Abstract
This article addresses the ambiguous tribal identity of Ecgþeow in Beowulf, ultimately arguing that Ecgþeow is a Swede, a Scylfing (that is, a member of the Swedish ruling family), and indeed is likely the younger brother of the Swedish king Ongenþeow. The article reviews the (often sparse) existing arguments on the matter and pushes these arguments further, taking into consideration such evidence as Anglo-Saxon naming conventions, the poem’s treatment of marriages between feuding families, and our understanding of succession in the poem. It goes on to illustrate the ways in which this reading can shed light on some of the murkier diplomatic events of the poem in the complex relationship between the Geats and the Swedes, such as Onela’s permitting Beowulf to become king of the Geats and Heardred’s sheltering of Eadgils and Eanmund. The article also addresses the effect achieved by leaving this identity unstated in the poem, particularly for an audience to whom such an identification may not have been so difficult to make.
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Notes
“Your father brought about the greatest feud; he became as a hand-slayer to Heaþolaf among the Wylfings. Then the people of the spears could not keep him, on account of war-terror.” All quotations from Beowulf are taken from the fourth edition of Klaeber’s Beowulf (Fulk et al. 2008). Translations are my own.
Neither Klaeber nor Lehmann explain why certain readings are more or less paleographically viable, but both read emendations that maintain the presence of a g as paleographically preferable to emendations that do not, reflecting the presence of the unambiguous g in the manuscript.
“The last remnant of our kin, the Wægmundings.”
“And the son of Ongenþeow returned home when Heardred lay dead, allowed Beowulf to hold the throne, to rule the Geats.”
Woolf (1938, p. 8) mentions this explanation, contingent upon his reading of Beowulf as a nickname for Ælfhere, who, he notes, “seems to be a Scylfing.” He does not elaborate, but must be taking this meaning from the juxtaposition of “leod Scylfinga,/mæg Ælfheres” [“man of the Scylfings, kinsman of Ælfhere”] (ll. 2603b–4a) as phrases modifying Wiglaf. Of course, Wiglaf could be a Scylfing on one side and a kinsman of Ælfhere on the other, so the juxtaposition itself is more suggestive than definitive, but Ælfhere does follow the pattern of known Scylfing names of alliterating on the vowel.
“In youth.”
The same poem gives us the alliterating trio of brothers Godric, Godwine, and Godwig.
“Old and terrible.”
“Was despised for a long time.”
“Thought very much that he was slow, a feeble prince.”
It should be noted that Dumville distinguishes between the technical meaning of æþeling and the poetic usage, which is used “in a good and noble sense” rather than denoting a man eligible for succession. By this reasoning, we should not look to the presence of the word æþeling in Beowulf to indicate whether a character is a potential heir.
The Danes experience kinslaying in the person of Hroðulf, due to competition among prospective heirs, and they are plagued by Grendel, descendant of the kinslayer Cain. The Geats are ultimately vulnerable because their ruling line peters out, and they are threatened by the miserly dragon.
Of course, we must remember that the conflict between Hroðulf and Hroðgar is never explicit in Beowulf, but is often inferred due to Scandinavian analogues. What evidence there is in the poem boils down to an emphasis on the word gyt in line 1164b, “þa gyt wæs hiera sib ætgædere” [“at that time they were still at peace”], and a reading of lines 1181–8 (Wealhþeow’s speech in support of Hroðulf) as dramatic irony.
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This article refers frequently to members of the ruling families discussed in the poem and to events referenced during the poem. For clarification, family trees and a table noting significant events involving Geats and Swedes have been included. See Fig. 1 for the Hreðlings, the ruling family of the Geats, Fig. 2 for the Scylfings, the ruling family of the Swedes, Fig. 3 for the Scyldings, the ruling family of the Danes, and Table 1 for a breakdown of events in the feud between the Geats and the Swedes.
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Shaull, E.M. Ecgþeow, Brother of Ongenþeow, and the Problem of Beowulf’s Swedishness. Neophilologus 101, 263–275 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-016-9508-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-016-9508-2