416
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book I.
a son called Beowulf from whom the kings of Sles-
wig are descended, so in the genealogy of Wessex,
Scyld is followed by Beaw : there is some uncer-
tainty in the form of the name, but upon compa-
rison of all the different versions given by various
chroniclers, we may conclude that it was Beowa or
Beow, a word equivalent to Beowulf. The original
divinity of this person is admitted by Grimm, but
he suffers himself to be misled by some over-skilful
German lexicographer who has added Beewolf to
the list of English names for the woodpecker, and
would render Beowulf as a sort of Latin Picus.
I am not aware that any bird in England was ever
called the beewolf or that there are any supersti-
tions connected with the woodpecker in England,
as there are in Germany ; the cuckoo and the
magpie are our birds of augury. When Grimm
then declares himself disposed not to give up the
termination -wulf in the name, he has only the
authority of the poem on his side, in defence of his
theory : against which must be placed every other
list or genealogy ; and it seems to me that these
are strongly confirmed by the occurιence of a place
called, not Beowulfes ham, but Beowan hamɪ, in
immediate connection with another named Grendles
mere2: Whatever the name, this hero was looked
upon as the eponymus of various royal races, and
this, though the names which have survived are
obviously erroneous3, is distinctive of his real cha-
racter.
1 Cod. Dipl. No. 353. i Ibid.
s Stammtafel der Westsachsen, p. 18 scq.
cH.xιi∙J HEATHENDOM. HYGELA'C. HNÆF.
417
There are various other heroes mentioned in the
poem of Beowulf and in the Traveller’s Song, some
remembrance of which is still preserved in local
names in various parts of England. A few words
may not be misplaced respecting them. In the
first-named poem, the hero’s lord and suzerain is
invariably named Hygelac ; after whose death Beo-
wulf himself becomes king of the Geatas. As Hy-
gelac is said to have perished in fight against the
Franks, and as history records the fall of a Danish
king Chochilachus in a predatory excursion into
the Frankish territory about the beginning of the
seventh century1, Outzen, Leo and others have
identified the two in fact as well as name, and
drawn conclusions as to the mythical hero, from
the historical pιincc. The coincidence is not con-
clusive : if Hygelac’s name were already mythical
in the seventh century, it may easily have been given
to any leader who ventured a plundering expedition
into the Frankish territory, especially as the war-
like records of an earlier Hygclac would be certain
to contain some account of Frankish forays: nor
was FIygelac, in Danish Hugleikr2, by any means
an uncommon name. On the other hand, if we
admit the historical allusion, we must assign a date
to, at any rate, that episode of the poem which is
hardly consistent with its general character. I am
ɪ Leo, in his Beowulf, p. ~>, cites Gregor. Turon, iii. 3, and the Gest
ILg. Francorum, cap. 10, for the details of Chochilach1S inιasion and
death.
2 The name Huhlek, giιen in Langeheke, and by Geijer, from the
Ynglinga Saga, as Hugleck- Hist. Swed- p. 378, tab. ii.
VOL. I. 2 L