Swerting (

Proto-Norse Proto-Norse (also called Ancient Nordic; Danish and ; ; ; ) was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved as a northern dialect of Proto-Germanic in the first centuries CE. It is the earliest stage of a c ...

*''Swartingaz'

is briefly mentioned in ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...

'', where he had a son or son-in-law,

Hrethel Hrethel (; ) is a king of the Geats. Name Hrethel's name appears with both the root vowel and and with both the consonant (i.e. the phoneme , pronounced in Old English) and (which would ordinarily represent the phoneme ). This is thought to ...

, who was the maternal grandfather of the hero

The Heaðobard tradition

A Swerting of the same timeframe also appears in Scandinavian traditions as the killer of a Danish king named Fróði/Frotho, who corresponds to Froda, the Heaðobard, in ''

''.The article ''Starkad'' in ''Nordisk familjebok'' (1909).
/ref>''The Relation of the Hrolfs Saga Kraka and the Bjarkarimur to Beowulf'' by Olson, 1916, at Project Gutenberg
/ref> In the Scandinavian traditions, Froda's son

Ingeld Ingeld or Ingjaldr (Old Norse: ) was a legendary warrior who appears in early English and Norse legends. Ingeld was so well known that, in 797, Alcuin wrote a letter to Bishop Higbald of Lindisfarne questioning the monks' interest in heroic legend ...

also appears with the name forms ''Ingjald'' or ''Ingellus''.

''Skjöldunga saga'' and ''Bjarkarímur''

The ''

Skjöldunga saga The ''Skjöldunga saga'' (or, in another standardised Old Norse spelling, ''Skjǫldunga saga'') was an Old Norse legendary saga. Dating from c. 1180 – 1200, the saga was lost in its original form. The saga focused on the Danish dynasty of Sc ...

'' and the '' Bjarkarímur'' tell that the king of Sweden,

Jorund Jorund or Jörundr (5th century) was a Swedish king of the House of Yngling. He was the son of Yngvi, and he had reclaimed the throne of Sweden for his dynasty from Haki (the brother of Hagbard, the hero of the legend of Hagbard and Signy. Snorr ...

, was defeated by the Danish king

Fróði Fróði (; ; Middle High German: ''Vruote'') is the name of a number of legendary Danish kings in various texts including ''Beowulf'', Snorri Sturluson's ''Prose Edda'' and his ''Ynglinga saga'', Saxo Grammaticus' ''Gesta Danorum'', and the ''Gro ...

, who made him a tributary and took his daughter. The daughter gave birth to

Halfdan Halfdan (, , 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 succeeded hi ...

, but another woman became Fróði's legitimate wife and gave him an heir named Ingjaldr. Together with one of his

earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the Peerages in the United Kingdom, peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ...

s, Swerting, Jorund conspired against Fróði and killed him during the

blót (Old Norse and Old English) or (Old English) are religious ceremonies in Germanic paganism that centred on the killing and offering of an animal to a particular being, typically followed by the communal cooking and eating of its meat. Old Nors ...

''Gesta Danorum''

There is also a second version in ''

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 is an essentia ...

'', concerning the adventures of

Starkad ''Starkad'' ( or ; Latin: ''Starcaterus''; in the Late Middle Ages also ''Starkodder''; Danish language, modern Danish: ''Stærkodder'')The article ''Starkad'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin''. was either an eight-armed giant or the human grandson of ...

, and which is based on the old warrior who restarted the conflict between the Heaðobards and the Danes. The Danish king Frotho (Froda) was killed through treachery by a Saxon named Swerting (Swertingus) (cf. the Swedish earl, above). Frotho's son Ingellus (Ingeld) lived a wanton life and married one of Swerting's daughters. This angered Starkad so much that he enlisted at the Swedish king

's (Haldanus) court instead. As Ingellus continued his sinful life and did not do his duty to avenge his father, Starkad appeared during a banquet that Ingellus had with the sons of Swerting, his father's slayer. Starkad strongly admonished Ingellus and humiliated his queen who tried to calm Starkad with kindness and her costly ribbon. Starkad succeeded in exciting Ingellus to kill Swerting's sons and to divorce his Saxon bride.

''Historia Brittonum''

The pedigree of king Aella of Deira given in ''

Historia Brittonum ''The History of the Britons'' () is a purported history of early Britain written around 828 that survives in numerous recensions from after the 11th century. The ''Historia Brittonum'' is commonly attributed to Nennius, as some recensions ha ...

'' includes the name "''Sguerthing''" as great-grandfather of the king,Archeologia Cantiana p. 37-38
/ref> and this has been interpreted as a reference to the Swerting of ''Beowulf''. The name does not appear in other versions of the royal pedigree and may represent an attempt by the author of ''Historia Brittonum'' to interpose this heroic character into the royal pedigree.

Notes and references

{{Hrethling English heroic legends Legendary kings of the Geats Characters in Beowulf