Wihtlæg, ''Whitlæg'', ''Wighlek'', ''Wiglecus'', ''Wiglek'', ''Witlac'' or ''Viglek'' is a legendary king of either

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

Angeln Anglia (German and Low German: ''Angeln''; Danish and South Jutlandic: ''Angel''; ang, Engla land) is a small peninsula on the eastern coast of Jutland (the Cimbric Peninsula). Jutland consists of the mainland of Denmark and the northernm ...

in Germanic legends. He is known in Saxo's kings of Denmark by the name of ''Vigletus''. In the

Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies 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 th ...

, ''Whitlæg'' is a descendant of Woden. According to the genealogies in the

Anglian collection ''The Anglian collection'' is a collection of Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies and regnal lists. These survive in four manuscripts; two of which now reside in the British Library. The remaining two belong to the libraries of Corpus Christi College, ...

, Woden's son Weothulgeot was ancestor to the royal house of

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879) Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era= Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ...

and the father of Whitlæg. According to the ''

Historia Britonum ''The History of the Britons'' ( la, Historia Brittonum) is a purported history of the indigenous British ( Brittonic) people that was written around 828 and survives in numerous recensions that date from after the 11th century. The ''Historia Br ...

'', Weothulgeot was father of Weaga who was father of Whitlæg. But the two '' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' versions of this genealogy include neither Weothulgeot nor Weaga but make Whitlæg himself the son of Woden. In all versions Whitlæg is father of

Wermund Wermund, Vermund or Garmund is an ancestor of the Mercian royal family, a son of Wihtlaeg and father of Offa. The '' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' makes him a grandson of Woden, but the '' Gesta Danorum'' written by Saxo Grammaticus goes no further th ...

, father of

Offa of Angel Offa (nickname for Wulf) is a semi-legendary king of the Angles in the genealogy of the kings of Mercia presented in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''. He is the son of Wermund and the father of Angeltheow. His name is also mentioned in the Old ...

. According to 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 settlers in the mid-5th c ...

poem ''

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 c ...

'' Offa ruled over the continental

Angles The Angles ( ang, Ængle, ; la, Angli) were one of the main Germanic peoples who settled in Great Britain in the post-Roman period. They founded several kingdoms of the Heptarchy in Anglo-Saxon England. Their name is the root of the name ...

Wiglek

The 12th-century ''

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 ...

'' tells that when the Danish king Rorik Slyngebond had died Wiglek succeeded him. He took all the wealth from the mother of

Amleth Amleth (; Latinized as ''Amlethus'') is a figure in a medieval Scandinavian legend, the direct inspiration of the character of Prince Hamlet, the hero of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Hamlet, Prince of Denmark''. The chief authority for the l ...

and complained about Amleth's actions as the ruler of

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

. Amleth, on the other hand offered Wiglek riches, in reconciliation. Wiglek disposed of Fiallar, the ruler of

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne ...

who retired to Undensakre, and then he mustered the

leidang The institution known as ''leiðangr'' (Old Norse), ''leidang'' ( Norwegian), ''leding'' ( Danish), ''ledung'' ( Swedish), ''expeditio'' (Latin) or sometimes lething (English), was a form of conscription ( mass levy) to organize coastal fleets for s ...

Zealand Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020. It is the 1 ...

and Scania, and sent a message to Amleth challenging him to war. In the battle Amleth fell, and his wife Hermutrude gave up herself as Wiglek's spoil of war. Wiglek died of illness and was succeeded by his son

, the father of Uffo (Offa).

Kemp Malone Kemp Malone (March 14, 1889 in Minter City, Mississippi – October 13, 1971) was a prolific medievalist, etymologist, philologist, and specialist in Chaucer who was lecturer and then professor of English Literature at Johns Hopkins Universit ...

suggested that Saxo's Wiglek "probably represents a fusion of the

Geatish The Geats ( ; ang, gēatas ; non, gautar ; sv, götar ), sometimes called ''Goths'', were a large North Germanic tribe who inhabited ("land of the Geats") in modern southern Sweden from antiquity until the late Middle Ages. They are one of th ...

Wiglaf Wiglaf (Proto-Norse: *'' Wīga laibaz'', meaning "battle remainder"; ang, Wīġlāf ) is a character in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem ''Beowulf''. He is the son of Weohstan, a Swede of the Wægmunding clan who had entered the service of Beowulf, kin ...

and the Anglian Wihtlaeg."

Notes

References

External links

* Peter Tunstall's translation of the ''Chronicon lethrense'' a
''The Chronicle of the Kings of Lejre''
an
Northvegr: ''The Saga of Hrolf Kraki: The Chronicle of the Kings of Lejre''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wihtlaeg Mythological kings of Denmark Anglish warriors Amleth