Scylding

genitive plural

The Scyldings (

.

Descent from Sceaf

Further information:

Sceaf § Variations on Sceaf's lineage

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

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

Anglo-Saxon	Old Norse	comments
Sceaf	Seskef
Bedwig	Beðvigr
Hwala
Hraþra	Annarr
Itermon	Ítrmaðr
Heremod	Hermóðr	Banished by his subjects and fled to the Jutes; later betrayed and murdered.
Sceldwea	Skjǫldr	in Beowulf as Scyld ('shield'), or Scyld Scefing.
Beaw	Bjárr	His name means 'barley', and he has been associated with the later figure of John Barleycorn.
Tætwa
Geat	Játr (Gautr)	Said by Asser (Vita Ælfredi regis Angul Saxonum) to have been a god. Eponymous ancestor of the Geats and/or Jutes
Godwulf	Goðólfr
Finn	Finnr
Friþuwulf
Frealáf	Friðleifr
Fréawine
Friþuwald
Woden	Óðinn

From Skjöld to Halfdan

The number, names, and order of the Skjöldung kings vary greatly in different texts until one comes to

/Healfdene.

All Old English texts call Scyld's son and successor Beaw or some similar name. (The name was expanded to Beowulf in the poem Beowulf, probably in error by a scribe who thought it was an abbreviation for the name of the poem's hero, who is quite a different person). Halfdan/Healfdene seems to be the direct son of Beaw in the poem. But all Scandinavian sources that mention both Skjöld and Halfdan put Halfdan some generations after Skjöld and make no mention of King Beaw (save for a genealogy in the Prologue to Snorri Sturluson's Edda which is taken from English traditions).

According to

.

Snorri Sturluson in his Edda, along with some other Old Norse texts, makes Skjöld to be father of

Mikilláti. The second Fróði is known both as Fróði Mikilláti and Fróði the Peace-lover and looks suspiciously like a duplicate of the other peaceful Fróði. Snorri makes this second Fróði the father of Halfdan and of another son named Fridleif.

Saxo in Books 4–5, long after the reign of Halfdan and the fall of the Skjöldung dynasty, also introduces a king named Dan, the third king with that name in his account, whose son is Fridleif whose son is Fróði under whose reign the world achieves peace. This Fróði is also the father of a son named Fridleif according to Saxo.

There are other differing accounts of Halfdan's ancestors. The names, number, and order of legendary Danish kings are very inconsistent in extant texts and it would appear that different writers and story tellers differently arranged what tales of legendary Danish kings they knew in whatever order seemed best to them.

Halfdan and his descendants

In all accounts Halfdan is father of

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

Other Skjöldungar

A later lineage said to be of Skjöldung descent:

• Halfdan the Valiant
• Ivar Vidfamne
• Harald Hildetand
• Östen Beli

See also

• Beowulf and Hrólf Kraki
• Rurik Dynasty, a possible branch of the Scyldings in the Garðaríki (allegedly through Rorik of Dorestad
  )
• Skjoldungen Island
• Uí Ímair, a possible British/Irish branch of the Scyldings

References