Hnæf
Hnæfson ofHocis a prince mentioned in theOld EnglishpoemsBeowulfand theFinnsburg Fragment. According to thelisting of tribesin the poemWidsith(10th century), Hnæf ruled theHocings.Hoc is calledHoc Healfdene,suggesting a partlyDanishancestry.
According to the narrative, Hnæf was the brother ofHildeburhand brother-in-law ofFinn,who ruled theFrisiansand was killed during a Danish expedition to Frisian territory.
Hoc may be identical to the chieftainHakimentioned in theYnglinga SagabySnorri Sturlason.[citation needed]This Haki conquered the kingdom ofUppsalaand reigned there for ten years before he was cast out by kingJorund.
The father-son pair Hoc and Hnæf has been associated with the historicalAlamannicnoblemen, possibly ofNibelungextraction,Huoching(d. 744) andHnabi(d. 788), the founder of theAhalolfings.This suggestion was first made in 1849 byJohn Mitchell KembleinHistory of the Saxons in England(p. 419). If the Old English legendary characters have been influenced by these historical characters, this would set the late 8th century as aterminus post quemfor the date ofBeowulf.[1]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Hans Jänichen,Die alemannischen Fürsten Nebi und Berthold und ihre Beziehungen zu den Klöstern St. Gallen und Reichenau,Blätter für deutsche Landesgeschichte (1976), pp. 30-40.