Halga
Halga,
Scholars generally agree that he appears in both
Whereas, not much is said about Halga in Anglo-Saxon sources, much more is said in Scandinavian ones. It is also noticed a curb in Halga storyline's direction, all of them containing a version of the story of his incestuous relationship with his own daughter
Beowulf
|
Hrólf Kraki's saga |
Ynglinga saga |
Lejre Chronicle |
Gesta Danorum |
Beowulf |
People |
Hrólfr Kraki |
Halfdan
|
Helgi |
Yrsa |
Adils |
Áli |
Bödvar Bjarki |
Hjörvard |
Roar
|
Locations |
Lejre |
Uppsala |
Fyrisvellir |
In the
59 Ðæm feower bearn forðgerimed
60 in worold wocun weoroda ræswa
61 heorogar. 7 hroðgar 7 halga til
62 hyrde icþelan cwen
63 heaðo-Scilfingas healsgebedda
This appears in Gummere's translation as:
59 Then, one after one, there woke to him,
60 to the chieftain of clansmen, children four:
61 Heorogar, then Hrothgar, then Halga brave;
62 and I heard that — ela's queen,
63 the Heathoscylfing’s helpmate dear.
Chronicon Lethrense and Annales Lundenses
The . Lastly, he found out that Yrse, with whom he had slept, was his own daughter, went east and killed himself.
Both Helghe and Ro being dead, the Swedish king Hakon/Athisl
Gesta Danorum
If the Chronicon Lethrense reports that the Swedes humiliated the Danes after Helghe's death,
Saxo agrees with Beowulf and the Chronicon Lethrense by describing Helgo and Ro (
Helgo attacked and killed king Skalk of Sklavia (i.e. the king of Wendland), subduing Sklavia into a Danish province. Continuing his sea roving, Helgo arrived at Thurø, where he found and raped the young girl Thora, which resulted in Urse.
He earned the name Hundingsbane by slaying Hunding, the king of Saxony, and conquered Jutland from the Saxons and entrusted it to his commanders Heske, Eyr and Ler. He then humiliated the Saxon aristocracy by enacting a law that the killing of one of them would be no more costly in wergild than the killing of a commoner.
When Helgo after many years returned to Thurø, Thora avenged her lost virginity by sending Urse to Helgo, who unknowingly raped his own daughter. This resulted in Roluo Kraki (i.e.
Whereas the Chronicon Lethrense and the Annales Lundenses do not explain why Halga needed to kill Hodbrod to win all of Denmark, the Gesta Danorum presents Hothbrodd as a king of Sweden, who invaded Denmark and killed Ro. After having killed Hothbrodd, avenging the death of his brother, he humiliated the Swedes by forbidding that any crime against a Swede should result in any punishment by law. Then, hating his own country, he went east and died, reputedly by throwing himself onto his own sword. He was succeeded by his son Roluo.
Hrólfr Kraki's saga
In
Hróarr moved to Northumbria and married king Norðri's daughter Ögn, whereas Helgi became the new king of Denmark, but stayed unmarried. Wanting a spouse, Helgi went to the Saxons to woo their warlike queen Oluf. She was, however, not interested and humiliated Helgi by shaving his head and covering him with tar while he was asleep, and sending him back to his ship. Some time later, Helgi returned and through a ruse, he kidnapped the queen for a while during which time he got her pregnant.
Having returned to her kingdom, the queen bore a child, a girl whom she named
Learning that Helgi and Yrsa were living happily together, Queen Oluf travelled to Denmark to tell her daughter the truth. Yrsa was shocked and although Helgi wanted their relationship to remain as it was, Yrsa insisted on leaving him. She was later taken by the Swedish king Aðils (Eadgils) as his queen, which made Helgi even more unhappy.
Later, one Yule, Helgi was visited by an ugly being while he was in his hunting house. No person in the entire kingdom would allow the being to enter their house, except Helgi. Later, the thing asked to sleep in his bed. Unwillingly he agreed, and as the thing got into bed, it turned into an elvish woman, who was clad in silk and who was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He raped her, and made her pregnant with a daughter named Skuld. Helgi forgot the woman and a couple of days after the date had passed, he was visited by the woman, who had Skuld in her arms. The daughter would later marry Hjörvarðr (Heoroweard), Hrólfr Kraki's killer.
Missing Yrsa, Helgi went to Uppsala to fetch her, but was killed by Aðils in battle. He was succeeded by his son Hrólfr.
Skjöldunga saga and Bjarkarímur
The
Ingjaldus (i.e.
The two brothers both became kings of Denmark, and Roas married the daughter of the king of England. Helgo, on the other hand, raped Olava, the queen of the
Ynglinga saga
In Snorri Sturluson's Ynglinga saga, a part of the Heimskringla, he mentions the tradition of Halga, Eadgils and Yrsa, and he based his account on the Skjöldunga saga (he had access to the now lost original version).
He wrote that king Halfdan's (
Notes
- ^ The dating has never been a matter of controversy. It is inferred from the internal chronology of the sources themselves and the dating of Hygelac's raid on Frisia to c. 516. It is also supported by archaeological excavations of the barrows of Eadgils and Ohthere in Sweden. For a discussion, see e.g. Birger Nerman's Det svenska rikets uppkomst (1925) (in Swedish). For presentations of the archaeological findings, see e.g. Elisabeth Klingmark's Gamla Uppsala, Svenska kulturminnen 59, Riksantikvarieämbetet (in Swedish), or this English language presentation by the Swedish National Heritage Board Archived 2007-08-24 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Lexikon över urnnordiska personnamn Archived 2006-09-15 at the Wayback Machine PDF
- ^ Shippey, T. A.: Wicked Queens and Cousin Strategies in Beowulf and Elsewhere, Notes and Bibliography. In The Heroic Age Issue 5 Summer 2001. Archived 2014-02-03 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Halland according to Chronicon Lethrense proper, Lolland according to the included Annals of Lund
- ^ Hakon according to Chronicon Lethrense proper, Athisl according to the included Annals of Lund
- ^ The Relation of the Hrolfs Saga Kraka and the Bjarkarimur to Beowulf by Olson, 1916, at Project Gutenberg
- ^ Nerman (1925:150)
- ^ The Relation of the Hrolfs Saga Kraka and the Bjarkarimur to Beowulf by Olson, 1916, at Project Gutenberg
Sources
- Beowulf:
- Beowulf read aloud in Old English
- Modern English translation by Francis Barton Gummere
- Modern English translation by John Lesslie Hall
- Ringler, Dick. Beowulf: A New Translation For Oral Delivery, May 2005. Searchable text with full audio available, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries.
- Several different Modern English translations
- Chronicon Lethrense and Annales Lundense:
- Book 2 of Gesta Danorum at the Online Medieval & Classical library
- The Relation of the Hrolfs Saga Kraka and the Bjarkarimur to Beowulf by Olson, 1916, at Project Gutenberg
- Hrólf Kraki's saga in English translation at Northvegr
- the Ynglinga saga in translation by Samuel Laing, 1844, at Northvegr