Wealhþeow

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Queen Wealhtheow as the hostess of the banquet

Wealhþeow, first introduced in line 612 in the poem, Beowulf, is the Wulfing ^[1] queen of the Daner. She is married to Hroðgar, the Danish king and is the mother of sons Hreðric and Hroðmund and probably also of the daughter Freawaru. Her name is disputed; the most likely and best supported translation is foreign slave (see Hill, 1990), while others translate it as bearer of wealth^{[citation needed]}.

Wealhþeow (like Hygd) fulfills the important role of hostess in the poem. The importance of this cup carrying practice is emphasized in lines 1161-1231. Here Wealhþeow, anxious that Hroðgar secures the succession for her own offspring, gives a speech and recompenses Beowulf for slaying Grendel with three horses and a necklace which is compared to the Brosing, Freyja's Brisingamen.

1 Scholarship
2 Footnotes
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Scholarship

Helen Damico (1984/1990) suggests that Wealhþeow and Grendel's mother each represent different aspects of a goddess from Norse mythology, possibly the myth of the Valkyries.

[edit] Footnotes

^ Wealhþeow is identified as a Helming in the poem, i.e. belonging to the clan of Helm, the chief of the Wulfings (Widsith, 21)

[edit] References

Damico, Helen. Beowulf's Wealhtheow and the Valkyrie Tradition. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 1984.
---. "The Valkyrie Reflex in Old English Literature." New Readings on Women in Old English Literature. Eds. Helen Damico and Alexandra Hennessey Olsen. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990. 176-89.
Hill, Thomas D. "'Wealhtheow' as a Foreign Slave: Some Continental Analogues." Philological Quarterly 69.1 (Winter 1990): 106-12.