Heorogar was a Danish king who appears in the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

poem ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...

'' as the eldest son of

Healfdene Halfdan (, ang, Healfdene, Medieval : "half Dane") was a late 5th and early 6th century legendary Danish king of the Scylding (Skjöldung) lineage, the son of king named Fróði in many accounts, noted mainly as the father to the two kings who s ...

(Halfdan), and the brother of

Hroðgar Hrothgar ( ang, Hrōðgār ; on, Hróarr) was a semi-legendary Danish king living around the early sixth century AD. Hrothgar appears in the Anglo-Saxon epics ''Beowulf'' and ''Widsith'', in Norse sagas and poems, and in medieval Danish chroni ...

(Hroar), and

Halga Halga, ''Helgi'', ''Helghe'' or ''Helgo'' was a legendary Danish king living in the early 6th century. His name would in his own language (Proto-Norse) have been *''Hailaga'' (dedicated to the gods). Scholars generally agree that he appears in bo ...

(Helgi). The people in parentheses are personages found also in Norse sources. He is mentioned in lines 2155-2165 of the poem, when King Hrothgar gives Beowulf the armour and weapons that originally belonged to King Heorogar: :"Me ðis hildesceorp Hroðgar sealde, :snotra fengel, sume worde het :þæt ic his ærest ðe est gesægde; :cwæð þæt hyt hæfde *Hiorogar cyning, :leod Scyldunga lange hwile; :no ðy ær suna sinum syllan wolde, :hwatum Heorowearde, þeah he him hold wære, :breostgewædu. Bruc ealles well!" Translation: :"Hrothgar did not leave Beowulf unsatisfied. Beowulf offered all of the treasures given to him to Hygelac his leader. Hygelac ordered in his boar standard, a suit of armour, and a sword given to him by Hrothgar who had received it from his brother *Heorogar and once promised to Heoroweard and gave it all to Beowulf to use well." Unlike Halga, Hroðgar, Healfdene, and Heorogar's son Heoroweard, Heorogar does not appear in Norse sources. However, Heorogar may explain why Heoroweard (according to Norse sources) rebelled against Hroðulf (Hrólf Kraki) and killed him. As the son of Heorogar, the eldest of Healfdene's sons, Heoroweard had greater right to the Danish throne than Hroðulf.

References

*Nerman, B. Det svenska rikets uppkomst. Stockholm, 1925. *Olrik, (1903) Danmarks heltedigtning I, p. 39ff. *McMaster University, Canada: Beowulf Hypertext (http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~beowulf/main.html) {{s-end Characters in Beowulf English heroic legends