11 - The Scylding Dynasty in Saxo and Beowulf as Disguised Theogony
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 October 2021
Summary
Abstract
The common ground between the representations of the Scylding dynasty in Saxo's Gesta Danorum and Beowulf consists of four generations and this set has already been explored in the legendary context. There is, however, a hidden intervening generation between the third and fourth generations which becomes visible when attention is paid to the succeeding reigns of Balder and Høther, taken along with the birth of Rolf Krake from father-daughter incest in Saxo which means that Rolf's mother belongs to the generation after his father. This chapter argues that this intervening generation corresponds to that of the young gods in a proposed Indo-European theogony and is that of the death of Balder, while the fifth generation is that of the mortal avenger.
Keywords: Indo-European myth, Scandinavian pagan gods, fratricide, Odin, Thor, Freyja
The Old English epic Beowulf is found in a unique manuscript dated to c. 1001–1010, and it was probably composed in or about the first half of the eighth century. Its action is set in the fifth to sixth centuries. The Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus composed his Gesta Danorum between c. 1188 and c. 1208. The relevant earliest part of the chronicle is date-free but is set before the reign of Augustus Caesar, which is said to be contemporary with the reign of Frothi III treated by Saxo in his fifth book.
Both Beowulf and the corresponding section of Saxo's Gesta Danorum include directly or indirectly the story of the killing of Balder, one of the key episodes in Old Norse mythology. The direct account is in Saxo, with the human hero, Høther, attacking the demigod, Balder, the son of Odin, with his sword and bringing about his death a few days later. The account in Beowulf can be spoken of as indirect since the characters involved have the different names, Herebeald and Hæðcyn, and are human brothers, so that myth dealing with supernatural beings is not directly invoked. However, it has long been recognized in the scholarly literature that the brothers can be seen as equivalent to the Balder and Høther of Saxo and also to the Baldr and Hodr of Snorri's Edda, who are both gods.
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- Myth and History in Celtic and Scandinavian Traditions , pp. 235 - 250Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2021