Finn (Frisian)

Last updated
Finn, son of Folcwald
Reignc. 400

Finn, son of Folcwald, was a legendary Frisian king. He is mentioned in Widsith , in Beowulf , and in the Finnesburg Fragment. He is named in the Historia Brittonum , while a Finn, given a different father but perhaps intending the same hero, appears in Anglo-Saxon royal pedigrees.

Contents

He was married to Hildeburh, a sister of the Danish lord Hnæf, and was killed in a fight with Hnæf's lieutenant Hengest after Hnæf was himself killed by Frisians.

A passage from Beowulf as translated by Seamus Heaney (lines 10891090) reads:

"Finn, son of Folcwald,
should honour the Danes,..."

A possible reference to a lost tradition on Finn appears in Snorri Sturluson's Skáldskaparmál . Snorri talks of the animosity between Eadgils and Onela (which also appears in Beowulf ), and writes that Aðils (Eadgils) was at war with a Norwegian king named Áli (Onela). Áli died in the war, and Aðils took Áli's helmet Battle-boar and his horse Raven. The Danish berserkers who had helped him win the war demanded three pounds of gold each in pay, and two pieces of armour that nothing could pierce: the helmet battle-boar and the mailcoat Finn's heritage. They also wanted the famous ring Svíagris. Aðils considered the pay outrageous and refused.

Finn, the son of Fodepald (i.e. Folcwald) is also mentioned in the pedigree list of Saxon ancestors of the legendary kings of Kent that appears in Historia Brittonum. The Wessex and Bernician royal genealogies in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Anglian collection instead make the Finn in the royal pedigree son of Godwulf, and it is uncertain whether the same heroic Finn was originally intended. Richard North notes that Folcwalda is "identical with the first element of fólcvaldi goða ('ruler of the host of gods') which is an epithet reserved for Freyr". He also notes similarities with "fólkum stýrir ('he leads peoples', Húsdrápa) which celebrates Freyr". [1]

Finn is a central subject of Finn and Hengest , a study of the Finnesburg Episode by J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Alan Bliss and published posthumously in book form in 1982.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hrólfr Kraki</span> Semi-legendary Danish king

Hrólfr Kraki, Hroðulf, Rolfo, Roluo, Rolf Krage was a semi-legendary Danish king who appears in both Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian tradition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yngling</span> Mythological Swedish royal dynasty

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 in Beowulf. When Beowulf and Ynglingatal were composed sometime in the eighth to tenth centuries, the respective scop and skald (poet) expected his audience to have a great deal of background information about these kings, which is shown in the allusiveness of the references.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingaevones</span> West Germanic people of classical antiquity

The Ingaevones[ɪŋɡae̯ˈwoːneːs] were a West Germanic cultural group living in the Northern Germania along the North Sea coast in the areas of Jutland, Holstein, and Frisia in classical antiquity. Tribes in this area included the Angles, Frisii, Chauci, Saxons, and Jutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ongentheow</span> Semi-legendary Swedish king

Ongentheow was the name of a semi-legendary Swedish king of the house of Scylfings, who appears in Old English sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eadgils</span> Semi-legendary Swedish king

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yrsa</span> Tragic heroine of early Scandinavian literature

Yrsa, Yrse, Yrs or Urse was a tragic heroine of early Scandinavian legend.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ohthere</span> Semi-legendary Swedish king

Ohthere, Old Norse Óttarr vendilkráka was a semi-legendary king of Sweden of the house of Scylfings, who is said to have lived during the Germanic Heroic Age, possibly during the early 6th century.

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.

<i>Finn and Hengest</i>

Finn and Hengest is a study by J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Alan Bliss and published posthumously in book form in 1982.

Various gods and men appear as sons of Odin or sons of Wodan/Wotan/Woden in old Old Norse and Old High German and Old English texts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Healfdene</span>

Halfdan 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 him in the rule of Denmark, kings named Hroðgar and Halga in the Old English poem Beowulf and named Hróar and Helgi in Old Norse accounts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weohstan</span>

Weohstan, Wēohstān or Wīhstān is a legendary character who appears in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf and scholars have pointed out that he also appears to be present in the Norse Kálfsvísa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beowulf (hero)</span> Legendary Geatish hero

Beowulf is a legendary Geatish hero in the eponymous epic poem, one of the oldest surviving pieces of English literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vendel Period</span>

In Swedish prehistory, the Vendel Period appears between the Migration Period and the Viking Age. The name is taken from the rich boat inhumation cemetery at Vendel parish church, Uppland. This is a period with very little precious metal and few runic inscriptions, crammed between periods with abundant precious metal and inscriptions. Instead, the Vendel Period is extremely rich in animal art on copper-alloy objects. It is also known for guldgubbar, tiny embossed gold foil images, and elaborate helmets with embossed decoration similar to the one found at Sutton Hoo in England.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Finnsburg</span>

The Battle of Finnsburg was a conflict in the Germanic heroic age between Frisians with a possible Jutish contingent, and a primarily Danish party. Described only in later Anglo-Saxon poetry, if the conflict had an historical basis it most likely occurred around 450 AD.

The "Finnesburg Fragment" is a portion of an Old English heroic poem about a fight in which Hnæf and his 60 retainers are besieged at "Finn's fort" and attempt to hold off their attackers. The surviving text is tantalisingly brief and allusive, but comparison with other references in Old English poetry, notably Beowulf, suggests that it deals with a conflict between Danes and Frisians in Migration-Age Frisia.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Germanic boar helmet</span> Decorated helmet in Germanic cultures

Germanic boar helmets are attested in archaeological finds from England and Sweden, dating to Vendel and Anglo-Saxon periods, and Old English and Old Norse written sources. They consist of helmets decorated with either a boar crest or other boar imagery that was believed to offer protection in battle to the wearer. They have also been proposed to be a costume for the ritual transformation into a boar, similar to berserkers, and to be associated with Freyr.

References

  1. Richard North (1997). Heathen Gods in Old English Literature. Cambridge University Press. pp. 73 ff. ISBN   978-0-521-55183-0.

Sources