SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

272 Beowulf, Swedes and Geats
to the north of the Malar lake, and some of whose kings are
buried at Old Uppsala. The names of the East Anglian royal
genealogy, on the contrary, seem to find their affinities amongst
those of the royal house of the Geats, the traditional enemies of
the Swedes, who occupied the areas of central Sweden, south of
lakes Vannen and Vatten [sic], in the territories now known as
Vastergotland and Ostergotland. Beowulf, we may recall, was
a Geat. The picture at the Scandinavian end is thus not wholly
clear, and may at any time be modified by fresh archaeological
discoveries. The specific, direct, east-Scandinavian link with
the Vendel culture of Sweden, however, transcending the
parallels and similarities common to many parts of western
Europe, from north Italy to Kent and Sweden, seems to be
quite clearly established ... 90
Weare faced with a paradox of several strands; Beowulf
is a Geat, the Old English poem is written from a Geatish
perspective - yet Sutton Hoo links most closely with the
Svear, the traditional enemies of the Geats, as they are
called. Name-affinities for the East Anglian royal
genealogy are found not among the Swedes, but among the
Geats - contrary to what we might expect. There have
been various attempts to resolve the paradoxes presented
here. Dr O'Loughlin in a study cited above argues that
the East Anglian dynasty (i.e. the Wylfings) was Geatish
in origin, and that the Swedish treasures at Sutton Hoo
are 'trophies of earlier battles against Swedish kings'.
He supposes that the Wylfings had settled in East Anglia
towards the end of the fifth century, and that there was
a second influx of Geat exiles 'after the final overthrow of
the Geat kingdom a decade or two before the middle of
the sixth century by the barbarian Swedes'. 91
A directly contrary solution was suggested by Professor
Snne Lindqvist, who held that the Wylfings were 'in
origin Swedes, a branch of the Royal House of Uppsala
and the descendants of Wiglaf', who is called a lead
Scyldinga, a Swedish prince, in the poem.v-
9. The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial - A Handbook (1968), 69-71.
91 O'Loughlin, op, cit., 15-16.
92 'Sutton Hoo and Beowulf', Antiquity 22 (1948), 131-40, quotation 140.