Scylding
Encyclopedia
Old English
Scylding (plural Scyldingas) and Old Norse Skjöldung (plural Skjöldungar), 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
. But the title is sometimes applied to rulers who purportedly reigned before Scyld/Skjöld and the supposed king Scyld/Skjöld may be an invention to explain the name. There was once a Norse saga
on the dynasty, the Skjöldunga saga
, but it only survives in a Latin summary by Arngrímur Jónsson
.
/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 Saxo Grammaticus
' Gesta Danorum
(Book 1), Skjöld was succeeded by a son named Gram
. Since gram is also a simple adjective meaning "fierce" and a common kenning for "king", it might be that Saxo or a source has misunderstood some account referring to Beaw as being gram or a gram and wrongly taken it here as a personal name. Saxo has much to tell of this Gram who becomes the father of Hadingus
of whom he has even more to relate, Hadingus in turn becomes the father of a king Frotho I
who is father of Haldanus I
.
Snorri Sturluson in his Edda, along with some other Old Norse texts, makes Skjöld to be father of Fridleif father of Fróði
under whose reign the world was at peace. Snorri mentions this Fróði son of Fridleif in the Ynglinga saga
also. But in this work Snorri also introduces a second, later Fróði, said to be son of certain Dan 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.
(called Hrothulf in Beowulf). In Beowulf, another son of Healfdene/Halfdan named Heorogar is father of Heoroweard
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. See also Origins for Beowulf and Hrólf Kraki
.
Old English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
Scylding (plural Scyldingas) and Old Norse Skjöldung (plural Skjöldungar), meaning in both languages "People of Scyld
Scyld
Scyld Scefing is the legendary ancestor of the Danish royal lineage known as the Scyldings. He is the counterpart of the Skioldus or Skjöldr of Danish and Icelandic sources....
/Skjöld
Skjold
-Places:*Skjold, Bergen, a borough in Bergen, Norway*Skjold, Troms, a village in Målselv municipality, Norway*Skjold , a Norwegian army garrison in Målselv, Norway*Skjold, Rogaland, a former municipality, now in Vindafjord municipality, Norway-Other:...
" refers to members of a legendary royal family of Danes
Daner
The Danes were a North Germanic tribe residing in modern day Denmark. They are mentioned in the 6th century in Jordanes' Getica, by Procopius, and by Gregory of Tours....
and sometimes to their people. The name is explained in many text by the descent of this family from an eponymous king Scyld
Scyld
Scyld Scefing is the legendary ancestor of the Danish royal lineage known as the Scyldings. He is the counterpart of the Skioldus or Skjöldr of Danish and Icelandic sources....
/Skjöld
Skjold
-Places:*Skjold, Bergen, a borough in Bergen, Norway*Skjold, Troms, a village in Målselv municipality, Norway*Skjold , a Norwegian army garrison in Målselv, Norway*Skjold, Rogaland, a former municipality, now in Vindafjord municipality, Norway-Other:...
. But the title is sometimes applied to rulers who purportedly reigned before Scyld/Skjöld and the supposed king Scyld/Skjöld may be an invention to explain the name. There was once a 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...
on the dynasty, the Skjöldunga saga
Skjöldunga 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...
, but it only survives in a Latin summary by Arngrímur Jónsson
Arngrímur Jónsson
Arngrímur Jónsson the Learned was an Icelandic scholar and an apologist. His father was Jón Jónsson, who died in 1591...
.
From Skjöld to Halfdan
The number, names, and order of the Skjöldung kings vary greatly in different texts until one comes to HalfdanHalfdan
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...
/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
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...
, 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
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...
's Edda
Edda
The term Edda applies to the Old Norse Poetic Edda and Prose Edda, both of which were written down in Iceland during the 13th century in Icelandic, although they contain material from earlier traditional sources, reaching into the Viking Age...
which is taken from English traditions).
According to Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus also known as Saxo cognomine Longus was a Danish historian, thought to have been a secular clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, foremost advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author of the first full history of Denmark.- Life :The Jutland Chronicle gives...
' 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...
(Book 1), Skjöld was succeeded by a son named Gram
Gram of Denmark
Gram was one of the earliest legendary Danish kings according to Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum. His history is given in more detail than those of his predecessors...
. Since gram is also a simple adjective meaning "fierce" and a common kenning for "king", it might be that Saxo or a source has misunderstood some account referring to Beaw as being gram or a gram and wrongly taken it here as a personal name. Saxo has much to tell of this Gram who becomes the father of Hadingus
Hadingus
Hadingus was one of the earliest legendary Danish kings according to Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum where he has a detailed biography. Georges Dumézil and others have argued that Gram was partially modelled on the god Njörðr.-Gesta Danorum:...
of whom he has even more to relate, Hadingus in turn becomes the father of a king Frotho I
Frotho I
Frotho I is one of the legendary Danish kings in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum where he has a substantial biography. He succeeds his father Hadingus to the throne and replenishes the war-drained treasury by slaying a dragon and winning its treasure...
who is father of Haldanus I
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...
.
Snorri Sturluson in his Edda, along with some other Old Norse texts, makes Skjöld to be father of Fridleif father of Fróði
Fróði
Fróði is the name of a number of legendary Danish kings in various texts including Beowulf, Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda and his Ynglinga saga, Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum, and the Grottasöngr. A Danish king by this name also appears as a minor character in the Middle High German epic Die...
under whose reign the world was at peace. Snorri mentions this Fróði son of Fridleif in the Ynglinga saga
Ynglinga saga
Ynglinga saga is a legendary saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It was first translated into English and published in 1844....
also. But in this work Snorri also introduces a second, later Fróði, said to be son of certain Dan 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
Legendary Danish kings
The legendary kings of Denmark are the predecessors of Gorm the Old, half history and half legend. The accounts of the Danish kings are confusing and contradictory, and so this presentation tries to separate the various sources from each other...
they knew in whatever order seemed best to them.
Halfdan and his descendants
In all accounts Halfdan is father of Helgi (called Halga in Beowulf) and Hróar (called Hrothgar in Beowulf). Helgi is father of the famous Hrólf KrakiHrólf Kraki
Hrólfr Kraki, Hroðulf, Rolfo, Roluo, Rolf Krage was a legendary Danish king who appears in both Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian tradition. His name would in his own language have been *Hrōþiwulfaz .Both traditions describe him as a Danish Scylding, the nephew of Hroðgar and the grandson of Healfdene...
(called Hrothulf in Beowulf). In Beowulf, another son of Healfdene/Halfdan named Heorogar is father of Heoroweard
Heoroweard
Heoroweard is a character who appears in Beowulf and also in Norse legends, where he is named Hjörvarðr or Hiartuar. If he existed in real life, his name would have been Proto-Norse *Heruwarduz....
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. See also Origins for Beowulf and Hrólf Kraki
Origins for Beowulf and Hrólf Kraki
Beowulf and Hrólf Kraki are two well-known characters in the myths and sagas of ancient England and Scandinavia respectively.Both are supposed to have lived sometime around 450–550 AD, and much has been discussed over the years regarding their origins....
.
Other Skjöldungar
A later lineage said to be of Skjöldung descent:- Halfdan the ValiantHalfdan the ValiantHalfdan the Valiant was the legendary father of Ivar Vidfamne according to Hervarar saga, the Ynglinga saga, Njal's Saga and Hversu Noregr byggdist. The genealogical work Hversu Noregr byggdist gives his father as Harald the Old, his grandfather as Valdar and his great-grandfather as Hróarr...
- Ivar VidfamneIvar VidfamneIvar Vidfamne was a Danish and Swedish king hailing from Scania. He may have died c. 700. According to the Heimskringla and the Hervarar saga, Ivar was also the king of Norway, Denmark, Saxony and parts of England.- Ivar in the Sagas :He began as king of Scania and conquered Sweden by defeating...
- Harald Hildetand
- Östen Beli
See also
- Uí ÍmairUí ÍmairThe Uí Ímair , or Dynasty of Ivar, were an enormous royal and imperial Norse dynasty who ruled Northern England, the Irish Sea region and Kingdom of Dublin, and the western coast of Scotland, including the Hebrides, from the mid 9th century, losing control of the first in the mid 10th, but the rest...
, a possible British/Irish branch of the Scyldings - Rurik DynastyRurik DynastyThe Rurik dynasty or Rurikids was a dynasty founded by the Varangian prince Rurik, who established himself in Novgorod around the year 862 AD...
, a possible Russian branch of the Scyldings (through Rorik of Dorestad)