Ket and Wig appear in the ''
Gesta Danorum
''Gesta Danorum'' ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and ...
'' as the sons of
Frowin, the governor of
Schleswig
The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ( ...
. Wig also appears in the ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfr ...
'' as the son of
Freawine (Frowin) and father of
Gewis
A number of royal genealogies of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, collectively referred to as the Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies, have been preserved in a manuscript tradition based in the 8th to 10th centuries.
The genealogies trace the succession of t ...
,
eponymous
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Usage of the word
The term ''epon ...
ancestor of the kingdom of
Wessex
la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons
, common_name = Wessex
, image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg
, map_caption = S ...
and their kings, but this is thought to be a late manipulation, inserting these heroes into a pedigree borrowed from a rival royal house, in which the
Bernicia
Bernicia ( ang, Bernice, Bryneich, Beornice; la, Bernicia) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England.
The Anglian territory of Bernicia was appr ...
n eponym Bernic was replaced by the Wessex Gewis.
Their father Frowin/Freawine was challenged to combat by the Swedish king
Athisl, and killed. King Wermund, who liked their father, subsequently raised Ket and Wig as his own. They later avenged their father, but they fought against Athisl two against one, a national disgrace that was redeemed by their brother-in-law, King Wermund's son
Offa
Offa (died 29 July 796 AD) was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of Æt ...
, when he killed two Saxons at the same time, in "single combat".
Book Four of ''Gesta Danorum'' at the Medieval and Classical Literature Library
/ref> This event is referred to in ''Widsith
"Widsith" ( ang, Wīdsīþ, "far-traveller", lit. "wide-journey"), also known as "The Traveller's Song", is an Old English poem of 143 lines. It survives only in the '' Exeter Book'', a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late-10th ...
'' as a duel against Myrgings
The Myrgings were a clan and people of Saxon origin who, together with their king Eadgils, are only mentioned in the Old English poem '' Widsith''. They are mentioned as the people of the scop Widsith. They appear to have been the neighbours of t ...
.
References
Anglish warriors