Ingeld
Encyclopedia
797
Year 797 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 797 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Byzantine Empire :* July 17 – Irene of Athens...
, Alcuin
Alcuin
Alcuin of York or Ealhwine, nicknamed Albinus or Flaccus was an English scholar, ecclesiastic, poet and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Archbishop Ecgbert at York...
wrote a letter to Bishop Higbald of Lindisfarne
Higbald of Lindisfarne
Higbald of Lindisfarne was Bishop of Lindisfarne from 780 until his death on 24 June 803. Powicke gives his death date as 25 May 802...
questioning the monks' interest in heroic legends with: 'Quid enim Hinieldus cum Christo?' - What has Ingeld to do with Christ?
The legends that survive tell of Ingeld as an enemy of Hroðgar
Hroðgar
Hroðgar, King Hroþgar, "Hrothgar", Hróarr, Hroar, Roar, Roas or Ro was a legendary Danish king, living in the early 6th century....
, Halga
Halga
Halga, Helgi, Helghe or Helgo was a legendary Danish king living in the early 6th century. His name would in his own language have been *Hailaga ....
and Hroðulf. The conflict between the Scylding
Scylding
Old English Scylding and Old Norse Skjöldung , meaning in both languages "People of Scyld/Skjöld" refers to members of a legendary royal family of Danes and sometimes to their people. The name is explained in many text by the descent of this family from an eponymous king Scyld/Skjöld...
s Hroðgar and Hroðulf on one side, and the Heaðobard
Heaðobard
The Heaðobards were possibly a branch of the Langobards, and their name may be preserved in toponym Bardengau, in Mecklenburg, Germany....
s Froda and Ingeld on the other, appears in both Beowulf
Beowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
and in Widsith
Widsith
Widsith is an Old English poem of 144 lines that appears to date from the 9th century, drawing on earlier oral traditions of Anglo-Saxon tale singing. The only text of the fragment is copied in the Exeter Book, a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late 10th century containing...
. Scholars generally agree that these characters appear in both Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
(Beowulf
Beowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
) and Scandinavian tradition (Norse saga
Norse saga
The sagas are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, the battles that took place during the voyages, about migration to Iceland and of feuds between Icelandic families...
s and Danish chronicles). However, in the Norse tradition the Heaðobards had apparently been forgotten and the conflict is instead rendered as a family feud, or as a conflict with the Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
, where the Danes take the place of the Heaðobards.
Beowulf
In BeowulfBeowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
, Ingeld is the son of King Froda of the Heaðobard
Heaðobard
The Heaðobards were possibly a branch of the Langobards, and their name may be preserved in toponym Bardengau, in Mecklenburg, Germany....
s, and they are involved in a war with the Danes. When Beowulf reports on his adventure in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
to his king Hygelac
Hygelac
Hygelac was a king of the Geats according to the poem Beowulf. He was the son of Hrethel and had brothers Herebeald and Hæthcyn. His sister was married to Ecgtheow and had the son Beowulf. Hygelac was married to Hygd and they had the son Heardred, and an unnamed daughter who married Eofor...
, he mentions that Hroðgar
Hroðgar
Hroðgar, King Hroþgar, "Hrothgar", Hróarr, Hroar, Roar, Roas or Ro was a legendary Danish king, living in the early 6th century....
had a daughter, Freawaru
Freawaru
Freawaru, introduced in l. 2020 of the poem Beowulf, is the daughter of King Hroðgar and Queen Wealhþeow.Freawaru is a freoðuwebbe or "peaceweaver" who is married to Ingeld, King of the Heaðobards and son of Froda . This marriage was created as a means of ending a feud between the two kingdoms...
. Since Froda had been killed by the Danes, Hroðgar sent Freawaru to marry Ingeld, in an unsuccessful attempt to end the feud. An old warrior
Starkad
Starkad, Old Norse: Starkaðr or Störkuðr, Latin: Starcaterus, and during the late Middle Ages, also known as Starkodder, was a legendary hero in Norse mythology....
urged the Heaðobards to revenge, and Beowulf predicts to Hygelac that Ingeld will turn against his father-in-law Hroðgar. In a version given in the Danish chronicle Gesta Danorum
Gesta Danorum
Gesta Danorum is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus . It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history...
(see below), the old warrior appears as Starkad
Starkad
Starkad, Old Norse: Starkaðr or Störkuðr, Latin: Starcaterus, and during the late Middle Ages, also known as Starkodder, was a legendary hero in Norse mythology....
, and he succeeded in making Ingeld divorce his bride and in turning him against her family. Earlier in the Beowulf poem, the poet tells us that the hall Heorot was eventually destroyed by fire (Gummere's translation):
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It is tempting to interpret the new war with Ingeld as leading to the burning of the hall of Heorot, but the poem separates the two events (by a ne wæs hit lenge þā meaning "nor far way was that day when", in Gummere's translation).
Widsith
Whereas Beowulf never dwells on the outcome of the battle with Ingeld, the possibly older poem WidsithWidsith
Widsith is an Old English poem of 144 lines that appears to date from the 9th century, drawing on earlier oral traditions of Anglo-Saxon tale singing. The only text of the fragment is copied in the Exeter Book, a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late 10th century containing...
refers to Hroðgar and Hroðulf defeating Ingeld at Heorot
Heorot
Heorot is a mead hall described in the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf as "the foremost of halls under heaven." It served as a palace for King Hroðgar, a legendary Danish king of the sixth century. Heorot means "Hall of the Hart"...
:
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Hroðgar Hroðgar, King Hroþgar, "Hrothgar", Hróarr, Hroar, Roar, Roas or Ro was a legendary Danish king, living in the early 6th century.... held the longest Heorot Heorot is a mead hall described in the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf as "the foremost of halls under heaven." It served as a palace for King Hroðgar, a legendary Danish king of the sixth century. Heorot means "Hall of the Hart"... Heaðobard Heaðobard The Heaðobards were possibly a branch of the Langobards, and their name may be preserved in toponym Bardengau, in Mecklenburg, Germany.... 's army. |
Skjöldunga saga and Bjarkarímur
The Skjöldunga sagaSkjöldunga saga
The Skjöldunga saga was a Norse saga on the legendary Danish dynasty of the Skjöldungs, the same dynasty featured in the Old English poem Beowulf...
and Bjarkarímur
Bjarkarímur
Bjarkarímur is a 15th century Icelandic rímur cycle on the Skjöldungs , and retells among other things the adventures of Hróarr and his brother Helgi , and those of Böðvarr Bjarki...
reverse the relationship between Froda and Ingeld by making Ingeld (Ingjaldus) the father of Froda (Frodo). Moreover, Ingeld is here described as the half-brother of Healfdene (Haldan).
Frodo defeated the Swedish king Jorund
Jorund
Jorund or Jörundr was a Swedish king of the House of Yngling. He was the son of Yngvi, and he had reclaimed the throne of Sweden for his dynasty from Haki .Snorri Sturluson relates...
, made him a tributary and took his daughter. The daughter gave birth to Haldan, but another woman became Frodo's legitimate wife and gave him Ingjaldus. Together with one of his earl
Earl
An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...
s, Swerting
Swerting
Swerting was one of the Saxon ancestors of king Aella of Deira.He may be identical with the Swerting briefly mentioned in Beowulf, where he had the son or son-in-law Hrethel, who was the maternal grandfather of the hero Beowulf.-The Heaðobard tradition:A Swerting of the same timeframe also...
, Jorund conspired against Frodo and killed him during the blót
Blót
The blót was Norse pagan sacrifice to the Norse gods and the spirits of the land. The sacrifice often took the form of a sacramental meal or feast. Related religious practices were performed by other Germanic peoples, such as the pagan Anglo-Saxons...
.
Haldan has a queen named Sigrith with whom he has three children: the sons Roas (Hroðgar) and Helgo (Halga) and the daughter Signy. Ingjaldus is jealous with his half-brother and so he attacks and kills Haldan, whereupon he marries Sigrith. Ingjaldus and Sigrith have two sons named Rærecus and Frodo. Ingjaldus, who is worried that his nephews would want revenge, tries to find them and kill them, but Roas and Helgo survive by hiding on an island near Skåne. When they are old enough, they avenge their father by killing Ingjaldus.
In the Hrólfr Kraki's saga, which tells very much the same story, it is Froda (Fróði) who is the half brother of Halfdan.
Gesta Danorum
Heaðobard
The Heaðobards were possibly a branch of the Langobards, and their name may be preserved in toponym Bardengau, in Mecklenburg, Germany....
s Ingeld and Froda appears twice in the Gesta Danorum
Gesta Danorum
Gesta Danorum is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus . It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history...
. There is also a third time, based on the account of the old warrior who restarts the conflict.
The first time it tells of the feud is book 2, where Ingeld (called Ingild) appears with the son Agnar. In this version, Ingeld's son is about to marry Hroðulf's sister Rute, but a fight starts and Agnar dies in a duel with Böðvarr Bjarki (called Biarco).
The second version in Gesta Danorum (book 6), concerns the adventures of Starkad
Starkad
Starkad, Old Norse: Starkaðr or Störkuðr, Latin: Starcaterus, and during the late Middle Ages, also known as Starkodder, was a legendary hero in Norse mythology....
, and which is based on the old warrior who restarted the conflict. The Danish king Frotho (Froda) was killed through treachery by a Saxon named Swerting
Swerting
Swerting was one of the Saxon ancestors of king Aella of Deira.He may be identical with the Swerting briefly mentioned in Beowulf, where he had the son or son-in-law Hrethel, who was the maternal grandfather of the hero Beowulf.-The Heaðobard tradition:A Swerting of the same timeframe also...
(Swertingus). Frotho's son Ingeld (Ingellus) lived a wanton life and married one of Swerting's daughters. This angered Starkad so much that he enlisted at the Swedish king Halfdan
Halfdan
Halfdan was a late 5th and early 6th century legendary Danish king of the Scylding lineage, the son of king named Fróði in many accounts, noted mainly as the father to the two kings who succeeded him in the rule of Denmark, kings named Hroðgar and Halga in the Old English poem Beowulf and named...
's (Haldanus) court instead. As Ingeld continued his sinful life and did not do his duty to avenge his father, Starkad appeared during a banquet that Ingeld had with the sons of Swerting, his father's slayer. Starkad strongly admonished Ingeld and humiliated his queen who tried to calm Starkad with kindness and her costly ribbon. Starkad succeeded in inciting Ingeld to kill Swerting's sons and to divorce his Saxon bride.
The third time, it tells of Froda and Ingeld is in book 7, but here Hroðgar is replaced by a Harald and Halga by a Haldanus. It is the same Ingeld as in the previous paragraph, but here Froda reappears as Ingeld's son. It is a version of the feud that is similar to the one told in the Skjöldunga saga, Bjarkarímur and Hrólfr Kraki's saga, where the Heaðobards had been forgotten and the feud with Froda and Ingeld has become a family feud. The main plot is that Ingeld has the sons Frodo (Froda) and Harald (corresponds to Healfdene). The relationship between Ingeld and Froda was thus reversed, a reversal also found in the Skjöldunga saga and in the Bjarkarímur. Froda kills his brother and tries to get rid of his nephews Harald (corresponds to Hroðgar) and Haldanus (corresponds to Halga). After some adventures, the two brothers burn their uncle to death inside his house and avenge their father.
Sources
- Nerman, BirgerBirger NermanBirger Nerman was a Swedish archaeologist, professor, and author.-Background:Birger Nerman belonged to a bourgeois family Nerman from Vimmerby. He was the son of Janne Nerman , the bookseller in Norrköping, and his wife Anna Ida Nordberg...
(1925). "Det svenska rikets uppkomst". - Beowulf:
- Beowulf read aloud in Old English
- Modern English translation by Francis Barton Gummere
- Modern English translation by John Lesslie HallJohn Lesslie HallJohn Lesslie Hall , also known as J. Lesslie Hall, was an American literary scholar and poet known for his translation of Beowulf....
- 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
- Widsith:
- Chronicon Lethrense and Annales Lundense:
- Gesta Danorum:
- 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