Scyld and Scef: Expanding the Analogues 9781317944225, 1317944224

Table of contents :
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
List of Tables
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Part I: Commentary
Chapter 1. Introduction: Why Scyld and Scef?
Chapter 2 Scyld and Scef in Anglo-Saxon Poetry
Chapter 3 Scyld and Scef in English Genealogies of the Anglo-Saxon Period
Chapter 4 Scyld and Scef in English Records of the Twelfth through Fifteenth Centuries
Chapter 5 Scyld and Scef in Icelandic Sources Scyld, Son of Odin
Chapter 6 Scyld and Scef in Danish Sources Scyld, Descendant of Dan
Chapter 7Conclusion
Part II: Texts and Translations. Of Part IINotes
Bibliography
Index.

Citation preview

SCYLD AND SCEF

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SCYLD AND SCEF EXPANDING THE ANALOGUES

ALEXANDER

M.

BRUCE

WITH A FOREWORD BY PAUL

E.

SZARMACH

Published in 2002 by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 711 Third Avenue New York, NY 10017 Published in Great Britain by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 2 Park Square, Milton Park Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright © 2002 by Alexander M. Bruce All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bruce, Alexander M., 1967Scyld and scef : expanding the analogues I by Alexander M. Bruce; with a foreword by Paul E. Szarmach p.cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-8153-3904-6 I. Beowulf. 2. Mythology, Norse, in literature. 3. Epic poetry, English (Old)-History and criticism. 4. Scyld (Legendary character). 5. Kings and rulers in literature. 6. Sceaf (Legendary character). 7. Folklore in literature. I. Title. PR.lS87.M9 B78 2002 809'.93351-dc21 2001058965

To my very patient wife, Kathryn, and our two beautiful daughters, Allison and Carolyn

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Contents

List of Tables

viii

Foreword by Paul E. Szarmach

ix

Acknowledgments

xiii

Part I: Commentary CHAPTER

1. INTRODUCTION:

CHAPTER

2.

CHAPTER

3.

WHY SCYLD AND SCEF?

SCYLD AND SCEF IN ANGLO-SAXON POETRY

4. 5. 6.

55

SCYLD AND SCEF IN DANISH SOURCES: SCYLD, DESCENDANT OF DAN

CHAPTER

43

SCYLD AND SCEF IN ICELANDIC SOURCES: SCYLD, SON OF ODIN

CHAPTER

31

SCYLD AND SCEF IN ENGLISH RECORDS OF THE TWELFTH THROUGH FIFTEENTH CENTURIES

CHAPTER

15

SCYLD AND SCEF IN ENGLISH GENEALOGIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD

CHAPTER

3

7. CONCLUSION

81

89

Part II: Texts and Translations CONTENTS OF PART

69

II

90

Notes

159

Bibliography

187

Index

207

vii

Tables

1. Anglo-Saxon Prose Genealogies and Regnal Lists Mentioning Scyld

and/or Scef Figures, in Approximate Chronological Order

37

2. English Sources of the Twelfth to Fifteenth Centuries Mentioning Scyld and/or Scef Figures, in Approximate Chronological Order 44 3. Icelandic Sources Mentioning Scyld and/or Scef Figures, in Approximate Chronological Order 56 4. Danish Sources Mentioning Scyld Figures, in Approximate Chronological Order 70

viii

Foreword

In this collection of texts and documents preceded by an analytical discussion Alexander Bruce presents all the extant medieval notices and references to Scyld and Scef, two shadowy figures of Scandinavian mythology who are linked in that glorious, proleptic opening of Beowulf where the poet celebrates Scyld Scefing ['Scyld son of Sheaf'] by exclaiming, with the help of all editors, "pret wres god cyning!" ['that was a good king!'], and by continuing with a sketch of Scyld's successful kingship. This brief account in Beowulf, as well as the mention in Widsio, are the most prominent references to the Scyld and Scef figures. At the head of the Danish royal line, Scyld gives his name to his direct successors in the poem, who are Scyldings ['sons of Scyld']. For the first-time student of Beowulf the significance of Scyld is apparent in the initial rhetorical emphasis, somewhat murky as it is, and soon the significance becomes bewildering and off-putting for Scyld does not reappear to swell an anthem or fill a theme. Subsequent readings of the poem allow a reader the opportunity to become comfortable with the poet's allusive, sometimes minimalist method where the mention of a name contains a narrative world implied within, just as three straight lines crowned by daubs of color can become a bouquet through the brush of a modem artist. Scyld Scefing, however, is more than an example of poetic technique, and it is this more that Bruce gives by his trilingual pursuit of Scyld and Scef in the world of Germanic myth. Who are Scyld and Scef? Bruce gives us the information and the framework of understanding for answering the question. Because this is a book of primary materials and analysis, the cunning reader may choose to review the primary materials first in Part II and then consider Bruce's "take" on the material, thus mitigating to a degree the sin of mediation, which some post-modernists see as the original sin in all scholarship. The cunning reader will have to be trilingual, however, and less like John Gower and his trilingualism and more like Nabokov and his nimbleness in the face of language evidence over time. In previous eras such language

ix

x

Foreword

facility might have been close to the norm for those coming to the study of early medieval culture. Accordingly, Bruce presents the original sources as well as translations of them to give the contemporary reader the evidence and a rendering of it. Where possible, Bruce offers authoritative translations of other scholars to help underline and ensure the validity of his presentation. Where such authorities are not present, he necessarily offers his own renderings. The absence of authoritative translations shows that the territory Bruce has entered in his pursuit of Scyld and Scef is uncharted in many regions. The apparatus of the primary materials also documents the absence of recent editions and the sometime presence of nineteenth-century ones, accessible only in the best research libraries. In many senses the texts and translations are "new" evidence. Perhaps only a specialist in medieval cultural forms might be able to read the primary evidence with method and understanding, not to mention intellectual appreciation. The literary formalist of the new critical stripe never could read the genealogical list as a recognized genre, though good work in the poetry of Walt Whitman does provide a clue as to how to come to terms with a list of evocative names. For most readers, then, Bruce must offer a framework of understanding. The first chapter, which begins with an echo of Alcuin's famous rhetorical question regarding Ingeld and Christ, clears away the underbrush to make way for the subject. Without doubt there are the perduring problems that bedevil the medieval field: a paucity of evidence and the discontinuity of the evidence, in this case the forty-three sources written across some nine centuries. The pitfalls are evident, as in any attempt to reconstruct the ur-narrative of Scyld, that imagined "saga" from which the various fragments descend in mock Platonic freefall, as early analysis of myth and narrative would always seek to find. Terminology, especially in the postmodern climate, is a vexed matter. Bruce uses "source" to mean that material he uses to construct the world of Scyld and Scef or the material any other writer uses to construct his record; he uses"analogue" restrictively and conservatively to mean any similar nan'ative element in another work that must name Scyld or Sce! as such. The specific restriction on"analogue" makes it possible to limit the field and to preclude the never-ending search for yet another motif that is like one found in Scyld and Scef narrative elements. Bruce's review of past scholarship helps clarify his own stance. The reader will find no Wagnerian strains in the analysis, no Romantic nostalgia for Germania, and no attempt to recuperate an ancient Germania through scholarship. The reader will find a functional analysis of Scyld and Scef varying in the evidence, supported by the best recent scholarship. Scyld and Scef have a noteworthy presence in Anglo-Saxon England not only through its primary literary monument, Beowulf, but also through genealogies and records. Incorporating the scholarship of current and past generations, including, among others, Roberta Frank, Thomas D. Hill,

Foreword

xi

Nicholas Howe, and Fred C. Robinson, Bruce takes a functional approach to Scandinavian mythology whereby the rivalry between the warrior class and the agricultural class, more cosmically represented by the clash between the Vanir and the lEesir, works itself out to a resolution. In WidsiO Sceaf(a) is a civilizer of a warlike tribe, in Beowulf Scyld Scefing is a model king who establishes a strong and ordered society. The extensive presence of Scyld and Scef in the prose genealogies might very well come as a surprise to those who know and study only Anglo-Saxon poetry. Bruce looks at five different sources: the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (in four versions), Asser's Life of King Alfred, lEthelweard's Chronicle, the Textus Roffensis, and An EleventhCentury Anglo-Saxon Illustrated Miscellany. Here Bruce follows the recent trend in seeking to incorporate both prose and poetry into a more comprehensive model of Anglo-Saxon culture beyond the partial record afforded by poetry alone. Within the Christian-pagan framework Scyld and especially Scef helped the Anglo-Saxons define their cultural origins relative to Germanic heroes and Judeo-Christian patriarchs. The Germanic tribes did not receive Christian revelation early enough, and they did need to reverence their past (and not to repudiate their ancestors) when they embraced Christianity. In this respect the Anglo-Saxons maintained their dual origins and the tension these origins may have inspired. By comparison, Charlemagne ruled an empire that seemed to consider itself "God's Chosen People" (or as Donald Bullough has put it, "God acquired another Chosen People") and an empire that subsumed the Germanic past in a different way, letting Latin dominate so triumphantly over the vernacular, for example. In post-Conquest records (see Table 2) Scyld and Scef continue as figures from the Germanic past. As scholars who work on chronicles of this period readily know, the patterns of borrowing and transmission are intricate and difficult, especially when lost records can be assumed or factored into the scholarly equation. Yet Scyld and Scef play their legendary roles as part of the foundation myth and as part of the link to the Germanic past. There are no new elaborations on their narrative, and by contrast with earlier accounts they are figures in reduction. Despite the many political, social, and religious changes in the 400 years of the High and Late Middle Ages in England, especially the growing Christianization, Scyld and Scef live on in legend. Bruce provides two chapters on Icelandic and Danish sources for stories and legends of Scyld and Scef. Now, more than a generation ago Brigid Brophy pooh-poohed the Englishness of Beowulf because of its Scandinavian setting and heroes, but Bruce helps current readers to see the pan-Scandinavianism in which one might situate Beowulf. Indeed, Robert Bjork and John Niles document the Scandinavian temper of the poem and its study in their Beowulf Handbook. Bruce participates in this Scandinavian resurgence, as he sketches the dominant characteristics of Scyld and Scef in Icelandic and Danish sources. It has always been an axiom in the study of "Northern narra-

xii

Foreword

tive" that Icelandic sources, though almost all later than Anglo-Saxon sources, can be seen to reflect earlier myth. The Icelandic Scyld, more prominent than Scef by far, is a son of Odin and a warrior figure among the iEsir and the Vanir, and in some accounts he is considered a god. In Danish sources Scyld, although still the stuff of legend and the embodiment of the ideal of kingship, has a historical dimension as the founder of the Danish royal line. The Danish Scyld can overcome a bear in single-handed, unarmed combat, and yet he can serve as a model, Christian king against whom all successive kings can be measured. In fact, the Danish royal house is still called "Scyldings." Bruce invites us to look at the past looking at its past and to see how the people who celebrated Scyld and Scef constructed their cultural identity. Recent voices have warned contemporary scholars to be wary of their own search for origins in the records they study, but this self-consciousness about method and its results, which has its salutary gains, cannot come at the expense of the historicity of truth. Who they were and where they came from were questions, formulated sometimes differently perhaps, asked by the medieval past of itself. Bruce not only shows his readers how his sources asked and answered those questions, but he allows the medieval past its own right to be. We shall seek the same understanding and the same right from those who come after us. Accordingly, I am very pleased to offer a few remarks to open this welcome book. The pleasure is double, really, for Dr. Bruce revised his manuscript while participating in "Anglo-Saxon England," a Summer Institute sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1999 and directed by me at the Richard Rawlinson Center for Anglo-Saxon Studies and Manuscript Research, The Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University. Dr. Bruce's excellent participation during those six weeks stimulated his colleagues and his subsequent successful completion of his book will stimulate our common field.

Paul E. Szarmach Western Michigan University

Acknowledgments

There are many people whom I wish to thank for assisting me in the creation of this book. I would like to thank those "faceless" friends on the ANSAXNET and OLDNORSENET computerized discussion lists for helping me with difficult translations and hard-to-find sources: Lars Lonnroth, Anders Winroth, Willis Johnson, Alex D. Woolf, Juris G. Lidaka, Helgi S. Kjartansson, John S. McKinnell, David Ganz, Valdimar Gunnarsson, Dick Dawson, Morten Axboe, George Clark, William Schipper, and C. Tidmarsh Major. I also wish to thank Graham Caie, Timothy Powell, and Katherine O'Brien 0' Keeffe for their assistance with various aspects of this project. As well, I am most grateful to Ms. Alison Sproston and to the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, for allowing me to study Trinity College MS 0.5.54, a chronicle roll from the reign of Henry VI. I am also greatly indebted to Professor Anthony Faulkes of The University of Birmingham, as Professor Faulkes was kind enough to assist me in my analysis of regnal lists from MS AM 1 e 13 II fol. and MS AM 22 fol. My thanks also extend to Mr. Peter Springborg, Director of the Arnamagnren Institute, for permission to quote from those two unpublished manuscripts. And I certainly appreciated the cooperation of Professor Antonia Gransden, who sent me material from her unpublished dissertation. Additionally, the library staff of the Roux Library at Florida Southern College, especially Mr. Andrew Pearson and Ms. Nora Galbraith, have proven invaluable resources as they have helped me track down and acquire a host of books and essays. Finally, I wish to thank three people whose involvement made the absolute difference in bringing this book to completion. First, I thank Dr. Paul E. Szarmach; his insight, criticism, and encouragement were integral as I sought to refine and finish my study. I also thank Dr. Jonathan Evans for his guidance and support from the very beginning; he stands as my role model for a teacher and scholar-peet wees god lareow! And finally, I must thank my wife, Kathryn, who, since I first discovered Old English, has put up with countless hours of my reading, writing, proofing, cursing, rewriting ... and all in some obscure language. Without her, I would be incomplete. xiii

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PART I

Commentary

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Chapter 1 Introduction Why Seyld and Seef?

What has Scyld Scefing to do with Beowulf? Or, for that matter, what has Scyld or his ancestor Scef to do with WidsiiJ, or with the histories of Asser and of iEthelweard, or with the chronicles of William of Malmesbury and of John of Worcester, or with the legends compiled by Snorri Sturluson and Saxo Grammaticus, or with the thirty-five other works of the medieval Germanic world that mention either of the two figures? Why do Scyld and Scefkeep appearing in these poems, genealogies, and histories? These two figures, who are often presented with Scef either as the father of Scyld (as in the composite hero Scyld Scefing of Beowulf) or as a rather immediate ancestor (as in the Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic genealogies), would seem to have some significance: we do find them in forty-three works from a wide range of cultures within the medieval Germanic world. I But the nature of that significance is hard to judge, for references to Scyld and Scef, though frequent, lack the expansion and detail we desire; although some writers such as Saxo Grammaticus and iEthelweard develop either a Scyld or Scef figure in some detail, many others, including the writers of the "Annales Ryenses" and the "Reges Danorum," mention the two only as names in longer lists of kings. On the one hand, the number and variety of references underscore the significance of Scyld and Scef, for if proportion is a measure of importance, then the fact that the two heroes appear in forty-three often unconnected sources written across nine centuries suggests that this pair was important to those who wrote of them, either individually or together. But on the other hand, the range of scope and the inconsistent development of the Scyld and Scef moments in the forty-three accounts complicate matters; having a clearly defined sense of the heroes' functions and meanings has proven elusive. Their ephemeral presence ultimately tantalizes scholars who want to understand the nature of these characters and what they meant to the cultures that included them in their histories and legends.

3

4

Scyld and Sce!

As no one story gives a full, complete, all-encompassing and completely thorough account of Scyld or Scef, we must identify all these various analogues and, through a close and detailed examination of them, achieve a greater appreciation for and understanding of the role the two figures played in the several Germanic cultures that wrote of them. Such exploration and examination do not mean an attempt to identify or create a unified, coherent, "historical" Scyld or Scef nor an effort to construct the single "true" Scyld Scefing narrative and thereby build a better Beowulf. Instead, the goal is to gain a fuller appreciation of the various Germanic cultures that recognized Scyld and Scef by understanding more completely how the forms and manifestations of the mythological figures-themselves the coalescence of different legendary and semihistorical elements-have shifted over time and from one culture to another. This sort of collation and analysis of all Scyld and Scef figures is long overdue, for through this analysis of each of these various and sometimes contradictory sources, we will gain a much more complete understanding of the cultural roles Scyld and Scef played for the different societies that incorporated the legendary figures in their textual records-and with that understanding, a fuller appreciation ofthose societies themselves. Before proceeding with a study of Scyld and Scef, the two terms sources and analogues should be defined. Within the context of this study, I use the term source in two ways. First, source is used to refer to any written work of the medieval Germanic world containing a reference to a Scyld and/or a Scef figure; that is, these genealogies, histories, and poems are sources for our understanding of the two figures. 2 Second, as will become more evident in the following discussions of the development of the various genealogical lists and historical chronicles, source may be used in the sense that one writer used another writer's work as the source for his own record. 3 What defines an analogue remains a subjective matter 4; for this study, I have chosen to limit the definition of analogues to include only those works that contain a Scyld or Scef figure named as such. I am not including the works that refer to "Scyldings" without naming Scyld or Scef explicitly, nor am I including works without a Scyld or Scef figure even if they contain episodes that parallel those found in works with Scyld or Scef figures. For example, I am not considering the many Scandinavian works that praise the Scylding line yet never mention Scyld; I am not considering moments like the funeral of King Hake from the Ynglinga Saga, even though such a tale offers a clear situational analogue to the funeral of Scyld Scefing in Beowulf.5 Even so, as the ensuing discussion of Scyld and Scef will show, we still have analogues that show clear "genetic" relationship (that is, one writer of one work clearly used that of another, even to the point of being copied nearly verbatim) and ones that are similar-but not simply or merely similar, for the repetition not only of the names of the heroes (with slight and expected variations in spelling) but also of the functions of the heroes supports the argument for a strong con-

Introduction

5

nection between the various works. Although this latter connection might not always be described as "genetic," it can certainly be deemed "cultural," as the analogues stem from common and closely related Germanic traditions. 6 Although there are many sources (both Anglo-Saxon and otherwise) that refer to Scyld and Scef, certainly the best known text that makes mention of Scyld and Scef is Beowulf, and for many individuals the research presented in this book may be most relevant to their study of the Anglo-Saxon poem. In Beowulf, the role of Scyld Scefing, brief as it is, stands out noticeably. He appears as a child among the leaderless Danes, sent across the water by seemingly divine powers for seemingly divine reasons. He leads the Danes to glory, conquering neighboring tribes, bringing them under his authority, and exacting tribute from them. He has a son, thereby establishing a ruling dynasty and thus preventing the Danes from ever being lordless again. Then he dies, and his burial ship, loaded with treasures by his appreciative people, takes him back over the waves into the unknown whence he came. This entire narrative of Scyld Scefing, often referred to as the "Scyld Episode," stands as an arguably separate fifty-two-line introduction to the much longer poem of Beowulf. Yet Scyld Scefing's story clearly serves a purpose in that work; as J. R. R. Tolkien explained in his "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics," "[Beowulj] is essentially a balance, an opposition of ends and beginnings. In its simplest terms it is a contrasted description of two moments in a great life, rising and setting; an elaboration of the ancient and intensely moving contrast between youth and age, first achievement and final death."7 By this definition of the poem, it is clear that the Scyld Episode is a fitting prologue, a microcosm of the greater structure of Beowulf, for in it we are told of Scyld Scefing's "rising and setting." His tale adds much to our understanding of the poem; it provides a balanced point of comparison, creating what Fred Robinson called a "significant but unexpressed relationship" between the life of Scyld Scefing and the life of the central hero. 8 With such interpretations of the Scyld Episode, we might be encouraged to feel satisfied in our efforts to understand the role of Scyld Scefing; we know what Scyld Scefing has to do with Beowulf. Except that we don't. We may have answered the question at one level, but there is an underlying issue: Why Scyld Scefing? Why invoke his name? Even as we read Beowulf and learn something about the nature of Scyld and, indirectly, something of Scef, we realize that there must have been more elaborate legends surrounding Scyld and his progenitor. We know this precisely because the poem does not tell the audience the full story; it merely alludes to a tale outside the main narrative, a tale the audience presumably would be expected to know. But because we reading the poem centuries later do not have a complete understanding of who Scyld and Scef were, of how the audience understood the heroes, we are at a loss to explain the full impact of the Scyld Episode on Beowulf as a whole. Perhaps we cannot even say we

6

Scyld and Scef

appreciate Beowulf completely if we do not specifically understand the presence of Scyld, son of Scef. Similarly, because no single work telling the entire story of either Scyld or Scef has been found and scholars have thus been frustrated in their attempts to understand the full nature and function of Scyld and Scef, we cannot even be sure we completely appreciate the other forty-two individual works that mention either of the two heroes. Our best recourse, then, is to gather all the analogues and examine them not individually but collectively, looking for patterns, identifications, and even contradictions in presentation. Doing so is the only way to gain a fuller knowledge of the place these two figures occupied in the genealogies, histories, and poems that included them; we will also gain a fuller understanding of the beliefs and traditions of the people who made the references to Scyld and Scef. Such analysis of the Scyld Scefing analogues has been attempted. In his 1959 revision of Beowulf: An Introduction to the Study of the Poem, R. W. Chambers quotes several analogues for the Scyld Sceting legend, including the Skjoldunga Saga, Saxo Grammaticus' The History of the Danes, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, WidsiiJ, lEthelweard's Chronicle, and William of Malmesbury's De Gestis RegumAnglorum Libri Quinque. 9 Harmonizing the sources despite their frequently conflicting details, Chambers develops an explanation of the nature of Scyld Scefing in Beowulf. He identifies the underlying essence of the two legendary or semimythical figures who contributed to the composite character of Scyld Scefing; Chambers concludes that "Scyld" was "probably a mere eponym of the power of the Scylding kings of Denmark," and that the Scef figure was "regarded as an ancient king" associated with a fertility myth. 1O Such conclusions have etymological support: the Anglo-Saxon Scyld, related to the Old Norse Skio/d, has clearly martial overtones, for it means shield; Seef in tum is the Anglo-Saxon word for sheapl Additionally supporting Chambers' separation of Scyld Scefing into his composite elements is the fact that many of the forty-three works refer to just one of the two and that others, although preserving their familial relationship, make the two heroes very distinct. It is fair, then, to consider the two mythical figures as individual creations. Yet as we identify and examine the individual traits of Scyld (also spelled Sceldwea and Skiold) and Scef (variously identified as Seskef, Sescef, and Sceafa), we must also consider that they do appear in conjunction; though each has his distinct characteristics, there are points of relationship between them. The more than forty years since Chambers' publication have seen little scholarly exploration of these issues, and more recent scholars have continued to accept Chambers' conclusions. Betty Cox, writing in 1971, depends upon Chambers' findings in her discussion of the Scyld Episode in her Cruces of "Beowulf."12 In his notes to the Scyld Episode in his 1977 duallanguage edition of Beowulf, Howell D. Chickering draws upon Chambers'

Introduction

7

study yet blurs the distinction between Scyld and Scef in his comments that Scyld Scefing is "faintly reminiscent of an earlier vegetation deity."13 In an article published in 1989, R. D. Fulk does the same, providing an analogue to Scyld Scefing's arrival that emphasizes his role as a fertility god. 14 Craig R. Davis also relies upon the conclusions of Chambers in his 1996 Beowulf and the Demise of Germanic Legend in England, and in his 1996 "Beowulfs Scyld Scefing Episode: Some Norse and Finnish Analogues," Clive Tolley cites Chambers as he discusses the fertility aspect of Scef. However, although Chambers' work does offer a useful starting point to a study of the two heroes, it should not necessarily be considered the final point for scholars seeking to understand completely the nature of the legendary figures. Chambers sought to identify only the background of the specific composite figure Scyld Scefing in Beowulf, and he provided much useful information to that end; this study, though, hopes to explore the wider issue of understanding the multiple roles of both Scyld and Scef within all those Germanic communities that wrote of them. That search must entail an examination of all works featuring Scyld or Scef figures, not just those reviewed by Chambers, and the discussion ought to be relevant to all works that mention the heroes, not just Beowulf. Chambers' thoughts on the nature of Scyld Scefing-that he was at once a warrior figure and a fertility figure-may indeed prove to be well grounded, but we should also look at all the evidence, add the research of the past decades to Chambers' work, and broaden scholarly perspective beyond studies of Beowulf in order to have the most satisfactory understanding of the function (or rather functions) of Scyld and Scef. Such a detailed exploration of the Scyld and Scef figures involves finding and examining brief references in a variety of works written across the centuries in a number of different languages, and G. N. Garmonsway, Jacqueline Simpson, and Hilda Ellis Davidson have provided an excellent resource in this endeavor with their "Beowulf" and Its Analogues. In this work, Garmonsway, Simpson, and Davidson list analogues for every character mentioned in Beowulf, including Scyld Scefing, noting a total of fifteen works (including Beowulf) in which Scyld or Scef figures appear and providing English translations for almost all of them. 15 To some, this survey has been deemed thorough and complete; the editors of the two-volume collection Sources and Analogues of Old English Poetry omit any examination of Beowulfbecause, as they state in their preface, "good modem translations of [its] sources and analogues already exist."16 But Garmonsway, Simpson, and Davidson's work is dissatisfying in four ways. First, "BeOWUlf" and Its Analogues does not provide a full account for every source; several sources are recounted very briefly, and only a paraphrase is provided for the passage in the "Annales Ryenses." Second, the catalogue in "Beowulf" and Its Analogues is not complete, containing just over a third of the sources. I have found twenty-eight accounts containing references to Scyld or Scef that Gar-

8

Seyld and See!

mons way, Simpson, and Davidson did not supply, including the "Annales Slesuicenses"; Peter Olaf's Chroniea Regum Danorum; a summary of Saxo Grammaticus' history; the English histories of Roger of Hoveden, Roger of Wendover, Richard of Cirencester, and John of Worcester; several AngloNorman genealogies; the Scandinavian "iEttartOlur" and "Viabretir via Olafs Sogu hins Helga"; an ancient Icelandic fragment; and numerous genealogies of Danish kings. Third, "Beowulf" and Its Analogues does not provide the text in the original language for any of the accounts; scholars may not readily compare the translation against its source. Finally, there is no discussion of the nature of Scyld and Scef as depicted in the various sources. Granted, providing such discussion was not the objective of Garmosway, Simpson, and Davidson's collection of analogues; but it is precisely that commentary we need if we are to grasp the functions of Scyld and Scef. The Scyld figure in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum is different from the Scyld figure in Snorri Sturluson's Edda; such differences invite examination and discussion. Having analyzed the problems associated with studying this figure, we tum now to an exploration of strategies for finding some solutions. This book thus has two objectives. First, it will expand the catalogue of Garmonsway, Simpson, and Davidson, providing scholars with a focused, detailed, and thorough look at all the works of the medieval period that include a Scyld or Scef figure; Part II will include the relevant passages from all the texts in both the original language and translation. Second, this book will broaden the efforts of Chambers by attempting to understand the role of the Scyld or Scef figures in these works and subsequently speCUlating upon reasons why the two legendary heroes were important to the various English and Scandinavian people who wrote of them. To begin the exploration, Chapter 2 of this study will tum first to the presence of Scyld and Scef in the Old English poems Beowulf and WidsiO. The reference to a Scef figure in Widsio is certainly very brief, but his inclusion among the list of great Germanic kings is significant, for the poem is not only one of the earliest Old English poems but more importantly (at least for this study) provides the earliest reference to either figure. Beowulf, the only other Anglo-Saxon poem that tells of either Scyld or Scef, offers much fuller insight into Scyld Scefing's nature. As noted, critics such as Tolkien, Robinson, and LeyerIe contend that the tale of the character Scyld Scefing serves as a microcosm of the entire poem, placing the rise and fall of Beowulf himself in a clearer perspective through a comparison to the rise and fall of Scyld Scefing.17 His presence, though, exceeds the bounds of the prologue, for the poet reminds the audience throughout the poem of Scyld's importance as a dynastic leader, referring to the Danes as "Scyldings" on several occasions. These two poems suggest a longer, fuller legend surrounding the composite figure of Scyld Scefing, a legend that scholars must piece together from other works.

Introduction

9

Chapter 3 will move from Anglo-Saxon poetry to prose and explore the other Old English references to Scyld and Scef; these are found in certain genealogies included in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Asser's Life of King Alfred, lEthelweard's Chronicle, and the regnal lists of the Textus Roffensis and An Eleventh-Century Anglo-Saxon Illustrated Miscellany. In the records for the year 855, as it provides a genealogy for King lEthelwulf, King of the West-Saxons and father of Alfred the Great, the A-text of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mentions "Sceldwea" as one ancestor of the English king; the B-, C-, and D-texts refer to both Scyld and Scef figures. IS Asser, in his biography, begins with Alfred, placing him above his father lEthelwulf, and traces the king's lineage through "Sceldwea"; lEthelweard also records the ancestors of lEthelwulf in his entry for 855, including both Scyld and Scef in that list. 19 Both of the regnal lists also mention the two figures among the ancestors of the kings of Wessex. These five genealogical records offer an illustration of the utilitarian nature of such pedigrees, for the inclusion of the most important characters from both the Germanic legends and the Christian Bible, including such distant ancestors as Woden, Noah, Adam, and Scyld and Scef, may well have enhanced the political position of the West Saxon monarchs. The presence of these Scyld and Scef figures in such lists of noteworthy predecessors again suggests some degree of status for the two heroes; but to know how much status either Scyld or Scef had, scholars must have a more complete picture of what the two figures meant to the people who wrote of them. Again, a failure to have a more detailed picture created through a study of all the analogues makes it impossible to appreciate completely the status of the two heroes in Anglo-Saxon culture. Yet the inclusion of Scyld and/or Scef in royal genealogies and histories in England was not limited to the Anglo-Saxon period; as Chapter 4 will clarify, the use and presence of the legendary Germanic heroes in royal genealogies continued long after the Norman conquest brought the political entity of Anglo-Saxon England to an end. Several twelfth-century chroniclers, including John of Worcester, Simeon of Durham, and Roger of Hoveden, all make reference to Scyld and Scef, bringing the figures into their histories in a variety of ways. William of Malmesbury, another twelfth-century historian, relates one of the more developed stories of a Scef figure, a story that has parallels with the account in Beowulf, although William's version, as will be discussed, includes a greater emphasis on Scef's fertility role. The thirteenth-century chroniclers Roger of Wendover, Matthew Paris, Bartholomew of Cotton, and John de Taxter, as well as their fourteenth-century successors Matthew of Westminster and Richard of Cirencester, also refer to the heroes, sometimes elaborating upon earlier legends; Matthew of Westminster, for one, retold William of Malmesbury's account of "Sheaf' in his Flores Historiarum. 2o The final reference to Scyld and Scef figures during the English Middle Ages is found in a chronicle written during the time

10

Seyld and See!

of King Henry VI in the fifteenth century. Such a record, compiled four centuries even after Kevin Kiernan's proposed eleventh-century writing of Beowulf, further acknowledges the well-established place of Scyld and Scef in English culture. Most of the surviving textual manifestations of Scyld and Scef, though, are found in Scandinavian works of the twelfth to early sixteenth centuries. In exploring these Scandinavian sources, Chapter 5 of this study will examine the Icelandic sources, starting with the genealogies found in Langfeogatal, the Prologue to Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda as well as his Sktildskapamuil, the "lEttartolur" of the Flateyjarbok, the "lEttartala fni Adam til Sigur6ar a Grenja6arst06um" of the Biskupa Sogur, and MSS AM 1 e B II and AM 22 fol. These works seem comparable to the Anglo-Saxon genealogies as they name Scyld and Scef figures only within a longer list of rulers, although the specific rulers in each list vary. These lists are also the only Scandinavian sources to mention both Scyld and Scef; elsewhere, we find only Scyld. As well, several of these genealogies bring together multiple traditions by mentioning two different Scyld figures in one list-Scyld, the predecessor of Odin, and Scyld, the son of Odin. Such occurrences illustrate the ways that various traditions and interpretations of mythological figures can intermix over time. We can also note that the Anglo-Saxon and Danish historians presented their genealogies in opposite fashions; the Anglo-Saxon chroniclers began with the present and looked backward into the past, whereas the Icelandic historians (and, as Chapter 6 will indicate, the Danish historians as well) began with their past and worked forward. The differing strategies suggest that the Anglo-Saxons were concerned with the lineage of one monarch whereas the Scandinavians offered histories of their entire nation, for these Scandinavian works consistently begin by stressing that they tell the history and origins of the people, whereas the Anglo-Saxon genealogies begin with the king being glorified. In contrast to these genealogies with their limited references, the other Icelandic accounts all include some information on their incarnation of Scyld, such as a brief account of his life or a reference to an important event in the greater community. These more developed Icelandic sources include the "Fragmentum vetus Islandicum," Snorri's Ynglinga Saga found in HeimskringLa, the "Vi6bretir vi6 Olafs Sogu bins Helga," and the SkjoLdunga Saga. These accounts, again referring only to a Scyld figure, differ from those of the Anglo-Saxon historians in that, unlike the Anglo-Saxon genealogies, which offer no details about the life of the legendary figure (except in the case of lEthelweard's Chronicle), even the briefest of these Icelandic accounts provides details about Scyld that clarify his position as a figure of some significance. For example, from these sources we discover such points as where Scyld lived and whom he married; several also discuss Scyld's place as a god, identifying him as the son of Odin. The Skjoldunga Saga puts

Introduction

Jl

Scyld in a greater cultural context; the narrative explains the relationship between the Danes, the people of Scyld, and the Swedes, the people of Scyld's brother, Ingo. Chapter 6 will examine the Danish accounts of a Scyld figure, which, just as the Icelandic records are consistent in presenting him as the "son of Odin," are consistent in presenting him as a mortal. Specifically, for the Danes, Scyld, or "Skjold," was the descendant of Dan, not of any Scef figure or of any deity such as Odin, as the genealogical records of works such as the "Series ac Brevior Historia Regum Danie," the "Incerti Auctoris Genealogia Regum Danie," and the "Nomina Regum Danorum" attest. Though those records are brief, other, more involved works offer detailed insight into the figure's development, for among the Danish sources we find some of the most complete accounts of Scyld, including those within Sven Aggeson's A Brief History of the Kings of Denmark and Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum, as well as in the sources influenced by the Gesta Danorum, including both a later revision of that work by an unknown editor and the "Annales Ryenses." Saxo provides the fullest account as he highlights important moments from Scyld's youth, moments only alluded to in other histories. His and several other Danish records thus fill out the story of Scyld, giving information about him not found in other works, such as identifying his place among Christian kings. These Scandinavian sources of the later Middle Ages, coupled with the later English references to Scyld and Scef, attest to the pair's enduring importance, and the Scandinavian accounts, although they do focus more on Scyld, also place both Scyld and Scef in a much broader perspective, allowing scholars to understand much more thoroughly their function in these communities that wrote of them. In presenting these forty-three works, I seek not simply to list sources but to analyze and compare the varying functions of Scyld and Seef. For one, we can note the differences in presentation; the traits of Scyld emphasized by Saxo Grammaticus in his Gesta Danorum are rather different from those emphasized by the anonymous author of the Skjoldunga Saga. The differences are more than observations about who was Scyld's father; the differences are about how the figures are used, about how each work presents Scyld and Scef for a specific purpose. And just as important as examining the subtle distinctions in the presentations of the individual figures is the exploration of how the figures work together, for they are often closely linked, with Scyld frequently presented as the son or grandson of Scef. This close association of Scyld, the warrior figure, and Scef, the agricultural figure, offers us new perspectives on the cultures. In the process of examination we will, in an attempt to reach some understanding of the nature of Scyld and Scef in all these accounts, ask these questions of each work: Is the Scyld or Scef figure a god, a man sent by a god, or just a man? How does he come to his people? What condition are his people in? Is he immediately cast as their

12

Seyld and See!

overlord, or must he prove himself? What does he do for his people? How do they honor him? Does he leave his people in stability, perhaps by leaving an acceptable heir and thereby establishing a dynasty? What can we learn about the role of Scyld and/or Scef from the greater work and from the author's intentions (as much as can be determined)? Such exploration will involve looking at the greater context in which the Scyld or Scef figure appears, at the events before and after their part in the account. Each work will offer different answers to these questions, answers that do not-and should not be forced to-harmonize. These answers, varied and contradictory as they may be, will yield a fuller understanding of Scyld and Scef. Such observations on the function of the Scyld or Scef figure within each work lead to discussion about the mythological nature of Scyld Scefing, a nature Chambers defined in terms of Beowulf but not in a greater perspective. In particular, we can explore how the myths of Scyld and Scef function as foundation myths. Hugh A. MacDougall has defined the function of such myths: Myths of origin enable people to locate themselves in time and space. They offer an explanation of the unknown and hallowed traditions by linking them to heroic events and personages of the distant past. In addition, they form the ground for belief systems or ideologies which, providing a moral validation for attitudes and activities, bind men together into a society.21

Scyld and Scef, placed by certain accounts at the origins and foundations of these different cultures, thus stand in a position of national and cultural importance. Nicholas Jacobs has noted how "the emphasis among the Germanic peoples was from an early stage on the heroes of the past," on a past "before the migration of the Anglo-Saxons from their original homes to lowland Britain."22 Indeed, the two figures seem connected to the Germanic migration period, the Volkerwanderung, that time between approximately AD 400 and 600 when the Germanic tribes swept across Europe searching for land. Certainly these migrations affected the tribes' understanding of themselves, and they created stories about heroes such as Scyld and Scef to explain the changes in their culture; their presentation of the war-like Scyld as the descendant of Scef thus seems to reflect this time in the cultural past when a basic agricultural need-that is, the need for more land to feed an increasing population-was the catalyst of war. A growing population coupled with encroaching famine certainly seems to have motivated certain Gothic tribes to cross the Danube and attack Roman territories in the fourth century. Herwig Wolfram describes how the Germanic tribes moved like refugees demanding food and land to cultivate; Thomas S. Bums notes that the Romans sought to control the migrating tribes "first by military action but ultimately by the establishment of some Gothic people inside the frontier as

Introduction

/3

agricultural settlers."23 However, even as we explore such possibilities of a foundation myth focusing on Scyld and Scef, we should not intend to identify or otherwise define a single myth into which all the accounts of Scyld or Scef figures neatly fit, for to do so would be to ignore the distinctions that help us understand the individual cultures that wrote of them. The various Germanic cultures that included these legendary figures in some form within their genealogies, histories, or poetry must have felt some respect for these characters from their distant past. The writers expressing these cultures acknowledged the role of Scyld and Scef in a myriad of ways, with each writer adding to the stock of functions and interpretations, from the poet of WidsilJ, who included Scef as one of the great Germanic leaders, to Asser, who named both long-past heroes among the ancestors of Alfred, the greatest king of his time, to Snorri Sturluson, who placed Scyld at the very roots of his culture's history, at the time when the Germanic tribes migrated north, to the chronicler of Henry VI, who, writing centuries later, noted the role of both Scyld and Scef in shaping the world he knew. Now our task is to consider all these various sources and try to recapture and understand the sense of respect these cultures felt for Scyld and Scef.

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Chapter 2 Seyld and Seef in Anglo-Saxon Poetry

We might expect that the manifestations of the Scyld and Scef figures found in the Old English poems WidsiiJ and Beowulf-the only Anglo-Saxon poems featuring the legendary heroes-would fit neatly into the same paradigm. The two poems, from arguably the same Anglo-Saxon culture, seem to explore a common and well-defined Germanic warrior heritage within a rather limited "two-hundred-year period extending between the fourth and sixth centuries, from the incursions of the Huns and death of Ermanaric in 375 to the conquest of Italy by the Langobardi (Lombards) under Alboin in 568."1 These two poems, though, suggest rather different understandings of the nature of the mythological figures. WidsiiJ, the only one of the forty-three analogues to mention a Scef figure alone, contains a reference to "Sceafa" who has some association with the composite character Scyld Scefing of Beowulf.2 Beowulf itself contains perhaps the best known and one ofthe more developed narratives of the legendary figure, the Scyld Episode, in which we can discern much about Scyld's function. Although there are some associations between the figures in the two poems, we should not search for a theory that forces Sceafa and Scyld Scefing to become one, as Brian Branston erroneously did, when he argued that "[a]lthough Beowulfimplies that the hero's main name was Scyld, ... it is certain that his real appellation was Sceaf."3 By examining the two accounts closely, we can discern important differences in the understanding of the figures' origins, national associations, and perceptions as deities. We must explore these distinctions between the Scef of WidsiiJ and the Scyld of Beowulf, for these two presentations allow us to examine more closely the multiple functions of the mythological heroes. The poem WidsiiJ is the oldest record containing a reference to either figure; no scholar has argued that it is less ancient than Beowulf, and it is certainly older than the Anglo-Saxon prose genealogies, the Anglo-Norman and later English histories, or the Scandinavian records. Dating from as early as

15

16

Scyld and Scef

the late sixth or early seventh century,4 Widsio contains three thulas, or lists, of kings, heroes, and tribes. These thulas were added to over the course of the poem's existence, but much of the poem is clearly ancient. How ancient, though, is of some debate; according to Chambers, the first thula is "probably the oldest extant piece of Anglo-Saxon verse, some generations more ancient than [his own proposed date of c. 700 for] Beowulf." Kemp Malone likewise believes the "archaic spellings" and "[s]yntactical tests" indicate the poem's composition "belongs to the earlier part of the Age of Bede, i.e. to the seventh century." Although Milton McC. Gatch concurs with Chambers and Malone about the antiquity of Widsio, Roberta Frank is not so convinced: "Widsith is, for no good reason, usually regarded as a very old poem, perhaps even older than Credmon's Hymn [itself found in Bede's Ecclesiastical History and attributed to the seventh century]. Whatever its age, it was probably not composed at any great remove, in time or place, from Beowulf," although such an argument depends upon when one dates Beowulf, itself an unresolved issue. s At any rate, this presumably ancient passage contains the following lines within the longer list of kings and the tribes they ruled: Sigehere lengest Sredenum weold, Hnref Hocingum, Helm Wulfingum, Wald Woingum, Wod I>yringum, Sweom OngendJ:>eow, Sreferd Sycgum, Sceafthere Ymbrum, Sceafa Longbeardum, Hun Hretwerum & Holen Wrosnum.... (Widsio, lines 28-33)6 [Sigehere longest ruled the Sea-Danes, Hnref the Hocings, Helm the Wulfings, Wald the Woings, Wod the Thyrings, Sreferth the Sycgans, Ongentheow the Swedes, Sceafthere the Ymbran, Sceafa the Langobards, Hun the Hretwere and Holen the Wrosnan .... ]

Though the reference to the Scef figure is brief, we can determine some qualities of the figure by examining the greater context of the lines. According to Edward Peters in his introduction to Paul the Deacon's History of the Langobards, the Langobards (or Lombards) ruled by Sceafa inhabited "that region which lies between the Weser and the lower Elbe."7 These Langobards thus lived south of the Angles and east of the Saxons, and were somewhat removed from the North Germanic people of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.s As all other references to Scef, found in English, Danish, and Icelandic sources, place the figure within specifically North Germanic tribal lines, this association of "Sceaf' with the Langobards suggests a wider cultural awareness of the figure, or at least that the Anglo-Saxons believed that the figure

Seyld and Seef in Anglo-Saxon Poetry

17

existed among a more removed although still Germanic people. Moreover, the antiquity of Widsio, which is itself a collection of allusions to other, earlier "major legend cycles, to figures and events that are known outside Widsio,"9 and the fact that no Scyld figure is mentioned suggest the independent development of Scef, although the idea that the story of Scef precedes the story of Scyld has been a point of disagreement among some Beowulf scholars and will be discussed below. The function of Sceafa among the Langobards also invites discussion. The Langobards Sceafa ruled were a fierce Germanic tribe, described by the first-century Roman historian Velleius Paterculus as "gens etiam Germana feritate ferocior" ["a race surpassing even the Germans in savagery"]. 10 Tacitus, also writing in the first century, made these comments concerning the tribe: "Contra Langobardos paucitas nobilitat: plurimis ac ualentissimis nationibus cincti non per obsequium sed proeliis et periclitando tuti sunt." ["The Langobardi, by contrast (to the Suebi), are famous because they are so few. Hemmed in as they are by many mighty peoples, they find safety, not in submission, but in facing the risks of battle."] II The two Roman accounts thus agree that this tribe was well known for its war-like nature. Yet as weold, the verb of line 28 of the poem, indicates, Sceafa "ruled" or "commanded" this same fierce tribe; he stands in the company of other powerful leaders known to the Germanic peoples such as Theodric, Attila, and Eormanric (see Widsio, lines 18,24, and elsewhere). Although we are not told of the figure's origins or of the state of the Langobards, whether they thrived under him or suffered, Sceafa-a figure whose name, "sheaf," associates him with agriculture, and a figure who, as will be seen in subsequent chapters, is more explicitly associated with agricultural symbols in several analogues-seems to have brought or maintained a sense of order. From our perspective, studying the Anglo-Saxon poem that looks backward into the Germanic heritage, the function of Sceafa among the Langobards therefore seems to be that of "the mythical civilizer ... who introduces, amid a hitherto barbarous people, the tillage of the earth, and with it the settled rule of a king."12 Metaphorically, the reference to Scef in Widsio suggests that an agricultural way of life, with its ability to ensure a more consistent supply of sustenance, had the ability to dictate the actions of this people, to govern their actions through the governance of their appetites. The more thoroughly developed, 52-line Scyld Episode of Beowulf reveals much concerning the nature and function of Scyld and Scef. Many scholars have agreed that this episode, as a prologue to the greater poem, supports and enhances the structure of Beowulf, offering a point of comparison between Scyld and Beowulf and thus a greater understanding of the rise and fall of the central character. In The Tomb of Beowulf and Other Essays on Old English, Fred C. Robinson comments that the entire poem is a "restatement" of and a "response" to the Scyld Episode, for that episode challenges the audience to ponder the fate of a hero. In his "Tradition and Design in

18

Seyld and See!

Beowulf" Theodore M. Andersson points out that the "larger pattern" of the poem-the "rising and falling of hope and fear, success and failure, joy and grief, in short, the rhythm of a mutable world"-is encapsulated in the prologue telling of Scyld's arrival and departure. In his edition of Beowulf Howell D. Chickering suggests that the first part of the Scyld Episode "foreshadows the Geatish Beowulf's own rise to fame in Denmark," whereas the second part provides the "motif of a king's burial [that] overarches the whole poem."13 Such analyses that focus on the poetic structure and unity of Beowulf offer appropriate and helpful insight into the greater work; we can understand the poem and the central character much more completely, and we understand the function of the Scyld Episode within the poem. We can even appreciate how the Scyld Episode helps us understand Hrothgar and his plight that much better: Hrothgar is the descendant of a great king, and thus the potential destruction of his kingdom at the claws of Grendel assumes a greater dimension. (Grendel is not just threatening Hrothgar but a dynasty, a national identity.) Yet these commentaries ultimately focus more on Beowulf (or perhaps on Hrothgar) than on Scyld, and they do not address the underlying questions of "Why Scyld Scefing? Why begin with this hero who has nothing to do with the plot of the story?" We assume that the Anglo-Saxon audience understood the allusion to Scyld Sceting and that he meant something to them, just as a reference to Heremod or Sigemund would mean something to them. But because we do not share that knowledge, we cannot say truly that we understand the power and impact of the Scyld Episode on the poem as a whole. Again, such is the reason for the study of not just the Scyld Scefing analogues but of analogues as a whole. As a starting point, we should closely explore Scyld Scefing's story, the Scyld Episode, searching thoroughly for clues to help us better understand the fragmentary narrative. The first three lines of the poem take the audience back into their continental Germanic past, stressing the "ancestral history," the past days of glory in the "pre-Christian homeland" that "endures ... as a distinct place because it is there that the historical imagination ... flourished."14 The emphasis on "we" from the very beginning prompts those in the audience, whether Anglo-Saxon or greatly removed by time and distance, to identify with the content of and the heroes within the poem; we are to consider ourselves of the same stock and line as these ancient Germanic heroes within the poem, culturally if not biologically: "Hwret, we Gar-Dena in geardagum, / lleodcyninga llrym gefrunon, / hu ()a reillingas ellen fremedon!" ["Yes, we have heard of the glory of the Spear-Danes' kings in the old days-how the princes of that people did brave deeds."] 15 And again, the first hero mentioned is Scyld, son of Scef, as these first three lines are followed by the account of the greatest ancestor, the founder of the Danish dynasty and, by the associations of the audience with those Spear-Danes and their leader, of part of the Anglo-Saxons' cultural identity as well:

Seyld and See! in Anglo-Saxon Poetry

19

Oft Scyld Scefing sceapena preatum, monegum mregpum meodosetla ofteah, egsode eorl[as), syooan rerest wearo feasceaft funden; he pres frofre gebad, weox under wolenum weoromyndum pah, ymbsittendra 00 pret him reghwyle ofer hronrade hyran scolde, pret wres god cyning! gomban gyldan; Drem eafera wres refter cenned geong in geardum, pone God sende folee to frofre; fyrenoearfe ongeat, pe hie rer drugon aldor(le)ase lange hwile; him pres Liffrea, wuldres Wealdend woroldare forgeaf, Beowulf wres breme -blred wide sprangScyldes eafera Scedelandum in. [Often Scyld Scefing took mead-benches away from enemy bands, from many tribes, terrified their nobles-after the time that he was first found helpless. He lived to find comfort for that, became great under the skies, prospered in honors until everyone of those who lived about him, across the whale-road, had to obey him, pay him tribute. That was a good king. Afterwards a son was born to him, a young boy in his house, whom God sent to comfort the people: He had seen the sore need they had suffered during the long time they lacked a king. Therefore the Lord of Life, the Ruler of Heaven, gave him honor in the world: Beow was famous, the glory of the son of Scyld spread widely in the Northlands.)16

These initial lines present an interpretive crux, whether "Scyld Scefing" means "Scyld, son of Sheaf' or "Scyld with the sheaf." As R. W. Chambers notes, some early scholars, including Leo, Miiller, Sievers, Olrik, Chadwick, and Lawrence, insisting that Beowulf preserves a myth that predates any Scef figure, defended the latter translation, arguing that at some stage "Scefing" had been erroneously read as "son of Sheaf' instead of "with the sheaf." These scholars thus surmised that "a new ancestor king, Sheaf, was thus placed at the head of the genealogy," and that this "new" (and thus "erroneous"?) figure is the one remembered by writers such as William of MalmesburyY Such a solution, and indeed such a question, assumes that only one tradition existed, one that featured only Scyld; Chambers, though, assuming the development of two distinct figures, offers a countertheory for their appearance in tandem, one that focuses on the poetic aspects. He comments that the situation "becomes straightforward if we allow that Scyld and Sceaf were both ancient figures standing at the head of famous dynasties. Their names alliterate. What more likely than that their stories should have

20

Seyld and See!

influenced each other, and that one king should have come to be regarded as the parent or ancestor of the other?"18 Clive Tolley, building on Chambers' arguments, likewise contends that Scyld and Scef were separate figures, and that "Seejing [means] 'son (or descendant) of Sheaf,' " in part because such a reading "puts Beowulf in agreement with the other sources."19 I do believe Chambers offers an appropriate starting position for a study of the figures in Beowulf: the two figures do have independent functions. Yet Chambers' given reasons are not the best. Rather than accepting that they were brought together because of the alliterative quality of their names or simply because having them as individuals makes matters tidier, we ought to examine their mythological qualities, for the application of more recent critical approaches reveals that the distinct individuals Scyld and Scef appear together precisely because of their specific mythological functions. To understand those functions better, let us consider what the Scyld Episode itself specifically and clearly reveals about the qualities of the composite character. These first lines obviously emphasize the attributes of a good king. As noted by John D. Niles, lines 4-11 seem a definition wherein Scyld stands as an "ideal king ... of war and conquest."20 M. J. Swanton adds that he is presented as "the foundation of Danish fortunes, a warrior-king in the old style, establishing the kingdom by conquest"; in these lines, "[s]trong kingship, ... establishing and maintaining its own superiority by force of arms, is accorded unqualified praise: jJret wres god eyning."21 Line 6 notes that he egsode eorllas}; he kept the surrounding tribal leaders in fear-or, if one reads eorllas} as Eruli, he terrified a specific neighboring Germanic tribe that, according to Gwyn Jones, was "bent on exactation and piracy"; they were "greedy, violent. beastly, and fanatical."22 His ability to dominate such a people reminds us of Scef's ability to control the equally violent Langobards in Widsio. Thus these lines, as James W. Earl describes them in his Thinking About "Beowulf," "render the definition of good kingship more concrete: Scyld Scefing's fame here is not glory in its Roman-Christian sense of celestial radiance, but simply wealth, success, and power over others."23 Adding to Scyld's prominence as an ideal ruler is the fact that he came to the Danes when they were without a leader, a "sore need" according to lines 12-19 of the poem. They had recently suffered under Heremod, a bad king who "his leodum wear6! eallum re1>ellingum to aldorceare" ["had become a great care to his people, to all his princes"], for "[he] breat bolgenmod beodgeneatas ! eaxlgesteallan, 01> 1>ret he ana hwearf ! mrere 1>eoden mondreamum from" ["with swollen heart he killed his table-companions, shoulder-comrades, until he turned away from the joys of men, alone, notorious king"].24 In fact, if we do assume the Anglo-Saxon genealogies (as will be discussed in full in Chapter 3) maintain the same chronology of regnal succession known to the audience of Beowulf, Scyld immediately succeeded this Heremod; accepting the order of these genealogies, G. V. Smithers chooses to translatefYrenoeaife in

Scyld and Sce! in Anglo-Saxon Poetry

21

line 14 as "distress arising out of Heremod's wrong-doing."25 As Chickering clarifies in his edition of Beowulf, by having a son, Beowulf the Dane, Scyld brought order and "restored the Danish kingdom";26 with his establishment of a new ruling house, he offered his people security from that lordless condition, although, as the poem tells us, the ensuing stability was soon to be upset by Hrothulf's usurpation of the Danish throne. Scyld does more than establish a dynasty through his son, however; he affirms a code of conduct, a way of behavior that stands apart from the behavior of bad kings like Heremod. Scyld's son Beowulf the Dane (not the hero of the poem), "an heroically virtuous leader of men and as renowned as his father,''27 is described as having learned appropriate behavior; the poet presents him as a model king and takes the occasion to comment more generally about what traits a young man who wishes to become a good leader should have: Swa sceal (geong g)uma gode gewyrcean, on freder (bea)rme, fromum feohgiftum pret hine on ylde eft gewunigen ponne wig cume, wilgesipas, lofdredum sceal leode gelresten; in mregpa gehwrere man gepeon. [In this way a young man ought by his good deeds, by giving splendid gifts while still in his father's house, to make sure that later in life beloved companions will stand by him, that people will serve him when war comes. Through deeds that bring praise, a man shall prosper in every country.j28

The lord-retainer relationship described in this passage, with its emphasis on mutual support, contrasts sharply with the "bond" forged between the archetypally bad king Heremod and his retainers, for Heremod, with "his outrageous slaughter of his own retainers and subsequent abandonment of his people," violently upset the comitatus bonds. 29 As Robert B. Burlin has noted, the comments concerning Beowulf the Dane's proper actions extend beyond the immediate concern for royal lineage and performance to embrace the nation as a whole (mreg/J). The "praiseworthy deeds" by which men thrive are not merely those of the aggressive king and his open-handed son, but those of the comitatus (wilgesijJas) and even the less distinguished multitude, the leode, whose support is necessary in times of national emergency.30

This, then, is Scyld's legacy to the Danes: a stable kingdom ruled by a strong, conscientious heir who has earned the support not only of the warriors but of the people as a whole. The depth of his influence is supported by the fact that

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in the poem the Danes refer to themselves as "Scyldings," reinforcing the role this leader played in establishing their kingdom and their national identity. The place of Scyld as the founder of a ruling dynasty, and, by extension, of the entire nation, is echoed in such Scandinavian works as the Skjoldunga Saga and the Gesta Danorum. Yet the Scyld Episode is more than a handbook for princes, as Levin L. Schiicking considered it,3) as the lines focus not only on the rise and success of the "good king" but also on his passing; Scyld Scefing's tale, as it emphasizes eternal ideals, also reminds us of the transitory nature of life. For serving as such a strong leader, Scyld's people honor him in his death, piling great treasure onto his burial ship before returning him to the sea whence he came: Him da Scyld gewat to gescrephwile felahror feran on Frean wrere; hi hyne }:la retbreron to brimes farode, swrese gesi}:las, swa he selfa bred, }:lenden wordum weold wine Scyldingaleof landfruma lange ahte. }:lrer ret hyde stod hringedstefna isig ond utfus, re}:lelinges frer; aledon }:la leofne }:leoden, beaga bryttan on bearm scipes, mreme be mreste. l>rer wres madma fela of feorwegum frretwa gelreded; ne hyrde ic cymlicor ceol gegyrwan hildewrepnum ond headowredum, billum ond byrnum; him on bearme lreg madma mrenigo, }:la him mid scoldon on flodes reht feor gewitan. Nalres hi hine lressan lacum teodan, }:leodgestreonum, }:lon }:la dydon, }:le hine ret frumsceafte ford onsendon renne ofer yde umborwesende. l>a gyt hie him asetton segen g(yl)denne heah ofer heafod, leton holm beran, geafon on garsecg; him wres geomor sefa, murnende mod. Men ne cunnon secgan to sode, selerredende, hreled under heofenum, hwa }:lrem hlreste onfeng. [Then at the fated time Scyld the courageous went away into the protection of the Lord. His dear companions carried him down to the sea-currents, just as he himself had bidden them do when, as protector of the Scyldings, he had ruled them with his words-long had the beloved prince governed the

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land. There in the harbor stood the ring-prowed ship, ice-covered and ready to sail, a prince's vessel. Then they laid down the ruler they had loved, the ring-giver, in the hollow of the ship, the glorious man beside the mast. There was brought great store of treasure, wealth from lands far away. I have not heard of a ship more splendidly furnished with war-weapons and battle-dress, swords and mail-shirts. On his breast lay a great many treasures that should voyage with him far out into the sea's possession. They provided him with no lesser gifts, treasure of the people, than those had done who at his beginning first sent him forth on the waves, a child alone. Then also they set a golden standard high over his head, let the water take him, gave him to the sea. Sad was their spirit, mournful their mind. Men cannot truthfully say who received that cargo, neither counsellors in the hall nor warriors under the skies.]32 According to Niles, the "magnificence of his funeral, with its multitude of treasures gathered from distant lands, befits a life lived in fulfillment of the old heroic ideal."33 Although we can certainly see Scyld's funeral as an affirmation of the Germanic heroic code, certain comments made during the burial scene lead to interesting observations on the perception and function of the figure. As lines 43-46 indicate, Scyld came to the Danes as a lone child in a boat laden with treasure;34 this detail prompts us to question how this abandoned child, who lacked any kinship ties or other support, became leader of the Danes. In his article "Scyld Scefing and the Stirps Regia: Pagan Myth and Christian Kingship in Beowulf," Thomas D. Hill proposes a solution to this query that offers greater insight into the Anglo-Saxon culture and its concerns over kingship. The path to kingship in Anglo-Saxon England was often filled with warfare, as claimants in the individual kingdoms fought almost incessantly for their crown; during a forty-year period in seventh-century East Anglia, for example, five of six kings died violent deaths, either in defending their crowns or in expanding their realrns.35 The story of Scyld Scefing's rise to power subverts this "expected" course. Scyld does not win his place through warfare; although he fights to expand his kingdom, he initially gains his kingdom by being "divinely sent" and by being "willingly and joyously received" by the people. Noting that the Scyld Episode focuses so strongly on Scyld's ascent to power, Hill contends that the prologue really explores the question, "What defines a valid claim to the throne?" Hill's proposal is that the "essential point of the myth is a simple one: true kingship is given, not won." And God is the giver, for the "miracle" of the arrival of Scyld "was granted by the God of the Christians." True kings, then, are descended from this divinely ordained line of Scyld, who started that line himself with his son Beowulf the Dane; the "social significance of this myth is that it provides a charter ... for kingship as the inheritance of the stirps regia of the Scyldings."36

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The initial temptation is to attribute this emphasis on the role of the Christian deity in this otherwise pagan environment to the workings of a Christian author who wanted to proclaim the power of his faith over pagan traditions. Yet another possibility exists for this incorporation of the Christian deity into this Germanic moment, one that depends upon the underlying functions of the distinct figures of Scyld and Scef. What we may be seeing in the combination of the agricultural figure Scef with the warrior figure Scyld is a reworking of the tripartite mythological structure outlined by Georges Dumezil. Dumezil identified three functions in society, "three levels of an already well-known structure": the priests, the warriors, and the cultivators. This "tripartite theological structure ... dates back to the time of the Indo-European community.'037 Each function in society was represented by a deity; in Germanic culture, the functions are often represented by Odin, Thor, and Freyr. More specifically, Odin (and with him Wr) fulfills the "magico-religious (Odin) and contractual (Tyr) aspects" of the first and highest function, the priestly function, whereas "[t]he second function, that of the warrior, is filled by Thor, and the third function, fertility, by Freyr and the other vanir, Njor6r and Freyja."38 According to Dumezil, this "formula [of the three functions and the gods that represent them] so frequently sums up the needs and imaginations of men, in such different circumstances, and in such different parts of the Scandinavian world, that it must be significant."39 Applying the Dumezilian tripartite structure to an analysis of Anglo-Saxon society seems very reasonable, especially since Alfred the Great had made similar observations about the nature of his society a millennium earlier in his translation of Boethius' De Consolatione Philosophiae. In discussing what a king needs for an orderly and productive society, Alfred says, "[H]e sceal habban gebedmen 7 fyrdmen 7 weorcmen" ["He shall have priests and warriors and workers"].4o This passage is, according to Timothy E. Powell, the "first recorded use of the idea of the 'Three Orders' of society in an English context"; some have even considered it "the first use of the idea in medieval Europe,"41 though, as will be discussed shortly, the purpose of Powell's argument is to show that there are earlier manifestations of the representation of social structures in European culture. Powell notes that this passage in Alfred's work is not "in the original Latin of Boethius" and that the formula Alfred offers is "descriptive rather than prescriptive. He is not instructing the three orders in their duties."42 The fact that Alfred added the line of his own accord helps reinforce the point that he is describing his immediate Anglo-Saxon culture; the lines are not Boethius' own commentary about late Roman society. And the fact that Alfred makes observations rather than prescribes rules of behavior reinforces the point that he is describing a society as it already exists, not necessarily as he would like to establish or shape it. In defense of his argument that the tripartite social structure preceded the society of Alfredian England, Powell presents evidence from earlier continental societies that indicates that Alfred was not the first to

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observe the three-part structure of society; other medieval writers made comparable observations about different cultures. For example, Haymo of Auxerre, who wrote during the reign of Charles the Bald (843-877) and died in 866, apparently drew on the seventh-century work of Bishop Isidore of Seville as he described early Roman society as being built upon the "three groups [of] senatores, milites, and agrieolae. Jewish society is described as being similarly divided .... [Haymo] transfers this idea ... to a Christian context by claiming the contemporary equivalent of the pagan classes are saeerdotes, milites, and agrieultores."43 The awareness of the tripartite structure of society among Frankish and other, earlier cultures thus reinforces the point that Dumezil was describing a genuinely widespread social structure. 44 So, as Powell comments, in analyzing the "Three Orders" of society, one "must start of course with Georges Dumezil"; his model describes in very fair terms "how Indo-European peoples saw their own societies ... [and] it remained a potent social force because it was believed to be SO."45 About a century after King Alfred died-that is, at the end of the tenth century-another prominent Anglo-Saxon spoke of the three-fold nature of society. JElfric, the abbot of Eynsham who was "comparable both in the volume of his writings and in the quality of his mind even with Bede himseif,"46 made reference to the societal structure in a letter to his fellow homilist, Wulfstan, the Archbishop of York, and, very clearly, in his sermon on the Maccabees. 47 In that sermon, JElfric comments Is swa-deah to witenne pret on pysre worulde synd preo eudebyrdnysse on annysse gesette • pret synd laboratores • oratores • bellatores • laboratores synd pa pe ume bigleafan beswincad • oratores synd pa de us to gode gedingiad • bellatores synd pa de ure burga healdad • and ume eard be-weriad wid onwinnendne here. Nu swinced se yrdlincg embe ume bigleofan • and se woruld-cempa sceall win nan wid ure fynd and se godes peowa sceall symle for us gebiddan • and feohtan gastlice • wid pa ungesewenlican fynd. [It is, however, to wit, that in this world there are three orders, set in unity, these are-labourers, beadsmen, soldiers. Labourers are they who obtain with toil our subsistence; Beadsmen are they who intercede with God for us; Soldiers are they who protect our towns, and defend our soil against an invading army. Now toils the field-labourer for our subsistence, and the worldly warrior must fight against our enemies, and the servant of God must always pray for us, and fight spiritually against invisible enemies.]48

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As Timothy Powell has noted, "£lfric is not interested in describing societal arrangements for their own sake .... It is actually important for the point £lfric is trying to make that each of the three orders is understood to be filling its own indispensable role and to be bound to the other two orders by mutual (though mutually exclusive) service."49 It thus makes sense to apply Dumezil's formula to this study of Scyld and Scef in Beowulf and in fact to other Scyld and Scef material in general because the evidence supports Dumezil's observations: the Anglo-Saxons, like the other Germanic peoples, recognized that their societies were made up of those who fulfilled specific priestly, warrior, and agricultural functions. At first study, though, it seems that only two of the Dumezilian functions are developed in the Scyld Episode: Scef may be the fertility figure,5o and Scyld may be the warrior figure, but there is no clear figure representing the priestly function; the Dumezilian structure seems not to be in evidence. But the Scyld Episode of Beowulf does make mention of a god embodying the priestly functions: the voice of the poet-as the removed speaker rather than an involved character-refers, in lines 13, 16, and 17, to the Christian god, identified as God, Liffrea ("Lord of Life") and wuldres Wealdend ("Ruler of Heaven"). Perhaps the poet realized that for the Germanic tribes, the "warrior class [had been] established as the religion of the ruling class";51 wanting to recreate the paradigm in a fashion more acceptable to his Christian perspective, the poet has arguably superseded the representations of earthly and physical existence-that is, the martial Scyld and the agricultural Scef-with the presence of a spiritual power, the Christian God. 52 Though this interpretation of the Dumezilian tripartite structure depends upon a conflation of pagan Germanic traditions with Christian belief, such a conflation is not unheard of-certainly not in the poem itself, with its pagan Germanic setting and hero but Christian moralizing, nor in the broader Anglo-Saxon culture that time and again turned to its Germanic roots to express Christian thought. Even the inclusion of material treasures in the burial ship of Scyld would not have undermined the poet's efforts to place his specific spiritual concerns above material ones, for, as Karen Louise Jolly notes, such minglings of tradition did occur in Anglo-Saxon England: "Pagan burial customs included grave goods such as coins, medallions, and other memorabilia that are subsequently found in Christian burials in churches. For example, a grave could be marked with a cross or be clearly placed in a churchyard yet contain within it a person buried with grave goods."53 In an analogous fashion, as will be discussed more fully in Chapter 3, the Anglo-Saxons quite willingly combined their Germanic and Christian roots in their genealogies. As a very specific example of the actual practice of such conflations of traditions, Angus F. Cameron has identified a striking analogue to Scyld's burial that reveals a blend of pagan rituals-a ship burial-with Christian beliefs. Cameron describes how the funeral of Gildas, a sixth-century Christian monk, has some pagan elements. A monk in Brittany, writing some time

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between the ninth and eleventh centuries, thus described the funeral of Gildas: Then he testified to his disciples, saying: I charge you through Christ, my sons, not to contend for the remains of my body; but as soon as I have given up the spirit, bear me away, lay me down in a ship, and under my shoulders place the stone on which I was wont to lie down. Let no one of you remain with me in the ship, but push the ship into the sea, and let it drift whither God willeth. The Lord will provide for me a place of burial, where it shall seem good unto him. I trust in the Lord that, in the day of resurrection, He will cause me, along with others, to rise again. May the God of peace and love be ever with you all. And when they had all said Amen, he gave up the ghost on the 29th of January, an old man and full of days. And his disciples bore his body away, and did as he had directed them.

Cameron makes the following connections between the burial of St. Gildas and the burial of Scyld Scefing: they both gave specific directions that were carried out; both were placed on a ship; both have "treasure" (Gildas' treasure was his "pillow stone"); both were given to God; in both accounts the boat was just set adrift; and in both accounts it is winter. 54 Cameron even goes so far as to argue that the Beowulf poet knew and adapted this account of the funeral of St. Gildas. Although acknowledging the interaction between pagan and Christian practices does open up new levels of understanding for us concerning the Scyld Episode and helps us fit the poem into the tripartite Dumezilian paradigm, there may be even a more comprehensive mythological interpretation, one that encourages a degree of association between the accounts of Scyld and Scef as presented in WidsilJ and Beowulf and also fits a Dumezilian system. Scholars such as Jaan Puhvel have noted "functional shifts and slippages in Germanic theology, with Odin's warlike preoccupations and Thor's impingements on the rain-related concerns of the husbandman."55 The IndoEuropean tripartite formula may not apply so perfectly to Germanic mythology; even Dumezil noted that one can define Germanic mythology in terms of two groups of gods, the "higher lEsir," who are the "masters of magic and lightning," and the "lower Vanir," the "givers of richness and fecundity."56 Germanic myths, or more specifically accounts such as those in the Voluspa, Sktildskapamuil, and Heimskringla, explain that "in a far distant past," the lEsir and the Vanir, who once lived as neighbors, "fought a fierce war, after which the most distinguished Vanir were associated with the lEsir."57 The gods associated with power and strength, represented by Scyld (and including specific Scyld figures, as shall be discussed later), thus became linked with the gods of fertility, represented by the older figure Scef.58 As James Earl has noted, "[T]he myth [of the lEsir and the Vanir] defines the dynamic relations between the agricultural and warrior classes.... War follows upon

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agriculture, but agriculture is prior in time and importance."59 Dumezil cautions us to avoid drawing a correlation between a mythological moment and a specific historical event or otherwise situating a mythic reading in an historical context;60 yet we may note that the rather broad event of the migrations of the Germanic tribes across Europe, driven by the need for land for agriculture and dominated by the wars that won the land, may have served as the source for the composite figure of Scyld Scefing in Beowulf and other Germanic works. Thus the accounts of Scyld and Scef seem to be reminders of a cycle, that agricultural success leads to more people, which leads to the conquering of new lands to feed these people, which leads to the cultivation of more land and continued growth through agriculture. Such a cycle may in fact be noted in the Scyld Episode in the genealogical line Scef-Scyld-Beowulfthe Dane. Many scholars, examining the evidence from Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian genealogies (which are themselves discussed in the following chapters and provided in Part II), believe that this Beowulf should have been Beow (based on the manifestations of Beowa, Beaw, Beo, and Bedwig as found in other works); W. W. Lawrence summarizes the general opinion: "That the name Beowulf occupies the position that Beowa should have in the epic, as son of Scyld, is probably due to the carelessness of a scribe, writing by mistake the similar-sounding and familiar name of the hero of the poem."61 Once this scribal error was accepted, philologists quickly noted that Beow's name was also the Anglo-Saxon noun for "barley, grain"; this word has as an equivalent, the Old Norse word for grain, bygg, and there happens to be a Byggvir in Norse mythology, "a minor god [who was the] servant of Freyr," one of the Vanir.62 It has also been proposed that the word beow / bygg shared a common root with the name of Pekko, a Finnish "spirit of the barley, and of drink"; R. D. Fulk offers the etymology Pekko < Old Norse *beggw- ( ProtoGermanic *beww- ) Old Icelandic bygg and Old English beow, "barley."63 Relying upon the linguistic evidence that associated Beowulf the Dane of line 18 of Beowulf with fertility and fertility figures, Betty Cox argues that the poet introduced "Beow" to remind his readers of the cycles of life; he was "celebrating the glory of life, and the glory of death if it closed a noble life .... A single man may die; indeed, he will surely die-but a successor will come."64 One should not mourn the death of an heroic man because, eventually but surely, he will be followed, just as one should not mourn the end of a harvest because, eventually but surely, the next season will follow. 65 The figures Sceafa of Widsio and Scyld Scefing of Beowulf seem to fill culturally necessary, though variable, functions. Sceafa appears to have been the civilizer of a war-like tribe, ensuring that the most basic needs were met. Scyld Scefing certainly stands as a model king; his story may also have reminded the Anglo-Saxons of God's role in establishing a strong and ordered society. And, by serving as deities representing the warrior and

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agricultural classes, the figures may have fulfilled a more basic mythological function; the account of Scyld Scefing in Beowulf, coupled with the inclusion in WidsiiJ of Scef among other powerful rulers, may have even served as a reminder of how the "conceptual opposition" inherent in the lEsir-Vanir dichotomy was ultimately resolved for "the greatest good of a human society that feels an equal need for protectors of both kinds."66 Although these possible functions are somewhat varied, we can note that at a most basic level these two poems "evoke" the Germanic past. Nicholas Howe has commented that "common to both the [Old Englishllyrics and the more extended narratives is the author's knowledge that he writes from the center of a culture"; the figures of Scyld and Scef are part of that culture, and their inclusion in the poetry of the Anglo-Saxons is one way they sought, in the words of Milton McC. Gatch, "to maintain a Germanic identity by reminding themselves of their ancestry."67 These instances, then, are examples of the Anglo-Saxons' explorations into and attempts to understand and establish the foundations of their culture-issues that will become more apparent as we tum to the AngloSaxon prose genealogies.

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Chapter 3 Sey ld and Seef in English Genealogies of the Anglo-Saxon Period

The genealogies composed during the Anglo-Saxon period of roughly the fifth to the eleventh centuries offer further insight into the various functions of Scyld and Scef. We have references from five different sources: the AngloSaxon Chronicle (specifically the A, B, C, and D versions), Asser's Life of King Alfred, iEthelweard's Chronicle, the Textus Rojfensis, and a "West-Saxon Regnal List from 494 to Reign of iEthelred" found in An Eleventh-Century Anglo-Saxon Illustrated Miscellany. Most of these works make reference to both figures; only the A-text of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Asser's Life of King Alfred mention only one of the two (Scyld).' In these works we are presented with various perspectives on the figures that suggest a variety of functions for the two legendary heroes within Anglo-Saxon culture, especially in matters of fostering political unity and establishing a myth of origins acceptable within the bounds of the Anglo-Saxons' new Christian faith. The presence of Scyld and Scef in the genealogies also serves as "evidence for the perseverance of a sense of Gennanic identity" among the Anglo-Saxons,2 thereby helping us understand the Anglo-Saxons' continuing efforts to maintain a connection with their Gennanic ancestry and cultural foundations. We need first to examine the general structure and purpose of the genealogies before examining the precise references to Scyld and Scef within them. It has long been held that the most important historical account of the Anglo-Saxon period is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Recent scholars, though, have cautioned that the "history" presented in the various manuscripts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle might better be described as the historiographic product of "Alfredian revisionism" that has "the welfare and quite possibly the justification of the state at its foundation.") And such a "revisionist" function seems the case, especially when one considers how the genealogies were used, for the genealogies of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, especially the highly developed one of King iEthelwulf, father of Alfred the Great, seem to have a

31

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greater purpose than simply listing the predecessors of the current monarch. This is the text of that genealogy of iEthelwulf, as found in Annal 855 of the A-text of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (the "Parker Chronicle"): AN .. dccclv. Her h«pne men rerest on Sceapige ofer winter sretun. 7 PY ilcan geare gebocude ~pelwulf cyning teopan d«l his londes ofer al his rice Go to lofe 7 him selfum to ecere ht:lo, 7 py ilcan geare ferde to Rome mid micelre weorpnesse 7 prer was .xii. monap wuniende 7 pa him hamweard for-7 him pa Carl Francna cyning his dohtor geaf him to cuene-7 refter pam to his leodum cuom, 7 hie pres gefregene wrerun. 7 ymb .ii. gear pres 3e he on Francum com he gefor, 7 his lic lip ret Winwres Ecgtanceastre, 7 he ricsode nigonteope healf gear. On se ~pelwulf brehtin'g', Ecgbryht Ealhmunding, Ealhmund Eafing, Eafa Eopping, Eoppa Ingilding; Ingild wres Ines bropur Westseaxna cyninges, pres pe eft ferde to Sancte Petre 7 prer eft his feorh gesealde; 7 hie wreron Cenredes suna, Cenred wres Ceolwalding, Ceolwald Cupaing, Cupa Cupwining, Cup wine' Ceaulining, Ceawlin Cynricing, Cynric Cerdicing, Cerdic Elesing, Elesa Esling, Esla Giwising, Giwis Wiging, Wig Freawining, Freawine Fripogaring, Fripogar Bronding, Brond B«ldreging, B«ldreg Wodening, Woden Fripowalding, Fripuwald Freawining, Frealaf Fripuwulfing, Fripuwulf Finning, Fin Godwulfing, Godwulf Geating, Geat T«twaing, T«twa Beawing, Beaw Sceldwaing, Sceldwea Heremoding, Heremod Itermoning, Itermon Hrapraing, se wres geboren in prere earce, Noe, Lamach, Matusalem, Enoh, Iaered, Maleel, Camon, Enos, Sed, Adam primus homo; et pater noster est Christus, amen. On pa feng'on' ~pel­ wulfes suna twegen to rice, ~pelbald to Wesseaxna rice 7 ~pelbryht to Cantwara rice 7 to Eastseaxna rice 7 to Suprigea 7 to Supseaxna rice, 7 pa ricsode ~pelbald .v. gear. [855. In this year the heathen for the first time wintered in Sheppey. And the same year King lEthelwulf granted the tenth part of his land over all his kingdom by charter for the glory of God and his own eternal salvation. And the same year he proceeded to Rome in great state, and remained there twelve months and then made his way towards home. And Charles, king of the Franks, gave him his daughter as queen, and after that he came to his people and they were glad thereof. And two years after he came from the Franks he died, and his body lies at Winchester, and he reigned eighteen years and a half. And that lEthelwulf was the son of Egbert, the son of Ealhmund, the son of Eafa, the son of Eoppa, the son of Ingeld; Ingeld was the brother ofIne, king of Wessex, who afterwards went to Saint Peter's [Romel and there gave up his life afterwards; and they were the sons of Cenred, and Cenred was the son of Ceolwald, the son of Cutha, the son of Cuthwine, the son of Ceawlin, the son of Cynric, the son of Cerdic, the son of Elesa, the son of Esla, the son of Gewis, the son of Wig, the son of Freawine, the son of Frithugar, the son of Brand, the son of Breldreg, the son of Woden, the son of Frithuwald, the son of Freawine, Frealaf, the son of Frithuwulf, the son of Finn, the son of Godwulf, the son of Geat, the son of Tretwa, the son

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of eaw, the son of Sceldwea, the son of Heremod, the son of Itermon, the son of Hrathra, who was born in the ark: Noah. Lamech, Methuselah, Enoch, Jared, Mahalaleel, Cain an, Enos, Seth, Adam the first man, and our father who is Christ. Amen. And then iEthelwulf's two sons succeeded to the kingdom: iEthelbald to Wessex, and iEthelberht to Kent and to Essex and to Surrey and to Sussex: and then iEthelbald reigned five years.]4

Though it lacks a reference to Scef, the account from the A-text is presented as the model for the genealogy of lEthelwulf because, according to Janet Bately, the A-text seems to be "an independent witness for the textual history of the Chronicle, representing an earlier stage in the evolution of the Chronicle than do the other surviving vernacular manuscripts and sometimes presenting 'better' readings."5 In reviewing this genealogy of lEthelwulf and thus indirectly of his son Alfred, we note first how this particular list, which goes back forty-four generations to Adam, is longer than many other genealogies of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, such as the genealogy of affa found in annal 755, which lists fifteen of his ancestors going back to Woden, or the genealogy of lEscwine from annal 674, which notes only six of his predecessors, stopping at Cerdic, "the founder of the West Saxon kingdom."6 This pedigree of lEthelwulf and Alfred, perhaps modeled upon "the highly articulated genealogical lists ... [of] biblical genealogies," certainly expanded the list of ancestors far beyond what Chambers considered the "nucleus of ... names between Cynric or Cedric and Woden" that had been established in "primitive and heathen times."? Kenneth Sisam in his seminal study "Anglo-Saxon Royal Genealogies" challenges the "primitive" nature of Chambers' core list; he also outlines how generating ancestors older than Woden allowed the genealogist to avoid "producing a conflicting tradition which would raise doubts" concerning the legitimacy of the monarch's claim. 8 By claiming so many heroic Germanic ancestors, a king cemented his right to the throne; such claims and "backward expansions of the Anglo-Saxon king-lists testify to a growing, and constantly changing, need to establish legitimacy through illustrious continental ancestors." It seems no accident that the "genealogical concern reached its fullest flowering" under Alfred, and in fact these "genealogies may be themselves an innovation of [his] reign."9 As the motivating force behind the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Alfred certainly could have taken advantage of the propaganda to cement his perceived manifest right to be "King of England."10 Scholars have recognized other moments where the genealogies of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle seem deliberately shaped to reinforce Alfred's claim to overlordship, especially in the face of any possible Mercian contender. Specifically, one can look at the genealogy of Alfred's grandfather Ecgbryht found in annal 827 (corrected to annal 829) of MS A: that annal lists Ecgbryht as the eighth "Bretwalda," a term generally accepted to mean "ruler of Britain":ll

34

Seyld and See! Her mona apistrode on middes wintres mresseniht. 7 py ilcan geare geeode Ecgbryht cyning Miercna rice 7 al pret be supan Humbre wres, 7 he wres se eahtepa cyning se pe bretwal'd'a wres-rerest Elle Supseaxna cyning se pus micel rice hrefde, se reftera wres Ceawlin Wesseaxna cyning, se pridda wres Epelbryht Cantwara cyning, se feorpa wres R~dwald Eastengla cyning, fifta was Eadwine Norpanhymbra cyning, siexta wres Oswald se refter him ricsode, seofopa wres Oswio Oswaldes bropur, eahtopa wres Ecgbryht Wesseaxna cyning. [In this year (828) there was an eclipse of the moon on Christmas morning. And the same year king Egbert conquered Mercia and all that was south of the Humber, and he was the eighth king to be 'Ruler of Britain': the first to rule so great a kingdom was lElle, king of Sussex; the second was Ceawlin, king of Wessex; the third was lEthelberht, king of Kent; the fourth was Rredwald, king of East Anglia; the fifth was Edwin, king of Northumbria; the sixth was Oswald who reigned after him; the seventh was Oswy, Oswald's brother; the eighth was Egbert, king ofWessex.j12

The lack of any Mercian-even Offa-in this list of rulers suggests a conscious anti-Mercian bias on the part of the chronicler,13 whereas having this accolade of "Bretwalda" bestowed upon so immediate a member of his family only made Alfred appear that much more notable. The genealogy of lEthelwulf appearing shortly thereafter, with its inclusion of the mythical Germanic figures, only intensified Alfred's claims to overlordship, as he is able to present himself as being "descended from a line of which any Germanic chieftain in the Continental homeland or abroad would have been proud."14 The success, however, of such propaganda rested upon the public's awareness of their Germanic heritage and an acceptance of the legendary elements as satisfactory evidence of the validity of Alfred's claim. As Howe has commented, "[A]ny claim to political legitimacy ... could have no force unless the migration [from the Germanic homeland to England] had acquired mythic status in the culture."15 The various Germanic heroes associated with the premigration period-such as Heremod, Beow, and, of course, Scyld and Scef, who all appear beyond the more "recent" figure of Woden in this and other genealogies-must therefore have attained such accepted mythic status. For a further understanding of the Anglo-Saxons' perspective on the heroes of their pagan past, we can tum to the biography of King Alfred written by the Welsh bishop Asser at the end of the ninth century.16 In Chapter 23 of that work, Asser tells an anecdote describing how Alfred, as a boy, memorized a book of Saxon poetry; this detail indicates the continued presence of Germanic poetry (with, presumably, its Germanic themes and characters) into Alfred's day. Antonia Gransden has argued more strongly for the continued importance of such poetry, proposing that certain sections of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, notably these royal genealogies "compiled in Alfred's time," were probably based on "oral traditions, partly in the form of

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epic poems." For a parallel, consider that just as the "Beowulf-poet made his epic spring from a genealogy,"!7 so too did the chroniclers. Asser's biography also reveals that the identification of Alfred with specifically pagan ancestors was apparently not detrimental to his claim to power and perhaps may have been instrumental in confirming his authority. James Campbell reminds us that Asser was certainly an unequivocal supporter of Alfred, making the king "sound not unlike a kind of saint" or even "like a Pope, [like] Gregory the Great."!8 Yet in his genealogy of Alfred, Asser does not hesitate to list as one of Alfred's forefathers a certain Geta "quem ... iamdudum pagani pro deo venerabantur" ["whom the pagans worshipped for a long time as a god"].!9 As Hermann Moisl has observed, "[T]he presence of Woden, Seaxnet and Geat at the beginning of royal dynasties in the genealogical lists shows that these lists incorporate a pre-Christian myth which the English shared with a variety of Continental Germanic peoples"; to Moisl's list we can easily add Scyld and Scef, for the inclusion of the pair stands as a reminder that "the Anglo-Saxons retained tales from their Germanic past and [with them] a lively sense of the fact that, ethnically, their identity was Germanic."zo Yet in the postconversion Anglo-Saxon world, kings were expected to have embraced Christianity, and too strong an identification with the pagan Germanic past would have created a potential paradox. According to Nicholas Howe, in response to this dilemma, the more expansive genealogies explain that the well-known Germanic heroes were actually mortal descendants of the ancient Hebrew patriarchs, thereby "setting this memory of the pagan past within Christian history" and thus "transform[ing] it into a myth of the [present] culture."Z! As Anthony Faulkes explains, Always when such genealogies are recorded by Christian writers, ... the gods that appear in them will have been interpreted euhemeristically, i.e. as great kings or heroes who came to be worshipped as gods after their deaths. Descent from such great and successful men would have been regarded as a claim to nobility, while heathen gods themselves could hardly have been regarded with anything but abhorrence. Since the gods in genealogies were considered to have been really mortals, there was moreover felt to be no inappropriateness in continuing the genealogical lists back beyond them. 22

Bede, in his eighth-century Ecclesiastical History of the English People, did not hesitate to acknowledge Woden's position at the head of several royal genealogies, though he considered the Germanic gods "no more than deified heroes."z3 So too did JElfric in the eleventh century, who explained the nature and origins of the pagan gods in his sermon "De Falsis Diis": Git pa, pa hlfpenan noldon beon gehealdene on swa feawum godum, ac fengon to wuroianne mislice entas and men him to godum,

36

Scyld and Sce! pa pe mihtige Wleron on woruldlicum gepinc6um, and egefulle on life, peah pe hy [leofodon] fUllice. 24 [Yet then, the heathens did not wish to be retaining so few gods, but they took for themselves for worshipping various giants and men as gods, those who were mighty in earthly offices, and inspiring awe in life, although they lived shamefully.]

lElfric then goes on to explain that Saturn was a human being, as were Jove, Juno, Minerva, Venus, and the other classical gods; the heathens, lElfric asserts, "worhton him to godum" ["wrought them into gods"].25 However, though the Anglo-Saxon religious leaders may have wished otherwise, the general populace apparently could not completely abandon the Germanic gods, for they were too much a part of the Anglo-Saxons' cultural traditions. They continued to find a place for the ancient gods in their history, though in a constructed history redefined by a Christian interpretation of the past. The final result is that with these consciously crafted genealogies, the AngloSaxons allowed themselves to be "assimilated to the larger Judeo-Christian kin-group and ... integrated into its history: in short, they [were] welcomed to the family."26 Because of such restructuring of the past, kings like lEthelwulf and (especially) Alfred thus become doubly qualified: they could claim descent from both great Germanic heroes and important biblical figures and thereby be supported both by the people's cultural memory and by their more recently established religious beliefs. This simultaneous acceptance of the pagan Germanic and Christian elements within Anglo-Saxon culture became so much a part of tradition that even later genealogies and regnal lists such as those in the Textus Roffensis and An Eleventh-Century Anglo-Saxon Illustrated Miscellany-written centuries after the Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity-maintained the presence of both Germanic heroes and JudeoChristian patriarchs. 27 With this background discussion of the structure and multiple purposes of the Anglo-Saxon genealogies completed, we may now tum to the role of Scyld and Scef within those genealogies. If we accept the perspective of scholars such as David N. Dumville, who has argued that genealogies were "powerful propaganda weapon[s]" used by "ruling dynasties to present the past (and, by implication, the future) in terms of their own history," and Timothy E. Powell, who acknowledges that "[Alfred] was a skilled propagandist ... [who] was anxious to make sure the world knew of [his achievements],"28 then the inclusion of Scyld and Scef figures within such genealogies suggests that the chronicler assigned to these characters some importance, some way that their presence could advance a king's position. And in fact these two legendary heroes, who always appear deep in the genealogy, just before the list of ancestors turns from the ancient Germanic rulers to biblical forefathers, do seem to serve, in different ways and to

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different degrees, the dual purposes of advancing the authority of the king and establishing the link between the Germanic past and the Judeo-Christian traditions. (See Table 1 for a list of Anglo-Saxon prose works mentioning Scyld and or Scef figures.) In these genealogies, Scyld is always a descendant of Scef, but only once-in lEthelweard's Chronicle-is he the immediate son of Scef; elsewhere he is the son of Heremod, several generations removed from Scef. Unlike Scef, about whom several chroniclers make various comments, Scyld appears only as a name within a longer list. Yet even his presence alone suggests a deeper resonance. As Frank has noted, "The expansion backwards to Scyld, eponymous ancestor of the Danish Scyldings, marks what looks like a new social reality, the integration of Dane and Englishman in one kingdom."29 Interestingly, the West-Saxon lists all name Scyld as a predecessor of Woden; such an order is in direct contrast to several Scandinavian accounts that, as will be discussed in Chapter 5, clearly list Scyld as a son of Woden (or Odin). Because of this lack of agreement in the records, Chambers finds "it impossible that their [Scyld's and Scef's] position in the pedigree can go back to heathen time. Those who believed in Woden as a god can hardly have believed at the same time that he was a descendant of the Danish king Scyld"; the Anglo-Saxon genealogies must therefore be a creation of "Christian times."3o As such, the presence of a hero like Scyld stands as evidence of the Anglo-Saxons' simultaneous effort to acknowledge their Germanic past even as they linked that past and themselves to the Judeo-Christian family.JI Although they speak little of Scyld, the genealogies reveal interesting points regarding Scef. As noted, Scef is not found in either Asser or the Atext of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; the latter fact has, according to Chambers, encouraged some scholars to argue that "when that [Chronicle] MS was written (c. 892), [Scef] had not yet been invented," though Chambers counters that based on references to him in "allied pedigrees, which are known to be derived independently," Scef clearly retains his status as a separate figure at least as ancient as Scyld. 32 And certainly Scef does appear in all the other records with a Scyld figure, and always with some details about his origins. Table 1 Anglo-Saxon Prose Genealogies and Regnal Lists Mentioning Scyld and/or Scef Figures, in Approximate Chronological Order Date (century) Ninth to twelfth Ninth (893?) Late tenth! early eleventh Eleventh Twelfth

Source The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Asser, Life of King Alfred lEthelweard, Chronicon -Ethelweardi "West-Saxon Regnal List from 494 to Reign of lEthelred" Textus Roffensis

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Seyld and See!

The B-text of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, for example, includes this reference, taken from the genealogy of lEthelwulf in 855: ... Geata Tretwaing, Tretwa Beawing, Beaw Sceldweaing, Scyldwa Heremoding, Heremod Itermoning, Itermon Ha()raing, Ha()ra Hwalaing, Hwala Bedwiging, Bedwig Sceafing; d est filius Noe, se wres geboren on )Jrere earce Noes .... [... Geat, the son of Tretwa, the son of Beaw, the son of Sceldwea, the son of Heremod, the son of ltermon, the son of Hathra, the son of Hwala, the son of Bedwig, the son of Sceaf, who is the son of Noah and was born in Noah's ark .... ]33

Although they do have their individual variations, the A-, B-, C-, and D-texts essentially follow the same pattem. 34 Of primary importance here is that in this and every Anglo-Saxon genealogy that mentions him, except for lEthelweard's Chronicle, Scefis the son of Noah, "born in the ark." As scholars are quick to point out, though, the Bible tells of only three sons of Noah-Sem, Iafeth, and Ham35-not four. Thomas D. Hill has explored this matter and proposes that "[t]aced with the absence of any specific biblical text which might authorize the status of their kings, Anglo-Saxon antiquarians were forced to improvise ... [and draw upon] the notion that Noe had a fourth son, whom the Bible does not mention, [an idea] which did have some currency in Christian and Jewish apocryphal literature." This "fourth son of Noe ... was created to fill some special role for which the biblical sons of Noe were not eligible." He seems rather to be connected through his own son, Jonitus, with the first king, Nimrod; thus this fourth son is linked to the greater institution of kingship.36 And the Anglo-Saxons apparently found it easy to connect this already recognized fourth son of Noah with their own cultural hero Scef; after all, Scef (or his son Scyld) was, according to a variety of records and traditions (such as Beowulf and lEthelweard's Chronicle), brought by a boat over the water, just as the son of Noah would have been. Knowing this association helps us better appreciate the multiple dimensions of Scef, for he has been made to stand prominently as the founder of the Germanic tribes and also as the crucial link to the Judeo-Christian tradition. In his Chronicle, lEthelweard, the "first layman to write history in England,"37 offers another perspective on the place of Scef as the founder of the Germanic peoples. lEthelweard, "himself a descendant of [Alfred's father] lEthelwulf [whose] interest in family matters was considerable," was an "ealdorman ... prominent in the affairs of Wessex at the time of lEthelred the Unready" at the end of the tenth and the beginning of the eleventh centuries. 38 Using several sources, including the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Bede, lEthelweard, in "grammatical but dreadful" Latin, wrote his account of history from the creation of the world to 975. 39 His work influenced the

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twelfth-century Anglo-Norman chronicler William of Malmesbury, noticeably concerning a particular account of Scef that in strong ways parallels the Scyld Episode of Beowulf. The crucial moment of lEthelweard's genealogy of lEthelwulf reads as follows, from the list of "fathers" of Cerdic: ... nonus Vuothen, decimus Frithouuald, undecimus Frealaf, ... septimus decimus Beo, octauus decimus Scyld, nonus decimus Scef. Ipse Scef cum uno dromone aduectus est in insula oceani que dicitur Scani, armis circundatus, eratque ualde recens puer, et ab incolis illius terrle ignotus. Attamen ab eis suscipitur, et ut familiarem diligenti animo eum custodierunt, et post in regem eligunt; de cuius prosapia ordinem trahit A3ulf rex. [(Cerdic's) ninth (father was) Woden, his tenth Frithowald, his eleventh Frealaf, his twelfth Frithowulf, his thirteenth Fin, his fourteenth Godwulf, his fifteenth Geat, his sixteenth Tetwa, his seventeenth Beow, his eighteenth Scyld, his nineteenth Sceaf. And this Sceaf arrived with one light ship in the island of the ocean which is called Skaney, with arms all round him. He was a very young boy, and unknown to the people of that land, but he was received by them, and they guarded him with diligent attention as one who belonged to them, and elected him king. From his family King lEthelwulf derived his descenLj40

In examining this passage we should note certain things. First, Scef is the oldest ancestor; no one, pagan or Christian, stands above him in the genealogy. Scef-the agricultural figure, as inferred by his name and supported by his roles in the Anglo-Saxon verse-thus stands as the founder of the culture. Yet the story also seems reminiscent of the Scyld Episode of Beowulf in that the hero comes as a child over the water to a Germanic people on the island of Skaney, a region Chambers identified as "the south of Sweden" or the "Danish islands,"41 and eventually becomes their leader; the hero, however, is clearly Scef and not Scyld. Additionally, this agricultural figure Scef comes surrounded by weapons; such martial elements might prompt one to mislabel him as the warrior figure. 42 Still, this combination of the warrior with the agricultural-the weapons with the hero whose name links him with fertility-also reminds us of what the account of Scyld Scefing in Beowulf suggests: that war and agricultural success are linked, that the population growth that comes from effective husbandry will lead to a need to attain more land, most probably through warfare. 43 As the accounts of lEthelweard and the other chroniclers indicate, Scef-the agricultural figure-is the most ancient strictly Germanic ancestor. His position here at the origins of Germanic culture suggests, as it did in WidsiIJ, that the need to establish a constant source of sustenance through the cultivation of the land was the prime concern of these Germanic people. But the development of successful agricultural practices and the subsequent

40

Seyld and Seef

widening of the margin between life and death led to population increases that necessitated expanding tribal lands through war. And in fact, between the fourth and sixth centuries, many Germanic tribes, faced with food shortages and hungry for land to cultivate, migrated across Europe, fighting those, like the Romans, who occupied land they wanted. 44 lEthelweard's account of the fertility figure Scef who came with tools of war may provide a metaphoric reminder of success in agriculture as a cause of war, thereby stressing that "agriculture is prior in time and importance" to war.45 There is one other dimension to the study of Scyld and Scef in the Anglo-Saxon genealogies that ought to be addressed: how some scholars have focused on the presence of Scyld and Scef within the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Asser's Life of Alfred, and lEthelweard's Chronicle in their efforts to assign a date to the composition of the poem Beowulf. The dating of Beowulf is a complicated, long-enduring issue, and it is not the goal of this study of Scyld and Scef analogues to seek to resolve that question. But it is worth briefly noting some of the ways Scyld and Scef have been brought into the argument. For example, Audrey Meaney argues that Beowulf-or at least the Scyld Episode-was composed in the reign of lEthelstan (925-955) in part because of the role of Scyld and Scef: she points to their presence in the genealogies of the ninth century, she points to the fact that the "earliest text in which the Danes are called Scyldings ... is the anonymous Historia de Saneto Cuthberto (chs. 11,12), first compiled in Chester-Ie-Street about 945," and she points to the corroboration between the West-Saxon pedigree of lEthelweard's Chronicle (dated e. 1000) and that of Hrothgar in Beowulf.46 Sam Newton likewise focuses on the perceived connection between the Chronicle of lEthelweard and Beowulf as well as the nature of the Scylding dynasty in general, although he reaches the conclusion that the poem "could have been composed in East Anglia during King lElfwald's reign (ca. 713-749)."47 Roberta Frank points to references to the Scyldings in skaldic poetry as she suggests a date of composition between 890 and 950, and Alexander Callander Murray, examining the genealogies of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and lEthelweard's Chronicle, reaches similar conclusions regarding the date for the poem's composition.48 Yet Kevin Kiernan argues that the poem's celebration of the Scylding, i.e., Danish, royal line (as seen in the Scyld Episode) places the composition of the poem in the eleventh century, or specifically during the reign of the Anglo-Danish king Cnut 0016-1035).49 We can thus see that the presence of Scyld and Scef has been used to argue for a range of dates for the composition of Beowulf: the eighth century, as the heroes seem so ancient; the ninth or tenth century, as the heroes appear in genealogies of the time; or the eleventh century, as the heroes appear to celebrate a purely Danish ruling faction. Just as with so many factors brought into the discussion of the date of Beowulf, Scyld and Scef complicate rather than resolve the matter. Yet

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what is consistent about the interpretations is the way the two heroes are perceived to playa part in the ongoing process of the creation of a national past, whether that past was 400 years or 700 years (or some other length of time) before the genesis of the poem. Like the study of their roles in Beowulf and Widsio, this study of the presence of Scyld and Scef in the prose genealogies of the Anglo-Saxon period has led to a discussion of the figures' functions in the Anglo-Saxons' search for a fuller explanation of their cultural origins. With these pedigrees the Anglo-Saxons had, "in accordance with the principle of divine sponsorship of kings and with a sharp awareness of historical necessity in succession,"50 defined themselves as being descended from both pagan Germanic heroes and Judeo-Christian patriarchs. The two figures, especially Scef, played a role in this clarification of origins, and their presence helped to allow the Anglo-Saxons to "think of themselves as a Christian people," although with a "sense of identity ... shaped by their memory of migration" from the Germanic lands and their pagan heritage. 51 This dual-natured origin, so reflective of the Anglo-Saxons' awareness of and reverence for their own past, became an important aspect of their traditions, enduring beyond the arrival of the Normans and even, as will be seen in the next chapter, influencing the interpretation and presentation of the past by those who came centuries later.

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Chapter 4 Scy ld and Scef in English Records of the Twelfth through Fifteenth Centuries

Certainly in the centuries between the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, the shape of England changed significantly as the Anglo-Norman culture supplanted certain aspects of the AngloSaxon culture, especially in terms of social construction. Yet although we note the general decline of the impact of Anglo-Saxon culture, we must also note that particular elements persisted. I Among these are the figures of Scyld and Scef, who continued to appear in the genealogies and historical records of England. The fact that the Anglo-Norman historians of the late eleventh to mid-thirteenth centuries shaped their genealogies to include these two figures as well as other Germanic heroes indicates that the conquering Normans were also mindful of their Germanic heritage-a heritage that they shared, in their cultural memory, with the conquered native English, for the Normans were of course also of Germanic stock. Records such as William of Malmesbury's account of Scef clarify that the legends surrounding the figures both were adopted and adapted by later writers, as the stories continued to grow and change. But most of all, the references to Scyld and Scef in the various chronicles from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries reveal how later writers in England, just like their Anglo-Saxon predecessors, looked to their past for an understanding of who they were as they likewise shaped a myth of their foundations. (See Table 2 for a list, in approximate chronological order, of all later medieval sources from England mentioning Scyld and/or Scef figures.) Before discussing the accounts that refer to either Scyld or Scef figures, it is worth noting some difficulties inherent in the study of medieval chronicles. As is the case with the examination of many other medieval works, often scholars cannot precisely determine who recorded a particular chronicle; they make reasonable inferences, but sometimes their identifications prove tenuous. The dating of chronicles presents another difficulty; although

43

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Seyld and See!

the chronicle itself occasionally provides clues-the last events recorded usually indicate the earliest possible date of final compilation-scholars usually have to be content with proposing a loose date, such as "early twelfth century." The case of the chronicle of Worcester, entitled the Chronieon ex Chronieis, illustrates these problems. This chronicle was long thought to be primarily the work of a certain "Florence," a monk who, as the Chronieon ex Chronieis reports, was responsible for the work until his death in 1118 (and who was apparently admired in his own time for his diligence and intelligence).2 Subsequent scholars took a slightly different stance; they decided Florence was only the author of part of the Chronieon ex Chronieis and asserted that the rest of the entries were "two continuations, one to the year 1141, ... the other to the year 1295" written respectively by a later monk, John, and an unknown scribe copying the work of Henry of Huntingdon. 3 Later scholars, however, have believed otherwise; R. R. Darlington and P. McGurk have noted both the lack of a "break in style and approach ... after 1118" and the inclusion of material "which could not have been inserted before 1123." Such evidence suggests to Antonia Gransden that the "extant Worcester chronicle is the work of John, writing from about 1124 to 1140, and that he used material collected by the assiduous Florence.,,4 Gransden's conclusions about the authorship of the Worcester chronicle have been accepted, so that Florence has now been completely supplanted by John. Such an example illustrates how it can prove difficult to determine the precise identity of any chronicler or the exact date of his compilation. Fortunately, such problems do not affect this study; here it is sufficient to note only Table 2 English Sources of the Twelfth to Fifteenth Centuries Mentioning Scyld and/or Scef Figures, in Approximate Chronological Order Date (century) Twelfth Twelfth Twelfth Twelfth Thirteenth Thirteenth Thirteenth Thirteenth Thirteenth Fourteenth Fourteenth Fourteenth Fourteenth Fifteenth

Source William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum John of Worcester, Chronicon ex Chronicis Simeon of Durham, Historia Regum Roger of Hoveden, Chronica Magistri Roger of Wendover, Libri qui dicitur Flores Historiarum Matthew Paris, Chronica Majora Matthew Paris, Historia Anglorum The Red Book of the Exchequer Bartholomew of Cotton, Historia Anglicana (AD 449-1298) Chronica Buriensis (The Chronicle of Bury St. Edmunds) Matthew of Westminster, Flores Historiarum Richard of Cirencester, Speculum Historiale de gestis regum Angliae Eulogium Historiarum sive Temporibus A Chronicle Ro11 of Henry VI

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that the material in the Worcester chronicle pertinent to an examination of Scyld and Scef was compiled in the early twelfth century. Just as it proves difficult to be precise about the author and date of any chronicle, so too is it difficult to chart the patterns of progression in the genealogies that feature Scyld or Scefthrough the Middle English period, for the routes of textual transmission are ambiguous. Such an attempt, however, is profitable, for there are discernible patterns; we can, to some degree, get a sense of who borrowed from whom, or which chronicles were used by which copyists. Asser's Life of King Alfred appears to have been a popular source for several early chroniclers of the post-Anglo-Saxon period; their use of Asser is of especial importance for understanding the transmission and adaptation of the Scyld and Scef material, for later historians often incorporated Asser's genealogy of Alfred (through an intermediary source), and in doing so mention Scyld. The relevant portion of the genealogy of Alfred from the twelfth-century Worcester chronicle, whose author utilized not only Asser but also Bede's Ecclesiastical History and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,S reads as follows: ... Woden, qui fuit Frithouuald, qui fuit Frealaf, qui fuit Frithuwulf, qui fuit Fingolduulf, qui fuit Geata, quem Getam iamdudum pagani pro deo uenerabantur, qui fuit Cretuua, qui fuit Beauu, qui fuit Scelduuea, qui fuit Heremod, qui fuit Itermod, qui fuit Hathra, qui fuit Wala, qui fuit Beaduuig, qui fuit Sem, qui fuit Noe .... [... Woden, son of Frithuwald, son of Frealaf, son of Frithuwulf, son of Fingoldwulf, son of Geata-that Geta whom the heathens once venerated as a god-son of Tretwa, son of Beaw, son of Sceldwa, son of Heremod, son of Itermod, son of Hathra, son of Hwala, son of Bedwig, son of Shem, son of Noah .... )6

The Durham chronicler, ostensibly identified as a certain Simeon, a monk who lived in the early twelfth century and who may have been present at the "translation of St. Cuthbert in 1104," apparently borrowed from this Worcester chronicle, using it as a basis for the years 848 to 1118; the Durham chronicler, though, seems also to have known Asser's work independently, using it liberally in his chronicle.? The genealogy of King Alfred found in the Durham chronicle reflects the influence of Asser, especially with the parallel reference to the Carmen Paschale of Caelius Sedulius, the fifth-century Christian Roman poet 8 ... Woden, qui fuit Frithuwald, qui fuit Frealaf, qui fuit Fridrenwulf, qui fuit Geta, quem ... jam dudum pagani pro Deo venerabantur. Cujus Sedulius poeta insignis mentionem faciens in Pascali ... cannine, ita exorsus est.

46

Seyld and See! Cum sua Gentiles studeant figmenta poetre Grandisonis pompare modis tragicoque boatu Ridiculove Getre seu qualibet arte canendi, etc. Qui Geta fuit Cetwa, qui fuit Beaw, qui fuit Seldwa, qui fuit Heremod, qui fuit Itermod, qui fuit Hatra, qui fuit Wala, qui fuit Bedwig, qui fuit Sem, qui fuit Noe .... 9 [... Woden, who was the son of Frithuwald, who was of Frealaf, who was of Fridrenwulf, who was of Geta, whom the pagans for a long time worshiped as a God. Sedulius, the notable poet, making a mention of him in the Cannen Paschale, thus began: Since Gentile poets desired in their creations to strut either in lofty rhythms and in tragic lamentation, or with ridiculous Geta, or in any way of the art of singing, etc. Geat was the son of Cetwa, who was of Beaw, who was of Seldwa, who was of Heremod, who was of Itermod, who was of Hathra, who was of Wala, who was of Bedwig, who was of Shem, who was of Noah .... J

We can first note the inclusion of part of Sedulius' poem found in Asser but not in the Worcester chronicle; its presence and other details found in the Durham chronicle but not the Worcester chronicle suggest a "lost version of Asser, which may have been written in about 900."10 But not all later medieval English historians included the poem; it is not, for example, part of the genealogy found in the Chroniea Magistri of Roger of Hoveden (somtimes spelled Howden), a Yorkshire clerk who borrowed from the Durham chronicler, among others.lI In regards to the pedigree of Alfred, Hoveden's chronicle from the very end of the twelfth century seems more like the Worcester chronicle, for he omits the poem found in Asser. Yet Hoveden, like the Durham chronicler, offers a new interpretation of the figure "Geat." Asser identifies Geat as the father of Godwulf and son of Tetwa and also claims that Geat was once venerated as a god. Yet after making such a statement, Asser clearly confuses Geat with another figure, a certain Geta, equating the two as he quotes from the Cannen Paschale of Sedulius. Asser has thus introduced two figures, though he seems to consider them the same. The Worcester chronicler follows suit, yet both Simeon of Durham and Roger of Hoveden eliminate Geat, making Geta both the once-deified figure and the father of Godwulf and son of Tetwa (or Cetwa). (SeePart II for the text and translation of Roger of Hoveden's chronicle.) Within the wtitings of this one century, then, we can identify patterns of borrowing at several different levels; sometimes chroniclers used previous sources directly, and sometimes indirectly; sometimes they seem completely indebted to one source, and sometimes it is

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more obvious that they picked and chose from various sources. And thus we simply cannot determine consistently, precisely, or accurately where one chronicler got his information. Charting the progression of Alfred's genealogy and its reference to Scy ld and Scef through later chronicles is also generally confusing, but again certain paths may be followed-some more easily than others. For example, the sources for one historian, John de Taxter, can be identified fairly directly. De Taxter was the first of three monks responsible for the Chronica Buriensis (the Chronicle of Bury St. Edmunds), which continues through the year 1301; de Taxter himself, though, wrote in the thirteenth century (which is why his work is discussed at this point). He lifted most of the material for his section-Creation to 1265-nearly verbatim from his sources; only the material after 1212 is original. Of interest for this study, de Taxter clearly borrowed the genealogy of Alfred (and indeed most everything up to 1131) from John of Worcester, although, according to Antonia Gransden, one version of the Chronica Buriensis (Harley 1132, also known as the Colchester chronicle) acknowledges its debt to William of Malmesbury when telling the story of Scef.12 (The relevant portions of the Chronica Buriensis can be found in Part II.) Also in the thirteenth century, Roger of Wendover, working at St. Albans monastery, utilized the work of Roger of Hoveden in preparing his Flores Historiarum,13 although he mentions the genealogy of Alfred in a different context, as will be discussed below. This chronicle, in tum, was borrowed by Matthew Paris, a prolific chronicler (and illustrator) and Wendover's immediate successor at St. Albans.14 In his best known work, entitled Chronica Majora, Paris "revised and continued Roger's Flowers of History, ... adding new documents to those the older man had used, and between 1236 and his own death in 1259 writing up entirely out of his own collection of material a record unparalleled in scope"; the work covered the history of all Europe, not just of England. 15 In the Chronica Majora, he made two important changes concerning the genealogy mentioning Scyld. First, he reshaped the pedigree of Offa, the famous king of Mercia (757-796), to include the same early Germanic ancestors such as Geat and Scyld as found in the "accepted" genealogies of Alfred. In fact, when creating this "new" genealogy of Offa, Paris directly copied the entire pre-Woden portion of Alfred's genealogy, even including the excerpt from Sedulius' Cannen Paschale, thereby adopting the pedigree found first in Asser's Life and reproduced later (though in slightly altered forms) in various sources, including the Worcester and Durham chronicles. (The text and translation of Matthew Paris' genealogy of Offa are provided in Part II.) Adding Alfred's heroic Germanic ancestors to Offa's list suggests that Paris considered Offa and Alfred more as equals, that they were both worthy of having essentially the same distinguished pedigree, that the two celebrated rulers must have been of the same stoCk. 16 In building upon Paris' Chronica Majora, two later chroniclers,

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Richard of Cirencester and Matthew of Westminster, likewise gave Alfred and Offa very similar genealogies. The second major change Matthew Paris made concerning the accounts of Scyld and Scef in his Chronica Majora was to graft the story of the arrival of "Scaf," lifted from his source William of Malmesbury (but first found in lEthelweard's Chronicle), to his genealogy of Alfred.17 Matthew Paris, in effect, harmonized the accounts of Alfred's genealogy found in Asser and lEthelweard, creating a unified record that was much more extended than those of other chroniclers like the late twelfth-century Gervase of Canterbury, who ends his genealogy of the Wessex line with Woden.ls However, Paris altered the presentation of Scyld (and removed the reference to Scef) in a later work, the Historia Anglorum (also known as the Historia Minor), an abbreviated version of Chronica Majora. In this shorter work, Scyld, as "Sceldwa," appears in a genealogy of Henry III. (Scyld appears similarly in the history of Roger of Wendover.) This later work of Matthew Paris will be discussed in greater detail below. Later historians, basing their chronicles for the most part on Matthew Paris' Chronica Majora, perpetuated his "hybrid" genealogy apparently created from the genealogies in Asser's and lEthelweard's works. Bartholomew of Cotton, a "monk of Norwich ... [who] did not survive the year 1298," brings together the poem found in Asser's Life of King Alfred and the story of Scef found in lEthelweard's Chronicle in his pedigree of Alfred, although he adds a unique feature to that genealogy; Bartholomew inserts Horsa and Hengest as grandsons of Woden, adding the two well-recognized early English heroes to the god- and hero-laden genealogy.19 Matthew of Westminster (fl. early fourteenth century) and Richard of Cirencester (d. 1400 or 1401), as noted above, utilized Matthew Paris' work, including inserting Scyld into their respective pedigrees of Offa and using the same form of the genealogy of Alfred. 20 We can thus trace the spread and use of the genealogies mentioning Scyld and Scef, and although the patterns sometimes suggest that later historians included the Germanic heroes primarily because their authoritative sources had done so, we must acknowledge that at least in these records, although some heroes fell out of the genealogies, the presence of Scyld and Scef was maintained. Many of these later English chronicles, though, did make what might be considered a "correction" to the genealogies. John of Worcester, Simeon of Durham, Roger of Wendover, Roger of Hoveden, and the writer of The Red Book of the Exchequer all moved Scef out of the ark, replacing him with a "legitimate" son of Noah, Shem (or Sem, as named in the Vulgate and in the sources). Matthew Paris, Richard of Cirencester, and Matthew of Westminster similarly replace Scef with Shem in the ark in their genealogies of Offa, but in their pedigrees of Alfred they include such a Scef figure, telling a story about Scef's origins that is taken most clearly from William of Malmesbury's twefth-century Gesta Regum Anglorum. Yet William's account is not entirely

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reproduced. William places "Strefius" (or "Streph") in the ark, as does a later work modeled on the Gesta Regum Anglorum, the Eulogium Historiarum sive Temporihus of the fourteenth century. (The Eulogium's Stresius appears ro be a misreading of William's Strefius.) Both do, however, also include a clear and distinct Scef figure who, as is the case in so many pedigrees that mention him, rules over "Old Anglia."21 And in both, this identifiable Scef figure is the father of Scyld, although in the two accounts he is also the son of Heremod, a position occasionally occupied by Scyld (as seen in the AngloSaxon Chronicle, Asser's Life of King Alfred, the Worcester and Durham chronicles, etc.). The individual born in the ark-Strefius or Stresius-is the father of Bedwig, whereas in other accounts, we sometimes find Scef as the father of Bedwig. In short, one might make the case that Strefius/Stresius ought to be reread as Scef, that the figures are identical; certainly Mynors, Thomson, and Winterbottom-the editors of the 1998 edition of William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum Anglorum-think so, as they equate the two in their index. 22 We could apply the logic of Kenneth Sisam, who once postulated that "a careless scribe may have substituted Seth for Sceaf" in the same position in Asser's genealogy and thus suggested a rereading of the name,23 and thereby change the identities of the figures to meet expected norms. Doing so, though, would mean having two Scef figures in one account; as this happens in no other account, I prefer to leave these figures as named within their works-Strefius and Stresius. 24 On the whole, the chronicles of the post-Anglo-Saxon period seem to lack the political motivation we can detect in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Asser's Life of King Alfred, and iEthelweard's Chronicle. But several chronicles do appear to serve as propaganda. The Worcester Chronicle, for one, has "a pro-English bias" and "contrasts William Rufus unfavourably with the Anglo-Saxon kings."25 More strikingly for this study, the genealogies of Henry II found in Roger of Wendover's Flores Historiarum and Matthew Paris' Historia Anglorum and of Henry III found in The Red Book of the Exchequer2 6 seem to have been shaped specifically to substantiate and emphasize the Germanic heritage of the two Anglo-Norman monarchs. The relevant text of Wendover's Flores Historiarum reads as follows: Anno Domini MCLV. natus est Londoniis pridie Kalendas Martii Henrico, novo Anglorum regi, ex regina Alienor filius legitimus et vocatus est Henricus. Fuit autem magnificus rex Henricus filius Matildis, qua: prius fuerat imperatrix Romanorum et postea comitissa Andegavensium; cujus mater fuit Matildis, regina Anglorum, uxor Henrici regis primi et filia sancta: Margareta: Scotorum regina:; Margareta filia fuit Eadwardi, quam genu it ex Agatha sorore Henrici imperatoris Romani; Eadwardus fuit filius regis Eadmundi, qui Latus-ferreum dicebatur, cujus pater rex Ethelredus, cujus pater rex Eadgarus pacificus, cujus pater Eadmundus, cujus pater Eadwardus

50

Seyld and Seef senior, cujus pater nobilis rex Alfredus, qui fuit regis Athulfi ... qui fuit Woden, qui fuit Fretewald, qui fuit Freolater, qui fuit Frethewlf, qui fuit Fringolduff, qui fuit Getha, qui fuit Tatwa, qui fuit Beau, qui fuit Seldwa, qui fuit Heremod, qui fuit Itermod, qui fuit Hathra, qui fuit Wala, qui fuit Bedwi, qui fuit Sem, qui fuit Noe .... 27 [In the year of the Lord 1155 on the day before March first, in London, a legitimate son was born to Henry [the second], the new king of the English, by Queen Eleanor, and he was called Henry.28 The magnificent king Henry was moreover the son of Matilda, who previously had been the empress of the Romans and afterwards the countess of Anjou; whose mother was Matilda, queen of the English, wife of King Henry I and daughter of St. Margaret, Queen of the Scots; Margaret was the daughter of Edward, whom he begat upon Agatha the sister of Henry, emperor of the Romans; Edward was the son of King Edmund, who used to be called Ironside, whose father was King ,4:thelred, whose father was King Edgar the Peaceful, whose father was Edmund, whose father was Edward the elder, whose father was the celebrated King Alfred, whose father was King ,4:thelwulf ... who was of Woden, who was of Fretewald, who was of Freolater, who was of Frethewulf, who was of Fringoldulf, who was of Geat, who was of Tatwa, who was of Beaw, who was of Seldwa, who was of Heremod, who was of Itermod, who was of Hathra, who was of Wala, who was of Bedwig, who was of Shem, who was of Noah .... ]

The genealogy within Matthew Paris' Historia Anglorum follows the same pattern as the one in Wendover's work, although Paris added some elements to the life of the first Matilda. These two pedigrees differ from that of Henry III in The Red Book of the Exchequer not only in that they focus on the earlier king but also in terms of such particular details at the start of the list. (The pedigrees of Henry II from Matthew Paris' Historia Anglorum and of Henry III from The Red Book of the Exchequer are provided in Part II.) But in all three, these chroniclers of the Anglo-Norman monarch Henry II or of his descendant indicated that their present leaders were actually descended from the same Germanic roots as the conquered Anglo-Saxons. Although the initial reaction might be to see the Norman chroniclers' actions as propaganda to support their leaders' claims to power, we must realize that the genealogies were created a century or more after the Norman Conquest; Roger of Wendover worked on his Flores Historiarum "after 1204 and possibly as late as 1231," and The Red Book dates from closer to 1250. 29 These records thus reinforce how, over time, the Normans of the continent and the Normans of the island had become more than just physically separated; according to R. H. C. Davis, the economic and social differences grew so strong that "[b]y the end of the twelfth century the Normans in England were ceasing to call themselves Normans." Ironically, their victory over the English in 1066, in

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which the Normans had "reached their acme and fulfilled themselves," actually "turned them into Englishmen." So, Davis asserts, to establish their new cultural identity, the Anglo-Normans projected themselves into the past and identified themselves with the preNorman history of England. Both imaginatively and materially that history was very much richer than the pre-Norman history of Normandy and it already had a copious literature. The Normans adopted it as the history of the land, and made the land their own .... 30

Certainly politics had something to do with the Normans' new English identity; relationships between England and France had become more tense in the later twelfth century. In 1202 King John of England declared he was no longer vassal to King Philip of France; Philip's response was to attack lands held in France by Anglo-Norman nobles, and he took Normandy by 1204. Politically and economically, the Anglo-Normans had been English for some time, as they had been mostly concerned with their holdings in England. But with the loss of Normandy the Anglo-Normans symbolically lost their past, their common identity. Thus, as Davis notes above, they adopted more and more aspects of the older, native English (Anglo-Saxon) traditions as they sought to define themselves as a nation. Such adoption of the Anglo-Saxon past-and with it the resurrection of their own Germanic heritage-involved inserting both recent Anglo-Saxon heroes such as Alfred the Great and legendary Germanic figures like Scyld and Scef in their genealogies. The resulting pedigrees made a powerful connection between Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Saxon; the two groups shared both an immediate national history and a deep Germanic heritage. So far the discussion has focused on the progress of certain Anglo-Saxon genealogies through post-Anglo-Saxon chronicles, including how some chroniclers merged Asser's and iEthelweard's accounts of the two figures. However, although Scyld and Scef have been part of those genealogies, we have not examined in specific terms the roles of the heroes. In truth, most of the references in the chronicles illustrate only that Scyld and Scef, like other Germanic figures such as Woden, Heremod, or Geat, had become an accepted part of tradition, although that tradition was now being used for a slightly different purpose. Yet two records do offer particularly interesting and new insight into the changing perception of Scyld and Scef: the account of "Sceaf' in William of Malmesbury's De Gestis Regum Anglorum and a reference to Scyld and Scef in a fifteenth-century chronicle of Henry VI. William, the "self-appointed successor to Bede" who sought "to fill the gap in literary historiography left after Bede's death until his own day," produced De Gestis Regum Anglorum between 1125 and 1143, drawing upon various continental sources as well as Asser's Life of King Alfred and the

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Anglo-Saxon ChronicleY He also drew from the Chronicle of lEthelweard, as is evident from the story of the arrival of Scef in a Germanic land. Although the account essentially parallels the one found in lEthelweard, certain particular features stand out. Here is that account of Scef as found in a genealogy of lEthelwulf, Alfred's father: Sceldius Sceaf. Iste, ut ferunt, in quandum insulam Germanniae Scandzam, de qua 10rdanes historiographus Gothorum loquitur, appulsus naui sine remige puerulus, posito ad caput frumenti manipulo dormiens, ideoque Sceaf nuncupatus, ab hominibus regionis illius pro miraculo exceptus et sedulo nutritus, aduIta aetate regnauit in oppido quod tunc Slaswic, nunc uero Haithebi appellatur. Est autem regio ilia Anglia Vetus dicta, unde Angli uenerunt in Britanniam, inter Saxones et Gothos constituta. Sceaf fuit filius Heremodii; Heremodius Stermonii; Stermonius Hadrae; Hadra Gwalae; Gwala Bedwegii; Bedwegius Strefii (hie, ut dicitur, fuit filius Noe in archa natus). [Sceld of Sceaf. (This Sceaf, they say, landed on an island in Germany called Scandza mentioned by lordanes the historian of the Goths, as a small child in a ship without a crew, sleeping with a sheaf of wheat laid by his head, and hence was called Sheaf. The men of that country welcomed him as something miraculous and brought him up carefully, and on reaching manhood he ruled a town then called Slaswic but now Hedeby. The name of that region is Old AngJia, and it was from there that the Angles came to Britain; it lies between the Saxons and the Goths.) Sceaf was the son of Heremod; Heremod of Stermon; Stermon of Hathra; Hathra of Gwala; Gwala of Bedwig; Bedwig of Streph who was, as they say, a son of Noah, born in the Ark.j32

In comparing William's account to lEthelweard's, we note how William substituted "Scandza" for "Scani," a "change from popular to learned nomenclature"; he also cites the sixth-century historian JOl·danes, author of The Gothic History, as an authority and to emphasize the breadth of his reading and education. Additionally, William identifies his hero as being of Anglo-Saxon descent: he ruled in "Old Anglia," the homeland of the Angles. With this identification William, albeit with his "slightly priggish concern for intellectual precision," made the Scef figure "look more at home in an Anglo-Saxon pedigree.'>33 One important difference between lEthelweard's and William's accounts stands out. In lEthelweard, Sceaf clearly arrived "armis circundatus"-"surrounded by weapons." William, though, has his Scef figure appear "posito ad caput frumenti manipulo"-"with a sheaf of wheat laid by his head."34 lEthelweard's description brings together in one hero the agricultural aspects of Scef with the warrior elements of Scyld; William maintains unity in his

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one hero, presenting him solely as an agricultural figure and leaving out any of the trappings of war. Whether lEthelweard's chronicle or William's history tells the "original" or "correct" story is not important; what is important is that the variant accounts reveal that this legend was subject to adaptation by its redactors. Legends change and are adapted only if they have meaning for a culture. The fact that this legend persisted and was adapted is indicative of the continuing growth, importance, and vitality of the legends of Scyld and Scef among Germanic peoples, whether Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Normans, or their descendants. 35 The last reference to Scyld and Scef in the Middle Ages in England comes from a fifteenth-century pedigree roll delineating the ancestors of Henry VI. According to Chambers, "There are many copies of the roll extant-the 'Mosely' Roll at University College, London (formerly in the Phillipps collection); at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (No. 98 A); at Trinity College, Cambridge; and in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris."36 As with so many other chronicles, this record, adapting William of Malmesbury's work, incorporates the "fantastic pedigree of lEthelwulf' in its "curious ... collection of the royal genealogies of various countries.'.]? The reference to the Scyld and Scef figures is comprised of two parts. The first is a stemma showing "Steph" as the father of "Steldius," who was the father of "Boerinus," who himself was the father of "Cinrinicius, Gothus, Iutus, Wandalus, Gethius, Fresus, Suethedus, Dacus, and Geate." The second part is a marginal comment, for which Chambers provides the text: 38 Iste Steldius primus inhabitator Germanie fuit. Que Germania sic dicta erat, quia instar ramorum germinancium ab arbore, sic nomen regnaque germania nuncupantur. In nouem filiis diuisa a radice Boerini geminauerunt. Ab istis nouem filiis Boerini descenderunt nouem gentes septentrionalem partem inhabitantes, qui quondam regnum Britannie inuaserunt et optinuerunt, videlicet Saxones, AngJi, luthi, Daci, Norwagences, Gothi, Wandali, Geathi et Fresi. [This Steldius was the first inhabitant of Germany. And Germany had been called thus because of the image of the budding branches from a tree; so the name and the kingdom are called Germany. In the case of the nine sons having been divided from the root of Boerin, they multiplied. From these nine sons of Boerin descend the nine tribes inhabiting the northern region, who once fell upon and held the kingdom of Britain, manifestly the Saxons, Angles, Jutes, Danes, Norwegians, Goths, Wendels, Geats, and Frisians.)

The spelling of "Steldius" for "Sceldius" and "Steph" for "Sceph" is found elsewhere; in its pedigree of lEthelwulf, the mid-fourteenth-century Eulogium Historiarum sive Temporibus, itself "a very general Chronicle extending from the creation to A. D. 1366" that draws on the works of

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William of Malmesbury, Simeon of Durham, and Roger of Wendover, refers to "Steldius."39 The genealogy of this fifteenth-century chronicle roll takes a slightly different approach from most others, making the Scyld figure the immediate son of Scef (as he is in Beowulf). Yet what stands out most about this late genealogy is how the historians of the later Middle Ages, like their predecessors, were seriously concerned about knowing who their ancestors were. Again, it is an issue of trying to understand cultural foundations, and the two figures Scyld and Scef were part of establishing that link with the Germanic past. As well, the warrior figure Scyld is the first inhabitant, the founder of the Germanic line; his name reinforces the martial character of the Germanic peoples he fathered. So many of those tribes in tum are connected to the English; all the chroniclers, from the writers of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to the author of this late work, related how the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians, and Danes became the people of England. This pedigree roll is therefore not just the genealogy of Henry VI but an extended record of the nationality of the people of England with an emphasis on the martial Germanic past they share. As we have seen, the presence of Scyld and Scef in English sources extends throughout the Middle Ages, from the earliest Anglo-Saxon poetry to the chronicles of the fifteenth century. Although the legendary heroes played various roles in these sources, one underlying function remained constant: the two figures were part of a foundation myth, part of the link to the ancient Germanic past. However, despite the fact that they are present in so many English sources, the stories of Scyld and Scef come to us, for the most part, as rather undeveloped accounts. To see more fully their place in the greater Germanic culture, we must now examine their presentation and roles in the Icelandic and Danish sources.

Chapter 5 Scy ld and Scef in Icelandic Sources Scyld, Son of Odin

Despite the number of references, the English sources collectively reveal few specifics concerning the legends of Scyld and Scef. Certainly, particular functions are clarified and emphasized: Beowulf suggests possibilities about the warrior and cultivator aspects of the two figures; various other records likewise represent the relationship between war and agriculture through the legend of the infant's arrival among a Germanic people; and most every source develops Scyld's or Scef's place as one of the earliest Germanic heroes, as a common element of a cultural identity. But none of the English accounts provides great detail concerning a larger legend of Scyld or Scef; thus instead of satisfying us, the references leave us unfulfilled. Fortunately, we can tum to the Scandinavian accounts, which differ from the English ones in depth, detail, focus, and quantity, for more information-while still acknowledging that the Scandinavian accounts do not lead to the identification of a single, unified narrative any more than the English records do. Upon reviewing the Scandinavian sources, we can immediately notice a striking feature: although a Scyld figure appears ubiquitously, Scef is mentioned only in six genealogies-all of them recorded by Icelandic historians-of which the oldest was clearly influenced by English sources. The prevalence of the warrior figure Scyld reflects the emphasis the Northern and Western Germanic tribes placed on warfare, how "[i]n the ideology and in the practices of the Germanic people, war invaded all, colored everything,"/ although agricultural figures are still present and associated with Scyld. In addition to his function as a warrior, Scyld stands in most of the records as the founder of Denmark and the Danes, for as with their English counterparts, these Scandinavian sources consistently contribute to our understanding of the greater myths of national and cultural origins. The Scandinavian works fall neatly into two categories: the Icelandic 55

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accounts, which name Scyld as a son of Odin and thus grant him god-like status, and the Danish accounts, which identify Scyld as the descendant of Dan, a legendary mortal. Chapter 6 will examine the latter category; the present chapter focuses on the former, beginning with the genealogies that include both Scyld and Scef figures before analyzing the other records. (Table 3 provides a list of all Icelandic sources mentioning Scyld and/or Scef figures, in approximate chronological order.) An exploration of these various accounts of Scyld, son of Odin, will help us understand more completely the development of the myth of Danish national origins, for actually the Icelandic chroniclers were writing about a consciously crafted Danish history. Such exploration also reveals that even when a specifically identifiable Scef figure is absent, we can find both warrior and agricultural figures in several of these accounts, suggesting a generally constant interrelationship between the warrior and agricultural classes. One noticeable feature of the Icelandic genealogies that mention Scef is that each lists both Scyld and Scef figures among the ancestors of Odin before identifying a second Scyld figure as the son of Odin. The earliest such record is the Langfeogatal, a twelfth-century Icelandic genealogy; this text seems to have influenced the other genealogies, which are found in the prologue to Snorri Sturluson' s Prose Edda of the early thirteenth century; in the "lEttartOlur," a genealogy included in the Icelandic collection Flateyjarbok, itself compiled between 1387 and 1394 and considered the "largest and best preserved of all Icelandic codices;"2 in the MSS AM 1 e B II fo!. and AM 22 fol.; and in the "lEttartala fni Adam til Siguroar a Grenjaoarstooum" of the Biskupa Sogur. The Langfeogatal begins with Noah and climbs to Odin; at that point it Table 3 Icelandic Sources Mentioning Scyld and/or Scef Figures, in Approximate Cbronological Order Date (century] Twelfth c. 120011596 Thirteenth Thirteenth Thirteenth Thirteenth Thirteenth or fourteenth Fourteenth Fourteenth Sixteenth Seventeenth

Source Langfeogatal Skjoldunga Saga ["Danasaga Amgrims Lreraa"p MS AM 1 e B II Snorri Sturluson, Edda (Prologue) Snorri Sturluson, Edda: Skaldskaparmal Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla: Ynglinga Saga "Viabretir via Olafs Sogu hins Helga"

"JEuartOlur" "Fragmentum vetus Islandicum Historico-Geographicum de rebus Dano-Norvegicis" "JEttartala fni Adam til Siguraar a Grenjaaarstooum" MSAM 22 fo1.

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splits, creating two branch genealogies. The first branch climbs to "Harald the Most Fair," a powerful king in Norway who lived from about 870 to about 945. 4 The second concludes with Horda-Knute, a legendary Danish king (and not the eleventh-century king of Denmark and England) who could be assigned to the ninth or tenth century (as much as a legendary figure can be "assigned" to a particular time).5 At first, the primary branch follows a path dissimilar to that in the Anglo-Saxon genealogies; although it starts with Noah, it proceeds through his son Japhet to such figures as Jove and Priam, King of Troy, before reaching Thor, the grandson of Priam, who stands as the most ancient clearly Germanic predecessor. However, once the genealogy reaches Thor, it soon refers to names and sequences familiar to us from the Anglo-Saxon works: Mimon eda Memmon het Konungur i Troeo. Han atte dottur Priami Konungs. I>eirra svn het Tror, er ver Kollum I>or. Han var fadir Hlori!Ja. I>eirra s vn Einridi. Hans svn Vinge!Jorr. Hans svn Vingener. Hans svn Moda. Hans svn Magi. Hans svn Seskef vel Sescef. Bedvig. Athra. Itermann. Heremotr. Scealdna. Beaf. Eat. Godvlfi. Finn. Frealaf. Voden, !Jan kollvm ver Oden. Fra honom ero komnar flestar Konunga lettir i nord alfvna heimsins. Han var Tyrkia Konungr. Han flydi firir Romveriom nordr hegat. 6 [It is said that Mimon or Memmon was the King of Troy. He married the daughter of King Priam. Their son was Tror, whom we call Thor. That one was the father of Hloritha. The son of those ones was Einrid. His son Vingethor. His son Vingener. His son Moda. His son Magi.

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Scyld and Scef His son Seskef or Sescef. Beduig. Athra. Itermann. Heremot. Scealdna. Beaf. Eatus. Godulf. Finn. Frealaf. Voden, whom we call Oden. From this one descend most stock of the kings in the district of the northern world. He was King of the Turks. He fled hither to the north because of the Romans.]

The two names that are important here are "Scealdna," a vanatIOn of "Scyld," and "Seskef' or "Sescef," which, according to Anthony Faulkes, we can read as a rendering of the Old English "Se Scef' such as found in the "West-Saxon Regnal List from 494 to Reign of '£thelred" in McGurk's edition of An Eleventh-Century Anglo-Saxon Illustrated Miscellany, for "[i)t has long been recognised that the sentence beginning 'Se Scef' was the origin of the name Seskef in Icelandic genealogies."7 Clearly, the sequence from Seskef to Scealdna and beyond parallels the lists found in Asser's Life of King Alfred, '£thelweard's Chronicle, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the "West-Saxon Regnal List from 494 to Reign of '£thelred," and the Textus Roffensis, strongly supporting Anthony Faulkes' claim that "the introduction of figures from mythology into Icelandic genealogy was the result of the influence of English traditions."s Chambers in fact proposes the existence of an Anglo-Saxon archetype of about 970 that influenced not only the Langfeogatal but also the "WestSaxon Regnal List from 494 to Reign of ,£thelred," the Textus Roffensis, and the "'£ttartOlur."9 Anthony Faulkes believes that the genealogical lists of An Eleventh-Century Anglo-Saxon Illustrated Miscellany are "the closest parallels" to the Icelandic genealogies and adds that "the compiler of the Icelandic version of these lists must have used an English manuscript that had this continuation [the 'West-Saxon Regnal List from 494 to Reign of '£thelred' found in An Eleventh-Century Anglo-Saxon Illustrated Miscellany)."10 Harmonizing the details of the various sources, Jacob Langebek, an eighteenth-century Danish scholar and nationalist who collected and edited a "massive collection of documents having anything at all to do with Denmark, Norway, and provinces," even created this "archetype," calling it the "Genealogia Regum Anglo-Saxonum ab Odino eiusqve maioribus deducta" and including it in the Scriptores Rerum Danicarum Medii /Evi.1l

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There is, though, one striking difference between the Anglo-Saxon accounts and the genealogy found in Langfeogatal and works influenced by it. As noted, the Scandinavian chroniclers, unlike their Anglo-Saxon counterparts, trace their origins through Priam of Troy (as Virgil similarly did for the Romans with his Trojan hero, Aeneas) and list their own heroes Thor and Odin as descendants of that other, classical culture. C. Scott Littleton has argued that such developments in the Scandinavian foundation myths reflect the influence of Christianity: This literature, of course, belongs to a post-Christian era, and Othinn was viewed merely as a culture hero who, escaping from the ruins of Troy, led a band of Trojan refugees (i.e., the rest of the IEsir) across Europe and ultimately into Scandinavia. The parallels to the Aeneid are obvious and suggest that the newly Christian Norse, like the Romans before them, were eager to establish ties with the ancient and prestigious civilizations of the eastern Mediterranean. 12

As Faulkes notes, "The final versions [of these genealogies] thus included names from the Bible and classical mythology and legend, as well as the names from the Germanic (Anglo-Saxon and Norse) historical and mythological traditions."13 Such cross-cultural influence may well have taken place during the mass migrations of the second to sixth century AD, during which time Germanic tribes came into close contact with "East Roman-Hellenic and Scythian cultural currents"; the influence of these Mediterranean people "found its way to the North," most notably in the development of writing. Some scholars believe that the two cultures share the mythology of an archetypal war manifested in the Trojan War of the Greeks and the war between the iEsir and the Vanir of the Scandinavians;14 this latter war will be discussed shortly. As a final point concerning Langfeogatal, we must consider the descendants of Odin found in that record. The first branch above Odin contains no references to Scyld or Scef, but the second list of Odin's descendants does show Scyld as Odin's immediate son: Oden. Skioldr hans svn. Fridleifr hans svn. Fridfrode hans svn. Fridleifr hans svn. Havarr Handrami, hans svn. Frode hans svn. Varmundr Vitri, hans svn. Olafr Litillate, hans svn. Danr Mikillate. 15

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Seyld and See! [Oden. His son Skiold. His son Fridleif. His son Frode the Peacemaking. His son FridIeif. His son Havar the Strong in Hand. His son Frode His son Varmund the Wise. His son Olaf the Gentle. Dan the Magnanimous (or Proud).]

This branch thus places Scyld as the founder of the Danish dynasty, and it is this second branch that has important parallels in several of the later works. Though his genealogy of Odin in the prologue to The Prose Edda is much more detailed than the list of gods and heroes comprising Langfeogatal, it is easy to believe that Snorri Sturluson, the Icelandic historian who lived between 1178 or 1179 and 1241, had the Langfeogatal (or at least a text closely related to it) before him as he wrote his account of history. Snorri separates the genealogy into two parts. The first-the establishment of Odin's pedigree-begins with the creation of the world by God; Snorri then inserts the biblical patriarchs as he traces Odin's lineage through many figures known from Greek and Roman mythology such as Saturn, Jove, Neptune, and Munon, the High King of Troy. This genealogy includes sequences of names parallel to those in Langfeogatal: Thor is the father of L6ridi, the father of Einridi, the father of Vingethor, and so on through "Cespheth" (apparently a reading of "Seskef'), "Skjalldun" or "SkjOld," and others before stopping at Odin.16 As in Langfeogatal, this first list, noting Scyld and Scef as the descendants of Thor and predecessors of Odin, is followed by a second account naming another Scyld figure as the son of Odin. This second Scyld appears shortly after the establishment of the pedigree of Odin, as Snorri tells of Odin's movement to the North: I>a byrja3i 03inn fer3 sfna nor3r, ok kom f pat land, er peir kollu3u Rei3gotaland, ok eigna3ist f pvf landi alit pat er hann vildi. Hann setti par til landa son sinn, er SkjOldr het; hans son het Fri3Ieif. I>a3an er su rett komin, er SkjOldungar heita; pat eru Danakonungar; ok pat heitir nu J6tland, er pa var kallat Rei3gotaland. [Then Odin began his way northward, and came into the land which they call Reidgothland; and in that land he took possession of all that pleased him. He set up over the land that son of his called SkjOldr, whose son was Fridleifr,-and thence descends the house of the Skjoldungs: these are the kings of the Danes. And what was then called Reidgothland is now called Jutland.j17

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Here we have Scyld clearly identified as the founder of the "SkjOldungs," a title that'may seem to be reserved for the Danish kings alone, Faulkes explains the creation of such dynastic epithets, arguing that "[n]ames that originally applied to the tribe or nation seem, as political relationships became more complex, to have come to be applied to dynasties, which were perhaps believed to preserve the pure line of descent from the original progenitors best."18 Snorri further emphasized the relationship between Scyld and the Scyldings later in the Prose Edda in the section entitled Skdldskaparmdl, which was derived from such "earlier written sagas" as the Skjoldunga saga and perhaps even the ninth-century genealogical poem Ynglingatal, although no Scyld (or SceD figure appears in that specific poem,19 Another Icelandic manuscript, AM 1 e B II fol., "seem[s] to be derived from a compilation of genealogies and regnal lists made in the early thirteenth century and used by Snorri both in Heimskringla and the prologue to his Edda."20 That is, this manuscript was not known by Snorri; it instead provides genealogies taken either from Snorri's work or his source. The beginning of the genealogy in this list, which begins with "Sescef' and proceeds through "Scealdva" and Woden, closely resembles other sources, including the Langfeogatal and the English "West-Saxon Regnal List from 494 to Reign of .iEthelred." Its major difference is that it concludes with the pedigrees of three different ruling families, including the Scyldings or "Skj01dungs," The genealogical lists of this manuscript may have been the source for those in the seventeenth-century MS AM 22 fol., although the more complete nature of AM 22 fo!' suggests that another (and now apparently lost) work may have been its source. 21 To understand the mUltiple manifestations of Scyld as found in these Scandinavian genealogies, we must consider the mythological underpinnings of the accounts, The ".iEttartolur" from the Flateyjarbok offers some important details. Although beginning further back with Adam, the ".iEttartolur" essentially follows the basic form found in Langfeogatal, presenting Odin as the descendant of Saturn, Jupiter, Priam, and Scef and Scyld figures. However, like the genealogy in the prologue to Snorri's Edda, the ".iEttartOlur" lists only one line above Odin; this line progresses through Scyld to Dan, the eponymous ancestor of the Danes: Skiolldr het son Odins Aasakonungs, hann var fadir Fridleifs faudur Fridfroda faudur Fridleifs faudur Hauardz ens handramma faudur Froda faudur Vermundar ens vitra faudar Olafs ens litillaata faudur Dans .. , ,22 [The son of Odin, King of the Aesir, was named Skiold. He was the father of Fridleif, the father of Fridfroda, the father of Fridleif, the father of

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Seyld and Seef Havard the strong-hand, the father of Froda, the father of Verrnundar the wise, the father of Olaf the humble, the father of Dan .... J

Here Odin, and Scyld as his son, stand among the lEsir, the gods of "magic and lightning" who conquered the "lower Vanir," the "givers of richness and fecundity";23 this final detail about Scyld is enticing, for the source does not elaborate on Scyld's specific place among the lEsir and does not indicate whether he had special powers or a particular role. One other genealogy, the "lEttartala fni Adam til Siguroar a GrenjaoarstOoum" from the Biskupa Sogur, makes reference to both Scyld and Scef figures. This genealogy, written about 1580-1590,24 differs very little from that of the LangfelJgatal except in one important respect: it is the genealogy not of a king or other earthly ruler, but of a bishop, one Jon Arason. Such use of the two pagan Germanic heroes in an obviously Christianoriented genealogy supports the observation that figures such as Scyld and Odin were so much a part of the folklore of the people that it was quite natural, even perhaps expected for them to be included. Still, the context of their inclusion called for their euhemerization and reinterpretation as mortals (though great ones); considered from such a perspective they posed no threat to Christian doctrine. In fact, as suggested by this record, it was even to a bishop's benefit to recognize these figures and incorporate them into his lineage, though the genealogy, by beginning with the biblical patriarchs, stresses more clearly the ultimately Judeo-Christian origins of Bishop Jon Arason's illustrious heritage. But the Germanic heroes remain in the list; the remembrance of them was too central to a sense of cultural identity, and their presence reinforces the fact that this Christian individual had not forsaken his Germanic past. So far the study of these Scandinavian genealogies has led to few certainties. We know that the Anglo-Saxon genealogies influenced their Icelandic counterparts, although, as Joan Turville-Petre points out, "the precise time when this influence took effect is not yet established."25 We know also that the Icelandic chroniclers traced their past through the Greco-Roman traditions, apparently to indicate their descent from classical antiquity. And we know that in the Icelandic genealogies, Scyld, the son (as opposed to the predecessor) of Odin, is much more prominent than Scef-who in fact appears in no other Icelandic sources. And we also know that Scyld was associated with the lEsir. Clearly the genealogies have offered helpful details, but having a fuller understanding of the nature of Scyld's specific function (or ratherfunetions) within the Icelandic works, including the issue of Scyld's status as a deity, requires an exploration of the other Icelandic records. The account of Scyld in Snorri Sturluson's Ynglinga Saga, a portion of the Heimskringla, a work of the early thirteenth century, does provide much

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more thorough information concerning Scyld's place among the JEsir. According to Snorri, Odin, having recently migrated to the North,26 meets a giantess, Gefjon; after having her perform several tasks he marries her to his son Scyld and subsequently turns his attention to his new northern neighbors: pa sendi hann Gefjun noror yfir sundit I landaleitan. pa kom hon til Gylfa, ok gaf hann henni eitt pl6gsland. Pa f6r hon I 10tunheima ok gat lJar fj6ra sonu via jotni nokkurum. Hon bra lJeim I yxnalfki ok freroi lJa fyrir pl6ginn ok dr6 landit lit a hafit ok vestr gegnt Ooinsey, ok er lJat kolluo Selund. par byggoi hon sloan. Hennar fekk Skjoldr, sonr Ooins. pau bjoggu at Hleioru. par er vatn eoa sjar eptir. lJat er kallat Logrinn. Sva Jiggja firoir f Leginum sem nes I Selundi. ... En er Ooinn spuroi, at g60ir landskostir varn austr at Gylfa, f6r hann lJannok, ok gerou peir Gylfi srett slna, lJVI at Gylfi p6ttisk engi krapt til hafa til m6tstolou via Asana. Mart attusk peir Ooinn vio ok Gylfi I brogoum ok sj6nhverfingum, ok urou lEsir jafnan n'kri. [Thereupon [Othin) sent Gefjon north over the sound to seek for land. She came to King Gylfi, and he gave her a ploughland. Then she went to Giantland and there bore four sons to some giant. She transformed them into oxen and attached them to the plough and drew the land westward into the sea, opposite Othin's Island, and that is (now) called Selund (Seeland), and there she dwelled afterwards. Skjold, a son of Othin married her. They lived at Hleithrar. A lake was left (where the land was taken) which is called Logrin. The bays in that lake correspond to the nesses of Selund .... But when Othin learned that there was good land east in Gylfi's kingdom he journeyed there; and Gylfi came to an agreement with him, because he did not consider himself strong enough to withstand the lEsir. Othin and Gylfi vied much with each other in magic and spells, but the lEsir always had the better of it.]27

Two points stand out in this account of the arrival of Odin in the North that clarify the interaction between the JEsir and the Vanir. First we can note the conflict between Odin and Gylfi; this battle is really an element of the greater war between the JEsir and Vanir, for Gylfi is identified as being among the original northern people-the Vanir-conquered by the invading JEsir.28 And as the JEsir are so strongly associated with war and the Vanir with fertility, this conflict between Odin and Gylfi ultimately "reflect[s] the theme of the 'war between the [Dumezilian] functions.' "29 But the battle between Odin and Gylfi, between the JEsir and the Vanir, between the bringers of war and the causers of fertility, is balanced by the union of Scyld and Gefjon. Gefjon may be associated with the Vanir, for by giving birth and plowing the land,

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she certainly stands as a "goddess of fertility." Margaret Clunies Ross has clarified that Gefjon "is the embodiment of wealth and prosperity; those few contexts in which her name appears in Old Norse literature and place-names make it clear that, like Freyja, Gefjon was closely associated with the abundance of the soil, with female sexuality and with wealth in the form of jewels and precious stones."30 Although his presence and actions have been deemed irregular by some,31 Scyld is clearly linked to the lEsir by being the son of their leader. Scyld's role in this account, then, is as a point of union between the pantheons of the lEsir and the Vanir; the marriage between Scyld and Gefjon emphasizes the merging of the Dumezilian social classes. Even their genders fit the Dumezilian paradigm, as the "first class [the warrior class] is exclusively masculine, and the second [the agricultural class] is typically characterized by feminine symbols."32 This account of the mythic war thus illustrates how the complete divine society was formed .... [I]t first pictured the Vanes and the Ases in opposite camps, then reconciled and allied them, presenting each group as possessing its own characteristic functions and a morality corresponding to those functions. In consequence, the alI-important pivot of the story was the war, followed by the pact between the two types of gods. 33

The account also reminds us of Earl's comments on the balance between war and fertility in Beowulf, how "the myth [of Scyld Scefing] defines the dynamic relations between the agricultural and warrior classes .... War follows upon agriculture, but agriculture is prior in time and importance."34 Interestingly, as the fertility figure has again been linked with the warrior figure, we might note that in a sense the "Scefing" element has remained with this Scyld figure. One might argue that these accounts, although clearly labeling Odin as one of the lEsir, do not emphasize so precisely Scyld's place as a god; Scyld could be considered a deity only by his association with Odin. But two other records address his place as a deity-not necessarily for his lineage but rather because of his place as the founder of the Danish monarchy. The "Fragmentum vetus Islandicum Historico-Geographicum de rebus DanoNorvegicis" (so identified by Jacob Langebek and placed by him in the fourteenth century), distinguishing between the origins of the Danish and Swedish ruling households, comments that many of Odin's heirs "uoru miclir af burdar menn med ymisligum algerleik, ok nuckura af peim toku menn til at biota ok trua aa, ok kolludu god sin" ["were greatly distinguished men, adorned with manifold perfection, and some began to attend to them with sacrifices and divine honor, and called them their godS"].35 This account illustrates how people ascribed god-like status to ScyJd, how

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they insisted that their own ancestors be deities so that their sense of themselves as a people had greater support. As Olrik poetically states, the "learned Icelanders" were "[s]eized by a Romantic admiration for the grand conception of a descent of the godhead among men, and for that distant antiquity when every legend was a myth of divinities"; they therefore "devoted their energies to tracing every connection of the lives of heroes to the world of gods."36 The identification of Scyld as a god (though a false one) is made even more explicitly in another selection from the Flateyjarbok, the "Viabcetir via Olafs Sogu hins Helga," which has been independently ascribed to the thirteenth century: ... pessu riki styrdi eingi einn rnilli Haralldz harfagra ok Olafs ens helga. Olafr konungr cristnadi petta riki alit. aull blot braut hann nidr ok aull god. sem por Engilsmanna god ok Odinn Saxa god ok Skiolld Skanunga god ok Frey Suia god ok Godorm Dana god. ok morg onnur blotskapar skrimsl b::edi hamra ok horga skoga votn ok tre ok 011 onor blot b::edi meiri ok minni. Hann hafdi med ser merkiliga kennimenn ... y [... no one ruled this kingdom ("Aungulseyiarsund," or Anglesey) between Harold the fair-haired and Olaf the holy. King Olaf baptized all that kingdom. He destroyed all idols and gods, such as Thor, god of the Englishmen, and Odin, god of the Saxons, and Skiold, god of the men of Scania, and Frey, god of the Swedes, and Godorm, god of the Danes, and many other monstrosities of heathen worship, both rocks and heathen altars, woods, lakes, and trees, and all other forms of heathen worship, both greater and lesser. He had noteworthy priests with him .... J

Though this passage is most explicit in listing Scyld as a god, Olrik argues against its validity, pointing out that "all other sources, whether Danish, Icelandic, or English, know of him only as a human being"; to Olrik it seems more likely that "the author of this item distributes gods as he sees fit, ... mak[ing] Othin's Scyld the ruler and 'god' of the Danes so as to form a parallel to his brother Frey in Upsala."38 Although Olrik is no doubt right to point out that the author of the "Viabcetir via Olafs Sogu hins Helga" places gods as he deems most appropriate, we should probably add that to the original author of the "Viabcetir," Scyld must have been an important figure, for he was one of those labeled a divinity. As well, although the other sources such as Heimskringla are not explicit about Scyld's mortality, he is identified as the son of Odin, although his mortal or immortal status is never confirmed. Yet we should not be surprised if the author altered "history," for we should recall that "[p]opular mythology ... takes the gods at their face value, as timeless and immortal and non-human, and makes no attempt to fit them into a historical scheme."39 And even if the author broke with the older traditions, his action would then suggest that the traditions were changing, that the role

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of Scyld was adapting. Traditions adapt only if they continue to have importance, just as we saw in the changes to the Scyld and Scef legend in the English sources of the Middle English period. The only other account identifying Scyld as the son of Odin that remains to be considered is the Skjoldunga Saga, described by Bjami Guonason in Urn SkjOidungasogu as the "first continuous saga of the Danish royal house in Icelandic; ... with this work Icelanders begin for the first time to write the histories of other foreign nations than the Norwegians." He also explains that the Skjoldunga Saga is a saga of ancient times (that is, it tells of events before the settlement of Iceland) and as such constitutes a pioneer work in Icelandic literature .... It is without doubt not an isolated phenomenon, but an offshoot of a European literary fashion which bore its finest fruit in the North in the writings of the Danes Svend Agges0n and Saxo and the Norwegian Theodoricus not long after 1180. The Icelanders were the leading literary nation in the North in the twelfth century, and it seems natural to suppose that Skjold. s. was composed as part of this movement. On the basis of such indications as we have, it appears most likely that Skjold.s. was written at some time in the period 1180-1200, though of course it may be a little older or younger.40

However, all we have of the Skjoldunga Saga is a Latin abstract made by an Icelander, Arngrimur Jonsson, in 1596. The original may have been derived from an older genealogy of the Oddaverjar, a powerful family of Iceland that claimed ancestry from the royal house of the SkjOldungar; the cycle of tales built around this ruling line, arising from the Migration Period, is "the only great heroic saga that has arisen independently in the north."41 As Scyld is, in a sense, the title character of the Skjoldunga Saga, we might expect a full and complete narrative of the legend surrounding him. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and the passages that specifically tell of him, although illuminating, are brief: Rerum Danicarum historiam Norvegorum commentarii non 11 Dan, ut Saxo Grammaticus, sed 11 Scioldo qvodam Odini (qvem vulgo Othinum) filio ordiuntur. Tradunt enim Odinum ilium ex Asia aventantem magis septentrionalis Evropre (Saxonire, Danire, Svecire), domitis incolis, adeptum esse imperium Daniamqve (qvre tum tamen eo nomine carueritl Scioldo, Sveciam Ingoni filiis assignasse. Atqve inde 11 Scioldo, qvos hodie Danos, olim Skiolldunga fuisse appellatos, ut et Svecos ab Ingone Inglinga. Ipsi autem Svecire (sic specialius dictre) de nomine earum regionum nomen inditum, unde Odinus cum suis primum emigravit. Huilche ssom ligger Norden for palude Moeotide, og de gammel Norshe kallede Suthiod hin Store eller Kolde.

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Illi igitur fratres pnedicti, Scioldus et Ingo, Danire et Svecire nomen sortitas postea regiones occupabant; et Scioldus in arce Selandire Hledro (Saxo Lethram, Vellejus Levre vocitant) sedes posuit, qvre et seqventium plurimorum Regum regia fuit, cum etiam Jutiam subjectam haberet, qvam etiam propter primum occuparat. Cap. II Scioldus igitur filium habuit Leifum, regni sui hreredem. Cujus tempore tam qviete tam pacifice vivebatur, vt, prreter sane ejus seculi morem, nullum fuisse commissum homicidium memorire proditum sit. A cujus seculi tranqvillitate publica Regi Danire Leifo nomen Fredleiffur vel Fridleifur impositum. 42 [The commentaries on the affairs of the Danes describe the history of the Northmen as not starting with Dan, as Saxo Grammaticus says, but with a certain Skjold, son of Odin (who in the vulgar tongue is "Othin"). According to tradition, this Odin, coming out of Asia and having conquered the inhabitants of far-northern Europe (the Saxons, the Danes, the Swedes), won the realm of Denmark (which did not yet have that name) and assigned it to his son Skjold and Sweden to his son Ingo. And thus those who are today called Danes were once called "Skjoldings" from SIqold, and likewise the Swedes "Inglings" from Ingo. Regarding the name of those regions, however, the name "Sweden" (as it is specifically called) was given to the place whence Odin first emigrated with his people, which lies north of the Baltic Sea and which the Old Norse called Suithiod the Large or the Cold. Thereupon those brothers spoken of before, Skjold and lng, afterwards occupied the regions appointed by lot, named Denmark and Sweden, and Skjold set up his throne in Hledra ("Ledra" to Saxo; usually called "Old Leire")-which was also the court of many following kings-in the curve of Sjaelland, after he had subjected Jutland, which he seized first because of its propinquity. Chapter 2 Accordingly Skjold had a son Lief, heir of his kingdom. In his time it was lived so quietly, so peacefully, that, other than the reasonable custom of his generation, no committed homicide came forth in memory. From the public tranquility of his time the name Fredleiffur or Fridleifur was ascribed to Leif, King of the Danes.]

This saga mentions this Scyld figure by name just in these first chapters and indicates only that he subdued Jutland and other unspecified lands. The saga seems to be more interested in establishing the descent of the Danes from Odin and in differentiating the Danes from the Swedes than in elaborating upon the deeds of Scyld. As such, it becomes easier to see Scyld as a creation

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after the fact, as the created eponymous ancestor who provides the link to the gods that Danish nationalism demanded. His situation may easily parallel that of Frey, who in "the Middle Ages ... was made the descendant of Othin because the theory of the learned demanded that all the royal races of the North were descended from Othin."43 Yet even as the saga links the Danes with the gods, the author made some connection with Christian history, stating that Scyld's grandson Frodo ruled "proinde in annum nati Salvatoris" ["exactly in the year of the birth of the Savior"]; Odin and Scyld have been placed "in a specific historical context.,,44 At any rate, the saga stresses most noticeably that Scyld is not so important for who he is but rather for who his descendants are-most notably the Danes themselves. In fact, the Skjoldunga Saga makes only one definitive comment concerning Scyld, that it was he, the son of Odin, who was the progenitor of the Danish people, not Dan. Thus in these Icelandic works we have seen the development of two mythological functions for Scyld, son of Odin. First, Scyld's presence as a warrior figure among the iEsir and the actions attributed to him serve as reflections of the conflict between the iEsir and the Vanir, between the warrior and agricultural classes. This conflict ultimately shaped the Germanic social structure, reducing it to "two overlapping but clearly distinct social organizations: a privileged class of lords and their warriors, and the rest of society, whose primary responsibility is agriculture."45 Scyld is also important as the founder of the Danish dynasty and for his long-term success in defining a nation (just as Scyld was similarly celebrated for establishing his "nation," the Scyldings, in Beowulj). This second function is in a sense more controversial, for as the Skjoldunga Saga indicates, conflicting legends about Scyld's role in Danish history existed, and because we have yet to piece together a more extensive (though not necessarily unified and "authoritative") narrative of Scyld's deeds and conquests, we now tum to the Danish records, those that name him the descendant of Dan and offer details found nowhere else.

Chapter 6 Scy Id and Scef in Danish Sources Scy Id, Descendant of Dan

As pointed out in the preceding chapter, the Skjoldunga Saga itself indicates that there were two conflicting traditions in medieval Scandinavia concerning the legacy of Scyld and his place in the origin of the Danes. The first sentence of that saga identifies the fundamental point of distinction between the two: "Rerum Danicarum historiam Norvegorum commentarii non a Dan, ut Saxo Grammaticus, sed a Scioldo qvodam Odini ... filio ordiuntur." ["The commentaries on the affairs of the Danes describe the history of the Northmen as not starting with Dan, as Saxo Grammaticus says, but with a certain Skjold, son of Odin."]! As shown in Chapter 5, the Icelandic accounts of Scyld as the son of Odin offer perspectives on the mythological role of Scyld as a warrior figure and on his position among the JEsir. In contrast, the Danish records, primarily those of Sven Aggesen and Saxo Grammaticus, place Scyld, the descendant of Dan, in a more historical context. (For a list of these Danish sources, please see Table 4.) Certainly this Scyld is still a legendary figure and should not be construed as having ever existed; he is rather a construction, an embodiment of the ideal of kingship. Yet he has been given a "life"; the inclusion and repetition of certain details of his "life" make him seem more "human" and "real" and thus a more effective model, as his human qualities-his strengths and virtues-are capable of being emulated. So we see in the Scyld figures of the Danish records a model king who is at once fantastic and realistic, a king whose deeds, great as they are, are not beyond the reach of living monarchs. The oldest such reference to Scyld as a clearly mortal figure is in Sven Aggesen's Short History of the Kings of Denmark, a work edited by Eric Christiansen in his compilation The Works of Sven Aggesen, Twelfth-Century Danish Historian. In this Short History, dated by Christiansen to about 1188, Sven claims that his intent is to rescue "nostrorum regum principumque preclarissima gesta eterno deputarentur silentio" ["the mightiest achievements of our own kings and chiefs (from) perpetual silence ..."]. Sven hopes that future

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70

leaders will learn from these accounts "illustrium gesta principum" ["of the achievements of our famous princes"J,2 taking these ancient leaders as models of kingship. His record is unique among the Danish sources in that he alone of the Danish historians begins his history not with Dan but with Scyld; Dan is not even mentioned. Concerning this and several other Icelandic overtones to this Danish history, Guonason remarks: [The 1most natural explanation is that Svend is using Icelandic sources; his authorities would, of course, be the court poets, and in fact we know from Skdldatal that Icelandic poets did stay at the Danish court at this time. For noone was it more profitable or more essential than for the court poets to have a comprehensive know ledge of the ancestors of the kings.

And, as Sven's contemporary Saxo also includes "an amalgamation of Danish and Icelandic genealogies" in his work, we should not be "astonish[ed] if the same should be true of Svend Agges0n."3 Sven's Scyld, however, should not be considered a son of Odin as he is in the Icelandic records, for the list of his descendants matches those of other Danish accounts, as will be seen shortly. Sven's account of Scyld reads as follows: Skjold Danis primum didici prefuisse. Et ut eius alludamus uocabulo, idcirco tali functus est nomine, quia uniuersos regni terminos regie defensionis patrocinio affatim egregie tuebatur. A quo primum modis Islandensibus Skioldunger sunt reges nuncupati. [I have learned that Skiold was the first man to rule over the Danes, and if we may make a pun on his name, he was called this because he used to pro-

Table 4 Danish Sources Mentioning Scyld Figures, in Approximate Chronological Order Date (century) Twelfth Thirteenth Thirteenth Thirteenth Thirteenth Thirteenth Post-I270 Fifteenth Late fifteenth/early sixteenth Sixteenth Sixteenth

Source Sven Aggesen, Short History of the Kings of Denmark Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum "Annales Ryenses" "Incerti Auctoris Genealogia Regum Danie" "Nomina Regum Danorum" "Series ac Brevior Historia Regum Danire" "Annales Slesuicenses" Saxon is Gesta Danorum: Ab incerto auctore "Reges Danorum" "Catalogus Regum Danire Brevior" Peter Olaf, Petri Olai Minorita: Roskildensis Chronic a Regum Danorum

Scyld and Sce! in Danish Sources

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teet most nobly all the boundaries of the realm with the shielding power of his kingship. He was the first after whom kings were called Skioldunger in the poetry of the lcelanders.]4

Clearly Sven was aware of Icelandic poetic tradition, but he provides a different account of the past. Sven seemed more interested in "history" and may have considered the poetic works less authoritative; he himself wished only "quorum insignia gesta luce c1arius perspexi, eos ad memoriam reuocare conatus sum, iIIorum gestis modicam impendens operam, quos fama gloriosa circumuolans preterit" ["to commemorate those whose famous deeds I found to be known with more certainty. To the deeds of those whom fleeting fame has passed by I shall attend less urgently"].5 Sven is also the only chronicler who addresses the meaning of Scyld's name, openly punning on it. Concerning this reference, Axel Olrik has noted that no other source says anything about his name ... probably because the meaning of the word 'Skiold' was only of secondary importance. On the other hand, all sources agree in emphasizing the fact that the race was called after him. The main import of his name lay in its reminding one of the entire family of the Scyldings. 6

But although Olrik would apparently argue that the primary impact Scyld had on the family and nation of which he was the head was his contribution of a name, it was Scyld's qualities and traits that his people admired. They associated his name with his deeds; they did not adopt his name simply because he was the first but because he was worthy of admiration. Sven clearly indicates that this Scyld figure earned his name by his actions, that his name came after the fact. As well, in contrast to Olrik's suggestion, the other sources, although they do not make the same pun or observation on his name that Sven does, do comment extensively on the traits Scyld had that would lead to such a nickname, if "Ski old" is to be considered a nickname. One might argue that Sven had a political agenda in shaping his history, which ends with Knut VI, the king of Denmark in Sven's time. Certainly the Anglo-Saxon monarchs used their fabricated lineages "to present the past (and, by implication, the future) in terms of their own history,"? and, as Christiansen notes, Sven's creation of a "history of the Danish monarchy as an inheritance from very early times which had been vindicated by the courage and wisdom of most of the present king's ancestors" seems to us "an obvious distortion of the past for the purpose of supporting current political arrangements." However, to "Sven's contemporaries it was nothing of the sort. The past was expected to reflect the present" as they consciously created their myth of national origins. In fact, Christiansen argues that "Sven's inspiration was more likely to be the fashion for ancestry in Iceland and elsewhere than

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the aspirations of his king." Trying to establish a genealogy leading back to Skiold for political purposes might even have proved counterproductive, for "unbroken descent from heroic antiquity glorified all who could claim it, including many of Knut VI's potential rivals."8 So instead of focusing on possible political motivations for the inclusion of Scyld, we ought instead to concentrate on the hero's role as the first Danish king and on the quality that made him stand out: his ability to protect his people. Saxo Grammaticus balanced Scyld's mortal characteristics against his stature as an ideal king in his Gesta Danorum (History of the Danes), a work that provides the fullest record of the legendary hero's life. With this history, compiled about 1200 from various Scandinavian sources, Saxo claimed to have created "a faithful image of the past," though scholars such as Georges Dumezil have noted that he "shaped, bent, re-ordered everything he borrowed to the greater glory of Denmark."9 So great was the influence of this work on other sources that "[t]he early sections of later Danish chronicles were largely based on Saxo's Gesta Danorum . ... [N]o alternative version of early Danish history was produced before the Reformation."10 Though he certainly knew Sven Aggesen-according to Christiansen, Sven once "described Saxo as his eontubernalis, which means that they had some kind of association or fellowship at the time of writing; that is, post 1185" II-and thus presumably knew Sven's work as well, Saxo begins his history (at least in its ultimate form) in a different fashion, starting with Dan and listing Scyld as one of his heirs. Yet Dumezil reminds us that Saxo wrote the "historical" books, that is, Books 10-16, first; then, "[ w]orking backward through time, back to the very beginnings, he wrote the nine books, 1-9, that are of such value to us for the information they contain on the myths and epics of the ancient North. It is more or less agreed ... that the first book was one of the last written."12 Such a process of writing history would agree with Christiansen's comments that "the past was expected to reflect the present"; what better way to ensure that the past supported the present than to have the present written first as a model for shaping the record of the past? R. W. Chambers believes that such a process is behind the origin of Saxo's Dan, as he proposed that the figure evolved from tradition just as Scyld did, becoming the eponymous founder of the Danes long after his "existence." 13 After introducing Dan, Saxo then discusses Dan's brother Angul, another eponymous figure: Ex qui bus Angul, a quo gentis Anglicre principia manasse memorire proditum est, nomen suum provincire, cui prreerat, aptandum curavit, levi monumenti genere perennem sui notitiam traditurus. Cuius success ores postmodum Britannia potiti priscum insulre nomen novo patrire sure vocabulo permutarunt.

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[Old reports maintain that the English race originated from Angul, who had his name given to the region he governed, resolving to pass on an undying recognition of himself by an easy kind of memorial. His descendants later conquered Britain and substituted the new title of their own land for the island's original name.jI4 Saxo cites Bede as his source for English history; the reference to the learned English religious historian seems to be an attempt to establish the authority of his own presentation of Danish history. Continuing his history, Saxo tells how Dan was then succeeded by his son Humbli, a weak king, who was deposed by his brother Lother, a bad king. This Lother was then ousted by the people and replaced by his son, Skiold. Saxo's Skiold clearly stands as a model king-a feared warrior, a strong defender of his people, and a just and fair ruler. Saxo provides these details concerning Skiold's nature: Skyoldus naturam ab ipso, non mores sortitus per summam teneri oris retatis industriam cuncta paternre contagionis vestigia ingeniti erroris devio prreteribat. Igitur ut a paternis vitiis prudenter descivit, ita avitis virtutibus feliciter respondit, remotiorem pariter ac prrestantiorem hereditarii moris portionem amplexus. [Skiold, inheriting Lother's natural bent but not his habits, by the utmost perseverance during his youth made an instinctive detour, so that he bypassed all the traces of his father's infection. As he wisely renounced his father's vices, so he happily corresponded to his grandfather in excellence, welcoming those superior characteristics which were inherited from a generation further back.]15

In his childhood, Skiold proved himself far superior to both his peers and his elders, thereby foretelling his coming glory; Saxo recounts that [h]uius adolescentia inter paternos venatores immanis belure subactione insignis exstitit mirandoque rei evenu futurre eius fortitudinis habitum ominata est. Nam cum a tutoribus forte, quorum summo studio educabatur, inspectandre venationis licentiam impetrasset, obvium sibi insolitre granditatis ursum telo vacuus cingulo, cuius usum habebat, religandum curavit necandumque comitibus prrebuit. Sed et complures spectatre fortitudinis pugiles per idem tempus viritim ab eo superati produntur, e quibus Attalus et Scatus clari iIIustresque fuere. Quindecim ann os natus inusitato corporis incremento perfectissimum humani roboris specimen prreferebat, tantaque indo lis eius experimenta fuere, ut ab ipso ceteri Danorum reges communi quodam vocabulo Skioldungi nuncuparentur. Prrecurrebat igitur Skioldus virium complementum animi maturitate conflictusque gessit, quorum vix spectator ob teneritudinem esse poterat.

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Seyld and See! [(a)s a youth he won repute among his father's huntsmen by defeating a huge beast, a remarkable incident which foretold the quality of his bravery in the future. He had asked the guardians who were bringing him up conscientiously for permission to go and see the hunting, when he encountered a bear of unusual size. Although weaponless he managed to bind it with the belt he used to wear and then gave it to his companions to kill. 16 During the same period he is reputed to have overcome individually many champions of tested courage, among whom Attal and Skat had wide renown. Already at fifteen he had grown to such a stature that he presented a perfect specimen of manhood, and so forceful were the proofs of his talent that the other Danish kings assumed from him the common title of Skioldungs. Skiold's boldness, then, outstripped the full development of his strength and he fought contests which someone of his tender years would scarcely have been allowed to watch.j17

Once he became king, Skiold showed himself to be more than a warrior. He "impias leges abrogavit, salutares tulit, et quicquid ad emendandum patrire statum attinuit, summa diligentia prrestitit" ["annulled unjust laws and introduced beneficial ones, earnestly performing anything which could ameliorate his country's condition"]. Skiold also shared his wealth with his people, settling "[o]mnium res alienum ex fisco suo ... et quasi cum aliorum regum fortitudine, munificentia ac liberalitate celtabat" ["(a)ll men's debts ... from his own treasury, as if he vied with other kings' courage through his own bounty and generosity"]. This great generosity was matched by his prowess in battle. When Skat, the leader of the Allemanni, challenged his claims to a Saxon princess, Skiold went to war; he killed Skat, "interfectoque eo omnem Allemannorum gentem perinde ac ducis sui interitu debellatam tributaria ditione perdomuit" ["(and) in killing him he overthrew all the people of the Allemanni, as good as reduced by the death of their leader, and made them pay tribute under his jurisdiction"]. Having won this woman, Skiold had by her a son, Gram, "[c]uius mirifica indoles ita patemas virtutes redoluit, ut prorsus per earum vestigia decurrere putaretur" ["whose amazing genius was so reminiscent of his father's that he was immediately believed to be treading in the same virtuous footsteps"] .18 With this son, Skiold ensured that stability and order in the kingdom would continue, at least for a while. Clearly Saxo's record of the life and legacy of Skiold has parallels to the account of Scyld Scefing in the prologue to Beowulf. Hilda Davidson has made these observations in her edition of Saxo's work: Scyld in the Anglo-Saxon poem has certain features in common with Saxo's hero: a) interest is shown in his childhood; b) he was famed for plunder taken in war; c) other kings paid him tribute; d) he had a celebrated son, Beowulf I, while Saxo's hero had as son the famous Gram. 19

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For comparison, note how Scyld Scefing was found as an abandoned child (lines 7 and 43--46), he conquered foes (4-6), he demanded tribute (9-11), and he established a dynasty (12-19). To Davidson's comments we might add that both good kings-Scyld Scefing and Skiold-stand out even more prominently because they succeed bad kings; Scyld Scefing followed the infamous Heremod, whereas Skiold followed Lother, who tolerabiliorem regem quam militem egit, ut prorsus insolentia ac scelere regnum auspicari videretur; siquidem iIIustrissimum quemque vita aut opibus spoliare patriamque bonis civibus vacuefacere probitatis loco duxit, regni ll!mulos ratus quos nobilitate pares habuerat. Nec diu scelerum impunitus patrill! constematione perimitur, eadem spiritum eripiente, qUll! regnum largita fuerat. [played the king as intolerably as the soldier, immediately inaugurating his reign with arrogance and crime; he reckoned it a measure of virtue to deprive his most distinguished subjects of life and wealth and to clear his country of fine characters, imagining that his equals in birth must be rivals to his throne. Nor did he remain long unpunished for his enormities; he perished in a mutiny of the nation, which snatched away his life as it had formerly bestowed the kingdom.]2o

Chambers reminds us, though, that the parallel between the Danish and Anglo-Saxon tales is not exact, as "neither Saxo Grammaticus, nor any other Danish historian, knows anything of Skjold having come in his youth or returned in his death over the ocean."21 But still, what we have in Saxo's work is a much fuller elaboration of the concise commentary on what defined "a good king" found in the first eleven lines of Beowulf; the Danish work provides more specific traits of and criteria for good kings. Like Skiold, they are clearly powerful from their youth forward; they have the best interests of their people in mind and protect them not only from outside enemies but also from unjust laws. Just as the kings of Saxo's time and beyond could trace their lineage to Skiold, so too should they seek to find within themselves the characteristics of this ideal monarch, for many of the qualities that made him the ideal king-his generosity, bravery, and fairness-are qualities that all kings could have. Actually, Saxo may have gone beyond using Skiold as a mere model but instead also used him as a means to praise current kings (in a way similar to what English chroniclers had done), for as Roberta Frank points out, "By 1200, when Saxo wrote his Danish History, both fvarr and Halfdanr, sons of the legendary Ragnarr Lothbr6k, were entered into the royal genealogies as ancestors of the kings of Denmark, a line running from Skjoldr (OE Scyld) to Gormr the Old and beyond."22 The account from Saxo thus clarifies that in the same way this Scyld figure became a part of the Danes' history, so too did he become a part of their cultural identity.

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As noted, the Gesta Danorum served as the model for Danish histories for several centuries. Various sources borrowed from Saxo wholesale, although their accounts are never quite so thorough. The earliest of these works is the "Annales Ryenses," a history dated from between the 1260s and 1288,23 that, after listing the three preceding kings-Dan, Humbli, and Lother-offers this synopsis of the life of Skiold: Quartus, Skiold; iste anteguam haberat 15 annos etatis, occurrens solus magno urso atgue [inermis], eum cingulo suo ligauit. Hic primo Teutonicos Danis subiugauit atgue seruire fecit sub tributo atgue multa strennue gessit. Huic successit filius eius Gram. 24 [The fourth king was Skiold; that one, before he was fifteen years of age, alone and unarmed attacking a great bear, tied him up with his belt. He first subjugated the Teutons to the Danes and made them servants under tribute and accomplished many things actively. His son Gram succeeded him.] Although the account is brief, key elements are still present: Skiold proved himself when young, he defeated Denmark's foes and made them pay tribute, and he had an heir. He also performed "kingly things," although the details are left unspecified. The "Annales Ryenses" also indicates when these early rulers of Denmark lived by making them contemporaneous with biblical figures; for example, Dan ruled the Danes in the time of King David: "Dani ... donec tempore Dauid regis habuerunt regem Dan."25 Similarly, we can note how in Sktildskapannal Snorri Sturluson makes Skjold's grandson a contemporary of Augustus and Christ: "SkjOldr aui pann son er Frioleifr het, er IOndum reo eptir hann. Sonr Frilleifs het Frooi, hann tok komingdom eptir foour sinn, f pann tio er Augustus keisari lagoi frio of heim allan; pa var Kristr borinn" ["SkjOldr's son, who ruled the land after him, was named Fridleifr. Fridleifr's son was Fr6di: he succeeded to the kingdom after his father, in the time when Augustus Caesar imposed peace on all the world; at that time Christ was bom"].26 Again, the presence of this historicizing and euhemerizing seems to be intended to place Scyld as well as other heroes in an acceptable Christian context. A later work, a fourteenth-century synopsis or "simplified compendium" of Saxo's history, preserves many more elements of the Gesta Danorum, clarifying the idea that, as king, Skiold [n]ec minus virtutibus guam viribus resplenduit: nam impias leges abrogauit, salutares edidit, de infirrnis et pauperibus curam gessit et, guidguid ad emendandum statum patrie attinuit, summa diligencia prestitit, dicens se non sui sed patrie curam suscepisse. 27 [glittered back not less with moral excellence than with strength: for he annulled unholy laws, gave out advantageous ones, showed care concerning

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the weak and paupers, and, to whatever extent it pertained to improving the condition of the country, displayed the greatest attentiveness, saying that he supported the concern not of himself but of the country.]

In the sixteenth century, Peter Olaf again retold Saxo's account of this Scyld figure, maintaining the core components of the story: the hero proved himself in his youth, defeated his neighbors and made them pay tribute, supported the people both with money and just laws, and left a successful heir. Olaf also includes the name of this Scyld figure's wife (Alwilda), thereby making the account seem even more "real."28 Thus in these three later redactions of Saxo's history-the "Ann ales Ryenses," the history by the anonymous author, and the chronicle of Peter Olaf-we can detect the most enduring qualities of Scyld, qualities that mark him as an ideal king: his skill in protecting the land from enemies and his honorable treatment of his people. Of the remaining sources that list Scyld as the son of Dan, four are of limited interest as they provide only a list of names of kings. Two of these, the "Nomina Regum Danorum" of the thirteenth century and the "Catalogus Regum Dania! Brevior," attributed to Peter Olaf and thus datable to the early sixteenth century, provide the same order of succession: Dan, Humbli, Lother, Skiold, and Gram. 29 Two other accounts introduce a certain "Bogi": the "Series ac Brevior Historia Regum Danie" of the thirteenth century has the list Dan, his brother Lother, followed by Dan's son Bogi and then Lother's son Skyld, whereas the "Reges Danorum" offers Dan, his son Lother, Lother's son Bogi, and then Bogi's brother Skyld. 30 Although these sources do not provide much new information concerning Scyld, his presence alone reinforces how he had become part of the historical canon. As seen in the genealogies from Iceland and England, redactors of genealogies often edited and rearranged their source materials. But so often, as in these Danish accounts, they chose to leave Scyld and Scef in place. Whether these later genealogists appreciated every nuance of the two figures can never be known, but what their continued presence in the textual evidence does suggest is that Scyld and Scef were considered central enough to each society's constructed identity to be maintained in the genealogies. There is a sense of respect for the cultural traditions surrounding the two Germanic heroes-and a sense of a desire to keep those traditions alive. The final two accounts to be considered offer slightly new information and perspectives. The first of these, the "Incerti Auctoris Genealogia Regum Danie," attributed to the thirteenth century, makes two notable comments in its account of Scyld: Primi Danorum principes extiterunt Dan et Angul. Post quos principatum tenuit L0ther, filius Dan. Huic successit Skiold, filius eius. Hi omnes principatum tenebant tan tum.

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Seyld and See! Deinde patrio in regno successit Hading, qui primus regio sceptro regalique decoratus diademate rex meruit appellariY [The first leaders of the Danes on record were Dan and Angul, after whom Lother, son of Dan, held first rank. To this one Ski old, his son, succeeded. They all only held first rank. Afterward Hading succeeded to his father in the monarchy, who first, decorated with royal scepter and regal headband, deserved to be called "King."]

Of interest is that according to this record, Skiold was the last leader of the Danes not to have been called "King." He is not included in the succession of monarchs and therefore seems to be even further outside of history as an even more mythical figure. Additionally, this record names Hading, not Gram, as Skiold's son. A Hading figure usually appears three generations later, as Scyld's great-great-grandson. Although Hading, like Gram, is an illustrious king, he also has mythological overtones. Dumezil has argued that based on the legends of Hading in Saxo's Gesta Danorum, the saga surrounding Hading may be considered "a transposition of the mythical career of Njoror," a god of the Vanir associated with the winds and the sea. 32 However, such a theory, which assumes Saxo's acceptance of the truly divine nature of his deities, runs counter to the observations of Sawyer and Sawyer: Unlike the Icelanders, who had a positive interest in the pagan gods, Saxo treated them with contempt. He shared the Icelanders' euhemeristic interpretation of the gods as real people whose achievements were so exceptional that they were worshipped, but by placing their home in Sweden, more specifically in Uppsala, he distanced his countrymen from their contaminating influence. 33

Still, the writer of this history obviously considered Hading an important figure, for he gave him the role of the founder of the royal dynasty. And to emphasize Hading's place, the writer omitted less memorable kings; Scyld is not among those omitted but rather remains in the history, an important link to the preregnal era. And if we do interpret Hading as Dumezil does, as a figure associated with Njoror of the Vanir, then the warrior figure Scyld has once again been connected to a fertility figure. Finally, the "Annales Slesuicenses," written after 1270, places Scyld in a completely different context. Although Scyld is still the son of Lother, who is still the brother of Humbli, their lineage begins not with the legendary hero Dan but with a confirmed, specific, and datable historical event-the conversion of a powerful Danish overlord. According to Sawyer and Sawyer, "The first Scandinavian king to be baptized, in 826 in Mainz, was the Dane Harald Klak, but he was driven into exile a year later and never returned. It was not until about 965

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that another Danish king, Harald Bluetooth, was baptized." Harald Bluetooth's acceptance of Christianity brought about "the cessation of pagan rituals in which the king took part.,,34 The "Annales Slesuicenses" records his conversion: Anno Domini 966 Dani ad fidem sunt conuersi per Popponem, qui chirotecam ferream ignitam ilIesus portauit inspectante rege Haraldo, qui conuersus est, et Poppo promotus in episcopum. (2. (3. (4. (5. (6.

Humle). Lother, frater eius). ). Skiold). Gram).35

[In the year of the Lord 966, the Danes were converted to the faith by Poppo, who, unhurt, carried a glove of iron containing fire to the observing king Harald, who was converted, and Poppo was promoted to bishop. (2. Humle). (3. Lother, his brother). (4. ). (5. Skiold).

(6. Gram).]

This brief record suggests that Danish history really began with the successful conversion of the Danes to Christianity; Scyld then is important as a Christian ruler and a part of that tradition. And by placing Scyld within a specific temporal context, the historian essentially made Scyld "safe": he was no longer a pagan figure but a Christian king who, through his name, still conveyed the Germanic virtues associated with him for future generations. This history thus illustrates the interaction between the Christian and Germanic traditions; the Christian historian looking back from his own time adapted the Germanic legends to make them fit his Christian needs. Such a reinterpretation of the past is clearly reminiscent of so many other Scyld and Scef analogues, especially all the Anglo-Saxon and later English genealogies that were consciously crafted to include Scyld and Scef as the descendants of the biblical patriarchs. Thus Scyld is to the Danes the model king, a standard against which other rulers should be compared. One might argue that certain aspects of his "life," such as his unarmed, single-handed conquest of a bear in his youth, are obviously the fantastic stuff of heroic warrior legends and thus cannot be truly imitated, thereby reducing Scyld's effectiveness as a model monarch. But Scyld's virtues as a leader are more important than his amazing actions of his youth; those qualities could indeed be emulated. By establishing such an idealized yet (for the most part) realistic monarch as a founding father of

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their nation, the Danish historians seemed to imply that their own kings of Denmark had the potential to be as great and fair as Scyld, especially if indeed the past was to reflect the present. Scyld is also a part of the Danes' history, of their cultural identity; they have a stronger sense of nationalistic pride because he is "the prototype of [their] heroic race."36 He even becomes a part of their Christian present, for he is ultimately considered one of their first Christian kings. In fact, the place of Scyld in their national awareness is so crucial to the Danes, such a necessary facet of their cultural identity, that the figure continues to live on, his name associated with the Danish rulers even until the twentieth century, for as Viggo Starcke reports as of 1962, "The royal Danish house is still called Scyldings.'>37

Chapter 7 Conclusion

Through this examination of the various and even conflicting accounts of Scyld and Scef, we can now much more fully appreciate the multifaceted nature of the two figures; we have thereby gained a fuller understanding of some of the concerns important to certain Germanic peoples, including how their written records reveal their responses to these concerns. From our vantage point, an exploration of those records has revealed something of how the Anglo-Saxons, the later medieval English, the Icelanders, and the Danes looked at their past and how they wished to perceive themselves in their present. Scy ld and Scef, as we have seen, were very much a part of the Germanic cultural fabric; this study of the multiple functions of the two figures has led to a deeper and richer knowledge of the people who wrote of Scyld and Scef and how they used them in their construction of a cultural identity. Scef as the sources have revealed, served several functions. WidsiiJ both establishes the ancient nature of the figure and presents him as the one who ruled the war-like Lombards; his association with the tribe suggests the place and importance of agriculture in the history of the Germanic peoples. As well, we see the development of Scef as an agricultural figure in both Beowulf and in the records of LEthelweard; the combination of the warrior and cultivator classes in both the character Scyld Scefing and the account of the infant "Sceaf' arriving surrounded by weapons among a Germanic tribe suggests that the Anglo-Saxons desired an explanation for how their society, with its balance between the agricultural and warrior elements, came to be so ordered. But Scef has other roles; for the recently converted Anglo-Saxons (and for the Icelanders adapting their genealogies), he became the link to the Judeo-Christian heritage. Such a connection stands out in the AngloSaxon genealogies, wherein Scef is so clearly identified as "the son of Noah; he was born in the ark of Noah."l Yet even as we note how some genealogies emphasize Scef's position as the link to Judeo-Christian 81

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history, we should not forget that national and cultural pride affected the development of the genealogies. As Anthony Faulkes has commented, Rivalry of various kinds (between Goths and Romans, between different royal families in Anglo-Saxon England, between various Icelandic families and between Icelanders and other Scandinavians) must have been the principal reason for the compilation of most of the genealogies in Germanic tradition thal include mythological names. 2

The chroniclers of the Anglo-Saxon period and later, in shaping the royal genealogies to include Scef, must have recognized that ancestry from such an ancient Germanic mythological hero complimented and enhanced the nobility of the ruling dynasty as well as of the people as a whole. In fact, Hermann Moisl argues, "Belief in descent from a god was an important ideological principle in the ordering of society among the early Germans. It gave ethnic coherence to peoples, and royal authorities to the dynasties which ruled them."3 The English chroniclers of the twelfth to fifteenth centuries perpetuated these twin perceptions of Scef (his roles in helping the people establish "ethnic coherence" and in helping the royals establish their "dynasties") as they incorporated the records of the past in their explanations of the present. Some of their accounts still identify Scef as the link to the Judeo-Christian tradition; others make note of Scef's place as the most ancient Germanic forefather--even as late as the reign of Henry VI in the fifteenth century, Scef is still regarded as "the first inhabitant of Germany."4 Thus Scef functions in the various sources as the personification of the civilizing force of agriculture, as a fertility figure, as the connection to the Judeo-Christian heritage, and as the most ancient Germanic chieftain; his multiple functions reflect the changing conceptions of social and political sources of importance in different Germanic cultures across time. The adaptation of Scef throughout these genealogies illustrates how one culture in the process of shaping its identity will look to its own perceived past for answers. John D. Niles has described this process of "appropriation" in terms of how we construct our present reality: [T]he historical present is nothing other than our present consciousness, insofar as we are aware that we are beings whose identity has evolved over time. The ground on which this consciousness rests is of course the past. This is not a past that is out there in some sense, however. It is a past that now exists only within us as part of our present awareness .... [T]he historical present is chiefly formed ... through endlessly varied acts of appropriation, the effects of which are to confirm a group's sense of identity and status, to reinforce its loyalties, values, and beliefs, and to liberate its capacity for powerful action.

Niles continues that one culture will appropriate aspects of another culture only selectively, to increase their status and prestige and to advance their

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particular ideology; he points to the development of the "grandiose genealogies" of the West-Saxon rulers as a clear example of how the one group appropriated cultural material from another to enhance their status; in this case, [w Jith each extension of this pseudo genealogy, the prestige of the West Saxon kings was enhanced. Their authority as rulers of Englalond, not just of Wessex, was made manifest, and the ground on which the historical present rested was tilted first northeast to Scandinavia (via Scyld, Geat, and other legendary northern kings) and then southeast, in the direction of the Holy Land. 5

As a further example of Niles' principles we can add the development of the Scandinavian genealogies and chronicles. Certainly the Icelandic genealogies that include Scef seem strongly to be adaptations of Anglo-Saxon pedigrees. In this case, the recently converted Icelandic historians, living in a time of great scholarly growth, turned to the Anglo-Saxon sources as they shaped their history; one result was the twelfth-century Langfeogatal, written perhaps less than two centuries after Iceland's conversion to Christianity. In the genealogies, and especially in the lists containing Scef, the Scandinavian historians found records that served them well: by adapting the Anglo-Saxon genealogies to fit their preexisting ideas of history, they established connections to the very roots of both the Germanic and the Christian past. Their actions remind us how medieval chroniclers did not necessarily write "about what happened but about what they wished to believe, or wished others to believe, happened."6 Scyld functions in multiple ways as well. Beowulf noticeably presents him as a model king, as the one who defeats enemies, the one who serves the people, bringing them wealth and defending their rights, and the one who restores order. It is no wonder that some Beowu?f scholars, focusing on the prominent description of Scyld as the "good king," were prone to assert that the entire poem should be considered a Filrstenspiegel or "mirror of a prince" (as Levin L. Schiicking specifically labeled it).? The works of Saxo and other Danish historians support this interpretation of the figure, presenting him as the model for future kings and stressing his importance as the founder of the ruling house, the Scyldings. In Saxo's Gesta Danorum, though, Scyld's most essential characteristics-his fairness, generosity, and devotion to his people-were not so unrealistic as to be beyond belief; his only truly fantastic feat was defeating a bear, unarmed and alone, when just a youth. Otherwise, Scyld ruled in a manner others could genuinely hope to emulate. One other source, the "Annales Siesuicenses," expanded upon Scyld's function as an ideal monarch by associating him with the conversion of the Danes and placing him among the first Christian monarchs. Scyld's position as the model for

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all monarchs could thus be accepted in a postconversion world. So, more than anything, the depiction of Scyld by Saxo and his successors seems more of a challenge to present and future kings to rule as properly as Scyld. The Icelandic sources focused on a different aspect of Scyld, specifically on his place as a link to the ancient gods. In these accounts, Scyld, the son of Odin and one of the lEsir, is a warrior figure who has a place in the ancient legend of the arrival of the lEsir in the North and their subsequent domination of the Vanir. This perspective serves as a reminder of the deeper yet necessary conflict between the warrior and agricultural classes-a conflict that was resolved at some point in the distant past. Concerning this conflict, Dumezil has noted that "the unbreakable association that follows the war, and which the war only prepares for, signifies that the opposition is also a complementary, a solidarity, and that the lEsir and Vanir adjust and balance themselves for the greatest good of a human society that feels an equal need for protectors of both kinds."g That is, the myth of the war between the lEsir and the Vanir is really the people's effort to explain their dependency on both the agricultural and warrior classes; it is an effort to explain their origins, to explain the unity and balance they know they have achieved. Sources such as Snorri's Ynglinga Saga from the Heimskringla reflect this search for origins, as within that source we have the explanation for the balance: the warrior Scyld marries the fertility figure Gefjon, thereby instigating and justifying the relationship between the two classes. Other works such as Beowulf, with its record of Scyld Scefing, likewise reinforce the nature of the relationship between the warrior and agricultural elements in Germanic society. The myth of the interaction between the lEsir and the Vanir may even explain the physical structure of Germanic society. James W. Earl clarifies that the Germanic hall, abode of the male warriors, "was the precinct of the lEsir, while the outlying huts were the precinct of the Vanir." On its own, the hall is "inconceivable as a whole historical world: for it is a world without agriculture, without women, and without economic or domestic life of any sort." Without the women and cultivator classes, the society would collapse; their presence is absolutely necessary. In this way, the pantheons of the lEsir and the Vanir-once at war but now living in a common society-"correspond, then, to two domains of life, characterized by sex, class, occupation, and social relations, and are expressed most visibly in the cosmic symbolism of the two dwellings and the village structure that sets them in relation with each other."9 This added physical dimension places the union of Scyld and Scef in a different perspective, making their legend even more important for our understanding of Germanic society. Although the particular functions vary, there is, at a basic level, one apparent constant: many of the accounts of Scyld and Scef can be seen as myths of origin, as foundation myths. A group's need to explain its origins is more or less universal, and, as Nicholas Howe has noted, "In the absence of

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the political cohesiveness offered by nationhood, a myth of origin provides a people with some means for determining its organic status as a group."10 Through such a myth, the people evoke "the racial memory" that "undergird[s] ... their place in history." The Anglo-Saxons were captivated by their past; "once they entered into the stream of civilization, [they] were immediately obsessed with their own origins, with the transition they had just endured."ll Certainly such a perspective on the development and importance of myths of national origin places works like Beowulf, Widsio, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, as well as Saxo's History of the Danes and Snorri's Heimskringla, in a well-respected group, for we can compare these Germanic works to Virgil's Aeneid, which relates the distant origins of the Roman Empire, or to the History of the Lombards compiled by Paul the Deacon, or to Layamon's Brut, which in part explains the history of the British. Countless other foundation myths could be listed; Faulkes notes several other Germanic accounts in his "Descent from the Gods": According to the Book of Hyde, Alfred the Great was of Trojan descent. ... Dudo of S. Quentin, writing about 1020, has the Danes originating from the Trojans .... He is followed in part by William of Jumieges (circa 1070). Widukind, also writing in the eleventh century, reports a tradition that the Saxons originated from the scattered remnants of Alexander the Great's army, while Otfrid had mentioned one [sic] that the Franks were related to Alexander himself.12

All of these works, at the most basic level, are attempts by a particular people to explain and glorify their origins, and, in doing so, to glorify themselves. Interestingly, the tendency of the English and Scandinavian poets, historians, and chroniclers to look to their Germanic past in an effort to develop their own cultural identity and origin did not end with the fifteenth-century pedigree of Henry VI or the sixteenth-century "Catalogus Regum Dania: Brevior." According to Hugh MacDougall, since the sixteenth century English scholars have looked to the Anglo-Saxon past as a way of understanding, defining, and defending their interpretation of the present. 13 One need look only at the earliest Beowulf scholarship to recognize how nationalistic it was, as scholars from England and other Germanic countries presented Beowulf to reflect most positively on their own cultural past. Grimur Jonsson Thorkelin, one of the earliest scholars to work with the poem, had as his "chief motive for transcribing and publishing Beowulf . .. nationalism: Danish nationalism, to be precise."14 The Dane Nikolai F. S. Grundtvig acted in a similar fashion. The first to translate Beowulf into Danish, Grundtvig, in his 1820 edition entitled Bjowulfs Drape (Beowulf's Burial), added a scene to the end of poem; he has a Danish poet tell of Beowulf's burial while urging the

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"clan of the Angles, now alienated from the North, ... [to] remember old Denmark."15 Grundtvig clearly seems to be reminding the Danes of his own time of their bond to the ancient Germanic traditions and values as epitomized in Beowulf. Actually, in his translation of Beowulf Grundtvig openly comments that he hopes the poem would become a monument for his own people, that it would "instantly attract the attention of all Nordic, and especially Danish, scholars, and, as soon as it became readable in the mother tongue [i.e., in Grundtvig's Danish translation], be found in all homes and become a reader for all children, yes, become for Scandinavia in a small way what the Iliad and the Odyssey were for the Greeks."16 The nineteenthcentury English scholar John Kemble was very aware of "the service scholarship owed to nationalism"; he dedicated his work on Beowulf to Queen Victoria, emphasizing how his findings of the past have added glory to the presentY In fact, Victorian England as a whole saw a close connection between the present and the Anglo-Saxon past, culminating in part with the near-veneration of King Alfred, who was held up as the prototypically ideal English monarch, England's "most celebrated and beloved of medieval kings." (Prince Albert and Queen Victoria even named a son after him.)18 The Victorians, like Thorkelin, Grundtvig, and Kemble, and like so many of the medieval chroniclers, looked to the past as a way of strengthening their people's understanding of their present, of reminding their audience of their cultural heritage and the glories of a past that is part of their present. This analysis of the analogues has revealed multiple, even opposing, understandings of Scyld and Scef that cannot be harmonized. So often we want harmony, a single story or truth; having to choose among mUltiple explanations can lead to an awkward fusion of possibilities, as seen in Chambers' somewhat forced streamlining of the various sources of Scyld and Scef and Branston's equation of the two heroes. One might argue that having a single, accepted account of origins is a group's most basic unifying element. 19 But in reality, we do not always have a single account or perception of a person or event, or perhaps even of anything, and actually we are somewhat accustomed to seeing our own "reality" from multiple perspectives. Perhaps the Germanic peoples who included Scyld and Scef in their records did something similar; they had mUltiple perceptions of the two figures and chose to focus their attention on one aspect or another at a given moment. But the alternate functions hovered still, and the audience hearing or reading any given account of the two could choose to respond to the figures according to a different perception and generate a new interpretation. As this study of Scyld Scefing has illustrated, the narrative-or rather the narratives-of the two heroes are fragmented and incomplete, and the meanings of the pieces we do have are sometimes contradictory and elusive. Even so, we can trace in the development of the two figures the effort of certain Germanic peoples-most noticeably the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes,

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but by extension the Anglo-Normans (and their successors) and, through the Icelandic poets, much of the greater Scandinavian community-to create a national identity through their mythology. These acts of creation reflect the deeper need of a people to explain where they come from, to try to determine and understand the underlying heritage binding them together. As these groups under consideration have tended to find common ground in their shared Germanic heritage, we thus should read their works with the interconnections in mind. For example, the account of Scyld Scefing in Beowulfis at once a part of the tradition that considered Scyld as the model for all kings as well as a reminder of the successful balance between the warrior and agricultural social classes; as such, Beowulf shares a bond both with sources such as Sven Aggesen's Short History of the Kings of Denmark and Saxo's Gesta Danorum as well as with works such as Snorri Sturluson's Ynglinga Saga. So too does the connection between the Scyld figure of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Scyld figure of the Skjoldunga Saga run far deeper than that of a mere correlation of names; the ties between the Scef figure of Widsio and the Scef figure of lEthelweard's Chronicle are stronger than they first seem. Fred C. Robinson once stated, concerning the study of Old English literary texts, that "[i]f a text is detached from its codicological environment, ... we risk losing that part of its meaning."2o In the same way, when an account of Scyld or Seef is "detached" from its greater cultural environment-that is, read without an understanding of the analogues-we risk losing some of the meaning (or even meanings) of the account. In the accounts of Scyld and Scef (and of other heroes as well) we can trace the traits that the cultures wanted to possess, for as the people generated their past they shaped it to reflect positively on their present sense of identity. We, standing at the threshold of the twenty-first century, study our past for much the same reasons; we have learned that without a knowledge and understanding of our cultural sources, we really have a much poorer understanding of who we are.

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PART II

Texts and Translations

In translating from one language to another, it is well to remember, as many others have before, the words of the venerable Bede and of Alfred the Great. Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, noted some of the difficulties of translating poetry after telling the story of Credmon and his song: "Hie est sensus, non autem ordo ipse uerborum, quae dormiens ille canebat; neque enim possunt carmina, quamuis optime conposita, ex alia in aliam linguam ad uerbum sine detrimento sui decoris ac dignitatis transferri."l ['This is the sense, though not the order itself of the words, whieh sleeping he sang; nor truly are songs, however well they are composed, able to be transferred word-for-word from one language into another without detriment to their grace and dignity."]

Alfred, in his preface to the translation of Gregory the Great's Cura PastoraUs, made his own disclaimer, noting that he translated "hwilum word be worde, hwilum ondgit of andgite" ["sometimes word by word, sometimes meaning from meaning"V Just as these medieval translators understood the limitations of their craft, I have recognized the challenges inherent in translating. For many of the Scyld and Scef analogues, no standard translation edition exists, and when I have needed to translate a source, I have sought to achieve a balance between providing a lucid, readable translation and maintaining the "otherness" of these works from different cultures. The texts follow in alphabetical order (by author, if known, and then by title). The chapter wherein the source is discussed is indicated in parentheses following the name or title of the entry to assist with cross-referencing. For each source, I note the culture that produced it, the suggested dates for composition, and the manuscripts wherein the source can be found. Bibliographic information specifying the edition used precedes the text (and, if appropriate, its translation). Again, unless otherwise indicated, the translations are my own. 89

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Contents of Part II lEthelweard, Chronicon /Ethelweardi (3) 91 "lEttartala fn'i Adam til Siguroar a Grenjaoarstooum" (5) 92 "lEttartOlur" (5) 94 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (3) 96 A-Text 96 B-Text 97 C-Text 98 D-Text 98 "Annales Ryenses" (6) 99 "Annales Slesuicenses" (6) 100 Asser, Life of King Alfred (3) 101 Bartholomew of Cotton, Historia Anglicana (AD 449-1298) (IV) 103 Beowulf (2) 104 "Catalogus Regum Dania: Brevior" (6) 106 A Chronicle Roll of Henry VI (4) 107 Chronica Buriensis (4) 108 Eulogium Historiarum sive Temporibus (4) 110 "Fragmentum vetus Islandicum Historico-Geographicum de rebus Dano-Norvegicis" (5) 111 "Incerti Auctoris Genealogia Regum Danie" (6) 113 John of Worcester, Chronicon ex Chronicis (4) 114 Langfeogatal (5) 114 Matthew of Westminster, Flores Historiarum (4) 119 MS AM 1 e B II (5) 121 MS AM 22 fo1. (5) 122 "Nomina Regum Danorum" (6) 122 Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora (4) 123 Paris, Matthew, Historia Anglorum (4) 125 Peter Olaf, Petri Olai MinoritlF Roskildensis Chronica Regum Danorum, a Dano ad Obitum lohannis Regis (6) 126 The Red Book of the f.xchequer (4) 129 "Reges Danorum" (6) 129 Richard of Cirencester Speculum Historiale de gestis regum Angliae (4) 130 Roger of Hoveden, Chronica Magistri (4) 132 Roger of Wendover, Libri qui dicitur Flores Historiarum (4) 133 Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum (6) 134 Saxonis Gesta Danorum: Ab incerto auctore (6) 138 "Series ac Brevior Historia Regum Dania:" (6) 140 Simeon of Durham, Historia Regum (4) 140 Skjoldunga Saga ["Danasaga Amgrfms La:roa"] (5) 141 Snorri Sturluson, Edda (Prologue) (5) 143 Snorri Sturluson, Edda: Skdldskapanruil (5) 145 Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla: Ynglinga Saga (5) 148 Sven Aggesen, Short History of the Kings of Denmark (6) 150 Textus Roffensis (3) 153 "Viobretir vio Olafs Sogu hins Helga" (5) 154 "West-Saxon Regnal List from 494 to Reign of lEthelred" (3) 155 WidsiO (2) 156 William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum (4) 156

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IEthelweard: Chronicon IEthelweardi (3) Late tenth/early eleventh-century Anglo-Saxon genealogy; MSS British Library Cotton Otho A. x and British Library Cotton Otho A. xii. Standard Edition lEthelweard. Chronicon JEthelweardi, or The Chronicle of JEthelweard. Edited and translated by A. Campbell. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, Ltd., 1962.

From Book III, Anno 855 (32-33): Siquidem post annum pagani hyemauerunt in loco Sceapige. In eodem anno decumauit Athulf rex de omni possessione sua in partem domini, et in uniuerso regimine sui principatus sic constituit, et in ipso anno profectus est Romam cum magna dignitate, moratusque est ibi menses duodecim. Igitur, reuertente eo ad patriam, Karolus, rex Francorum, filiam suam tradidit ei in matrimonium; quam susceptam duxit ad patriam suam. Denique post annum Athulf rex obiit, cuius corpus requiescit in urbe Vuintona. Igitur pra:fatus rex fuit filius Ecgbyrhti regis, cuius auus Ealhmund, proauus Eafa, atauus Eoppa, abauus Ingild, Ines frater, Occidentalium Anglorum regis, qui Roma: finierat uitam, traxeruntque supra dicti reges a Cenred rege originem. Cenred fuit filius Ceoluuald. Auus quippe eius Cuthuuine, proauus Ceaulin, atauus Cynric, abauus Cerdic, qui et primus possessor Britannia: partis occidentalis superatos exercitus Brittannorum, cuius pater fuit Elesa, auus Esla, proauus Geuuis, atauus Vuig, abauus Freauuine, sextus pater eius Frithogar, septimus Brond, octauus Balder, nonus Vuothen, decimus Frithouuald, undecimus Frealaf, duodecimus Frithouulf, tertius decimus Fin, quartus decimus Goduulfe, quintus decimus Geat, sextus decimus Tetuua, septimus decimus Beo, octauus decimus Scyld, nonus decimus Scef. Ipse Scef cum uno dromone aduectus est in insula oceani que dicitur Scani, armis circundatus, eratque ualde recens puer, et ab incolis illius terra: ignotus. Attamen ab eis suscipitur, et ut familiarem diligenti animo eum custodierunt, et post in regem eligunt; de cuius prosapia ordinem trahit Adulf rex. Transmeatusque est tunc numerus annorum quinquagessimus quintus, ex quo Ecgbyrht cepit regnare.

Translation lEthelweard. Chronicon JEthelweardi, or The Chronicle of JEthelweard. Edited and translated by A. Campbell. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, Ltd., 1962.

From 32-33: After a year the pagans wintered in Sheppey. In the same year, King lEthelwulf made a grant of a tenth from all his property for the Lord's service, and decreed that the same should be done in the entire jurisdiction of his power, and in the same year he set out to Rome in great state, and he

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Seyld and See! stayed there twelve months. When he was on the way home, Charles, king of the Franks, gave his daughter to him in marriage. When he had received her, he conducted her to his country. Then King Althelwulf died after a year, and his body rests in the city of Winchester. The above-mentioned king was the son of King Ecgbyrht, and his grandfather was Ealhmund, his great-grandfather Eafa, his great-great-grandfather Eoppa, his great-great-great-grandfather Ingild, brother of Ine, king of the West Saxons, who died in Rome, and these kings derived their origin from Cenred. Cenred was the son of Ceolwald. His grandfather was Cuthwine, his great-grandfather Ceawlin, his great-great-grandfather Cynric, his greatgreat-great-grandfather Cerdic, who was the first possessor of the western area of Britain, after he had overcome the armies of the Britons. And his father was Elesa, his grandfather Esla, his great-grandfather Gewis, his great-great-grandfather Wig, his great-great-great-grandfather Freawine, his sixth father Frithogar, his seventh Brond, his eighth Baldr, his ninth Woden, his tenth Frithowald, his eleventh Frealaf, his twelfth Frithowulf, his thirteenth Fin, his fourteenth Godwulf, his fifteenth Geat, his sixteenth Tetwa, his seventeenth Beow, his eighteenth Scyld, his nineteenth Sceaf. And this Sceaf arrived with one light ship in the island of the ocean which is called Skaney, with arms all round him. He was a very young boy, and unknown to the people of that land, but he was received by them, and they guarded him with diligent attention as one who belonged to them, and elected him king. From his family King Althelwulf derived his descent. And the number of fifty-five years had passed since Ecgbyrht began to reign.

"lEttartala fra Adam til SigurOar a GrenjaOarstOOum" (5) Late sixteenth-century Icelandic genealogy; MS Perg. fol. no. 5, Royal Library of Stockholm. Standard Edition "Alttartala fni Adam til Sigur3ar a Grenja3arstMum." In Biskupa Sogur. Vol. 1. Kaupmannahofn: S. L. Moilers, 1856-{j2. 417-20.

From Vol. 2: 417-18: Alttartala fra Adam til Sigur3ar a Grenja3arstMum 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Adam skapa3i gu3 fyrst aUra. Hans son Set. Hans son Enos. Hans son Cainan. Hans son Maleleel. Hans son Jared. Hans son Enoc.

Texts and Translations 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

Hans son Matusalem hinn gamli. Hans son Lamech. Hans son Noe, er orkina smioaoi. Hans son Japhet. Hans son Jafni. Hans son Jotun. Hans son Ciprus. Hans son Cretus eoa Denus. Hans son Satumus f Krft. Hans son Jupiter. Hans son Darius. Hans son Oritonius. Hans son Troas. Hans son Hus. Hans son Hundan. Hans son Priamus hofuokomlngur. Munan eoa Mennon bet konungur i Troio, hann atti d6ttur Priarni konungs, er het 24. Troana. 25. Hennar son bet Tror, er ver kollum 1>6r. 26. Hans son Lorika er vee kollum H16rioa. 27. Hans son Eredia, er ver kollum Indrioa. 28. Hans son Vingep6r. 29. Hans son Vingener. 30. Hans son Modan. 31. Hans son Magi, er ver kollum Magna. 32. Hans son Sesep. 33. Hans son Bedius. 34. Hans son Atra. 35. Hans son Trinan. 36. Hans son Heremot, er ver kollum Herm60. 37. Hans son Skjalldun, er ver kollum Skjold. 38. Hans son Beaf, er ver kollum Beor. 39. Hans son GoOelfur. 40. Hans son Birta, er vee kollum Finn. 41. Hans son Fjalafur eoa Borkur. 42. Hans son Voden, er ver kollum Ooinn, hann var Tyrkja komingur. 43. Hans son SkjOldur. 44. Hans son Frioleifur. (List continues until the 89th generation, culminating in iJorleifur, son of Ami.)

Translation Genealogy from Adam to Siguroar in Grenjaoarstooum 1. Adam, whom God shaped fIrst of all. 2. His son Seth. 3. His son Enos. 4. His son Cainan.

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94 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44.

His son Maleleel. His son Jared. His son Enoc. His son Methuselah the old. His son Lamech. His son Noah, who built the ark. His son Japhet. His son Jafni. His son Jotun. His son Ciprus. His son Cretus or Denus. His son Satumus in Crete. His son Jupiter. His son Darius. His son Oritonius. His son Troas. His son Ilus. His son Hundan. His son Priam the head king. The king in Troy was named Munan or Mennon; he married the daughter of king Priam, who was called Troana. Her son was named Tror, whom we call Thor. His son Lorika, whom we call Hloritha. His son Eredia, whom we call Indrida. His son Vingethor. His son Vingener. His son Modan. His son Magi, whom we call Magna. His son Sesep. His son Bedius. His son Atra. His son Trinan. His son Heremot, whom we call Hermod. His son Skjalldun, whom we call Skjtild. His son Beaf, whom we call Beor. His son Gothelfur. His son Birta, whom we call Finn. His son Fjalafur or Borkur. His son Voden, whom we call Othinn; he was king of the Turks. 3 His son Skjtildur. His son Frithleifur.

"lEttartOlur" (5)

Late fourteenth-century Icelandic genealogy; MS GI. Kgl. Sml. 1005, fol.

Texts and Translations

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Standard Edition "iEttartOlur." In Flateyjarbok: En Sampling af Norske Konge-Sagaer. Vol. 1. Christiana: P. T. Malling Forlagsboghandel, 1860-68.24-29. From 26-27: Skiolldr het son Odins Aasakonungs. hann var fadir Fridleifs faudur Fridfroda faudur Fridleifs faudur Hauardz ens handramma faudur Froda faudur Vermundar ens vitra faudar Olafs ens litillaata faudur Dans .... Adam skapadi gud fyst allra manna. Seth var son hans. hans son Enos. hans son Kaynaan. hans son Malaleel. hans son Pharett. hans son Enoch. hans son Mathusalem hinn gamle. hans son Laamech. pa var vti enn fysti heimsalldr. hans son var Noe er aurkina smidadi. hans son Japhet. hans son Japhan. hans son Zechim. hans son Ciprus. hans son Cretus edr Celius. hans son Saturnus i Krit. hans son Jupiter. hans son Darius. hans son Erichonius. hans son Troeg. hans son Jlus. hans son Lamidon. hans son Priamus hofudkonungr. Munnon eda Mennon het konungr i Troia hann atti Troaanam dottur Priami konungs. hans son het Tror er ver kalium par. hans son var Loricha er ver kalium Hlorida. hans [son] Eredei er ver kalium Eindrida. hans son Vingiporr. hans son Vinginer. hans son Modi. hans son Maagi er ver kalium Magna. hans son Seseph. hans son Beduigg. hans son Atra. hans son Trinaan. hans son Heremoth er ver kalium Hermod. hans son Skialldin er ver kalIum Skiolld. hans son Beaf er ver kalIum Biar. hans son Godolfr. hans son Burri er ver kalium Finn. hans son Frialafr er ver kollum Bars. hans son Vaden er ver kalIum Odinn. hann var Tyrkiakonungr. hans son Skiolldr. hans son Fridleifr. hans son Fridfrodi .... '

Translation The son of Odin, King of the Aesir, was named Ski old. He was the father of Fridleif, the father of Fridfroda, the father of Frid1eif, the father of Havard the strong-hand, the father of Froda, the father of Vermundar the wise, the father of Olaf the humble, the father of Dan .... God shaped Adam first of all men. Seth was his son, his son Enos, his son Cainaan, his son Malaleel, his son Pharett, his son Enoch, his son Mathusalem the old, his son Laamech; at that time was the first age of the world. His son was Noah, who made the ark, his son Japhet, his son Japhan, his son Zechim, his son Ciprus, his son Cretus or Celius, his son Saturn of Crete, his son Jupiter, his son Darius, his son Erichonius, his son Troeg, his son I1us, his son Lamidon, his son Priam the Chief King. The king in Troy was named Munnon or Mennon; he had as wife Troaana, the daughter of King Priam. His son was called Tror, whom we call Thor. His son was Loricha, whom we call Hlorida, his son Eredei, whom we call Eindrida, his son Vingithor, his son Vinginer, his son Modi, his son Maagi, whom we call Magna, his son Seseph, his son Beguigg, his son Atra, his son Trinaan, his son Heremoth, whom we call Hermod, his son Skialldin, whom we call

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Seyld and See! Skiolld, his son Beaf, whom we call Biar, his son Godolf, his son Burri, whom we call Finn, his son Frialaf, whom we call Bors, his son Voden, whom we call Odinn (he was King of the Turks), his son Skiolld, his son Fridleif, his son Fridfradi ....

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: The A-Text (3)

Anglo-Saxon historical chronicle started in the late ninth century and providing records from 60 BC until AD 1070; Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 173. Standard Edition Bately, Janet M., ed. MS A. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition, general ed. David Dumville and Simon Keynes, no. 3. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1986.

From Anno 855 (pp. 45-46): AN ..dccclv. Her h«l:me men rerest on Sceapige ofer winter sretun. 7 py ilcan geare gebocude ~pelwulf cyning teopan d~l his londes ofer al his rice Go to lofe 7 him selfum to ecere h~lo, 7 py ilcan geare ferde to Rome mid mice Ire weorpnesse 7 prer was .xii. monap wuniende 7 pa him hamweard for-7 him pa Carl Francna cyning his dohtor geaf him to cuene-7 refter pam to his leodum cuom, 7 hie pres gefregene wrerun. 7 ymb ji. gear pres oe he on Francum com he gefor, 7 his lic lip ret Wintanceastre, 7 he ricsode nigonteope healf gear. On se ~pelwulf wres Ecgbrehtin'g', Ecgbryht Ealhmunding, Ealhmund Eafing, Eafa Eopping, Eoppa Ingilding; Ingild wres Ines bropur Westseaxna cyninges, pres pe eft ferde to Sancte Petre 7 prer eft his feorh gesealde; 7 hie wreron Cenredes suna, Cenred wres Ceolwalding, Ceolwald Cupaing, Cupa Cupwining, Cup'wine Ceaulining, Ceawlin Cynricing, Cynric Cerdicing, Cerdic Elesing, Elesa Esling, Esla Giwising, Giwis Wiging, Wig Freawining, B~ldreg Freawine Fripogaring, Fripogar Branding, Brand B~ldreging, Wodening, Woden Fripowalding, Fripuwald Freawining, Frealaf Fripuwulfing, Fripuwulf Finning, Fin Godwulting, Godwulf Geating, T~twa Beawing, Beaw Sceldwaing, Sceldwea HeremodGeat T~twaing, ing, Heremod Itermoning, Itermon Hrapraing, se wres geboren in prere earce, Noe, Lamach, Matusalem, Enoh, Iaered, Maleel, Camon, Enos, Sed, Adam primus homo; et pater noster est Christus, amen. On pa feng'on' ~pelwulfes suna twegen to rice, ~pelbald to Wesseaxna rice 7 ~pelbryht to Cantwara rice 7 to Eastseaxna rice 7 to Suprigea 7 to Supseaxna rice, 7 pa ricsode ~pelbald .v. gear.

Translation Garmonsway, G. N., trans. and ed. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. London: J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd. for Everyman's Library, 1972.

Texts and Translations

97

From 66: 855. In this year the heathen for the first time wintered in Sheppey. And the same year King k:thelwulf granted the tenth part of his land over all his kingdom by charter for the glory of God and his own eternal salvation. And the same year he proceeded to Rome in great state, and remained there twelve months and then made his way towards home. And Charles, king of the Franks, gave him his daughter as queen, and after that he came to his people and they were glad thereof. And two years after he came from the Franks he died, and his body lies at Winchester, and he reigned eighteen years and a half. And that k:thelwulf was the son of Egbert, the son of Ealhmund, the son of Eafa, the son of Eoppa, the son of Ingeld; Ingeld was the brother of Ine, king of Wessex, who afterwards went to Saint Peter's [Rome] and there gave up his life afterwards; and they were the sons of Cenred, and Cenred was the son of Ceolwald, the son of Cutha, the son of Cuthwine, the son of Ceawlin, the son of Cynric, the son of Cerdic, the son of Elesa, the son of Esla, the son of Gewis, the son of Wig, the son of Freawine, the son of Frithugar, the son of Brand, the son of Breldreg, the son of Woden, the son of Frithuwald, the son of Freawine, Frealaf, the son of Frithuwulf, the son of Finn, the son of Godwulf, the son of Geat, the son of Tretwa, the son of Beaw, the son of Sceldwea, the son of Heremod, the son of Itermon, the son of Hrathra, wh0 4 was born in the ark: Noah. Lamech, Methuselah, Enoch, Jared, Mahalaleel, Cainan, Enos, Seth, Adam the first man, and our father who is Christ. Amen. And then k:thelwulf's two sons succeeded to the kingdom: k:thelbald to Wessex, and k:thelberht to Kent and to Essex and to Surrey and to Sussex: and then k:thelbald reigned five years. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: The B-Text (3)

Anglo-Saxon historical chronicle started in the late ninth century and providing records from AD 1 until AD 977; British Library MSS Cotton Tiberius A. vi, fols. 1-35, and Cotton Tiberius A. iii, fol. 178. Standard Edition Taylor, Simon, ed. MS B. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition, ed. David Dumville and Simon Keynes, no. 4. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1983.

From Anno 856 (p. 33): ... Geata Tretwaing, Tretwa Beawing, Beaw Sceldweaing, Scyldwa Heremoding, Heremod Itermoning, Itermon Ha6raing, Ha6ra Hwalaing, Hwala Bedwiging, Bedwig Sceafing; d est filius Noe, se wres geboren on l>rere earce Noes ....

98

Seyld and See!

Translation Garmonsway, G. N., trans. and ed. The Anglo-Saxon Chronic/e. London: J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd. for Everyman's Library, 1972.

From 67: · .. Geat, the son of Tretwa, the son of Beaw, the son of Sceldwea, the son of Heremod, the son of Itermon, the son of Hathra, the son of Hwala, the son of Bedwig, the son of Sceaf, who is the son of Noah and was born in Noah's ark ....

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: The C-Text (3) Anglo-Saxon historical chronicle started in the late ninth century and providing records from 60 BC until AD 1066; British Library MS Cotton Tiberius B. i, fols. 115v-164r. Standard Edition O'Brien O'Keeffe, Katherine, ed. MS C. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition, no. 5. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2001.

From Anno 856 (p. 57): · .. Geatt Tretwaing, Tretwa Beawing, Beaw Scealdwaing, Scealdwa Heremoding, Heremod Itermoning, Itermon Haoraing, Hapra Hwalaing, Hwala Bedwiging, Bedwig Sceafing, id est filius Noe se wres geboren on prere earce Noes ....

Translation Garruonsway, G. N., trans. and ed. The Anglo-Saxon Chronic/e. London: J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd. for Everyman's Library, 1972.

From 67: · .. Geat, the son of Tretwa, the son of Beaw, the son of Sceldwea, the son of Heremod, the son of Itermon, the son of Hathra, the son of Hwala, the son of Bedwig, the son of Sceaf, who is the son of Noah and was born in Noah's ark ....

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: The D-Text (3) Anglo-Saxon historical chronicle started in the late ninth century and providing records from AD 1 until AD 10795 ; British Library MS Cotton Tiberius B. iv.

Texts and Translations

99

Standard Edition Cubbin, G. P., ed. MS D. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition, no. 6. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1996.

From Anno 855 (p. 23): ... Geat Tretwaing, Tretwa Beawing, Beaw Scealdwaing, Scealdhwa Heremoding, Heremod Jtermoning, Itermon Haora\h/ing, Hapra, Hwala Beowung, Beowi Sceafmg, id est filius Noe, se wres geboren on prere arce No(n)es ....

Translation ... Geat, the son of Tretwa, the son of Beaw, the son of Scealdwa, the son of Heremod, the son of Itermon, the son of Hathra, Hathra, Hwala the son of Beow, the son of Sceaf; that one is the son of Noah; he was born in Noah's ark ....

"Annales Ryenses" (6)

Mid-thirteenth-century Danish chronicle; University of Copenhagen, MS Codex AM 107 in 8vo. Standard Edition J0rgensen, Ellen, ed . "Annales Ryenses." In Annales Danici Medii /Evi. Copenhagen: Selskabet for Udgivelse af Kilder til Dansk Historie, 1920. 62-70; 73-125. 6

From 62-63: Primus ergo Danorum rex fuit Dan, filius Humblre, a quo Dani et Dania, quae nunc Dacia dicitur, nomen habent.-Julius enim Cesar primo fertur earn Daciam appellasse propter hospitalitatem atque dapsilitatem huius gentis. Dan ergo primus rex, fuit pugil fortissimus atque gyganteus, cunctis in circuitu terribilis, atque proelia clarissima gessit hinc inde. Huic successit [The sentence flows into the next sentence.] Secundus, Humblre, filius eius; hic erat uanus et iners, atque pauca notabilia fecit. Unde Lother, frater eius, facta conspiratione Danorum contra fratrem, eum de regno deposuit atque pro eo regnauit. Tercius, Lother, nimis durus fuit incolis regni atque in multis se nequiter gessit, atque ideo tirannidem eius Dani non ferentes eum occiderunt. Huic successit Skiold, filius eius. Quartus, Skiold; iste antequam haberat 15 annos etatis, occurrens solus magno urso atque [inerrnis], eum cingulo suo ligauit. Hie primo Teutonicos Danis subiugauit atque seruire fecit sub tributo atque multa strennue gessit. Huic successit filius eius Gram.

100

Seyld and See! Quintus, Gram, a quo Gramrehrereth dicitur. Iste cum quodam gygante in Suecia pugnans solus occidit eum. Regem etiam Suecie occidit atque 16 fratres eius atque Sueciam tributariam Danis fecit. Postea cum Suibdager, rege Normannorum [pugnans occisus est). Quare, quando aliquis est multum durus, dicitur de eo: Ipse est unus gram. Huic successit in regnum Suibdager, qui eum occiderat.

Translation Thus the first king of the Danes was Dan, son of Humbla, from whom the Danes and Denmark, which now is called Dacia, have the name. Truly Julius Caesar is said first to have named the land "Dacia" because of the hospitality and generosity of its people. 7 As I was saying, Dan, the first king, was a most brave and giant-like boxer, completely frightful in the circuit, and waged the most famous battles from there. [Humbla] succeeded him. The second king was Humbla, his son; he was hollow and weak, and did few notable things. Thus Lother, his brother, having made a conspiracy of the Danes against him, deposed him from the kingship and ruled instead of him. The third, Lother, was very harsh in the possession of his reign and conducted himself vilely in many affairs, and likewise the Danes, not bearing his tyranny, killed him. Skiold, his son, succeeded him. The fourth king was Ski old; that one, before he was fifteen years of age, alone and unarmed attacking a great bear, tied him up with his belt. He first subjugated the Teutons to the Danes and made them servants under tribute and accomplished many things actively. His son Gram succeeded him. The fifth king was Gram, from whom Gramrehrereth is called. That one, fighting alone with a certain giant in Sweden, killed him. Likewise, he killed the king of Sweden and his sixteen brothers and made Sweden subject to tribute to the Danes. Afterwards, fighting with Suibdager, king of the Normans, he was killed. Wherefore, when someone is very hardy, it is said of him: That man is a "gram."8 Suibdager, who killed him, succeeded him in the monarchy.

"Annales Siesuicenses" (6) Danish chronicle; University of Copenhagen, MS Additamenta 120 in 4tO.9

Standard Edition J0rgensen, Ellen, ed . "Annales Slesuicenses." In Annates Danici Medii EEvi. Copenhagen: Selskabet for Udgivelse af Kilder til Dansk Historie, 1920. 132-35.

From 132:

Texts and Translations

101

Anno Domini 966 Dani ad fidem sunt conuersi per Popponem, qui chirotecam ferream ignitam illesus portauit inspectante rege Haraldo, qui conuersus est, et Poppo promotus in episcopum. (2. Humle). (3. Lother, frater eius). (4.

).

(5. Skiold). (6. Gram). (7. Suibdagrer). (8). Guthormus primus, dicitur Guthorm hin unge.

Translation In the year of the Lord 966, the Danes were converted to the faith by Poppo, who, unhurt, carried a glove of iron containing fire to the observing king Harald, who was converted, and Poppo was promoted to bishop.

(2. Humle). (3. Lother, his brother). (4.

).

(5. Skiold). (6. Gram). (7. Suibdagrer). (8). Guthorm the first, who is called Guthorm the young.

Asser, Life of King Alfred (3) Late ninth-century Latin biography of the Anglo-Saxon period; the original MS was lost to fire in 1731, but two transcript MSS exist: Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 100, and British Library MS Cotton Otho A. xii. Standard Edition Asser. Asser's Life of King Alfred. A new impression with article on recent work on Asser's Life ofAlfred by Dorothy Whitelock. Edited by William Henry Stevenson. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1959.

From Chapter 1 (1-4): Anno Dominicae Incarnationis DCCCXLIX natus est lElfred, Angul-Saxonum rex, in villa regia, quae dicitur Uuanating, in ilia paga, quae nominatur Berrocscire: quae paga taliter vocatur a Berroc silva, ubi buxus abundantissime nascitur. Cuius genealogia tali serie contexitur: lElfred rex, filius lEthelwulfi regis; qui fuit Ecgberhti; qui fuit Ealhmundi; qui fuit Eafa;

102

Seyld and See! qui fuit Eoppa; qui fuit Ingild; Ingild et Ine, iIIe famosus Occidentalium rex Saxonum, germani duo fuerunt, qui Ine Romam perrexit, et ibi vitam praesentem finiens honorifice, caelestem patriam, cum Christo regnaturus, adiit; qui fuerunt filii Coenred; qui fuit Ceoluuald; qui fuit Cudam; qui fuit Cuthwine; qui fuit Ceaulin; qui fuit Cynric; qui fuit Creoda; qui fuit Cerdic; qui fuit Elesa; qui fuit Geuuis, a quo Britones totam iIIam gentern Geguuis nominant; qui fuit Brond; qui fuit Beldeag; qui fuit Uuoden; qui fuit Frithowald; qui fuit Frealaf; qui fuit Frithuwulf; qui fuit Finn Godwulf; qui fuit Geata, quem Getam iamdudum pagani pro deo venerabantur. Cuius Sedulius poeta mentionem facit in Paschali metrico cannine, ita dicens: cum sua gentiles studeant figmenta poetae grandisonis pompare modis, tragicoque boatu ridiculove Getae seu qualibet arte canendi saeva nefandarum renovent contagia rerum, et scelerum monumenta canant, rituque magistro plurima Niliacis tradant mendacia biblis: cur ego Daviticis assuetus cantibus odas chordarum resonare decem, sanctoque verenter stare choro, et placidis caelestia psallere verbis, clara salutiferi taceam miracula Christi? Qui Geata fuit Tretuua; qui fuit Beauu; qui fuit Sceldwea; qui fuit Heremod; qui fuit Itermod; qui fuit Hathra; qui fuit Huala; qui fuit Beduuig; qui fuit Seth; qui fuit Noe; qui fuit Lamech; qui fuit Mathusalem; qui fuit Enoch; qui fuit Malaleel; qui fuit Cainan; qui fuit Enos; qui fuit Seth; qui fuit Adam.

Translation Asser. Life of King Alfred. In Alfred the Great: Asser's "Life ofAlfred" and other Contemporary Sources. Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge, trans. New York: Penguin Books, 1983.67-110.

From p. 67: In the year of the Lord's Incarnation 849 Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, was born at the royal estate called Wantage, in the district known as Berkshire (which is so called from Berroc Wood, where the box-tree grows very abundantly). His genealogy is woven in this way: King Alfred was the son of King iEthelwulf, the son of Ecgberht, the son of Ealhmund, the son of Eafa, the son of Eoppa, the son of Ingild. Ingild and Ine, the famous King of the West-Saxons, were two brothers; Ine journeyed to Rome, and honourably ending this present life there he entered the heavenly land to reign with Christ. They were the sons of Cenred, the son of

Texts and Translations

103

Ceolwold, the son of Cutha, the son of Cuthwine, the son of Ceawlin, the son of Cynric, the son of Creoda, the son of Cerdic, the son of Elesa, the son of Gewis (after whom the Welsh call that whole race the Gewisse), the son of Brand, the son of Ba:lda:g, the son of Woden, the son of Frithuwald, the son of Frealaf, the son of Frithuwulf, the son of Finn, [the son of] Godwulf, the son of Geat (whom the pagans worshipped for a long time as a god). The poet Sedulius mentions Geat in his poem Carmen Paschale, as follows: Since the pagan poets sought in their fictions to swagger either in high-flowing measure, or in the wailing of tragedy's speech, or with comedy's absurd Geta, or by means of any sort of verse whatever to relate the violent crimes of evil deeds and sing of monumental wickedness, and with scholarly application commit these many lies to paper: why should I-a poet accustomed to chanting the measures of the harp in the manner of David, and of taking my place in the holy chorus and hymning heavenly melodies in pleasing diction-be silent concerning the renowned miracles of Christ who brought us salvation? Geat was the son of Tetwa, the son of Beaw, the son of Sceldwa, the son of Heremod, the son of Itermon, the son of Hathra, the son of Hwala, the son of Bedwig, the son of Seth, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, [the son of Jared], the son of MahalaJeel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam.

Bartholomew of Cotton, Historia Anglicana (AD 449-1298) (4) Late thirteenth-century English history; British Library MS Cotton Nero C. v. Standard Edition Bartholomew of Cotton. HistoriaAnglicana (AD 449-1298). Edited by Henry Richards Luard. Rolls Series 16. London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1859.

From 1: Attestantibus antiquorum chronagraphorum testimoniis, navis qua:dam in Saxonia quondam applicuit sine remige, cui occurrentes compatriota: quidque in ea continerentur diligenter perscrutantes, invenerunt quendam parvulum vagientem, omni penitus solatio destitutum humano, cujus capiti manipulum suppositum invenerunt, quem puerulum educantes Saxones

104

Seyld and See! Schef nominaverunt, id est Garbam, a manipulo capiti supposito. Iste Schef genuit Beadwy post tempus Noe; Beadwy genuit Wala, qui Itermod, qui Heremod, qui Cedwala, qui Bau, qui Heta, qui Godwlf, qui Finn, qui Frethewlf, qui Frealas, qui Frethewan, qui Woden, quem pagani deificantes ips urn pro deo coluerunt 10 •••• Woden gunuit Wenta, qui Wintggils, qui Hengist et Hors fratres. Hengist fuit primus Saxonum qui applicuit in Brittania tempore Wortingemi, ut patet supra in Historia Britonum; et fuit primus Anglorum qui obtinuit regnum Cantire, anno Domino CCCCLV.

Translation As the testimonies of ancient historians have attested, a certain boat without an oar once landed in Saxony, and the countrymen, running to it, surrounded it, and diligently searching through it, came upon a certain very small wanderer, completely in the inmost part, forsaken from human comfort; they discovered a handful [of grain] placed at the head of him, whom the Saxons, rearing the boy, named "Scef," that is, "Garbam,"ll from the handful placed at his head. This Scef begat Beadwig after the time of Noah; Beadwig begat Wala, who begat Itermod, who begat Heremod, who begat Cedwala, who begat Bau, who begat Heta, who begat Godwulf, who begat Finn, who begat Frethewulf, who begat Frealas, who begat Frethewan, who begat Woden, whom the pagans, making him a deity, cultivated as a god .... Woden begat Wenta, who begat Wintggils, who begat the brothers Hengest and Horsa. Hengest was the first of the Saxons who arrived in Britain in the time of Vortigem, as is shown in [Geoffrey of Monmouth's] Historia Britonum; and he was the first of the English who obtained the kingdom of Kent, in AD 455.

Beowulf (2)

Anglo-Saxon poem of uncertain date; British Library MS Cotton Vitellius A. xv. Standard Edition Klaeber, Fr., ed. Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg. 3rd ed. Lexington: D. C. Heath and Company, 1950.

Lines 1-52: Hwret, we Gar-Dena in geardagum, prym gefrunon, peodcyninga hu oa rep ling as ellen fremedon! Oft Scyld Scefing sceapena preatum,

105

Texts and Translations monegum mregpum meodosetla ofteah, egsode eorl[as], syddan rerest weard feasceaft funden; he pres frofre gebad, weox under wolenum weordmyndum pah, od pret him reghwyle ymbsittendra ofer hronrade hyran scolde, pret wres god cyning! gomban gyldan; Drem eafera wres refter cenned geong in geardum, l>one God sende folee to frofre; fyrendearfe ongeat, pe hie rer drugon aldor(le)ase lange hwile; him pres Liffrea, wuldres Wealdend woroldare forgeaf, Beowulf wres breme -blred wide sprangScyldes eafera Scedelandum in. Swa sceal (geong g)uma gode gewyrcean, fromum feohgiftum on freder (bea)rme, l>ret hine on ylde eft gewunigen wilgesil>as, ponne wig cume, leode gelresten; lofdredum sceal in mregpa gehwrere man gepeon. Him da Scyld gewat to gescrephwile felahror feran on Frean wrere; hi hyne pa retbreron to brimes farode, swa he selfa bred, swrese gesil>as, wine Scyldingapenden wordum weold leof landfruma lange ahte. l>rer ret hyde stod hringedstefna repelinges frer; isig ond utfus, aledon l>a leofne l>eoden, beaga bryttan on bearm scipes, mreme be mreste. l>rer wres madma fela of feorwegum frretwa gelreded; ne hyrde ic cymlicor ceol gegyrwan hildewrepnum ond headowredum, billum ond bymum; him on bearme lreg madma mrenigo, pa him mid scoldon feor gewitan. on flodes reht Nalres hi hine Ires san lacum teodan, l>on pa dydon, peodgestreonum, l>e hine ret frumsceafte ford onsendon renne ofer yde umborwesende. l>a gyt hie him asetton segen g(yl)denne heah ofer heafod, leton holm beran, him wres geomor sefa, geafon on garsecg; mumende mod. Men ne cunnon

5

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106

Scyld and See! secgan to s03e, selerredende, hrele3 under heofenum, hwa prem hlreste onfeng.

Translation Donaldson, E. Talbot, trans. Beowulf. Edited by Joseph F. Tuso. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1975. Yes, we have heard of the glory of the Spear-Danes' kings in the old days-how the princes of that people did brave deeds. Often Scyld Scefing took mead-benches away from enemy bands, from many tribes, terrified their nobles-after the time that he was first found helpless. He lived to find comfort for that, became great under the skies, prospered in honors until every one of those who lived about him, across the whale-road, had to obey him, pay him tribute. That was a good king. Afterwards a son was born to him, a young boy in his house, whom God sent to comfort the people: He had seen the sore need they had suffered during the long time they lacked a king. Therefore the Lord of Life, the Ruler of Heaven, gave him honor in the world: Beow was famous, the glory of the son of Scyld spread widely in the Northlands. In this way a young man ought by his good deeds, by giving splendid gifts while still in his father's house, to make sure that later in life beloved companions will stand by him, that people will serve him when war comes. Through deeds that bring praise, a man shall prosper in every country. Then at the fated time Scyld the courageous went away into the protection of the Lord. His dear companions carried him down to the sea-currents, just as he himself had bidden them do when, as protector of the Scyldings, he had ruled them with his words-long had the beloved prince governed the land. There in the harbor stood the ring-prowed ship, ice-covered and ready to sail, a prince's vessel. Then they laid down the ruler they had loved, the ring-giver, in the hollow of the ship, the glorious man beside the mast. There was brought great store of treasure, wealth from lands far away. I have not heard of a ship more splendidly furnished with warweapons and battle-dress, swords and mail-shirts. On his breast lay a great many treasures that should voyage with him far out into the sea's possession. They provided him with no lesser gifts, treasure of the people, than those had done who at his beginning first sent him forth on the waves, a child alone. Then also they set a golden standard high over his head, let the water take him, gave him to the sea. Sad was their spirit, mournful their mind. Men cannot truthfully say who received that cargo, neither counsellors in the hall nor warriors under the skies.

"Catalogus Regum Danire Brevior" (6)

Sixteenth-century Danish catalogue; University of Copenhagen, MS AM 107 8VO. 12

Texts and Translations

107

Standard Edition Langebek, Jacob, ed. "Catalogus Regum Dania! Brevior." In Scriptores Rerum Danicarum Medii /Evi. Vol. 1. 1772-1878. Reprint, Nendeln: Kraus-Thomson Organization Limited, 1969.64--66.

From 64-65: Nomina Regum Dania!, secundum Saxonem & alios. Dan, filius Humbli Judicis. Humblus, filius Dan. Lotharus, frater ejus. Skioldus, filius Lothari. Gramus, filius ejus. Suibdagerus. Guthormus. Hadingus, filius Grami. Frotho, filius ejus. Haldanus, filius ejus.

Translation The names of the Kings of Denmark, followed by those of Saxony and others. Dan, son of Humblus the judge. Humblus, son of Dan. Lothar, his brother. Skiold, brother of Lothar. Gram, his son. Suibdager. Guthorm. Hading, son of Gram. Frotho, his son. Haldan, his son.

A Chronicle Roll of Henry VI (4)

Fifteenth-century English royal pedigree roll; MSS include the Mosely Roll at University College, London; Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 98 A; and Trinity College, Cambridge, MS 0.5.54. Standard Edition Chambers, R. W. "Beowulf": An Introduction to the Study of the Poem with a Discussion of the Stories of Offa and Finn. With a supplement by C. L. Wrenn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959. \3

Seyld and See!

108

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OJ

Ceirra svn het Tror, er ver Kollum l>or. Han var fadir Hloripa. l>eirra svn Einridi. Hans svn Vingeporr. Hans svn Vingener. Hans svn Moda. Hans svn Magi. Hans svn Seskef vel Sescef. Bedvig. Athra. Iterrnann. Heremotr. Scealdna. Beaf. Eat. Godvlfi. Finn. Frealaf. Voden, pan kollvm ver Oden. Fra honom ero komnar flestar Konunga a:ttir i nord alfvna heimsins. Han var Tyrkia Konungr. Han flydi [rrir Romveriom nordr hegat. Oden. Niordr i Noatvnvm. Yngui Fra:yr. Fiolner. Svegdir.

Japhet filius Noachi, pater Japhani, pater Zechimi, pater Cipri, pater Celii, p. Saturni Cretensis, p. Jovis, p. Darii, p. Erichonii, p. Troes, p. Iii, p. Lamedonis, p. Priarni Regis Troia:. Mimon sive Memmon dicebatur Rex Troia:. Iile habuit filiam Priarni Regis. Horum filius erat Tror, quem nos Thor vocamus. IlIe pater erat Hloritha:. Filius eorum Einridus. Eius filius Vingethor. Eius filius Vingener. Eius filius Moda. Eius filius Magus. Eius filius Seskef vel Sescef. Bedvig. Athra. Iterrnannus. Heremotus. Scealdna. Beafus Eatus. Godulfus. Finnus. Frealafus. Voden, quem nos Odenum vocamus. Ab eo descenderunt pi uri rna: Regum Stirpes in plaga mundi septentrionali. Erat ille Rex Turcarum. Fugit a Romanis aqvilonem versus. Odenus. Niordus in Noatuna. Yngvi Fra:yr. Fiolnerus. Svegderus.

116

Seyld and See! Vallande. Visbvrr. Domalldr. Domarr. Dyggvi. Dagr. Agni Skialfar boandi. Alrekr. Yngui. Jorvndr. Avn hinn gamle. Egill Tunnadolgr. Ottarr Vendilkraka. Apils at Vppsavlvm. Eysteinn. Yngvarr. Bravt Onvndr. Ingialldr Illradi. Olafr Tretelgia. Haldan Hvitbeinn. Eysteinn. Halfdan Milldi. Gvdrodr Gavfoglati. Halfdan Svarti. Haralldr Harfagri.

Vallandus. Visburus. Domaldus. Domarus. Dygvius. Dagus. Agnius Skialfre maritus. Alrecus. Yngvius. Jorundus. Aunus grandrevus. Egillus Tunnicida. Ottarus Vendilcraka. Athilus Upsalensis. Eysteinus. Yngvarus. Braut-Onundus. Ingialdus Astutus. Olavus Lignarius. Haldanus Albipes. Eysteinus. Halfdanus Mitis sive Munificus. Gudrodus Magnanimus. Halfdanus Niger. Haraldus Pu1chricomus.

[A second list of descendants from Oden follows] Oden. Skioldr hans svn. Fridleifr hans svn. Fridfrode hans svn. Fridleifr hans svn. Havarr Handrarni, hans svn. Frode hans svn. Varmundr Vitri, hans svn. Olafr Litillate, hans svn. Danr Mikillate. Frode Fridsarni, hans svn. Fridleifr. Frode Frekni, hans svn. Ingialdr Starkadar fostri, hans [svn]. Halfdan brodir hans. Helgi oc Hroar, hans synir.

Odenus. Skioldus filius eius. Fridleifus filius eius. Frodus pacificus filius eius. Fridleifus filius eius. Havarus Manufortis filius eius. Frodus filius eius. Varmundus sapiens filius eius. Olavus Mansvetus filius eius. Danus Magnanimus sive superbus. Frodus Tranqvillus filius eius. Fridleifus. Frodus Vegetus filius eius. Ingialdus Starcadi alumnus filius eius. Halfdanus frater eius. Helgius & Hroarus filii eius.

117

Texts and Translations Rolfr Kraki, Helga svn. Hrrerekr Hnavggvanbavgi, Ingiallz svn. Frode hans svn. Halfdan hans svn. Hrrerekr Slavngvanbavgi hans svn. Haralldr Hillditavnn hans svn. Sigvrdr Hringr, Randveff svn, Radbarz svnar, brodur Haraldar Hilditannar. peirra moder var Avdr Divphvgda, dotter Ivars Vidfadma, sonar Halfdanar Snialla, sonar Valldars Millda, Hroars sonar, Halfdanar sonar, Ingialdz sonar, Starkadar fostra. Ragnar Lodbrok svn Sigurdar Hrings. Sigvrdr Ormr i avga hans svn. Havrda Knvtr hans svn.

Rolfus Krake Helgii filius. Hrrerecus Hnavggvanbavgus Ingialdi filius. Frodus filius eius. Halfdanus filius eius. Hrrerecus Slaungvanbaugus filius eius. Haraldus Hilditannus filius eius. Sigurdus Ring, Randveri filius, Radbardi filii, fratris Haraldi Hilditanni. Mater eorum erat Auda Prredives, filia I vari Vidfadrni, filii Halfdani Diserti, filii Valdari Munifici, filii Hroari, filii Halfdani, filii Ingialdi Starcadi alumni. Ragnarus Lodbrok filius Sigurdi Ring. Sigurdus Angvioculus filius eius. Horda-Knutus filius eius.

Translation

Genealogy From Noah to our Kings. Japhet was the son of Noah, the father of Japhan, who was the father of Zechim, who was the father of Ciprus, who was the father of Celius, who was the father of Saturn Cretensis, who was the father of Jove, who was the father of Darius, who was the father of Erichonius, who was the father of Troes, who was the father of Ilius, who was the father of Lamedonis, who was the father of Priam, King of Troy. It is said that Mimon or Memmon was the King of Troy. He married the daughter of King Priam. Their son was Tror, whom we call Thor. That one was the father of Hloritha. The son of those ones was Einrid. His son Vingethor. His son Vingener. His son Moda. His son Magi. His son Seskef or Sescef. Beduig. Athra. Itermann. Heremot. Scealdna.

Seyld and See!

118

Beaf. Eatus. Godulf. Finn. Frealaf. Voden, whom we call Oden. From this one descend most stock of the kings in the district of the northern world. He was King of the Turks. He fled hither to the north because of the Romans. Oden. Niord in Noatuna. 18 Yngvi Frreyr. 19 Fiolner. Svegder. Valland. Visbur. Domald. Domar. Dygvi. Dag. Agni married to Skialfa. Alrec. Yngvi. Jorund. Aun the very old. Egill, bane of Tunni.20 Ottar Vendilkraka. 21 Athil of Uppsala. Eystein. Yngvar. Braut-Onund. Ingiald the Cunning. Olaf the Carpenter. Haldan Whitefoot. Eystein. Halfdan the Mild or Generous. Gudrod the Magnanimous. Halfdan the Black. Harald the Most Fair. [A second list of descendants from Oden follows] Oden. His son Skiold. His son Fridleif. His son Frode the Peacemaking. His son Fridleif. His son Havar the Strong in Hand.

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119

His son Frode. His son Varmund the Wise. His son Olaf the Gentle. Dan the Magnanimous (or Proud). His son Frode the Quiet. Fridleif. His son Frode the Vigorous. His son Ingiald, foster-child of Starcad. His brother Halfdan. His sons Helgi and Hroar. Helgi's son Rolf Krake. Ingiald's son Hrrerec, "niggard of rings." His son Frode. His son Halfdan. His son Hrrerec, "slinger of rings." His son Harald "War-tooth." Sigurd Ring, son of Randver, son of Radbard, brother of Harald "Wartooth." Their mother was Auda the Most Rich, daughter of Ivar Vidfadm, son of Halfdan the Eloquent, son of Valdar the Generous, son of Hroar, son of Halfdan, son of Ingiald, foster-child of Starcad. Ragnar "shaggy breek," son of Sigurd Ring. His son Sigurd, "the snake in the eye."22 His son Horda-Knut.

Matthew of Westminster, Flores Historiarum (4)

Fourteenth-century English chronicle; Chetham Library (Manchester) MS 6712 4to; Eton College, MS Merton 4to; British Library Arundel 96 fo1.; British Library Cotton Otho C.2; Bodleian Library Laud 572; Bodleian Library Hatton 53. Standard Edition Matthew of Westminster. Flores Historiarum. Edited by Henry Richards Luard. 3 vols. Rolls Series 95. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1890.

From a genealogy of Offa (1: 382-83): Erat enim idem Offa de stirpe regum oriundus, filius videlicet Thinferth, qui fuit Eadulf, qui fuit Osulf, qui fuit Eoppa, qui fuit Wibbe, qui fuit Creodde, qui fuit Kinewold, qui fuit Cnebbe, qui fuit Ichel, qui fuit Eomer, qui fuit Angelthean, qui fuit Offre, qui fuit Waremund, qui fuit Withleig, qui fuit Wagon, qui fuit Frethegeat, qui fuit Woden .... Woden vero filius fuit Frethewold, qui fuit Freolaf, qui fuit Frethewlf, qui fuit Godwlf, qui fuit Geata. Hunc dudum pagani pro Deo venerabantur, cujus Sedulius, poeta eximius, in Paschali carmine mentionem faciens, ita exorsus est:

120

Seyld and See! "Cum sua gentiles studeant figmenta poetre Grandisonis pompare modis, tragicoque boatu, Ridiculove Geta: seu qualibet arte canendi," et cetera. Geta autem fuit filius Cethwa, qui fuit Beau, qui fuit Seldwa, qui fuit Heremod, qui fuit Itermod, qui fuit Hathra, qui fuit Wala, qui fuit Bedwi, qui fuit Sem, qui fuit Noe ....

From a genealogy of Alfred (l: 444-45): Woden fuit filius Frethewold, qui fuit Frelaf, qui fuit Frethewlf, qui fuit Finn, qui fuit Godulf, qui fuit Geta; hunc veteres oHm gentiles pro deo venerabantur, cujus Sedulius, poeta eximius, in Paschali carmine mentionem faciens, ait: "Cum sua gentiles studeant figmenta poetre Grandisonis pompare modis tragicoque boatu, Ridiculove Getre, seu qualibet arte canendi." Geta igitur fuit filius Theatwa, qui fuit Beau, qui fuit Seldwa, qui fuit Seaf; iste, ut ferunt, in quandam insulam Germanire, Scandelin nomine, de qua Jordanus Gothorum historiographus loquitur, appulsus in navi sine remige puerulus, posito ad caput ejus frumenti manipulo, quem patria lingua "sear' dicimus, Gallica vero "garbam," dormiens inventus est; hac ergo de causa Seaf appellatus et ab hominibus regionis pro miraculo exceptus, et sedulo est nutritus; qui adulta retate regnavit in oppido, quod tunc Slaswic, nunc vero Haithebi, appellatur; est autem regio illa Vetus AngJia nuncupata, unde Angli in Britanniam venerunt, inter Gothos et Saxones constituta. Seaf quoque fuit filius Heremod, qui fuit Itermod, qui fuit Hathra, qui fuit Wala, qui fuit Bedwi, qui fuit Sem, qui fuit Noe ....

Translation From a genealogy of Offa: Certainly Offa was descended from the stock of kings, namely that he was the son of Thinferth, who was of Ealdulf, who was of Osulf, who was of Eoppa, who was of Wibba, who was of Creodda, who was of Kinewold, who was of Cnebba, who was of Ithel, who was of Eomer, who was of Angulthean, who was of Offa, who was of Weremund, who was of Withleig, who was of Wagon, who was of Fretdgeat, who was of Woden.... Woden truly was the son of Frethewold, who was of Freolaf, who was of Frethewulf, who was of Godwulf, who was of Geat. This one the pagans worshipped as a god for a long time, of whom Sedulius, the distinguished poet, making a mention in the Carmen Paschale, thus began:

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121

"Since tribal poets desired in their creations to strut either in lofty rhythms and in tragic lamentation, or with ridiculous Geta, or in any way of the art of singing," etc. Geat moreover was the son of Cetwa, who was of Beaw, who was of Seldwa, who was of Heremod, who was of Itermod, who was of Hathra, who was of Wala, who was of Bedwig, who was of Shem, who was of Noah....

From a genealogy of Alfred: Woden was the son of Frethewold, who was of Frealaf, who was of Frethewulf, who was of Finn, who was of Godulf, who was of Geat; this one the ancient gentiles once honored as a god, of whom Sedulius, the distinguished poet, making a mention in the Carmen Paschale, said: "Since tribal poets desired in their creations to strut either in lofty rhythms and in tragic lamentation, or with ridiculous Geta, or in any way of the art of singing." Geta accordingly was the son of Tetwa, who was of Beaw, who was of Seldwa, who was of Seaf; that one, as people say, was driven in a boat without an oar, being a child, with a handful of grain placed at his head, to a certain island of Germany, Scandelin in name, concerning which Jordanes, historian of the Goths, speaks, and was found sleeping-he whom we call in the language of the country "Seaf," in Gallic truly "Garbam"; for this cause he was thus called "Sear' and by the men of this region received as a miracle, and diligently nourished; in his adult age he reigned in the town that then was called Slaswic, but now is truly called Haithebi; now this region is called "Old Anglia," whence the Angles came into Britain; it stood between the Goths and the Saxons. Seaf also was the son of Heremod, who was ofitermod, who was of Hathra, who was ofWala, who was of Bedwig, who was of Shem, who was of Noah ....

MS AM 1 e 6 II fol. (5)

Early thirteenth-century Icelandic regnal list housed at The University of Copenhagen. Original (with translation in brackets):23

From 85v: Sescef ... edvig

122

Seyld and See! Athra Itennan ... eremoth Scealdva Beaf Eat Godulf Fin Frealaf Voden 3at kollum ver Opinn ... [whom we call Odin ... ]

MS AM 22 Col. (5) Seventeenth-century Icelandic genealogy housed at The University of Copenhagen. Origina[24

From 63v-63r: Sescef Bedvig Athra Itennan Heremoth Scealdua Beaf Eat Gudulf Finn Frealaf Voden ...

"Nomina Regum Danorum" (6)

Thirteenth-century Danish regnal list; MS Codex Holmiensi A. 41. Standard Edition Gertz, M. Cl., ed. "Nomina Regum Danorum." In Scriptores Minores Historia: Danica: Medii /Evi. Vol. 1. Klilbenhavn: G. E. C. Gad, 1917-22. 175-76.

From 175-76: Hec sunt nomina regum Danorum: 1. Dan 2. Humli.

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123

3. Ll'lther. 4. Skiold. 5. Gram. 6. Swibdagh. 7. Gudthorm. 8. Haddung. 9. Frothe hin frreghre. 10. Haldan [List continues for 89 kings.]

Translation These are the names of the kings of the Danes: 1. Dan 2. Humli. 3. Lother. 4. Skiold. 5. Gram. 6. Swibdagh. 7. Gudthorm. 8. Haddung. 9. Frothe the famous. 25 10. Haldan

Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora (4)

Thirteenth-century English history; British Library MS Cotton Nero D.v; British Library Harley MS 1620; Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 16 and MS 26. Standard Edition Paris, Matthew. Chronica Majora. Edited by Henry Richards Luard. 7 vols. Rolls Series 57. London: Longman and Co. and Triibner and Co., 1872-83.

From a genealogy of Offa (1: 343): Woden vero filius fuit Frethewold, qui foit Freolaf, qui fuit Frethewlf, qui fuit Godwlf, qui fuit Geata. Hunc dudum pagani pro Deo venerabantur, cujus Sedulius, poeta exirnius, in Paschali carmine mentionem faciens, ita exorsus est; "Cum sua gentiles studeant figmenta poetre Grandisonis pompare modis, tragicoque boatu, Ridiculove Getre seu qualibet arte canendi," et cretera

124

Seyld and See! Geta autem fuit filius Cethwa, qui fuit Beau, qui fuit Seldwa, qui fuit Heremod, qui fuit Itermod, qui fuit Hathra, qui fuit Wala, qui fuit Bedwi, qui fuit Sem, qui fuit Noe....

From a genealogy of Alfred (1: 403-04): Woden fuit filius Frethewold, qui fuit Frelaf, qui fuit Frethewlf, qui fuit Finn, qui fuit Godulf, qui fuit Geta; hunc veteres olim gentiles pro deo venerabantur, cujus Sedulius, poeta eximius, in Paschali carmine mentionem faciens, ait; "Cum sua gentiles studeant figmenta poetce Grandisonis pompare modis tragicoque boatu, Ridiculove Getce seu qualibet arte canendi." Geta igitur fuit filius Teatwa, qui fuit Beau, qui fuit Seldwa, qui fuit Seaf; iste, ut ferunt, in quandam insulam Germaniae, Scandelin nomine, de qua 10rdanus Gothorum historiographus loquitur, appulsus in navi sine remige puerulus, posito ad caput ejus frumenti manipulo, quem patria lingua "seaf' dicimus, Gallica vero "garb am," dormiens inventus est, hac ergo de causa Seaf appellatus et ab hominibus regionis pro miraculo exceptus, et sedulo est nutritus; qui adulta cetate regnavit in oppido, quod tunc Slaswic, nunc vero Haithebi, appellatur; est autem regio ilia Vetus AngJia nuncupata, unde Angli in Britanniam venerunt, inter Gothos et Saxones constituta. Seaf quoque fuit filius Heremod, qui fuit Itermod, qui fuit Hathra, qui fuit Wala, qui fuit Bedwi, qui fuit Sem, qui fuit Noe ....

Translation From a genealogy of Offa: Woden truly was the son of Frethewold, who was of Freolaf, who was of Frethewulf, who was of Godwulf, who was of Geta. This one the pagans worshiped as a god for a long time, of whom Sedulius, the distinguished poet, making a mention in the Carmen Paschale, thus began: "Since tribal poets desired in their creations to strut either in lofty rhythms and in tragic lamentation, or with ridiculous Geta, or in any way of the art of singing," etc. Geta moreover was the son of Cethwa, who was of Beaw, who was of Seldwa, who was of Heremod, who was of Itermod, who was of Hathra, who was of Wala, who was of Bedwig, who was of Shem, who was of Noah ....

From a genealogy of Alfred:

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125

Woden was the son of Frethewold, who was of Frelaf, who was of Frethewulf, who was of Finn, who was of Godulf, who was of Geat; this one the ancient gentiles once honored as a god, of whom Sedulius, the distinguished poet, making a mention in the Carmen Paschale, said: "Since tribal poets desired in their creations to strut either in lofty rhythms and in tragic lamentation, or with ridiculous Geta, or in any way of the art of singing." Geta, moreover, was the son of Tetwa, who was of Beaw, who was of Seldwa, who was of Scaf; that one, as people say, was driven in a boat without an oar, being a child, with a handful of grain placed at his head, to a certain island of Germany, Scandelin in name, concerning which Jordanes, historian of the Goths, speaks, and was found sleeping-he whom we call in the language of the country "Scaf," in Gallic truly "Garbam." For this cause he was thus called "Scaf" and by the men of this region received as a miracle and diligently nourished. In his adult age, he reigned in the town that then was called Slaswic, but now is truly called Haithebi: now this region is called "Old Anglia," whence the Angles came into Britain; it stood between the Goths and the Saxons. And Scaf was the son of Heremod, who was of Itermod, who was of Hathra, who was ofWala, who was of Bedwig, who was of Shem, who was of Noah....

Paris, Matthew, HistoriaAnglorum (also known as the Chronica Minor) (4) Thirteenth-century English history; British Library Royal 14.C.vii, fo1.

Standard Edition Paris, Matthew. Historia Anglorum. 3 vols. Edited by Sir Frederic Madden. Rolls Series 44. London: Longmans Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1866. From a genealogy of Henry III (1: 301-2): Anno Domini Mo.co.LVo. natus est Londoniis, pridie kalendas Martii, Henrico, novo Anglorum regi, ex Alienora, regina sua, filius legitimus, et vocatum est nomen ejus Henricus. Fuit autem magnificus rex Henricus II. filius Matildis, qure prius fuerat Romanorum imperatrix, et postea comitissa Andegavire. Qure, ut prredictum est, clam concepit ab Stephano, qui eam duxerat ad comitem Andegavire Gaufridum maritandam, in nave, scilicet in quondam tristego navis ipsis pro thalamo prreparato. Qure, quia cito comiti sponso suo copulabatur, latuit ille conceptus omnem hominem, prreter ipsam solam, sicut et ipsa confessa est, quando rex Stephanus parabatur ad prrelium apud Egelawe planitiem, qure in partibus Anglire est occidentalibus. Hujus Matildis mater fuit Matildis pia Anglorum regina, uxor scilicet Henrici I., et filia sanctre Margaretre Scotorum reginre. Margareta vero filia

126

Seyld and See! fuit Eadwardi, quam genuit ex Agatha, sorore Henrici, imperatoris Romani. Edwardus quidem filius fuit regis lEdmundi, qui Ferreum-Iatus dicebatur, cujus pater rex Etheldredus, cujus pater rex Eadgarus, rex pius et pacificus, ccenobiorum fundator et restaurator; cujus pater Edmundus, cujus pater Edwardus senior, cujus pater nobilissimus rex Alfredus, qui fuit regis Adulphi, ... qui fuit Woden, qui fuit Frethewald, qui fuit Freolaf, qui fuit Frethewlf, qui fuit Fringoldulf, qui fuit Gechaa, qui fuit Tharwa, qui fuit Beau, qui fuit Seldwa, qui fuit Heremod, qui fuit Iterrnod, qui fuit Hathra, qui fuit Wala, qui fuit Bedwi, qui fuit Sem, qui fuit Noe.

Translation In London, in the year of the Lord 1155 on the day before March first, a legitimate son was born to Henry [the second], the new king of the English, by Queen Eleanor, and he was called Henry.26 The magnificent king Henry was moreover the son of Matilda, who previously had been the empress of the Romans and afterwards the countess of Anjou. She, as was said before, was secretly carried away by Stephen, who led her to be married to Count Geoffrey of Anjou, in a boat, namely in a certain compartment of this ship, in an inner chamber prepared ahead of time. Because she was married so quickly to her spouse the Count, this famous one was hidden from all men, kept nearly all alone; such she revealed when King Stephen was prepared for battle on the field of Egelaw, which is in the western parts of England. This Matilda's mother was Matilda, pious queen of the English, namely wife of King Henry I and daughter of St. Margaret, Queen of the Scots. Truly Margaret was the daughter of Edward, whom he begat upon Agatha the sister of Henry, emperor of the Romans; Edward was the son of King Edmund, who used to be called Ironside, whose father was King lEthe Ired, whose father was King Edgar, a pious and peaceful king, the creator and renovator of many convents, whose father was Edmund, whose father was Edward the elder, whose father was the most noble King Alfred, whose father was King lEthelwulf ... whose father was Woden, whose father was Fretewald, whose father was Freolaf, whose father was Frethewulf, whose father was Fringolduff, whose father was Getha, whose fatller was Tarwa, whose father was Beaw, whose father was Seldwa, whose father was Heremod, whose father was Itermod, whose father was Hathra, whose father was Wala, whose father was Bedwig, whose father was Shem, whose father was Noah.

Peter Olaf, Petri Olai Minoritlr! Roskildensis Chronica Regum Danorum, a Dano ad Obitum lohannis Regis (6)

Sixteenth-century Danish history; University of Copenhagen, MS AM 107 in 8vo. Standard Edition Peter Olaf. Petri Olai Minoritre Roskildensis Chronica Regum Danorum, a Dano ad Obitum lohannis Regis. In Scriptores Rerum Danicarum Medii k:vi. Edited by

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127

Jacob Langebek. Vol. 1. 1772-1878. Reprint, Nendeln: Kraus-Thomson Organization Limited, 1969.68-148. From 77-78: Dan, primus Rex, filius Humbli judicis Danie, regnavit tempore David regis Israel. Regnavit usqve ad senium, in quo obiit morte naturali. Uxor ejus Grethx. Iste Dan cum suo fratre Angul erant filii Humbli judicis Danorum. Qvi propter suam probitatem, strenuitatem, & fortitudinem, totius populi assensu, judicabant & principabantur toti regno. Tandem, elapsis aliqvot annis, senior frater Dan pugil strenuissimus & magnis operibus preclarus, per electionem totius populi, constitutus & intitulatus est "Rex" primo super Sylandiam, Monam, Falstriam & Lalandiam, cujus regnum dicebatur Vitheslxth. Deinde super alias pro vinci as & insulas & totum regnum. A qvo regnum dictum est Dania & incolx Dani. Angul vero, auxilio Dan, terram Anglie acqvisivit, & rex ibi factus, iIIi insu1e nomen a se indidit. Humblus, filius Dan, qvi vanus & iners non se exercitabat in armis, propter qvod, conspiratione facta, per fratrem & nobiles depositus est de regno, ac postmodum ab eo occisus, ut dieit alia Chronica. Lotharus, frater ejus, qvi propter tyrannidem a populo est occisus. Alibi habetur, qvod Lothar fuit frater Dan, post qvem regnavit Bogi filius Dan, & post eum Skiold filius Bogi. Skioldus filius Lotheri. Hic primo Teutoniam (Saxoniam) subjugavit ac sibi tributariam fecit, occiso principe ipsorum A1emanorum. Uxor ejus Alwilda. Hie dilexit subditos suos, adjuvabat & confortabat, omnes pauperes sustentabat & miseros, opem ferebat non potentibus solvere debita. Obiit senex. Hie Skioldus statum patrie reformavit, homines malam & luxuriosam vitam agentes ad virtutes & continenti am coegit. Omnium xs alien urn ex fisco suo solvebat, magnam curam gessit de infirmis graviterque affectis ac pauperibus. Tante bone indo lis erat, & tam solennia & notabilia ejus opera & gesta fuerunt, ut ab ipso ceteri Danorum Reges communi qvodam vocabulo Skyoldungi nuncuparentur. Hic paterna vitia deseruit, & in vestigiis avi sui ivit, industrius erato Existens XV. annorum, corpus ac robur viri xtatis provectx habuit. In juventute ursum maximum cepit & ligavit, multos solennes pugiles interfecit. Patrie statum emendavit, impias leges abrogavit & salutares edidit. Multas gentes & regna debellavit, munificus erat, in vietoriis proceribus & militibus dedit spolia, sibi reservans tantum gloriam. Primus edidit legem de manumissione mancipiorum. Hic multis annis regnavit. Gramus filius Skiold. Hic fecit Sveciam tributariam, regnavit diu. Prima uxor ejus Groo, & Segnes 2da. Hic incessit in viis & vestigiis patris sui. Exercitabat se in torneamentis & hastiludiis, ac pugnis & preliis. Hie interfecit Regem GOdingx ;,: Gothorum, & multos gigantes. Hie occisus est a Swibdagero filio suo, i ficth, secundum aliqvos.

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Seyld and See!

Translation Dan, the first king, the son of Humbli, judge of Denmark, ruled in the time of King David of Israel. He ruled all the way to old age, in which he died a natural death. His wife was Greth&. This Dan and his brother Angul were the sons of Humbli, judge of the Danes, who, because of his honesty, briskness, and strength, by the approval of the entire people, judged and held preeminence in the whole kingdom. At length, some years having elapsed, the elder brother Dan, a most vigorous boxer and very renowned for his great works, through the election of the entire people was established and ordained the "King" first over [the islands] Sj&lland, M¢n, Falster, and Lolland, whose kingdom was called "Vithesl&th;'27 thereafter over other provinces and islands and the entire kingdom. From him the kingdom is called "Denmark," and the inhabitants "Danes." Angul truly, with Dan as a source of help, acquired the land of Anglia and was made king there; the name for this island was given from him. Humbli, the son of Dan, was empty and lazy and did not exercise himself in arms; because of which, a conspiracy having been made, he was put down from the monarchy through his brother and the nobles, and soon was killed by them, as the other Chronicle28 says. Lothar, his brother, was killed by the people because of his tyrrany. Elsewhere it is held that Lothar was the brother of Dan, after whom ruled Bogi, son of Dan, and after him Skiold, son of Bogi. Skiold was the son of Lother. He first subjugated Germany (Saxony) and made it a tributary to him, having killed the leader of the Germans themselves. His wife was Alwilda. He esteemed, supported, and strengthened his subjects, sustained all paupers and wretches, brought help to those not able to pay their debts. He died an old man. This Skiold reformed the condition of the country, compelling men leading an evil and luxuriant life to virtues and continence. He loosened all other copper from his purse, and took great care of the weak and gravely sick and paupers. He was so good of quality, and so celebrated and so noteworthy were his works and deeds, that from this same Scyld the rest of the Kings of the Danes are thence called by the common name "Skyoldungs." He abandoned his paternal vices, and delighted in the foot-steps of his grandfather; he was industrious. At the age of fifteen years, he had the body and strength of a man advanced in age. In youth he captured and bound a most huge bear; he killed many celebrated fighting men. He improved the condition of the country; he annulled unholy laws and put forth saving ones. He conquered many nations and kingdoms; he was generous; he gave spoils in victories to chiefs and soldiers, reserving for himself so much glory. He first put forth the law conceming the emancipation of slaves. He ruled for many years. Gram was the son of Skiold. He made Sweden a tributary; he ruled for a long time. His first wife was Groo, and Segnes the second. He marched in the roads and tracks of his father. He exercised himself in tournaments and tilts, and with fists and in fights. He killed the king of the Godings, or Goths, and many giants. He was killed by his son Swibdager in a fight, according to some.

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The Red Book of the Exchequer (4)

Mid-thirteenth-century English history; British Library Hargrave Collection no. 313 and Cotton Cleopatra A.xvi. Standard Edition Hall, Hubert, ed. The Red Book of the Exchequer. 3 vols. Rolls Series 99. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1896-99.

From 1: 3-4: Anno Domini MCCXXX, anno videlicet Xvo regni Regis Henrici, filii Johannis-qui fuit frater insuperabilis imperii Regis Ricardi, qui fuit filius Regis Henrici, cujus mater Matildis Imperatrix, cujus mater Matildis Regina Anglorum, cujus mater Margarita Regina Scotorum, cujus pater Eadwardus, cujus pater Eadmundus ferreum latus, cujus pater lEdelred, cujus pater Eadgarus pacificus, cujus pater Eadmundus, cujus pater Eadwardus senior, cujus pater nobilis Alvredus, qui fuit filius Eadwulfi Regis ... qui fuit Woden, qui fuit Fredewald, qui fuit Freolof, qui fuit Fredewlf, qui fuit Fringoldwlf, qui fuit Geta, qui fuit Geatwa, qui fuit Beu, qui fuit Sceldwa, qui fuit Heremod, qui fuit Iterrnod, qui fuit Bathka, qui fuit Wala, qui fuit Beadwid, qui fuit Sem, cujus pater Noe ....

Translation In the year of the Lord 1230, namely the fifteenth year of the reign of King Henry [the third], son of John who was brother of King Richard of unconquerable power, who was the son of King Henry, whose mother was Empress Matilda, whose mother was Matilda, Queen of the English, whose mother was Margaret, Queen of the Scots, whose father was Edward, whose father was Edmund Ironside, whose father was lEthelred, whose father was Edgar the Peaceful, whose father was Edmund, whose father was Edward the elder, whose father was the celebrated Alfred, who was the son of King lEthelwulf ... who was the son of Woden, who was of Fredewald, who was of Freolaf, who was of Fredewulf, who was of Fringoldwulf, who was of Geat, who was of Geatwa, who was of Beaw, who was of Sceldwa, who was of Heremod, who was of Iterrnod, who was of Bathka, who was of Wala, who was of Beadwid, who was of Shem, whose father was Noah ....

"Reges Danorum" (6) Late fifteenth- or early sixteenth-century Danish regnal list; Codex Upsalensis, no. 50 from the de la Gardie collection. Standard Edition Gertz, M. CI., ed. "Reges Danorum." In Scriptores Minores Historice Danicce Medii £vi. Vol. 1. K¢benhavn: G. E. C. Gad, 1917-22. 167-74.

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From 167: Reges Danorum hic intitulantur: Dan primus rex Danorum. - 2. Loter, filius eius. - Tercius By;gi, et [frater eius] 4. Skyld, filij eius; quorum frater Humlre non rex.-S. Gram. - 6. Suipdager, qui patrem regno expulit. Hic ex parte matris Normannus fuit. - 7. Hadunger, filius eius. - 8. Frothi hin froknre. - 9. Haldan. - 10. Helligi.

Translation The Kings of the Danes here are listed: Dan, first King of the Danes. - 2. Loter, his son. - Third, Bogi, and [his brother] 4. Skyld, his [i.e., Loter's] sons; whose brother Humla was not king. - 5. Gram. - 6. Suipdager, who expelled his father from royal power. This one was Norman on his mother's side. -7. Hadunger, his son. - 8. Frothi the valiant. 29 - 9. Haldan. - 10. Helligi.

Richard of Cirencester, Speculum Historiale de gestis regum Angliae (4)

Late fourteenth-century English chronicle; Cambridge University Library, MS Ff. 1, 28. Standard Edition Richard of Cirencester. Ricardi di Cirencestria Speculum Historiale de gestis regum Angliae. Edited by John E. B. Major. 2 vols. Rolls Series 30. London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1863-69.

From 1: 242-43 (a genealogy of Offa): Erat enim idem Offa de stirpe regum oriundus, filius videlicet Thinferth, qui fuit Eadulf, qui [fuit] Osulf, qui fuit Eoppa, qui fuit Wibbe, qui fuit Creodde, qui fuit Kinewold, qui fuit Cnebbe, qui fuit Ichel, qui fuit Eomer, qui fuit Angelthean, qui fuit Offe, qui fuit Waremond, qui fuit Withleig, qui fuit Wagon, qui fuit Frethegeat, qui fuit Oden .... Woden vero filius fuit Frethewold, qui fuit Freolaf, qui fuit Frethewlf, qui fuit GodwIf, qui fuit Geata. Hunc dudum pagani pro Deo venerabantur; cuius Sedulius poeta eximius in Paschali carmine mentionem faciens, ita exorsus est: "Cum sua gentiles studeant figmenta poetre Grandisonis pompare modis, tragicoque boatu, Ridiculove Getre seu qualibet arte canendi," et cetera.

Texts and Translations Gaeta autern fuit filius Cethwa, qui fuit Beaw, qui fuit Seldwa, qui fuit Heremod, qui fuit Itermod, qui fuit Hathra, qui fuit Wala, qui fuit Bedwi, qui fuit Seem, qui fuit Noe ....

From 2: 4-5 (a genealogy of Alfred): Woden fuit filius Frethewold, qui fuit Frelaf, qui fuit Frethewlf, qui fuit Fuin, qui fuit Godulf, qui fuit Geta; hunc veteres olim gentiles pro deo venerabantur, cujus Sedulius poeta exirnius in Paschali carmine mentionem faciens ait: "Cum sua gentiles studeant figmenta poetre Grandisonis pomp are modis tragicoque boatu, Ridiculove Getre seu qualibet arte canendi" Geta igitur fuit filius Theatwa, qui fuit Beow, qui fuit Saldwa, qui fuit Sheaf. Iste, ut ferunt, in quandum insulam Germaniae, Scandelin nomine, de qua 10rdanus Gothorum historiographus loquitur, appulsus in navi sine remige puerulus, posito ad caput eius frumenti manipulo, quem patria lingua "scef' dicimus, Gallica vero "garbam," dormiens inventus est. Hac ergo de causa Scheaf appellatus et ab hominibus regionis pro miraculo exceptus et sedulo est nutritus. Qui adulta aetate regnavit in oppido, quod tunc Slaswic, nunc vero Harthebi appellatur: est autem regio ilia vetus AngJia nuncupata, unde Angli in Britanniam venerunt, inter Gothos et Saxones constituta. Scheaf quoque fuit filius Heremod, qui fuit Itermod, qui fuit Hathra, qui fuit Hala, qui fuit Bedwi, qui fuit Sem, qui fuit Noe ....

Translation

The genealogy of Offa: Certainly Offa was descended from the stock of kings, namely that he was the son of Thinferth, who was of Ealdulf, who was of Osulf, who was of Eoppa, who was of Wibba, who was of Creodda, who was of Kinewold, who was of Cnebba, who was of Ithel, who was of Eorner, who was of Angulthean, who was of Offa, who was of Weremund, who was of Withleig, who was of Wagon, who was of Fredegeat, who was of Woden .... Woden truly was the son of Frethewold, who was of Freolaf, who was of Frethewulf, who was of Godwulf, who was of Geat. This one the pagans worshiped as a god for a long time, of whom the distinguished poet Sedulius, making a mention in the Carmen Paschale, thus began: "Since tribal poets desired in their creations to strut either in lofty rhythms and in tragic lamentation, or with ridiculous Geta, or in any way of the art of singing;' etc.

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Geta moreover was the son of Cetwa, who was of Beaw, who was of Seldwa, who was of Heremod, who was of Itermod, who was of Hathra, who was of Wala, who was of Bedwig, who was of Shem, who was of Noah....

The genealogy of Alfred: Woden was the son of Frethewold, who was of Frealaf, who was of Frethewulf, who was of Finn, who was of Godulf, who was of Geta; this one the ancient gentiles once honored as a god, of whom the distinguished poet Sedulius, making a mention in the Carmen Paschale, said: "Since tribal poets desired in their creations to strut either in lofty rhythms and in tragic lamentation, or with ridiculous Geta, or in any way of the art of singing." Geta accordingly was the son of Tetwa, who was of Beaw, who was of Scaldwa, who was of Sheaf. That one, as people say, was driven in a boat without an oar, being a child, with a handful of grain placed at his head, to a certain island of Germany, Scandelin in name, concerning which Jordanes, historian of the Goths, speaks, and was found sleeping-he whom we call in the language of the country "Scef," in Gallic truly "Garbam." For this cause he was thus called "Sheaf' and by the men of this region received as a miracle and diligently nourished. In his adult age, he reigned in the town that then was called Slaswic, but now is truly called Harthebi: now this region is called "Old Anglia," whence the Angles came into Britain; it stood between the Goths and the Saxons. Sheaf also was of Heremod, who was of Itermod, who was of Hathra, who was of Hala, who was of Bedwig, who was of Shem, who was of Noah....

Roger of Hoveden, Chronica Magistri (4) Late twelfth-century English record; Bodleian MS Laud 582; British Library MSS Arundel 69, Arundel 150, and Cotton Claudius B.vii. Standard Edition Roger of Hoveden. Chronica Magistri Rogeri de Houedene. Edited by William Stubbs. 4 vols. Rolls Series 51. London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1868-71.

From 1: 35: ... Woden, qui fuit Frithewald, qui fuit Frealaf, qui fuit Frithewulf, qui fuit Fingoldulf, qui fuit Geta, quem Getam jamdudum pagani pro Deo venerabantur; qui fuit Cetua, qui fuit Bean, qui fuit Sceldua, qui fuit Heremod, qui fuit Itermod, qui fuit Hathra, qui fuit Wala, qui fuit Beadwig, qui fuit Sem, qui fuit Noe....

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Translation ... Woden, who was the son of Fnthewald, who was of Frealaf, who was of Frithewulf, who was of Fingoldulf, who was of Geta, the Geta whom the pagans for a long time used to venerate as a god; who was of Cetwa, who was of Bean, who was of Sceldwa, who was of Heremod, who was of Itermod, who was of Hathra, who was of Wala, who was of Bedwig, who was of Shem, who was of Noah ....

Roger of Wendover, Libri qui dicitur Flores Historiarum (4)

Early thirteenth-century English history; two MSS: Bodleian Douce 207 and British Library, Cotton Otho B. 5. Standard Edition Roger of Wendover. Rogeri de Wendover Libri qui dicitur Flores Historiarum ab anna domini MeLlv. annoque Henrici Anglorum Regis secundi primo. Edited by Henry G. Hewlett. 3 vols. Rolls Series 84. London: Longman and Co., 1886-89.

From 1: 9-10: Anno Domini MCLY. natus est Londoniis pridie Kalendas Martii Henrico, novo Anglorum regi, ex regina Alienor filius legitimus et vocatus est Henricus. Fuit autem Iflagnificus rex Henricus filius Matildis, qure prius fuerat imperatrix Romanorum et postea comitissa Andegavensium; cujus mater fuit Matildis, regina Anglorum, uxor Henrici regis primi et filia sanctre Margaretre Scotorum reginre; Margareta filia fuit Eadwardi, quam genuit ex Agatha sorore Henrici imperatoris Romani; Eadwardus fuit filius regis Eadmundi, qui Latusferreum dicebatur, cujus pater rex Ethelredus, cujus pater rex Eadgarus pacificus, cujus pater Eadmundus, cujus pater Eadwardus senior, cujus pater nobilis rex Alfredus, qui fuit regis Athulfi ... qui fuit Woden, qui fuit Fretewald, qui fuit Freolater, qui fuit Frethewlf, qui fuit Fringolduff, qui fuit Getha, qui fuit Tatwa, qui fuit Beau, qui fuit Seldwa, qui fuit Heremod, qui fuit Iterrnod, qui fuit Hathra, qui fuit Wala, qui fuit Bedwi, qui fuit Sem, qui fuit Noe ....

Translation In the year of the Lord 1155 on the day before March first, in London, a legitimate son was born to Henry [the second], the new king of the English, by Queen Eleanor, and he was called Henry.3o The magnificent king Henry was moreover the son of Matilda, who previously had been the empress of the Romans and afterwards the countess of Anjou; whose mother was Matilda, queen of the English, wife of King Henry I and daughter of St. Margaret, Queen of the Scots; Margaret was the daughter of Edward, whom he begat upon Agatha the sister of Henry, emperor of the Romans; Edward

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Seyld and See! was the son of King Edmund, who used to be called Ironside, whose father was King iEthelred, whose father was King Edgar the Peaceful, whose father was Edmund, whose father was Edward the elder, whose father was the celebrated King Alfred, whose father was King iEthelwulf ... who was of Woden, who was of Fretewald, who was of Freolater, who was of Frethewulf, who was of Fringoldulf, who was of Geat, who was of Tatwa, who was of Beaw, who was of Seldwa, who was of Heremod, who was of Itermod, who was of Hathra, who was of Wala, who was of Bedwig, who was of Shem, who was of Noah.

Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum (6)

Early thirteenth-century Danish history; no complete MS; the most important fragment is the Angers fragment in the Royal Library, Copenhagen. Standard Edition Saxo Grammaticus. Saxon is Gesta Dallorum. Edited by J. Olrik and H. Ra:der. Primum a C. Knabe [and] P. Herrmann recensita. 2 vols. Haunia:: Levin and Munksgaard,1931-37.

From Book I (1: 10-13): I. 1. Dan igitur et Angul, a quibus Danorum ccepit origo, patre Humblo procreati non solum conditores gentis nostra:, verum etiam rectores fuere. Quamquam Dudo, rerum Aquitanicarum scriptor, Danos a Danias ortos nuncupatosque recenseat. Hi licet faventibus patria: votis regni dominio potirentur rerumque summam ob egregia fortitudinis merita assentientibus civium suffragiis obtinerent, regii tamen nominis expertes degebant, cuius usum nulla tunc temporis apud nostros consuetudinum frequentabat auctoritas. 2. Ex qui bus Angul, a quo gentis Anglica: principia manasse memoria: proditum est, nomen suum provincia:, cui pra:erllt, aptandum curavit, levi monumenti genere perennem sui notitiam traditurus. Cuius successores postmodum Britannia potiti priscum insula: nomen novo patria: sua: vocabulo permutarunt. Magni id factum a veteribus a:stimatum. Testis est Beda, non minima pars divini stili, qui in Anglia ortus sanctissimis suorum voluminum thesauris res patrias sociare cura: habuit, a:que ad religionem pertinere iudicans patria: facta litteris illustrare et res divinas conscribere. 3. Verum a Dan (ut fert antiquitas) regum nostrorum stemmata, ceu quodam derivata principio, sp1endido successionis ordine profluxerunt. Huic filii Humblus at Lotherus fuere, ex Grytha summa: inter Theutones dignitatis matrona suscepti.

Texts and Translations II. 1. Lecturi regem veteres affixis humo saxis insistere suffragiaque promere consueverant, suhiectorum lapidum firmitate facti constantiam ominaturi. Quo ritu Humblus, decedente patre, novo patrire beneficia rex creatus sequentis fortunre malignitate ex rege privatus evasit. Bello siquidem a Lothero captus regni depositione spiritum mercatus est; hrec sola quippe victo salutis condicio reddebatur. Ita fratemis iniuriis imperium abdicare coactus documentum hominibus prrebuit, ut plus splendoris, ita minus securitatis aulis quam tuguriis inesse. Ceterum iniurire tam patiens fuit, ut honoris damno tamquam beneficio gratulari crederetur, sagaciter, ut puto, regire condicionis habitum contemplatus. 2. Sed nec Lotherus tolerabiliorem regem quam militem egit, ut prorsus insolentia ac scelere regnum auspicari videretur; siquidem illustrissimum quemque vita aut opibus spoliare patriamque bonis civibus vacuefacere probitatis loco duxit, regni remulos ratus quos nobilitate pares habuerat. Nec diu scelerum impunitus patrire constematione perimitur, eadem spiritum eripiente, qure regnum largita fuerat. III. 1. Cuius filius Skyoldus naturam ab ipso, non mores sortitus per summam tenerioris retatis industriam cuncta patemre contagionis vestigia ingeniti erroris devio prreteribat. Igitur ut a patemis vitiis prudenter descivit, ita avitis virtutibus feliciter respondit, remotiorem pariter ac prrestantiorem hereditarii moris portionem amplexus. Huius adolescentia inter patemos venatores immanis belure subactione insignis exstitit mirandoque rei evenu futurre eius fortitudinis habitum ominata est. Nam cum a tutoribus forte, quorum summo studio educabatur, inspectandre venationis lieentiam impetrasset, obviurn sibi insolitre granditatis ursum telo vacuus cingulo, cuius usum habebat, religandum curavit necandumque comitibus prrebuit. Sed et complures spectatre fortitudinis pugiles per idem tempus viritim ab eo superati produntur, e quibus Attalus et Scatus clari illustresque fuere. Quindecim annos natus inusitato corporis incremento perfectissimum humani roboris specimen prreferebat, tantaque indolis eius experimenta fuere, ut ab ipso ceteri Danorum reges communi quodam vocabulo Skioldungi nuncuparentur. Prrecurrebat igitur Skioldus virium complementum animi maturitate conflictusque gessit, quorum vix spectator ob teneritudinem esse poterat. 2. Hie non armis modo, verum etiam patrire caritate conspicuus exstitit: siquidem impias leges abrogavit, salutares tulit, et quicquid ad emendandum patrire statum attinuit, summa diligentia prrestitit. Sed et regnum patris improbitate amissum virtute recuperavit. Primus rescindendarum manumissionum legem edidit, servi, quem forte libertate donaverat, clandestinis insidiis petitus. Proceres non solum domesticis stipendiis colebat, sed etiam spoliis ex hoste quresitis, affirrnare solitus pecuniam ad milites, gloriam ad ducem redundare debere. Omnium res alienum ex fisco suo solvebat et quasi cum aliorum regum fortitudine, munificentia ac liberalitate certabat. JEgros fomentis prosequi remediaque graviter affectis benignius exhibere soIebat, se non sui sed patrire curam suscepisse testatus. Idem perditam et enervam vitam agentes continentiamque luxu labefacere solitos ad capessendam virtutem rerum agitatione sedulus excitabat.

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Seyld and See! 3. In quo annorum virtutisque procursu ab Alvildam Saxonum regis filiam, quam summre pulchritudinis intuitu postulabat, cum Seato, Allemannire satrapa, eiusdem puellre competitore, Theutonum Danorumque exercitu inspectante ex provocatione dimicavit interfectoque eo omnem Allemannorum gentem perinde ac ducis sui interitu debellatam tributaria ditione perdomuit. IV. 1. Puellam, cuius amore conflixerat, acerrimo nuptiarum remulo liberatus in pugnre prremium recepit eamque sibi matrimonio copulavit. Ex qua parvo post tempore Gram filium sustulit. Cuius mirifica indoles ita paternas virtutes redoluit, ut prorsus per earum vestigia decurrere putaretur. Corporis animique prrestantissimis dotibus prreditam adolescentiam ad summum glorire statum provexit, tantumque magnitudini eius a posteris tributum est, ut in vetusissimis Danorum carminibus ipsius vocabulo regia nobilitatis censeatur. Quicquid ad frrmandas acuendasque vires attinuit, acerrima ingenii exercitatione tractabat. A gladiatoribus vitandi inferendique ictus consuetudinem studioso exercitii genere contrahebat. Educatoris sui Roari filiam corevam sibi collactaneamque, quo maiorem incunabulis gratiam referret, uxorem ascivit, quam postrnodum Besso cui dam, quod eius strenua opera srepenumero usus fuerat, mercedis loco coniugem tribuit. Quo bellicorum operum socio fretus plus glorire sua an Bessi virtute contraxerit, incertum reliquit.

Translation Saxo Grarnmaticus. The History of the Danes, Books I-IX. Edited by Hilda Ellis Davidson. Translated by Peter Fisher. 2 vols. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1980.

From Book One (1: 14-16): The Danes trace their beginnings from Dan and Angul, sons of Humbli, who were not merely the founders of our race but its guides also. Dudo however, who wrote a history of France, believes that the Danes sprang from the Danaans and were named after them. Although these two men gained rule over the territory by the willing consent of their countrymen, who voted them to the chief position through an appreciation of their outstanding courage and virtues, they yet lived without the name of king; for in that age no custom sanctioned its common use among our people. Old reports maintain that the English race originated from Angul, who had his name given to the region he governed, resolving to pass on an undying recognition of himself by an easy kind of memorial. His descendants later conquered Britain and substituted the new title of their own land for the island's original name. This action was highly thought of in past ages, for instance by Bede, a major contributor to Christian literature, who, as an Englishman, took pains to bring his country's history into the sacred treasury of his books, considering it an equal piety both to pen the deeds of his motherland and to write about religion.

Texts and Translations Tradition has it, however, that it was from Dan that our royal pedigree flowed in glorious lines of succession, like channels drawn from a spring. His sons were Humbli and Lother, their mother Grytha, a lady whom the Teutons accorded the highest honour. When they were to choose a king it was our forbears' custom to proclaim their votes while standing on stones fixed in the ground, as though to augur the durability of their action through the firmness of the rocks beneath them. On the death of his father Humbli was elected by this new method as a gift from his compatriots, but under the malice of his later fortune he passed from king to private citizen. After being captured in war by Lother he bartered for his life by resigning the throne, since this was the sole condition of immunity granted him in his defeat. Compelled thus to abdicate power by his brother's violence, he furnished testimony that a palace may contain more magnificence, but in a cottage there is more safety. Yet so patient was he under injustice that men believed he rejoiced at being stripped of honour as if it were a kindness; to my mind he had pondered wisely on the condition of royalty. Lother, on the other hand, played the king as intolerably as the soldier, immediately inaugurating his reign with arrogance and crime; he reckoned it a measure of virtue to deprive his most distinguished subjects of life and wealth and to clear his country of fine characters, imagining that his equals in birth must be rivals to his throne. Nor did he remain long unpunished for his enormities; he perished in a mutiny of the nation, which snatched away his life as it had formerly bestowed the kingdom. His son, Skiold, inheriting Lother's natural bent but not his habits, by the utmost perseverance during his youth made an instinctive detour, so that he bypassed all the traces of his father's infection. As he wisely renounced his father's vices, so he happily corresponded to his grandfather in excellence, welcoming those superior characteristics which were inherited from a generation further back. As a youth he won repute among his father's huntsmen by defeating a huge beast, a remarkable incident which foretold the quality of his bravery in the future. He had asked the guardians who were bringing him up conscientiously for permission to go and see the hunting, when he encountered a bear of unusual size. Although weaponless he managed to bind it with the belt he used to wear and then gave it to his companions to kill. During the same period he is reputed to have overcome individually many champions of tested courage, among whom Attal and Skat had wide renown. Already at fifteen he had grown to such a stature that he presented a perfect specimen of manhood, and so forceful were the proofs of his talent that the other Danish kings assumed from him the common title of Skioldungs. Skiold's boldness, then, outstripped the full development of his strength and he fought contests which someone of his tender years would scarcely have been allowed to watch. Not only was he notable for feats of arms but also in affection for his fatherland; he annulled unjust laws and introduced beneficial ones, earnestly performing anything which could ameliorate his country's condi-

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tion. By his sterling qualities he reclaimed the realm which had been lost through his father's viciousness. He was the first to publish a statute abolishing manumission, after a slave to whom he had happened to grant freedom plotted a secret attempt on his life. Also he looked after his chieftains, giving them incomes when they were at home as well as the booty won from the enemy, for he would maintain that soldiers should have their fill of money and the glory go to their leaders. All men's debts were settled from his own treasury, as if he vied with other kings' courage through his own bounty and generosity. He used to attend the sick with remedies and bring kindly comforts to persons in deep distress, bearing witness that he had undertaken his people's welfare rather than his own. Where men had abandoned themselves to an emasculated existence, undermining their sobriety by debauch, he energetically roused them to pursue merit in an active career. So his age and virtue increased. Meanwhile, struck by her great beauty, he requested the hand of Alvild, daughter of the Saxon king, and challenged Skat, governor of the Allemanni and suitor to this girl, to combat before the eyes of the German and Danish armies; in killing him he overthrew all the people of the Allemanni, as good as reduced by the death of their leader, and made them pay tribute under his jurisdiction. Thus freed for the marriage from his most bitter rival, he took as his battle-prize and wedded the maiden for whom love had made him fight. After a short while she bore him a son, Gram, whose amazing genius was so reminiscent of his father's that he was immediately believed to be treading in the same virtuous footsteps. Endowed with outstanding gifts of body and mind, the young man advanced himself to such a pitch of fame that his descendants acknowledged his greatness by making his name in the most ancient Danish poems synonymous with royal nobility. Whatever contributed towards hardening and sharpening his strength he practised keenly and assiduously. From swordsmen he conscientiously copied methods of parrying and thrusting. To show a fuller gratitude for his fostering he took to wife his teacher Roar's daughter, who was of the same age and had been nourished at the same breast. Later he married her, as a reward, to a certain Bess, who had many times taken vigorous pains to help him. It is hard to gather whether Gram reaped more renown through his own heroism or that of his comrade-in-arms.

Saxonis Gesta Danorum: Ab ineerto auetore (6)

Fourteenth- or fifteenth-century Danish chronicle; University of Copenhagen, MS AM 21 fol. 31 Standard Edition Gertz, M. Cl., ed. Saxonis Gesta Danorum: Ab incerto avctore in compendivm redacta et continvata. In Scriptores Minores Histori(£ Danic(£ Medii JEvi. Vol. 1. K0benhavn: G. E. C. Gad, 1917-22.216-439.

Texts and Translations

From 221-222: II. Huic successit filius suus Skiold, cuius tam sollempnia opera fuere, vt ab ipso ceteri Danorum reges Skioldungi dicerentur. Nam ante, quam esset .xv. annorum, ingentis magnitudinis vrsum sibi in venacione occurrentem, quamuis esset inermis, cepit proprioque cingulo ligauit ac sociis occidendum prebuit. Multos eciam excellentis fortitudinis pugiles eo tempore superauit. Cum autem .xv. esset annorum, inusitato corporis incremento perfeetissimum humani roboris preferebat conflictusque gessit, [et] quorum ob teneram etatem vix inspectator esse poterat. Nee minus virtutibus quam viribus resplenduit: nam impias leges abrogauit, salutares edidit, de infirmis et pauperibus curam gessit et, quidquid ad emendandum statum patrie attinuit, summa diligencia presti tit, dicens se non sui sed patrie curam suscepisse. Hie ob amorem cuiusdam puIcherrime puelle Alwilde cum Seato, principe Alemannie, eiusdem puelle competitore, presente Teutonicorum Danorumque exercitu in duello conflixit, ipsumque interfecit ac Teutoniam sibi tributariam fecit. Accipiens autem predictam puellam in coniugium generauit ex ea filium Gram, a quo Gramhrerreth nuncupatur. III. Gram iste per omnia patrem in virtutibus imitabatur.... Igitur propter preclara opera eius pater suus Skiold, iam senex, ipsum regem fecit.

Translation II. His son Skiold succeeded this one [Lother], whose works were so forthright, that from him the rest of the kings of the Danes are called "Skioldungs." For before, when he was fifteen years of age, in hunting, although he was unarmed, he captured and bound with his own belt a bear of enormous size who was charging him when hunting, and he offered it to his comrades for killing. He also overcame many fighters of excellent strength at that time. Also when he was fifteen years old, he was already showing uncommon growth and the most perfect ideal of a strong human body, and he competed in wrestling matches the likes of which, because of his tender age, he was scarcely able to be an observer. And he shined not less with moral excellence than with strength: for he annulled unholy laws, gave out saving ones, showed care concerning the weak and paupers, and, to whatever extent it pertained to improving the condition of the country, displayed the greatest attentiveness, saying that he supported the concern not of himself but of the country. This one, because of the love of a certain most beautiful girl Alwilda, clashed with Scato, the leader of the Alemanni, a rival for this same girl, in battle in the presence of the army of the Teutons and Danes, and he killed him and made the Teuton tribe a tribute to himself. Moreover, accepting in marriage the girl spoken of before, he begat upon her a son Gram, from whom Gramhrerreth is now called.

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Seyld and See! III. That Gram in every way imitated his father in virtues .... Therefore, because of his famous work, his own father Skiold, now old, made him king.

"Series ac Brevior Historia Regum Danire" (6) Thirteenth-century Danish genealogy; University of Copenhagen, MS AM 10304to. Standard Edition Langebek, Jacob, ed. "Series ac Brevior Historia Regum Danire a Dan & Uither ad Waldemarum II." In Scriptores Rerum Danicarum Medii k:vi. Vol. l. 1772-1878. Reprint, Nendeln: Kraus-Thomson Organization Limited, 1969. 15-18.

From 15: Dan & frater suus Liithar: a quo Dania. Biigi filius DanL Skyld filius Liidii. 32 Gram filius Skild. Guthorm. Haddyngr. Frothi hin Frregre. Haldan. HeIgL Rolf. [The series continues for a total of 81 kings.]

Translation Dan and his brother Lothar, from whom "Denmark." Bogi, son of Dan. Scyld, son of Lothar. Gram, son of Scyld. Guthorm. Haddyngr. Frothi the famous. Haldan. HeIgL Rolf.

Simeon of Durham, Historia Regum (4)

Early twelfth-century English chronicle; Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 139.

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Standard Edition Simeon of Durham. Historia Regum. In Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia. Edited by Thomas Arnold. 2 vols. Rolls Series 75. London: Longman and Co. and Triibner and Co., 1882-85. From a genealogy of Alfred (2: 69): ... Woden, qui fuit Frithuwald, qui fuit Frealaf, qui fuit Fridrenwulf, qui fuit Geta, quem ... jam dudum pagani pro Deo venerabantur. Cujus Sedulius poeta insignis mentionem faciens in Pascali ... cannine, ita exorsus est. Cum sua Gentiles studeant figmenta poetre Grandisonis pompare modis tragicoque boatu Ridiculove Getre seu qualibet arte canendi, etc. Qui Geta fuit Cetwa, qui fuit Beaw, qui fuit Seldwa, qui fuit Heremod, qui fuit Itermod, qui fuit Hatra, qui fuit Wala, qui fuit Bedwig, qui fuit Sem, qui fuit Noe....

Translation ... Woden, who was the son ofFrithuwald, who was of Frealaf, who was of Fridrenwulf, who was of Geta, whom the pagans for a long time worshiped as a God. Sedulius, the notable poet, making a mention of him in the Carmen Paschale, thus began: Since Gentile poets desired in their creations to strut either in lofty rhythms and in tragic lamentation, or with ridiculous Geta, or in any way of the art of singing, etc. Geat was the son of Cetwa, who was of Beaw, who was of Seldwa, who was of Heremod, who was of Itermod, who was of Hathra, who was of Wala, who was of Bedwig, who was of Shem, who was of Noah....

Skjoldunga Saga ["Danasaga Arngrlms Lrerba"] (5) Icelandic saga dated c. 1200; abstract dated 1596; MS Don. var. 1, fol., Barth. xxv. Standard Edition Gu6nason, Bjami, ed. "Danasaga Arngrfms Lrer6a." In Danakonunga Sogur: Skjoldunga Saga, Knytlinga Saga, Agrip Af Sogu Danakonunga. Islenzk Fornrit 35. Reykjavik: Hi6 Islenzka Fornritafc5lag, 1982.3-38.

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From 3-5: Cap. I Rerum Danicarum historiam Norvegorum commentarii non a Dan, ut Saxo Grammaticus, sed a Scioldo qvodam Odini (qvem vulgo Othinum) filio ordiuntur. Tradunt enim Odinum ilIum ex Asia aventantem magis septentrionalis Evropa: (Saxonia:, Dania:, Svecia:), domitis incolis, adeptum esse imperium Daniamqve (qva: tum tamen eo nomine caruerit) Scioldo, Sveciam Ingoni filiis assignasse. Atqve inde a Scioldo, qvos hodie Danos, olim Skiolldunga fuisse appellatos, ut et Svecos ab Ingone Inglinga. Ipsi autem Svecia: (sic specialius dicta:) de nomine earum regionum nomen inditum, unde Odinus cum suis primum emigravit. Huilche ssom ligger Norden for palude Moeotide, og de gammel Norshe kallede Suthiod hin Store eller Kolde. Illi igitur fratres pra:dicti, Scioldus et Ingo, Dania: et Svecia: nomen sortitas postea regiones occupabant; et Scioldus in arce Selandia: Hledro (Saxo Lethram, Vellejus Levre vocitant) sedes posuit, qva: et seqventium plurimorum Regum regia fuit, cum etiam Jutiam subjectam haberet, qvam etiam propter primum occuparat. Cap. II Scioldus igitur filium habuit Leifum, regni sui ha:redem. Cujus tempore tam qviete, tam pacifice vivebatur, vt, pra:ter sane ejus seculi morem, nullum fuisse commissum homicidium memoria: proditum sit. A cujus seculi tranqvillitate publica Regi Dania: Leifo nomen Fredleiffur vel Fridleifur impositum.

Translation Chapter 1 The commentaries on the affairs of the Danes describe the history of the Northmen as not starting with Dan, as Saxo Gramrnaticus says, but with a certain Skjold, son of Odin (who in the vulgar tongue is "Othin"). According to tradition, this Odin, coming out of Asia and having conquered the inhabitants of far-northern Europe (the Saxons, the Danes, the Swedes), won the realm of Denmark (which did not yet have that name) and assigned it to his son Skjold and Sweden to his son Ingo. And thus those who are today called Danes were once called "Skjoldings" from Skjold, and likewise the Swedes "Inglings" from Ingo. Regarding the name of those regions, however, the name "Sweden" (as it is specifically called) was given to the place whence Odin first emigrated with his people, which lies north of the Baltic Sea and which the Old Norse called Suithiod the Large or the Cold. Thereupon those brothers spoken of before, Skjold and lng, afterwards occupied the regions appointed by lot, named Denmark and Sweden, and Skjold set up his throne in Hledra ("Ledra" to Saxo; usually called "Old Leire")--which was also the court of many following kings-in the curve

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of Sjaelland, after he had subjected Jutland, which he seized first because of its propinquity. Chapter 2 Accordingly Skjold had a son Lief, heir of his kingdom. In his time it was lived so quietly, so peacefully, that, other than the reasonable custom of his generation, no committed homicide came forth in memory. From the public tranquility of his time the name Fredleiffur or Fridleifur was ascribed to Leif, King of the Danes.

Snorri Sturluson, Edda (Prologue) (5) Early thirteenth-century Icelandic work; Codex Regius GI. Kgl. Sml. 2365, 4to, and the Codex Wormianus (University of Copenhagen, MS AM 242 fol.). Standard Edition Snorra Sturlusonar. Edda. 3 vols. Osnabriick: Otto Zeller, 1966.

From Chapter 4 (I: 12-13): Nrer mii)ri verOldinni var gjort l>at hus ok herbergi, er agretast hefir gjort verit, er kollui) var Tr6ja. !Jar sem ver kollum Tyrkland. !Jessi stai)r var myklu meiri gjorr en ai)rir, ok me3 meira hagleik a marga lund, me3 kostna3i ok fOngum, er }lar voru. !Jar voru XII konungd6mar, ok einn yfirkonungr, ok lagu morg }lj63lOnd til hvers konungd6ms: !Jar voru I borginni XII homlngjar. !Jessir hofi)lngjar hafa verit urnfram alia menn, l>a er verit hafa I verOldu, urn alla mannd6mliga luti. ...

From Chapter 9 (I: 22-25): Einn konungr I Tr6jo het Munon ei)a Mennon; hann atti d6ttur hofui)konungs Priami; su het Tr6an. !Jau attu son; sa het Tr6r; l>ann kollum ver !JOr. Hann var at uppfrezlu I Tracia, mei) }leim hertoga, er nefndr er Loricus. En er hann var X vetra, }la t6k hann vii) vapnum fOi)ur sIns. Sva var hann fagr alitum, er hann kom me3 oi)rum monnum, sem }la er fflsbein er grafit f eik; har hans er fegra en gull. !Ja er hann var XII vetra hami hann fullt afl; }la Iypti hann af jori)u X bjarnsWkum, ollum senn, ok }la drap hann Loricus hertoga, f6stra sinn, ok konu hans L6ra, ei)a GI6ra, ok eignai)i ser dkit Tracia; }lat ko\lum ver !Jru3heim. !Ja f6r hann vl3a urn IOnd, ok kanna3i heims hlilfur, ok sigra3i einn saman alia berserki ok alla risa, ok einn hinn mesta dreka, ok morg dyr. f nori)rhalfu heims fann hann spakonu }la, er Sibil het, er ver kollum Sif, ok rekk hennar. Eingi kann segja rett Sifjar. Hon var allra kvenna fegrst; har hennar var sem gull. }Jeirra son var L6rii)i, er Hkr var fei)r sfnum; hans son var Henrede; hans son Vinge}l6rr; hans son Vingener; hans

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Seyld and See! son M6oa; hans son Magi; hans son Cespheth; hans son Beovig; hans son Athra, er ver kalIum Annan; hans son ftrmann; hans son Herem6o; hans son Skjalldun, er ver kallum SkjOld; hans son Bjaf, er ver kalIum Bjar; hans son Jat; hans son Gu06lfr; hans son Fjarllaf, er ver kallum Frioleif. Hann atti )Jann son, er nefndr er V6)Jinn, )Jann kalIum ver Ooin. Hann var agretr maor af speki ok allri atgervi. Kona hans het Frigioa, er ver kallum Frigg. From Chapter 11 (I: 26-27): )Ja byrjaoi Ooinn fero sina noror, ok kom i )Jat land, er )Jeir kOlluou Reiogotaland, ok eignaoist i )Jvi landi allt )Jat er hann vildi. Hann setti )Jar til landa son sinn, er SkjOldr het; hans son bet Frioleif. )Jaoan er sil rett komin, er SkjOldilngar heita; )Jat em Danakonilngar; ok )Jat heitir nu J6tland, er )Ja var kallat Reiogotaland.

Translation Snorri Sturluson. The Prose Edda. Translated from the Icelandic with an introduction by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1916. From 6-7: Near the earth's centre was made that goodliest of homes and haunts that ever have been, which is called Troy, even that which we call Turkland. This abode was much more gloriously made than others, and fashioned with more skill of craftsmanship in manifold wise, both in lUxury and in the wealth which was there in abundance. There were twelve kingdoms and one High King, and many sovreignities belonged to each kingdom; in the stronghold were twelve chieftains. These chieftains were in every manly part greatly above other men that have ever been in the world. [The translation skips to Chapter 9] One king among them was called Mren6n or Menn6n; and he was wedded to the daughter of the High King Priam, her who was called Troan; they had a child named Tr6r, whom we call Thor. He was fostered in Thrace by a certain war-duke called L6n1essar eru ok konunga rettir agretar: fra Yngva er Yngligar em fra komnir; fra Skildi i Danmork, er SkjOldungar eru fra kornnir; fra VOlsungi a Frakklandi, }leir heita VOlsungar. Skelfir het einn herkonungr, ok er hans rett kollut Skilvinga rett, su kynsl6d er i Austrvegum.

Translation Snorri Sturluson. The Prose Edda. Translated from the Icelandic with an introduction by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1916.

From Chapter XLII (161-63):33 Why is gold called Fr6di's Meal? This is the tale thereof: One of Odin's sons, named SkjOldr,-from whom the SkjOldungs are come,-had his abode and ruled in the realm which now is called Denmark, but then was known as Gotland. SkjOldr's son, who ruled the land after him, was named his Fridleifr. Fridleifr's son was Fr6di: he succeeded to the kingdom aft~r father, in the time when Augustus Caesar imposed peace on all the world; at that time Christ was bom. But because Fr6di was mightiest of all kings in the Northern lands, the peace was called by his name wherever the Danish

Texts and Translations tongue was spoken; and men call it the peace of Fr6di. No man injured any other, even though he met face to face his father's slayer or his brother's, loose or bound. Neither was there any thief nor robber then, so that a gold ring lay long on Jalangr's Heath. King Fr6di went to a feast in Sweden at the court of the king who was called FjOlnir, and there he bought two maid-servants, Fenja and Menja: they were huge and strong. In that time two millstones were found in Denmark, so great that no one was so strong that he could tum them: the nature of the mill was such that whatsoever he who turned asked for, was ground out by the mill-stones. This mill was called Gr6tti. He who gave King Fr6di the mill was named Hengikjoptr. King Fr6di had the maid-servants led to the mill, and bade them grind gold; and they did so. First they ground gold and peace and happiness for Fr6di; then he would grant them rest or sleep no longer than the cuckoo held its peace or a song might be sung. It is said that they sang the song which is called the Lay of Gr6tti .... And before they ceased their singing, they ground out a host against Fr6di, so that the sea-king called Mysingr came there that same night and slew Fr6di, taking much plunder. Then the Peace of Fr6di was ended. Mysingr took Gr6tti with him, and Fenja and Menja also, and bade them grind salt. And at midnight they asked whether Mysingr were not weary of salt. He bade them grind longer. They had ground but a little while, when down sank the ship; and from that time there has been a whirlpool in the sea where the water falls through the hole in the mill-stone. It was then that the sea became salt. From Chapter LXIV (230): Halfdan and his wife had nine other sons also; these were Hildir, from whom the Hildings are come; Nefir, from whom the Niflungs sprang; Audi, from whom the Odlungs are come; Yngvi, from whom the Ynglings are descended; Dagr, from whom come the Doglings; Bragi, from whom the Bragnings are sprung (that is the race of Halfdan the Munificent); Budli, from whom the Budlungs are come (from the house of the Budlungs Atli and Brynhildr descended); the eighth was Lofdi, who was a great war-king (that host who were called Lofdar followed him; his kindred are called Lofdungs, whence sprang Eylimi, Sigurdr Fafnisbani's mother's sire); the ninth, Sigarr, whence come the Siklings: that is the house of Siggeirr, who was son-in-law of VOIsungr,-and the house of Sigarr, who hanged Hagbardr. From the race of Hildings sprang Haraldr the Red-Bearded, mother's father of Halfdan the Swarthy. Of the Niflung's house was Gjuki; of the house of Odlings, Kjarr; of the house of the Ylfings was Ein1cr the Wise in Speech. These also are illustrious royal houses: from Yngvi, the Ynglings are descended; from SkjOldr in Denmark, the SkjOldungs are come; from Volsungr in the land of Franks, those who are called VOIsungs. One warking was named Skelfir; and his house is called the House of Skilfings: his kindred is in the Eastern Region.

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Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla: Ynglinga Saga (5) Early thirteenth-century Icelandic work; University of Copenhagen, MS AM 39 fol.

Standard Edition Snorri Sturluson. Heimskringla. Edited by Bjarni Aoalbjarnarson. 3 vols. Islenzk Fornrit 26-28. Reykjavik: Hio Islenzka Fornritafelag, 1941.

From Ynglinga Saga (1: 14-16) V. Kapltuli Fjallgaror mikill gengr af landnorori til utsuors. Sa skilr Sv$joo ina miklu ok onnur nKi.. Fyrir sunnan fjallit er eigi langt til Tyrklands. l>ar atti Ooinn eignir storar. f l>ann tlma forn RumverjahofOingjar vloa urn heiminn ok brntu undir sik allar !Jjooir, en margir hofOingjar flyou fyrir !Jeim ofrioi af slnum eignum. En fyrir !JVI at Ooinn var forspar ok fjolkunnigr, !Ja vissi hann, at hans afkvremi myndi urn nororhalfu heimsins byggva.l>a setti hann brreor slna, Ve ok Vfli, yfir Asgaro, en hann for ok d'ar allir meo honum ok mikit folk annat. For hann fyrst vestr I GaroanKi. ok !Ja suor I Saxland. Hann atti marga sonu. Hann eignaoisk nKi. vloa urn Sax land ok setti !Jar sonu slna tillandsgrezlu. l>a for hann noror til sjavar ok tok ser bUstao I ey einni. l>ar heitir nu Ooinsey I Fjoni. l>a sendi hann Gefjun noror yfir sundit I landaleitan. l>a kom hon til Gylfa, ok gaf hann henni eitt plogsland. l>a for hon I Jotunheima ok gat !Jar fjora sonu vio jotni nokkurnm. Hon bra !Jeim I yxnalfki ok freroi !Ja fyrir ploginn ok dro landit ut a hafit ok vestr gegnt Ooinsey, ok er pat kolluo Selund. l>ar byggoi hon sloan. Hennar fekk Skjoldr, sonr Ooins. !Jau bjoggu at Hleioru.l>ar er vatn eoa sjar eptir.l>at er kallat Logrinn. Sva liggja firoir I Leginum sem nes I Selundi. Sva kvao Bragi inn garnli: 1. Gefjon dro fra Gylfa gloo djuprooul oOla, svat af rennirauknum rauk, Danmarkar auka. Born jljxn ok atta ennitungl, !Jars gingu fyr vineyjar vfori valrauf, fjogur haufuo. En er Ooinn spuroi, at gooir landskostir varn austr at Gylfa, for hann !Jannok, ok gerou !Jeir Gy lfi srett sfna, !Jvi at Gy lfi !Jottisk engi krapt til hafa til motstoou vio Asana. Mart attusk !Jeir Ooinn vio ok Gylfi f brogoum ok sjonhverfingum, ok urou lEsir jafnan n1