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Beowulf, Geats and Wylflngs 249
we have no way of knowing Wealhoeow's nationality; but
since her name is of a Scandinavian type, and finds its
closest parallel in Ongenl'5eow, a king of the Swedish line,
it might be conjectured that she may have had her origin
among the Swedes. We know that there was a royal
marriage between a Swedish king and a Danish princess,
from lines 59-63 of the poem; an unnamed daughter of
Healfdene was [Onjela's queen.
The very tentative suggestion to be made on the basis of
the above is that there may be some relationship between
Ecgl'5eow, Wealhl'5eow, and Ongenl'5eow, between the
Wylfings and the Swedes. Any further information on
the Wylfings is hard to trace. The context in which the
Wulflngs are mentioned in WidsiO associates them with
northern tribes, both Danish and Swedish, so we are no
closer to localization on the basis of this source. 49 Dr
J. N. L. O'Loughlin surveyed the available material for the
localization of the Wulfings (MHG Wulflnge and ON
Ylflngar).50 He cited three pieces of evidence which
point to Ostergotland as their place of origin: (r) Beowulf
459-72; (2) the inscription on the Rok stone - itself in
Ostergotland - which in his view 'refers to Theodric,
lord of the Mserings, the equivalent of MHG Dietrich,
whose faithful followers were the Wulfings's-: and
finally (3) Sogubrot affornkonungum, ch. 4, which tells that
Hjormundr, son of Hjorvaror Ylfingr, was made king of
Ostergotland. The passage in Beowulf dealing with
Ecgl'5eow does indeed imply, as Dr O'Loughlin states, 'that
the Wylfings were neighbours of the Geats, and that they
were separated from the Danes by the sea'.52 But this
vague location could just as well locate the Wylfings in
4. Widsio, 28-3 1 :
Sigehere lengest Sse-Denum weold,
Hnsef Hocingum, Helm Wulfingum,
Wald Woingum, Woo pyringum,
Sreferi'lSycgum, Sweom Ongendpeow ...
• 0 'Sutton Hoo - the evidence of the documents', Medieval Archaeology 8
(1964), 1-19·
'1 ibid., 3.
52 ibid., 3.