Rune Poems - House of Dubhros

44 Introduction to
nowhere stated in the episode or in the fragment. Very
probably they were connected by marriage ; the episode at
least suggests that Hildeburh, described as Hoces dohtor in
v. 1076, was the wife of Finn. She may have been Hnaef's
sister, since in Widsith, v. 29, Hnaef is said to have ruled
the Hocingas, and this would agree with v. 1074, where
Hildeburh bewails the loss of sons and brothers, perhaps
a poetical use of plural for singular; cf. vv. 1114-1117.
Hnaef's followers, led by a certain Hengest, hold out in the
palace-hall and inflict such fearful loss that Finn is forced to come to terms.
upon the Frisians
An agreement is
made in flat defiance of the spirit of the comitatus and
peace is kept throughout the winter. But when spring
returns, Oslaf and Guthlaf, two of Hnaef's retainers (cf.
Ordlaf and Guplaf of Finn v. 18) make their way home.
Determined to avenge their fallen lord, they collect rein
forcements and return to Friesland, where they wipe out
their dishonour in the blood of Finn and all his followers.
The story opens with the fall of Hnaef; nothing is known
of its antecedents. The elaborate superstructure reared
and Simrock
by Miillenhoff (Nordalbingische Studien, I. 157)
(Beowulf, p. 190 ff.) the death of Folcwald at the hands of
Hoc, the settlement of the blood-feud by the marriage of
Finn and Hildeburh, the subsequent murder of Hnaef while
on a visit to the Frisian court is pure hypothesis, erected
on analogy with the Ingeld story; cf. Beowulf, vv. 2020-2066
and Saxo, Book VI. There is no reason for ascribing treachery
to Finn Eotena treowe (Beow. v. 1071) refers to the loyalty
of Hnaef's men, not to the bad faith of the Frisians and it
is just as probable that Hnaef was the aggressor.
The episode in Beowulf is to be regarded as a paraphrase
of some full-length treatment of the subject; cf. Odyssey vm.
499 and the cyclic poem of the Sack of Troy ('lAioy Hepcic) 1 .
But it is not easy to square the fragment with it. On the
whole it seems most reasonable to assume that the fragment
opens after the death of Hnaef, describes the battle hinted
1901).
1 D. B. Monro, Homer's Odyssey, Books xin-xxir, pp. 371 ff. Oxford,