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.