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Beowulf's coming to kingship 231
I Beowulf's coming to kingship
Beowulf's accession to the throne is described in lines
2367-2400 of the poem. The passage is particularly
important, since it serves to introduce the last act of a
heroic life. Though there are many difficulties in the
account, the major problem centres on the relations
between Swede and Geat, as outlined above. Particularly
upsetting to commentators is the account the poet gives
us of Onela, king of the Swedes. R. W. Chambers interprets
the passage as follows: 4
Onela [isJ king of Sweden and is spoken of in terms of highest
praise. Yet to judge from the account given in Beowulf, the
Geatas had little reason to love him. He had followed up the
defeat of Hygelac by dealing their nation a second deadly blow.
For Onela's nephews, Eanmund and Eadgils (the sons of
Ohthere), had rebelled against him, and had taken refuge at the
court of the Geatas, where Heardred, son of Hygelac, was now
reigning, supported by Beowulf. Thither Onela pursued them,
and slew the young king Heardred. Eanmund was also slain,
then or later, but Eadgils escaped. It is not clear from the
poem what part Beowulf is supposed to have taken in this
struggle, or why he failed to ward off disaster from his lord and
country. It is not even made clear whether or not he had to
make formal submission to the hated Swede. But we are told
that when Onela withdrew, he succeeded to the vacant throne.
In later days he took his revenge upon Onela.
In Chambers's view, then, the villain of the piece is clearly
Onela, the 'hated Swede', though we are left with the
discomforting fact that the poet speaks of Onela, as
Chambers himself puts it, 'in terms of highest praise'.
Later critics extended the anti-Swedish interpretation
further still; the interpretation of Adrien Bonjour is
representative :5
Beowulf's refusal having led to Heardred's accession, the
poet could not but mention the early death of the young king
which finally put Beowulf himself on the Geatish throne ....
Now the circumstances of Heardred's death allow the poet to
• Beowulf: An Introduction (3rd ed. with a Supplement by C. L. Wrenn,
1963),5; this book is abbreviated Chambers-Wrenn hereafter.
• The Digressions in Beowulf (1965), 31-2.