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King Hygelac of the Geats: History, Legend, and Beowulf

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Abstract

This article argues against the notion that Hygelac is characterized negatively in Beowulf. It reassesses the historical and legendary traditions concerning his final raid and contends that the Beowulf poet represented Hygelac not as a foolish or arrogant king, but as an admirable figure imbued with a sense of tragic grandeur.

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Notes

  1. On the identification of Hygelac with the Ch(l)ochilaicus of Frankish historical records, see Chambers, who labels this identification “the most important discovery ever made in the study of Beowulf” (1959: 4, n. 1).

  2. Hall (2006) argues that Hygelac’s lack of wisdom is evident in his decision to reward Eofor with the hand of his only daughter in marriage, reasoning that he should have preserved his daughter for the purpose of peace-weaving. For counterarguments to this particular claim, see Neidorf (2020).

  3. Recent onomastic scholarship, contrary to the views of Kaske (1963) and Robinson (1968), has cast considerable doubt upon whether the etymology of any name in Beowulf is intended to reflect meaningfully upon the character who bears it: see Fulk (1987, 2007), Jurasinski (2007) and Neidorf (2018b).

  4. The sources pertaining to Hygelac (both historical and legendary) are compiled and sifted in the following studies: Malone (1939), Whitelock (1951: 39–54), Magoun (1954), Storms (1970), Thompson (2001), Biggs (2014) and Currie (2020).

  5. The text is cited from Krusch (1937: 99); the translation is cited from Fulk et al. (2008: 310).

  6. The text is cited from Krusch (1888: 274–275); the translation is cited from Magoun (1954: 195).

  7. Beyond the mention of the Attoarii, the forms of Hygelac’s name in manuscripts of the Liber Historiae Francorum render it more accurately into Frankish Latin; the presence of Gotorum in superscript in one manuscript (presumably in reference to the Geats) likewise testifies to knowledge of the event beyond Gregory’s account. On these phenomena, see Magoun (1954: 195–196); and Malone (1939: 109–111).

  8. Critics have speculated that the defeat of Hygelac contributed to the development of a Frankish legendary tradition around Theuderic, who is named in line 24a of Widsið (Þeodric weold Froncum) and who comes to be known as Wolf-Dietrich in Middle High German literature. For references, see Chambers (1912: 112–115, 195), who considers it more probable that Theuderic’s conquest of the Thuringians earned him his place in legend. On the circulation of Frankish legend in England, see Shippey (2005); and Neidorf (2019).

  9. The historicity of the account in Beowulf is stressed by Girvan (1935: 60–63). For emphasis on its legendary (or ‘fictional’) dimensions, see Biggs (2014); and McNamara (1976: 55–63).

  10. The text of Beowulf is cited throughout by line number from Fulk et al. (2008); the translation provided throughout is cited from Fulk (2010).

  11. For further discussion of these differences, see Whitelock (1951: 41–42), Magoun (1954: 196–197), Malone (1939: 111) and Thompson (2001: 11–14). On the Beowulf poet’s knowledge of the Frisians, see Bremmer (2004).

  12. For similar readings of the Dæghrefn episode, see Woolf (1976: 70), Chambers & Wyatt (1925: 125) and Lapidge (2001: 71). For contrary readings, see McNamara (1974) and Cavill (1983).

  13. There is a tendency in Germanic legend for disaster to befall both the victors and victims in any given conflict. This generalization holds true not only of the reconstructed legend of Hygelac’s demise, but also of the legends recounted in Atlakviða, Hamðismál, Hlǫðskviða, the Hildebrandslied, and the Nibelungenlied, among numerous other works.

  14. For examples of the conventional reading, see Kaske (1958: 440), Bandy (1973: 244), Orchard (2003: 114) and Hall (2006: 83–84).

  15. The phenomenon for which Cronan argues with respect to wlenco is not unique, but has, in fact, been argued for many words in Beowulf, including gylp, bēot, synn, fyren, bealu, hrēow, scucca, lofgeorn, and giedd. In each case, the word has been shown to exhibit in Beowulf its etymological sense rather than (or alongside) the sense it came to develop in institutionalized Christian discourse. See Nolan & Bloomfield (1980: 499–501), Robinson (1985: 55–57), Shippey (1993: 173–175), Gwara (2012), Pascual (2014) and Neidorf & Pascual (2019: 307–308). For overviews of lexical and semantic archaism in the poetic corpus, see Cronan (2004); and Neidorf (2017: 5–6).

  16. Other critics who emphasize the importance of the edwenden theme include Ringler (1966); Irving (1968); Andersson (1980: 90–106); and Currie (2020).

  17. Cf. Fast, who writes of wlenco that “[p]robably it was no more than the desire to maintain a reputation” (1971: 97).

  18. On this peculiar form of tragedy that is characteristic of Germanic legend, see Phillpotts (1928), Chambers (1959: 28–29), Andersson (1987: 5–7) and Neidorf (2018a: 520–521).

  19. For comparable remarks, see Hall, who writes that Hygelac’s inclusion in the Liber Monstrorum is “hardly flattering” (2006: 83); and Orchard (2003: 114).

  20. It is possible that the first entry in the Liber Monstrorum describes a transvestite or bædling rather than a hermaphrodite. See the discussion in Fulk (2004: 30–32).

  21. The text and translation are cited from Orchard (2003: 258–59).

  22. This explanation, it should be noted, reflects credence in the proposition that Beowulf had a place in oral tradition beyond the one extant poem about him. For arguments to this effect, see Benson (1970), Neidorf (2013) and Leneghan (2020: 104–153).

  23. For similar readings of this speech, see Brodeur (1959: 82–83), Fast (1971: 95–96) and McNamara (1976: 56).

  24. Cf. Fast: “In youth, as in maturity and old age, the focal point of Beowulf’s thoughts and deeds is Hygelac, his lord and uncle” (1971: 90).

  25. Cf. Brodeur: “Old as he is, and king for 50 years, he is still, in his own heart, ‘Hygelac’s thane’” (1959: 85).

  26. On the poet’s attitude toward violence, see Baker (2013: 1–34). On the divide between the poet’s values and the values of modern readers, see Shippey (1978: 7–11).

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    Leonard Neidorf

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Neidorf, L. King Hygelac of the Geats: History, Legend, and Beowulf. Neophilologus 106, 461–477 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-021-09687-5

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