SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

Geatish-Swedish conflicts 257
had it on several earlier occasions - after they had
killed Hygelac, or while Heardred, that weak ruler, was
on the throne. The conflicts with the Swedes of which
the Messenger speaks were only a second stage; in the
third, Beowulf became involved when he supported
Eadgils against Onela. The mood may be right, for if
Onela's proper line had reasserted itself, Beowulf's act in
killing Onela, the rightful king of Sweden, would be seen
as another attack of the Geats on the Swedes and a
treacherous interference with the properly established
succession, as the Beowulf poet viewed it. The important
point here is that Beowulf himself, though he reviewed his
life and actions before he died, and regretted his lack of
children to succeed him, saw no terrible calamity in store
for his people. It is only in the speech of the Messenger
(2999-3007) that such fears are mentioned. The Geatish
woman's lament, briefly reported (3150-55), is almost
certainly ritual lamentation.s! though it has its basis in
the hard facts of primitive tribal warfare, and the fall of
a king did often bring attack from outside.
VIII The end ofthe Geats as reported in 'historical' sources
But though fears of further hostility may well have
been justified in the dramatic context of a great hero's
death, it is in vain that we search for conclusive evidence
in any 'historical' source for the end of the Gautar about
A.D. 550. Many modern Scandinavian historians who
have written on the Geatish-Swedish question have held
that the extension of Swedish domination over Gotaland
took place at a much later date, and that the Gautar had
.. Professor Tauno Mustanoja develops a case for ritual lamentation at the
funerals of Germanic heroes in his 'Beowulf and the Tradition of Ritual
Lamentation', Neupbilologische Mitteilungen 68 (1967), 1-27. He concludes
of this lament: 'It was simply a woman's ritual song of lament, and as such
it was an essential traditional feature in the funeral ceremony and had to be
included in the description' (p. 27).