Fróði ( non, Frōði; ang, Frōda;

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. High ...

: ''Vruote'') is the name of a number of legendary Danish kings in various texts including ''

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 ...

'',

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 ...

's ''

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been t ...

'' and his ''

Ynglinga saga ''Ynglinga saga'' ( ) is a Kings' saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It is the first section of his ''Heimskringla''. It was first translated into English and published in 1844 ...

'',

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. ...

' ''

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 ...

'', and the ''

Grottasöngr ''Grottasöngr'' (or ''Gróttasöngr''; Old Norse: 'The Mill's Songs', or 'Song of Grótti') is an Old Norse poem, sometimes counted among the poems of the ''Poetic Edda'' as it appears in manuscripts that are later than the '' Codex Regius''. T ...

''. A Danish king by this name also appears as a minor character in the Middle High German epic ''

Rabenschlacht ''Die Rabenschlacht'' (The Battle of Ravenna) is an anonymous 13th-century Middle High German poem about the hero Dietrich von Bern, the counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in Germanic heroic legend. It is part of th ...

''. The name is possibly an eponym for the god

Freyr Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, and weather. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden an ...

. *The Fróði of the ''

'' is said to be the father of

Fridleif Fridleif (Ynglinga saga) was a son of Fróði of the Skjöldung (Scylding) lineage. In that work he was the brother of Halfdan Halfdan (, ang, Healfdene, Medieval : "half Dane") was a late 5th and early 6th century legendary Danish king of th ...

and the son of Skjöld in whose beer king

Fjölnir Fjölnir ( non, Fjǫlnir ) is a legendary king in Norse mythology said to have been the son of Freyr (Frey) and his consort Gerðr (Gertha). The name appears in a variety of forms, including Fiolnir, Fjölner, Fjolner, and Fjolne. He was claime ...

drowned (according to ''Ynglinga saga'').

here and 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 ...

'' make this Fróði the contemporary of emperor

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

and comments on the peacefulness of his reign, referred to as

Fróði's Peace Fróði's Peace (Old Norse: ) is a semi-legendary period of peace throughout Northern Europe that is referenced in Nordic mythology, skaldic poetry and historical accounts. Attestations Heimskringla In Snorri Sturluson's euhemeristic account of ...

, suggesting a relationship to the birth of

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...

. Though Icelandic sources make this Fróði a very early Danish king, in ''Gesta Danorum'' (Book 5), Saxo puts him late in his series of rulers, though including the chronological equation with Augustus and mentioning the birth of Christ. *The Fróði who, according to ''Ynglinga saga'' and ''Gesta Danorum'', was the father of

Halfdan 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 ...

. He would have lived in the 5th or 6th century. He appears to be the same king who later in the ''Ynglinga saga'' aided the Swedish king

Ongenþeow Ongentheow (Old English: ''Ongenþeow'', ''Ongenþio'', ''Ongendþeow''; Old Norse: ''Angantýr'') (died ca. 515) was the name of a semi-legendary Swedish king of the house of Scylfings, who appears in Old English sources. He is generally iden ...

in defeating the thrall Tunni. Because of this, Egil and his son Ottar (

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 ...

) became tributaries to the Danish king. *Fróði the father of Ingjald, who in ''

'' is Froda the father of

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 ...

and king of the Heathobards. The existence of the Heathobards has been forgotten in Norse texts and this Fróði there sometimes appears as the brother of Halfdan with the long hostility between Heathobards and Danes becoming a family feud between Halfdan and his brother Fróði. Fróði kills Halfdan and is himself slain by Halfdan's sons

Helgi Helge or Helgi is a Scandinavian, German, and Dutch mostly male name. The name is derived from Proto-Norse ''Hailaga'' with its original meaning being ''dedicated to the gods''. For its Slavic version, see Oleg. Its feminine equivalent is Olga. ...

(Halga) and Hroar (

Hrothgar 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 chron ...

). (In

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 ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

summary to the lost ''

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 names Fróði and Ingjald are interchanged. Saxo Grammaticus (Book 6) makes this Fróði instead to be a very late legendary king, the son of Fridleif son of Saxo's late peaceful Fróði. Saxo knows some of the story of this feud but nothing of any relationship to Halfdan. Instead Saxo relates how this Fróði was slain by Saxons and how, after a marriage alliance between his son Ingel and a Saxon princess to heal the feud, Ingel opened it again at the urging of an old warrior, just as the hero Beowulf prophesies of Ingjald in the poem ''Beowulf''. *A legend from

Ydre Ydre Municipality (''Ydre kommun'') is a municipality in Östergötland County, southeast Sweden. The municipal seat is located in the town of Österbymo. The municipality was created through the local government reform of 1952, when six former e ...

in the

South Swedish highlands 300px, Aerial view of farms and forest in Ydre Municipality. 250px, The forested landscape of the South Swedish highlands, seen from Eksjö_Municipality.html"_;"title="Skuruhatt_in_Eksjö_Municipality">Skuruhatt_in_Eksjö_Municipality. The_Sout ...

tells that a king known as Frode was killed by Urkon, the same cow that created Lake Sommen. The form Fróði is still in use in Icelandic and Faroese and appears Latinized as Frotho or Frodo. This form of the name is used by

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

in ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

'' for the

main character A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

. Alternative Anglicizations are Frode, Fródi, Fróthi and Frodhi. The

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

and

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

form is Frode. The meaning of the name is "clever, learned, wise". The number of men with the name Frode in Scandinavia as of 2008: Norway (ca.) 11384, Denmark (ca.) 1413, Sweden (ca.) 307. The ''Gesta Danorum'' describes six Frothos. *

Frotho I Frotho I is one of the legendary Danish kings in Saxo Grammaticus' ''Gesta Danorum'', where he has a substantial biography. He succeeds his father Hadingus to the throne and replenishes the war-drained treasury by slaying a dragon and winning its t ...

Frotho II Frotho II is one of the legendary Danish kings described in Saxo Grammaticus' ''Gesta Danorum''. Text See also * Fróði Fróði ( non, Frōði; ang, Frōda; Middle High German: ''Vruote'') is the name of a number of legendary Danish kings in ...

Frotho III Frotho III was a legendary king of Denmark. He was mentioned by Saxo Grammaticus in ''Gesta Danorum'' and in the Skjöldunga saga. Saxo's account of his reign is considered a historicized version of the Vana-god Frey and was particularly demonstra ...

* Frotho IV * Frotho V * Frotho VI

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frodi Mythological kings of Denmark English heroic legends Danish legendary figures Scyldings Characters in Beowulf