Wægmunding

TheWægmundingswere a prominent probablySwedishclan (anätt,seeNorse clans) inBeowulf.A name such asWægmundingmeant "belongs to Wægmund", i.e. they were the descendants of a man named Wægmund. This was the normal way of naming a Germanic clan (e.g.Sigurdthe Völsung, descendant of kingVölsung,Folkung[descendants of Folke] andYngling[descendants ofYngvi-Freyr]).

Members:

• Wægmund (the ancestor of the clan)
• Ælfhere (seems to have been a distinguished member of the clan as Wiglaf is described as his kinsman)
• Ecgþeow(joined the Danes and theGeatsas he was banished for slaying a man from another clan)
• Beowulf(son of Ecgþeow and the hero of the epic by his name)
• Weohstan(Swedish champion and slayer of his fugitive countryman prince Eanmund)
• Wiglaf(the last of the Wægmundingsand son of Weohstan. He fought with Beowulf against the dragon)

The story of this clan inBeowulfis that Ecgþeow slew a man,Heaðolaf,from another clan, theWulfings(probably the rulers of the less knownEast Geats). As the Wægmundings would not or could not pay the expectedwergild,Ecgtheow was banished and sought refuge among theDanes.The Danish kingHrothgarpaid the wergild and had Ecgþeow swear an oath. Later, Ecgþeow served theGeatsand distinguished himself enough to marry theGeatish kingHreðel's daughter, with whom he had the son Beowulf.

During theSwedish-Geatish wars,Ecgþeow's close relative, Weohstan, fought on the Swedish side forOnela,and killed Onela's nephewEanmund.The fact that these characters are described as Wægmundings explains why the Swedish warrior Wiglaf became the companion of Beowulf although his father had fought against the Geats. Since Ecgþeow, Beowulf's father, was a close relative of Weohstan, Wiglaf's father, it is not surprising that Wiglaf (after his father's death) joined his relative Beowulf inGeatland,and that Beowulf assumed responsibility for the young Swede.

On the ethnic identity of the Wægmundings

In the epic we learn that Wiglaf was aScylfingwhich literally refers to the ruling family of Sweden, and defines Wiglaf as a Swede. We also learn that Wiglaf's father, Weohstan, was aWægmundingand fought on the Swedish side. Concerning Beowulf's father the text tells us that he was a Wægmunding and that he was banished for killing the man of a different family, the Wulfings. This was standard procedure if the perpetrators family could not pay the wergild at the Ting. Since no other ethnic label is given for the Wægmundings, this makes a Swedish ethnicity the most likely one. This means that Beowulf was fighting his own kinsmen, on his father's side, when fighting the Swedes. According to researcherGudmund Schütte,Wægmunding could be related to a Finnish mythological character,Väinämöinen.