Wermund, Vermund
or Garmund is an ancestor of the Mercian royal family, a son of
Wihtlaeg and father of
Offa. The ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' makes him a grandson of
Woden, but the ''
Gesta Danorum'' written by
Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus (), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author ...
goes no further than his father, while the ''Brevis Historia Regum Dacie'' of
Sven Aggesen makes Wermund son of king ''Frothi hin Frokni''.
According to the Gesta Danorum, his reign was long and happy, though its prosperity was eventually marred by the raids of a warlike king named
Athislus, who slew
Frowinus, the governor of
Schleswig, in battle. Frowinus's death was avenged by his two sons,
Keto and
Wigo, but their conduct in fighting together against a single man was thought to constitute a national disgrace, which was only reconciled by the subsequent single combat of Offa.
It has been suggested that Athislus, though called king of the Swedes by Saxo, was really identical with the
Eadgils, king of the
Myrgings, mentioned in
Widsith, and Frowinus and Wigo are identified with the
Freawine and
Wig who figure among the ancestors of the
kings of Wessex in the
Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies. As Eadgils was a contemporary of
Ermanaric
Ermanaric (died 376) was a Greuthungian king who before the Hunnic invasion evidently ruled a sizable portion of Oium, the part of Scythia inhabited by the Goths at the time. He is mentioned in two Roman sources: the contemporary writings of ...
, who died about 376, his date would agree with the indication given by the genealogies which place Wermund nine generations before
Penda of Mercia.
He is mentioned in lines 1958-1963 of the Anglo-Saxon epic ''
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 ...
'' as Garmund the father of
Offa of Angel and grandfather of
Eomer.
References
External links
Transcript of Saxo's Danish History.- See Chapter 4 for description of Wermund.
{{s-end
Legendary kings of Denmark
Anglish warriors