

A later lineage said to be of Skjöldung descent: *

Halfdan the Valiant Halfdan the Valiant (''Hálfdan snjalli'') (7th century?) was a legendary Scanian prince, who was the father of Ivar Vidfamne according to '' Hervarar saga'', the ''Ynglinga saga'', '' Njal's Saga'' and '' Hversu Noregr byggdist''. The genealogical ...

* Ivar Vidfamne * Harald Hildetand * Östen Beli

References

{{Norse mythology Scylding English heroic legends Characters in Beowulf Norse clans

Descent from Sceaf

From Skjöld to Halfdan

Halfdan and his descendants

Other Skjöldungar

See also

References