Yrsa, Yrse, Yrs or Urse (fl. 6th century)The dating has never been a matter of controversy. It is inferred from the internal chronology of the sources themselves and the dating of

Hygelac Hygelac ( ang, Hygelāc; non, Hugleikr; gem-x-proto, Hugilaikaz; la, Ch(l)ochilaicus or ''Hugilaicus''; died 521) was a king of the Geats according to the poem ''Beowulf''. It is Hygelac's presence in the poem which has allowed scholars to ...

's raid on

Frisia Frisia is a cross-border cultural region in Northwestern Europe. Stretching along the Wadden Sea, it encompasses the north of the Netherlands and parts of northwestern Germany. The region is traditionally inhabited by the Frisians, a West Ger ...

to c. 516. It is also supported by archaeological excavations of the barrows of

Eadgils Eadgils, ''Adils'', ''Aðils'', ''Adillus'', ''Aðísl at Uppsölum'', ''Athisl'', ''Athislus'' or ''Adhel'' was a semi-legendary king of Sweden, who is estimated to have lived during the 6th century. ''Beowulf'' and Old Norse sources present h ...

and

Ohthere Ohthere (also ''Ohtere''), Old Norse ''Óttarr vendilkráka'' (''Vendelcrow''; in Modern Swedish ''Ottar Vendelkråka'') was a semi-legendary king of Sweden of the house of Scylfings, who is said to have lived during the Germanic Heroic Age, pos ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. For a discussion, see e.g.

Birger Nerman Birger Nerman (6 October 188822 August 1971) was a Swedish archaeologist, historian and philologist who specialized in the history and culture of Iron Age Sweden. Nerman was educated at Uppsala University, where he began his career as a lecture ...

's ''Det svenska rikets uppkomst'' (1925) (in Swedish). For presentations of the archaeological findings, see e.g. Elisabeth Klingmark's ''Gamla Uppsala, Svenska kulturminnen 59'', Riksantikvarieämbetet (in Swedish), o
this English language presentation by the Swedish National Heritage Board
was a

tragic hero A tragic hero is the protagonist of a tragedy. In his ''Poetics'', Aristotle records the descriptions of the tragic hero to the playwright and strictly defines the place that the tragic hero must play and the kind of man he must be. Aristotle ba ...

ine of early Scandinavian legend. She appears in several versions relating to her husband, the Swedish king

, and/or to her father and rapist/lover/husband

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 ...

(the younger brother of king

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 ...

who received aid from

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 ...

) and their son Hroðulf. The common claim in ''

'' studies that Hroðulf probably was the son of Halga is taken from the Yrsa tradition. Several translators (e.g.

Burton Raffel Burton Nathan Raffel (April 27, 1928 – September 29, 2015) was an American writer, translator, poet and professor. He is best known for his vigorous translation of '' Beowulf'', still widely used in universities, colleges and high schools. Oth ...

) and scholars have emended her name from a corrupt line (62) in the manuscript of ''Beowulf'', although this is guesswork.

Scholarly analysis

The name ''Yrsa'' is not known from other Norse sources and may be derived from Latin ''Ursus'' ("bear"). It has been suggested that if she had any historic antecedent, she may have been Frankish and captured by Helgi in one of his raids. Scholars have noted chronological inconsistencies, in the traditions on Yrsa, in studies on whether there is a historical background. When Aðils was old enough to marry, Yrsa would already have been rather old, and they would have married for political reasons. According to a theory, she would have been the sister of Helgi, and before marrying Aðils, she would have been the wife of his brother

Áli Onela was according to ''Beowulf'' a Swedish king, the son of Ongentheow and the brother of Ohthere. He usurped the Swedish throne, but was killed by his nephew Eadgils, who won by hiring foreign assistance. In Scandinavian sagas a Norwegian ki ...

. In this way an emended line in ''

'' (1. 62) would be explained.

In the Icelandic sagas

''Hrólfr Kraki's saga''

In ''

Hrólfr Kraki's saga Rolf is a male given name and a surname. It originates in the Germanic name ''Hrolf'', itself a contraction of ''Hrodwulf'' ( Rudolf), a conjunction of the stem words ''hrod'' ("renown") + ''wulf'' ("wolf"). The Old Norse cognate is ''Hrólfr''. ...

'', Helgi (i.e.

) went to the

Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

wanting to woo their warlike queen Oluf. She was, however, not interested and humiliated Helgi by shaving his head and covering him with tar, while he was asleep, and sending him back to his ship. Some time later, Helgi returned and through a ruse, he kidnapped the queen for a while during which time he made her pregnant. Having returned to her kingdom, the queen bore a child, a girl which she named Yrsa after her dog. Yrsa was sent to live as a shepherd, until she was 12 years old, when she met her father Helgi who fell in love with her, not knowing it was his daughter. Oluf kept quiet about the parentage and saw it as her revenge that Helgi would wed his own daughter. Helgi and Yrsa had the son

Hrólfr Kraki Hrólfr Kraki (Old Norse: ), ''Hroðulf'', ''Rolfo'', ''Roluo'', ''Rolf Krage'' (early 6th century) was a semi-legendary Danish king who appears in both Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian tradition. Both traditions describe him as a Danish Scylding, ...

(Hroðulf). Learning that Helgi and Yrsa lived happily together, queen Oluf travelled to Denmark to tell her daughter the truth. Yrsa was shocked and although Helgi wanted their relationship to remain as it was, Yrsa insisted on leaving him to live alone. She was later taken by the Swedish king Aðils (

) as his queen, which made Helgi even unhappier. Missing Yrsa, Helgi went to

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

to fetch her, but was killed by Aðils in battle. Yrsa was naturally upset that the man who was closest to her was killed by her husband, and promised Aðils that his berserkers would all be slain if she could help it. She was no happier in the king's company and she was not interested in making up with him either. Later, when a young Swedish warrior named

Svipdag Svipdagr (Old Norse: "sudden day"Orchard (1997:157).) is the hero of the two Old Norse Eddaic poems Grógaldr and Fjölsvinnsmál, which are contained within the body of one work; Svipdagsmál. Plot Svipdagr is set a task by his stepmother, t ...

arrived to test his skills, she greatly supported him in his fights with the berserkers who eventually were all slain. Svipdag chose not to remain with king Aðils and instead he sought service with Yrsa's son Hrólfr who had succeeded Helgi as the king of Denmark. Rolf Krake sår guld på Fyrisvall by Hugo Hamilton

Rolf Krake sår guld på Fyrisvall by Hugo Hamilton

After some time, when Aðils owed Hrólfr not only the gold he had taken from Helgi during the battle, but also tribute for his help fighting king Áli (i.e.

Onela Onela was according to ''Beowulf'' a Swedish king, the son of Ongentheow and the brother of Ohthere. He usurped the Swedish throne, but was killed by his nephew Eadgils, who won by hiring foreign assistance. In Scandinavian sagas a Norwegian ki ...

of ''

'') in the

Battle on the Ice of Lake Vänern The Battle on the Ice of Lake Vänern was a 6th-century battle recorded in the Norse sagas and referred to in the Old English epic ''Beowulf''. It has been dated to c. AD 530. The epic Beowulf Beowulf is an epic poem that refers to the conflict, bu ...

, Hrólfr arrived at Uppsala to gather his tribute. Aðils did his best to stop Hrólfr through different ruses, but had to go away to gather reinforcements. While the Swedish king was gone, Yrsa provided her son with more gold than was due to him. Then she gave Hrólfr and his men twelve of the Swedish king's best horses (Aðils was famous for his well-bred horses), and all the armour and provisions they needed. Hrólfr took a fond farewell of his mother and departed over the

Fyrisvellir Fyrisvellir, Fyris Wolds or Fyrisvallarna was the marshy plain (''vellir'') south of Gamla Uppsala where travellers had to leave the ships on the river Fyris (Fyrisån) and walk to the Temple at Uppsala and the hall of the Swedish king. The name i ...

. When they saw Aðils and his warriors in pursuit, they spread the gold behind themselves. Aðils saw his precious Svíagris on the ground and stooped to pick it up with his spear, whereupon Hrólfr cut his back with his sword and screamed in triumph that he had bent the back of the most powerful man in Sweden. Later, Hrólfr was killed by his brother-in-law Hjörvarðr (i.e. the

Heoroweard Heoroweard is a character who appears in ''Beowulf'' and also in Norse legends, where he is named ''Hjörvarðr'' or ''Hiartuar''. If he existed in real life, his name would have been Proto-Norse *''Heruwarduz In the Norse sources, Hereoweard re ...

of ''

'') through treason and when the battle was over Hrólfr's sister the

half-elven A half-elf is a mythological or fictional being, the offspring of an immortal elf and a mortal human. They are often depicted as very beautiful and endowed with magical powers; they may be presented as torn between the two worlds that they inhab ...

Skuld Skuld (the name possibly means "debt" and is related to the English word "should") is a Norn in Norse mythology. Along with Urðr (Old Norse "fate"Orchard (1997:169).) and Verðandi (possibly "happening" or "present"Orchard (1997:174).), Skuld mak ...

ruled Denmark. Yrsa exacted revenge by sending a large Swedish army led by Vogg who captured Skuld before she could summon her army. Skuld was tortured to death and Hrólfr's daughters took over the rule of Denmark. This account resembles that of the ''Gesta Danorum'', but is more elaborate. A notable difference is that Yrsa is no longer Danish but Saxon, and that Yrsa stayed in Sweden, when her son Hroðulf fled Eadgils with the gold.

''Skjöldunga saga''

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 Scyl ...

''''The Relation of the Hrolfs Saga Kraka and the Bjarkarimur to Beowulf'' by Olson, 1916, at Project Gutenberg
/ref>Nerman (1925:150) relates that Helgo (

) was the king of Denmark together with his brother Roas (

). Helgo raped Olava, the queen of the

, and she bore a daughter named Yrsa. The girl later married king Adillus (

), the king of Sweden. Yrsa and Adillus had the daughter Scullda. Some years later, Helgo attacked Sweden and captured Yrsa. He raped Yrsa, his own daughter, and took her back to Denmark, where she bore the son Rolfo ( Hroðulf). After a few years, Yrsa's mother, queen Olava, came to visit her and told her that Helgo was her own father. In horror, Yrsa returned to Adillus, leaving her son behind. Helgo died when Rolfo was eight years old, and Rolfo succeeded him, and ruled together with his uncle Roas. Not much later, Roas was killed by his half-brothers Rærecus and Frodo ( Froda), whereupon Rolfo became the sole king of Denmark. In Sweden, Yrsa and Adillus married their Scullda to the king of

Öland Öland (, ; ; sometimes written ''Øland'' in other Scandinavian languages, and often ''Oland'' internationally; la, Oelandia) is the second-largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area ...

, Hiørvardus (also called ''Hiorvardus'' and ''Hevardus'', and who corresponds to

in ''

''). As her half-brother Rolfo was not consulted about this marriage, he was infuriated and he attacked Öland and made Hiørvardus and his kingdom tributary to Denmark. Adillus requested Rolfo's aid against the Norwegian king Ale (

). Rolfo sent his berserkers, but when the war had been won, Adillus refused to pay. Rolfo came to Uppsala and after some adventures he could flee with Adillus' gold, helped by his mother Yrsa, and he "sowed" it on the

. This account differs from ''Hrólf Kraki's saga'' in the respect that Yrsa was first peacefully married to Eadgils, and later captured by Halga, who raped her and made her pregnant with Hroðulf. In ''Hrólfr Kraki's saga'', she was first captured by Halga who had Hroðulf with him. Learning that Halga was her father, she returned to Saxland from where Eadgils kidnapped her. In ''Hrólfr Kraki's saga'', Helgi dies when more or less trying to save her from Eagdils, while the ''Skjöldunga saga'' presents her marriage with Eadgils as a happier one, and Halga died in a different war expedition.

''Ynglinga saga''

The ''

'' was used by

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the ...

as a source when he told the story of Aðils (

) and Yrsa. What remains of the ''Skjöldunga saga'' is a Latin summary by

Arngrímur Jónsson Arngrímur Jónsson the Learned ( is, Arngrímur Jónsson hinn lærði; 1568 – 27 June 1648) was an Icelandic scholar and a Christian Apologetics, apologist. His father was Jón Jónsson, who died in 1591. Arngrímur studied in Copenhagen, co ...

, and so the two versions are basically the same, the main difference being that Arngrímur's version is more terse. Snorri relates that Aðils betook himself to pillage the Saxons, whose king was Geirþjófr and queen Alof the Great. The king and consort were not at home, and so Aðils and his men plundered their residence at ease driving cattle and captives down to the ships. One of the captives was a remarkably beautiful girl named Yrsa, and Snorri writes that everyone was soon impressed with the well-mannered, pretty and intelligent girl. Most impressed was Aðils who made her his queen. Some years later, Helgi (

), who ruled in

Lejre Lejre is a railway town, with a population of 3,127 (1 January 2022),Lejre Lejre is a railway town, with a population of 3,127 (1 January 2022),Hroðulf). When the boy was three years of age, Yrsa's mother, queen Alof of Saxony, came to visit her and told her that her husband Helgi was her own father. Horrified, Yrsa returned to Aðils, leaving her son behind, and stayed in Sweden for the rest of her life. When Hrólfr was eight years old, Helgi died during a war expedition and Hrólfr was proclaimed king. Snorri finishes his account by briefly mentioning that the ''Skjöldunga saga'' contained an extensive account of how Hrólfr came to Uppsala and sowed gold on the

''Skáldskaparmál''

In the ''

Skáldskaparmál ''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'The Language of Poetry'; c. 50,000 words; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda''. The section consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bragi, the god of poetry, in ...

'', Yrsa's husband king Aðils (

) requested Yrsa's son Hrólfr's help against the Norwegian king Áli (

). Hrólfr was busy fighting the

but sent his berserkers. When Hrólfr heard that Aðils refused to pay, he set off to

. They brought the ships to the river

Fyris Fyrisån (, "the Fyris river") is a river in the Swedish province of Uppland, which passes through the city of Uppsala and ends in Lake Mälaren. The "Sala" river in Uppland was changed in the 17th century in memory of the Fyrisvellir battle, m ...

and rode directly to the Swedish king's hall at Uppsala with his twelve berserkers. Yrsa welcomed them and led them to their lodgings. Fires were prepared for them and they were given drinks. However, so much wood was heaped on the fires that the clothes started to burn away from their bodies. Hrólfr and his men had enough and threw the courtiers on the fire. Yrsa arrived and gave them a horn full of gold, the ring Svíagris and asked them to flee. As they rode over the

, they saw Aðils and his men pursuing them. The fleeing men threw their gold on the plain so that the pursuers would stop to collect the gold. Aðils, however, continued the chase on his horse Slöngvir. Hrólfr then threw Svíagris and saw how Aðils stooped down to pick up the ring with his spear. Hrólfr exclaimed that he had seen the mightiest man in Sweden bend his back.

''Gróttasöngr''

The '' Gróttasöngr'' contains a stanza (nr 22) sung by the giantesses Fenja and

Menja Menia (fl. c. 500) was the queen of the Thuringians by marriage and the earliest named ancestor of the Gausian dynasty of the Lombards. She became a legendary figure after her death, strongly associated with gold and wealth. Only one other person i ...

. It only names Yrsa and the situation that her son and brother (i.e. Hroðulf) will avenge Fródi ( Froda): This piece cannot refer to ''Hrólfr Kraki's saga'' where Froda was the half-brother of Healfdene because this Froda was killed by Hroðgar. It can, however, be interpreted through the ''Skjöldunga saga'' in which Hroðulf's uncle Hroðgar was murdered by his half-brother Froda.

In other pre-modern sources

''Chronicon Lethrense'' and ''Annales Lundenses''

The ''

Chronicon Lethrense ''Chronicon Lethrense'' (Danish: ''Lejrekrøniken'' English: ''Chronicle of Lejre/Leire'') is a small Danish medieval work from the 12th century, written in Latin. Themes Unlike ''Chronicon Roskildense'', which deals primarily with information ...

'' (and the included ''Annales Lundenses'') tells that one day, the Danish king Helghe arrived in

Halland Halland () is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap''), on the western coast of Götaland, southern Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Scania and the sea of Kattegat. Until 1645 and the Second Treaty of Brömsebro ...

Lolland Lolland (; formerly spelled ''Laaland'', literally "low land") is the fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of . Located in the Baltic Sea, it is part of Region Sjælland (Region Zealand). As of 1 January 2022, it has 57,618 inhabitant ...

according to ''Chronicon Lethrense'' proper,

according to the included ''Annals of Lund'' and slept with Thore, the daughter of one of Ro's farmers. This resulted in Yrse. Much later, he met Yrse, and without knowing that she was his daughter, he made her pregnant with Rolf Krage. Lastly, he found out that Yrse was his own daughter, went east and killed himself. Ro is the same personage as

, who received

Heorot Heorot (Old English 'hart, stag') is a mead-hall and major point of focus in the Anglo-Saxon poem ''Beowulf''. The hall serves as a seat of rule for King Hrothgar, a legendary Danish king. After the monster Grendel slaughters the inhabitants of t ...

. His co-king Helghe is the same as Hroðgar's brother

, and Rolf Krage is the same personage as Hroðgar's nephew Hroðulf. However, in ''Beowulf'', it is never explained in what way they were uncle and nephew.

''Gesta Danorum''

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 an ...

'' (Book 2) reports that Helgo was the brother of the Danish King Ro, but whereas Ro was king of the Danish lands, Helgo had inherited the sea. One day during his sea roving, arrived at

Thurø Thurø is a small Danish island in the south-east of Funen and belongs to the Svendborg municipality. Thurø is part of the South Funen Archipelago, comprising c. 55 islands altogether. The island had 3,555 inhabitants . Connected to Svendborg p ...

, where he found and raped the young girl Thora, who became pregnant with Urse. When Helgo, after many years, returned to Thurø, Thora avenged her lost virginity by sending Urse to Helgo who, unknowingly, raped his own daughter. This resulted in Roluo Kraki. During a Swedish invasion, Ro was killed by

Hothbrodd Hothbrodd was a legendary Norse hero, details of whose life appear in several related variations. In the legends of the Ylfing Helgi Hundingsbane, he was the son of king Granmar of Södermanland, and he was killed by Helgi. The ''Chronicon Leth ...

, the King of Sweden. Helgo avenged his brother's death and made the Swedes pay tribute. However, he then chose to commit suicide due to his shame for his

incestuous Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adoption ...

relationship with Urse, and their son Roluo Kraki succeeded him. Athislus, the new King of Sweden, thought that the tribute to the

Daner The Danes were a North Germanic tribe inhabiting southern Scandinavia, including the area now comprising Denmark proper, and the Scanian provinces of modern-day southern Sweden, during the Nordic Iron Age and the Viking Age. They founded what beca ...

might be smaller if he married the Danish king's mother, and so took Urse for his queen. However, after some time, Urse was so upset with the Swedish king's greediness that she thought out a ruse to run away from the king and at the same time liberate him of his wealth. She incited Athislus to rebel against Roluo, and arranged so that Roluo would be invited and promised a wealth in gifts. When the banquet had lasted for three days, Urse and Roluo escaped from

, early in the morning in carriages where they had put all the Swedish king's treasure. In order to lessen their burden, and to occupy any pursuing warriors they spread gold in their path, although there was a rumour that she only spread gilded copper. When Athislus, who was pursuing the escapers saw that a precious ring was lying on the ground, he bent down to pick it up. Roluo was pleased to see the King of Sweden bent down, and escaped in the ships with his mother. This account is more elaborate than that of ''

'' and ''

Annales Lundenses The ''Annals of Lund'' (Latin: ''Annales Lundenses'', Danish: ''Lundeårbogen'') is a Latin set of annals written in Lund around 1250–1307. Several manuscript copies have survived to the modern day. The text is composed of two parts: the first ...

''. Helgo is the same personage as Helghe/Halga. His brother the Danish King Ro is the same as

, Roluo is the same as Hroðulf/Rolf Krage, and the Swedish King Athislus is the same as

, the Swedish king of ''Beowulf''. Yrse is here called Urse, and the story of her son fleeing the Swedish king with all his treasure is also found in the following accounts. It is noteworthy that all the Danish sources, ''Chronicon Lethrense'', ''Annales Lundenses'' and ''

'' differ on where Halga found Yrsa, but make her Danish. The

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic sources that follow make her a

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

, on the other hand, and not Danish.

''Beowulf''

The poem ''Beowulf'' reads (lines 59–63):

59 Ðæm feower bearn    forðgerimed
60 in worold wocun    weoroda ræswa
61 heorogar. 7 hroðgar    7 halga til
62 hyrde ic ꝥ    elan cwen
63 heaðo-Scilfingas    healsgebedda

This appears in Gummere's translation as:

59 Then, one after one, there woke to him,
60 to the chieftain of clansmen, children four:
61 Heorogar, then Hrothgar, then Halga brave;
62 and I heard that – ela's queen,
63 the Heathoscylfing’s helpmate dear.

There is obviously something wrong with line 62. A name of a daughter has dropped out, a daughter who was the wife of someone whose name ends in ''-ela'' and who was

Scylfing The Ynglings were a dynasty of kings, first in Sweden and later in Norway, primarily attested through the poem ''Ynglingatal''. The dynasty also appears as Scylfings (Old Norse ''Skilfingar'') in '' Beowulf''. When ''Beowulf'' and ''Ynglingatal'' ...

, i.e. belonging to the royal dynasty of Sweden. It is likely enough that at some time in copying the poem a scribe was unable to make out the exact spelling of these names and so left the text blank at that point to be fixed up later. It was never fixed up and so the names were lost in later copies. By Old English poetic rules of alliteration the name of the daughter must also begin with a vowel. The choice is usually the name Yrs or Yrse, since Scandinavian tradition speaks much of Yrsa the granddaughter 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 ...

and wife of King

of Sweden. This assumes great shifting of names and roles, since Eadgils is the enemy of

. Onela appears in Norse texts as Áli. Accordingly, many editors and translators prefer to simply note that the line is corrupt. Others like Burton Raffel render the missing passage as Yrs (i.e. Yrsa), and modern commentary sometimes refers to the marriage of Onela and Yrsa without indicating that this exists only through somewhat dubious

conjectural emendation Conjecture (conjectural emendation) is a critical reconstruction of the original reading of a clearly corrupt, contaminated, nonsensical or illegible textual fragment. Conjecture is one of the techniques of textual criticism used by philologists w ...

In film

A personage named Yrsa is voiced by Leslie Harter Zemeckis (

Robert Zemeckis Robert Lee Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an American filmmaker. He first came to public attention as the director of the action-adventure romantic comedy ''Romancing the Stone'' (1984), the science-fiction comedy ''Back to the Future'' film tr ...

' wife) in the 2007 animated version of ''Beowulf''. Her only role in the movie is to be courted by the Geatish warrior Hondscio.

Notes

References

Sources

, 1925, ''Det svenska rikets uppkomst'' (in Swedish) *''Beowulf'':
Beowulf read aloud in Old English
**
Modern English translation
' by

Francis Barton Gummere Francis Barton Gummere (March 6, 1855, Burlington, New Jersey – May 30, 1919, Haverford, Pennsylvania) was a Professor of English, an influential scholar of folklore and ancient languages, and a student of Francis James Child. Early life Gummer ...

**
Modern English translation
' by

John Lesslie Hall John Lesslie Hall (March 2, 1856 – February 23, 1928), also known as J. Lesslie Hall, was an American literary scholar and poet known for his translation of '' Beowulf''. Born in Richmond, Virginia, the son of Jacob Hall, Jr., Hall attended Ran ...

*
Ringler, Dick. ''Beowulf: A New Translation For Oral Delivery''
May 2005. Searchable text with full audio available, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries. *

*''Chronicon Lethrense'' and ''Annales Lundense'': *

** ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070107150447/http://www.northvegr.org/lore/oldheathen/048.php The same translation at Northvegr
Book 2 of ''Gesta Danorum'' at the Online Medieval & Classical library

''The Relation of the Hrolfs Saga Kraka and the Bjarkarimur to Beowulf'' by Olson, 1916, at Project Gutenberg

Hrólf Kraki's saga in English translation at Northvegrthe ''Ynglinga saga'' in translation by Samuel Laing, 1844, at NorthvegrThe ''Gróttasöngr'' in Thorpe's translation
*Skáldskaparmál:
Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda in the original language

**[https://web.archive.org/web/20061215161414/http://www.cybersamurai.net/Mythology/nordic_gods/LegendsSagas/Edda/ProseEdda/ContentsIcelandic.htm#skaldse CyberSamurai Encyclopedia of Norse Mythology: Prose Edda - Skáldskaparmál (Old Norse)] {{Norse mythology Heroes in Norse myths and legends Mythological rape victims Incest in legend Women in mythology