ABSTRACT

If we look at the chronology of the Beowulf we shall see that at the time of Beowulf’s visit to King Hrothgar (Hroar), Halga (Helgi) was in all probability already dead. Hrothgar himself was already a very old man (cf. Beo., 1.357), and according to all Scandinavian traditions the life of Halga (Helgi) who was his elder brother was cut short at a comparatively early point in his career. By this time too, Hrothulf (Hrolf Kraki) was already grown up, in fact in both Beowulf and Widsith he is represented as ruling jointly with his uncle Hrothgar (cf. Wids. 11. 45-49; Beo. 11. 1074 ff., 1163 f., 1181 ff.). It is a circumstance worthy of notice that only several years after Beowulf’s exploit, at the Danish court, does Eadgils (Aðils) appear for the first time in the Beowulf story. He and his brother Eanmund, while apparently still young men, fled into Gautland in order to escape the vengeance of their uncle Onela, and it was some years later that Eadgils (Aðils) overthrew Onela, and became king of Sweden in his stead (Beo. 11.2379 ff., 11.2391 ff.).