Kind(er):
After Woden, a god among the Anglo-Saxons, the pedigree branches, his various sons being made ancestors of the different Anglo-Saxon kingly lines of the Heptarchy, of which the senior line was that of Mercia, supposed descendants of Weothulgeot. The descents incorporate various Germanic heroes of legend, such as Wihtlæg, who defeated and killed Amlethus, King of the Jutes to the north of the Angles in Jutland; Amlethus much later became an inspiration for Shakespeare's Hamlet. Under Wermund the Angles' fortress at Schleswig (Hedeby) is said to have been capturedby the Jutes, but was retaken by Offa who was long remembered as a great conqueror (and is often referred to as Offa of Angel to distinguish him from his supposed descendent Offa of Mercia). The legends give Offaas bride a daughter of Freawine, King of the Saxons, and after becoming king he is said to have secured the Angles' southern border with the Saxons along the River Eider. Like Offa, Freawine is made a descendant of Woden, and father of Wig, originally ancestor of the kings of Bernicia, the pedigree subsequently being transfered to the kings of Wessex and their descendants, the kings of England. Weothulgeot Weaga Wihtlæg Wermund (fl. c.AD 370) Offa Angeltheow Eomer