The Angles were a dominant Germanic tribe in the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, and gave their name to the English, England and to the region of East Anglia. Originally from Angeln, present-day Schleswig-Holstein, a legendary list of their kings has been preserved in the heroic poems Widsith and Beowulf, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
Contents
1 Legendary kings of the Angles
1.1 Gesta Danorum
1.2 Eomer
2 See also
3 References
Legendary kings of the Angles
Further information: Iclings and List of monarchs of Mercia
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle derives the royal lines of the Heptarchy form a common ancestor, Woden, an euhemerized version of the Germanic deity. The senior line of this genealogy was that of Mercia, descended from the rulers of the Angles.
The historical Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain took place during the 5th to 6th centuries. As historical records only set in in the later 7th century, after Christianisation, reliable information on the royal genealogies only extend to what was then in living memory, to the early 7th century. Bede (Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum) , writing in the early 8th century, has reliable information on the 7th century, but is silent on the 6th. The genealogies extending into the 6th or even 5th century and thence to Woden are fabrications of the later Anglo-Saxon period.
The genealogies as presented in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle incorporate various Germanic heroes of legend, such as Wihtlæg, who defeated and killed Amleth, King of the Jutes. Under Wermund the Angles' fortress at Schleswig is said to have been captured by a branch of the Saxons known as the Myrgings, but was retaken by Offa about whom many tales were told (and who is usually referred to as Offa of Angel to distinguish him from his supposed descendent Offa of Mercia). The legends give Offa as bride a daughter of Freawine, governor of Schleswig, and upon becoming king he is said to have secured the Abri are known to hrder with the Saxons along the River Eider.
Like Offa, Freawine is made a descendant of Woden, and father of Wig, whose names were intruded into the pedigree of the kings of Bernicia when it was transferred to that of the kings of Wessex (ancestors of the kings of England). Wihtlæg, Wermund and Offa also appear in a long list of legendary Danish kings given by Saxo Grammaticus (Gesta Danorum). All other sources name them as kings of the Angles,[1] though according to Matthew Paris (Vitae duorum Offarum) Offa and his line personally ruled over the West Angles, implying that other branches of the tribe had their own subordinate rulers (Offa is described in Beowulf as ruling an 'empire'). Whilst Offa's line went on to found the Kingdom of Mercia, these putative cadet lines may eventually have engendered the ruling dynasties of East Anglia, Deira and possibly Bernicia. As for the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the kings of Lindsey appear to have been an offshoot of the Mercian line; those of Wessex claimed descent from the aforementioned Freawine, though their subjects were Saxons; those of Essex and Sussex were Saxon; and those of Kent were Jutish.[2]
The genealogy connecting the Icling dynasty of the earliest kings of Mercia with Woden consists of five generations of kings of the Angles in Angeln:
Wihtlæg son of Woden, Wermund son of Wihtlæg,
Offa son of Wermund,
Angeltheow son of Offa,
Eomer son of Angeltheow
Icel son of Eomer, participated in the invasion of Britain.
Gesta Danorum
Some of these names have parallels in the Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus.
Wihtlæg (as Wiglecus). Wihtlæg married Nanna. Deposed Fiallar, King of Scania and defeated and killed Amleth, King of the Jutes.[citation needed]
Wermund (as Wermundus). After a long reign, Wermund suffered an invasion by Eadgils of the Myrgings (fl. c.370)[citation needed] who slew Freawine, governor of Schleswig (ancestor of the kings of Wessex).[citation needed]
Offa of Angel (as Uffa). Offa married a daughter of Freawine. Regarded as a simpleton in youth, Offa fought the Saxons at Rendsburg on an island in the River Eider, thereby securing his southern border with them.[citation needed]
Eomer
Eomer (Eom?r) is the son of Angeltheow in the genealogy of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, but in Beowulf he is the son of Offa and grandson of Wermund (v. 19581963):
...forþam Offa wæs
geofum and guðum gar-cene man,
wide geweorðod; wisdome heold
eðel sinne, þonon Eomær woc
hæleðum to helpe, Heminges mæg,
nefa Garmundes, niða cræftig.
...Hence Offa was praised
for his fighting and feeing by far-off men,
the spear-bold warrior; wisely he ruled
over his empire. Eomer woke to him,
help of heroes, Hemming's kinsman,
Grandson of Garmund, grim in war.(Gummere's translation)
The name of Eomer was used for a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Tolkien based many of the names of Rohan on Mercian examples
Wihtlæg, Whitlæg, Wighlek, Wiglecus, Wiglek, Witlac[1] or Viglek[2] is a legendary king of either Denmark or Angeln in Germanic legends.[dubious discuss] He is known in Saxo's kings of Denmark by the name of Vigletus.
Wihtlæg
Main article: Legendary kings of the Angles
In Anglo-Saxon genealogies, Whitlæg is one of the Sons of Woden. According to the genealogies in the Anglian collection, Weothulgeot was ancestor to the royal house of Mercia and the father of Whitlæg. According to the Historia Britonum, 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, father of Offa of Angel. According to the Old English poem Widsith Offa ruled over the continental Angles.
Wiglek
Main article: Legendary Danish kings
The Danish Chronicon Lethrense (and the included Annales Lundenses) tell that the Danish king Rorik Slengeborre was succeeded by his son Wiglek or Viglek. This Wiglek married Nanna, and he ruled in peace. He died in his bed and was succeeded by his son Wermund, the father of Offe (Offa).
The somewhat later Danish chronicle Gesta Danorum tells that when the Danish king Rorik Slyngebond had died Wiglek succeeded him. He took all the wealth from the mother of Amleth (Hamlet) and complained about Amleth's actions as the ruler of Jutland. Amleth, on the other hand offered Wiglek riches, in reconciliation. Wiglek disposed of Fiallar, the ruler of Scania who retired to Undensakre, and then he mustered the leidang of Zealand 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 Wermund, the father of Uffo (Offa). Kemp Malone suggested that Saxo's Wiglek "probably represents a fusion of the Geatish Wiglaf and the Anglian Wihtlaeg."
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