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Beowulf, Swedes and Geats
seems to have been for them to pass on to their lords what
they had won in battle. 22 Since Onela is Weohstan's
lord, it would be plausible to assume that Onela is referred
to in his magum - either as one of Weohstan's kinsmen, or
one of Eanmund's. More convincing evidence is Wiglaf's
title of leod Scylfinga, 'prince of Swedes', which he must
have gained by descent since the dragon fight was his
first battle. It is thus, on the basis of this passage,
probable that Beowulf was tied to the Swedes through his
connection to the Wsegmunding line of Weohstan and
Wiglaf. His connection with the Weegmundings cannot
be disputed, for he himself stresses it in his very last words,
as he speaks to Wiglaf:
pu eart ende-laf usses cynnes,
Wsegmundinga : ealle wyrd forsweop
mine magas to metodsceafte,
eorlas on elne; ic him aofter sceal. (2813-16)
You are the last survivor of our race, the Waogmundings; fate has
taken off all my kinsmen, the illustrious lords, to their appointed
lot; I must follow them.
Thus, the picture built up from the account of Beowulf's
succession and of the circumstances of his last battle
does not easily accord with an interpretation of the poem
which has Geat and Swede as implacable foes, while
Beowulf is alive.
Scholars have been troubled about the Wsegmunding
line, and Beowulf's relation to it. Klaeber held that the
Wsegmundings were a family with Geatish and Swedish
relations.s" and Wrenn identified them as 'the family
related (perhaps by marriage) to the Geatish royal house
- to which Wiglaf, Wihstan and Beowulf belong'.24
Hoops held that they were Swedes, 25 and E. Wardale, on
the basis of the Wsegmunding relation, suggested long
22 A parallel here is Beowulf's passing on the splendid treasures he had been
given by Hroogar, and gaining lands in return, ct. 2144-51,2190-99. See also
Widsio 93-6, discussed below, p. 242.
22 Klaeber, xliv,
20 Wrenn, Beowulf, 316.
2' Hoops, Kommentar sur Beowulf (1932), 276-7.