Magnus 33

Magnus' History of the Goths

### Chapter 33

To continue the succession of princes of the Goths, I consider Roderick Archbishop of Toledo to have granted the next place after Filimer the Great, son of Gadaric the Great, to the most learned philosopher ***Zenta***: whom others more correctly (as I think) affirmed to have ruled the Goths, after they descended in modified settlements from Cimmeria to Mesia, Thracia and Wallachia. This Zenta was a great and wonderfully talented man, who was adopted to the Kingdom of the Goths not only by nobility of birth, but also by most eminent virtues. Indeed he would bear the full desire being the symbol of prudence power and religion, so that the Goths adjusted to more humane laws, and gave works of institutions of civil life, honored virtue, distinguished between honor and shame, fled dishonesty, chose honesty, nor were they persuaded by him in military strength alone, so much as formerly, they assembled the sums of all virtues. In fact they were led to be famous in all other studies of military life, so that they said Mars himself (whom the ancients considered the god of war) was born and raised among them. Hence that Swedish warrior Starkad sounded from the mouth of Saxo the Dane:

*I grew old under thy standard, O War-god,*
*in utmost peril; conquering fear,*
*I thought it comely to fight, shameful to loiter,*
*and noble to kill and kill again, to be for ever slaughtering.*
Whereof see more below. But under this wise king Zenta they became more distinguished not only in fortitude, but in wisdom. For there was no wanting in age in those, by whom they might be instructed in wisdom. Whence also the Goths are said to have been almost wiser than other nations, and almost alike to the Greeks, as Dion testifies, who composed their histories in their native language: who also says that the Parabusceos, and then the Pileati, were among those called, who were considered the most noble and the most illustrious: of whom they chose kings and priests for themselves. But they were considered cruel in this, because (as we have said) the most bitter culture always appeased Mars the god of war, namely the death of the prisoners, thinking that the governor of war was more fitly appeased by human blood.

[It has already been made clear that Filimer was succeeded first by Tanausis (ca. 1660-1644 BC), then Filinus and Solaphitus (c. 1644 BC), followed by their widows, Queens Marpesia and Lampeda. Marpesia's death has been dated to 1605 BC; it is unknown how long after that Lampeda continued to rule the Cimmerians and Goths, but Aventinus names Mader I as ruling next over the Cimmerians in the reign of Larein in Germania (1597-1546 BC), while he says the Amazon Queen Aloph succeeded Marpesia in the Anatolian campaigns. Zenta's rule over the Goths must therefore be placed roughly contemporary to Mader and Aloph, which seems confirmed by the notice that under him, the Goths departed Cimmeria and settled lower in the Balkan countries. Jordanes remembers him as Zeuta, the first of three learned philosopher kings who would rule the Getae in various epochs.

For the ensuing period, the Amazon war on Thebes can be dated to the third year of Theseus of Athens (1494 BC) from the Parian Marble, when Theseus captured the Amazon Queen Hippolyte. No other ruler at this time is known for the Amazons, Cimmerians or Goths, so it is possible Hippolyte ruled all three, in the space roughly 1546-1494 BC, but this cannot be certain because of the gaps.

Chapters 34-37 of Book I cover the next kings of the external Getae after Zenta, who are known to Magnus, namely Sagillus, Penexagoras and Telephus, around the time of the Trojan War. He specifically states he has no information whether others ruled between Zenta and Sagillus, but this is obviously the place of the "Manethonian gap' affecting much of the European chronicles. In Magnus' Book Two, he resumes the narrative of the 'Internal Goths', those who stayed at home in Sweden, picking up where he left off in Bk 1 Chapter 14 with Humulf son of Beric.]

### Chapter 34

After the death of Zenta, I find that **Sagillus** presided over the Goths, but I do not have information that he did not succeed as close as possible to other intermediaries. There is, however, a great recollection of him in his histories, that he not only at home and in his country gained distinguished praise for his magnificent and memorable deeds, but has also extended the boundaries of his empire far and wide abroad. He was the constant and most fierce enemy of the Corinthians, of the Athenians, and of all the Greeks, and was always more inclined towards the part of the Trojans, provoked by that intolerable injustice, which (as we have said a little before) had been inflicted on the Amazons by the princes of the Greeks, no hostility had been previously reported. For there was such a relationship and kinship between the Goths and the Amazons, that the Goths might consider their wrongs, whatever they had inflicted on the Amazons, which they were born into of Gothic blood, and loved and protect their sisters and daughters just as much. The other deeds of this Sagillus, because there were no historians at the time, or paused, vanished into oblivion.

[Courtesy of Aventinus, Sagillus' two immediate predecessors can be named as Galter (c. 1318-1298 BC) and Prichs (c. 1298-1245 BC), who ruled the Cimmerians, and most likely the Getae with them. The former also seems to have ruled the Celts, and even Saxony or Germany proper, as his death in c. 1298 BC in a sea battle with Balder of Zeeland is known from Book II, chapter 24 below.]

### Chapter 35

**Penaxagoras** succeeded, after the death of his father Sagillus, to the kingdom of the Goths, having been equipped with the same greatness of mind as his father, for war or peace. He pursued the Amazons with the greatest love, and the Greeks with unquenchable hatred. However, recalling to mind how he had long since lived and, at the command of his father, King Sagillus, had contracted a vast army in vain for protecting the Amazons from the injustices of the Greeks, he determined again to experience the fortune of war as an honor and freedom for them. Therefore, under the leadership of the most invincible Hercules, by whose audacity he had imposed upon the women of the Greeks some unexpected and unprepared for not bearing injuries, he devised a campaign. But Hercules, as he was of a very strong body, so he had a prudent mind, and skillful enough to avert future dangers. Accordingly, by means of suitable orators sent to Penaxagoras, he first entreated the injustices of the past, and then asked him of the conditions of peace to be prescribed to him: at length he demanded his sister Auges, the most eminent virgin, to be his wife. But Penaxagoras, having proposed this embassy, ​​began to meditate on many things, whether they should pardon such terrible outrages, which were not of his own, but of the allies of the Amazons. At length, being persuaded by his wise men, he arranged peace and friendship between them and Hercules himself; nor did he consider it unworthy of the bravest man, whose magnificent deeds were carried out everywhere even to the stars, to be united in marriage to his most noble sister. From this Auge received a son by Hercules, to whom his mother seems to have given the Gothic name Eleff. For today many in the country of the Goths are called Elephus. Afterward, the letter T being placed before the capital, caused the name to differ from the Gothic denomination. The father himself also took care that the same son was so distinguished for works of fortitude, and to be trained in military discipline, that a son like a very brave father should be considered in all prowess; he thought it too unseemly, if the image of his father's fortitude should be obscured in his degenerate son.

[Aventinus also mentions Sagillus, and his son Penaxagoras, as leading the German Cimmerians and their Amazon allies (under Orithyia), in conflicts with the Greeks, during the reign of King Brenner I in Bavaria (1245-1207 BC)

*But since the above-mentioned war women were inside, who in their comrades had fooled the Greeks outside, they gathered a large people with the help of the knights, the German Kempher kings Sigl and Pinzgar, who took the women with them over the narrow arm of the sea, moved with a mighty hand to the shore of the same sea in Europe as far as the Danube, even moved to the middle of Greece, occupied places and the most ruined city of Athens, caused great damage, and returned home unbeaten.*In 1233 BC, the Amazons and Getae were at war with the Achaeans. The Greek Hercules, Alcaeus, at the age of only 14 or 15, led a campaign against the Amazons somewhere on the Black Sea in that year, and captured Menalippe, sister of Orithyia and Antiope. On the way back he stopped at Troy, and rescued king Laomedon's daughter princess Hesione, whom Laomedon had chained up on the sea shore. Laomedon would not pay Hercules with the royal horses of Tantalus, so Hercules sacked Troy and deposed Laomedon, and Priam, who had been released from Hatti, inherited the throne of Troy.

This abduction of Menalippe intensified the Amazon campaigns on Achaea, and she was eventually freed by the efforts of Antiope and Sagillus. If Mycenaean Thebes was destroyed around 1220 BC as some sources have suggested, it was probably done by the Amazons.

Hercules later allied with Penaxagoras, who seems to have been ruling the Getae at the same time Theudiscram (Teucer, Teuthras) ruled the Cimmerian faction, contemporary with king Heccar of Bavaria. Hercules married Auge, sister of Penaxagoras, who bore him Telephus or Elephus. Later Theudiscram would marry Auge and raise Telephus as a stepson. Penaxagoras ruled the Getae, and Theudiscram the Cimmerians, until c. 1194 BC when Telephus succeeded them both, which would reunite the Getae-Cimmerians under one leader.]

### Chapter 36

**Telephus** took the place of Penaxagoras, his uncle deceased without children, as king of the Goths, after they had gone back from the lands of the Cimmerians into Mesia, and had fortified their abode there. Since he had obtained Gothic fortitude from his mother, and from his father Hercules' strength and prudence, as if he had acquired certain hereditary goods, not only in military discipline, in which he had great strength, but in prudence in conducting affairs, in which he appeared admirable, and contained the Goths in all their virtues, and the virtues in their offices. In his time there was carried on that long, cruel, and bloodthirsty Trojan war, undertaken on account of the love of one woman between the Greeks and the Trojans, and with the greatest unhappiness of all who participated or presided. For of the Trojans, before the city was captured, sixty-seven thousand, after the capture (if the histories are to be believed): but of the Greeks eight hundred and seventy-six thousand were reported missing. This Telephus, on account of his distinguished bravery in the Gothic nation, was summoned by many embassies on both sides, namely the Greeks and the Trojans, to an alliance of war; at length he came to the parts of the Trojans, because he had the sister of King Priam, by whom he had raised a son of distinguished character, Euriphilus, to hope for his race. Leaving his home among the teachers, he arrived at Troy with an accelerated pace. On his approach, Tessander, the most valiant duke of the Greeks, threw himself and his entire army in battle array, as though he were about to conquer Hercules, father of his valiant son: but it turned out contrary to what he hoped. For he fell on the ground at the hands of Telephus, having received a bloody and deadly wound. Ajax and Ulysses bearing this fall with bitterness, exhorted each other to avenge the death of the duke: turning their most courageous minds upon Telephus himself, they determined to avenge their dead friend, so that he might fall into the category of punishing him. Nor did Telephus with less strength attempt to steal the swords that hung over his head. But what influence of Hercules could have been enough for him against the three most eminent dukes of all Greece, by whom he was most obstinately besieged: for while he was more violently incensed at the impending Ajax, and pursued after Ulysses on the east side, he fell on his horse, and, wounded by the leg by the bravest Achilles with an arrow, failed to be cured for a long time. He confounded the Greeks, however, although their strength had been broken, in that part which he defended.

[Telephus was the son of Heracles and Auge daughter of Sagillus, but Telephus would be raised by Teuthras (Teutschram, Teucer) the Cimmerian king who later married Auge. (Greek historiography made him king of Mysia, which is the Hittite Masha, or Bebryce.) In c. 1194 BC Telephus became king of both Getae and Cimmerians, evidently reuniting them after the reigns of Penaxagoras and Teutschram. The Geto-Cimmerians under Telephus intervened in the Trojan war in about 1185 BC and (like queen Penthesilea) he fell in combat in 1184 BC, succeeded by his son Euriphilus.]

### Chapter 37

Telephus dead in the Trojan War, the Goths deferred administration of the Gothic kingdom to his son **Euriphilus**, of the greatest hope, wisely deeming there were no more suitable, nor equally worth worth of service to be able. For besides that exceptional nobility, which after a long succession of kings and powerful leaders, appeared in all his behavior by such integrity, that they were wont to promise him as the best hope of leaders. Nevertheless to prevent the country, and the power of his grandfather degenerating, he went to the Trojan War with no danger of trouble, to broadly aid his uncle Priam, King of Troy, whom (as we have said) the Greek princes attacked most stubbornly and finally captured; although some affirm that Euriphilus, who was a fired youth due to the exceptional love of Cassandra, sustained all these most difficult dangerous journeys and wars. Truly, while it was stronger than prudent, the importunate and powerful Greek companies followed, not without the public mourning from them, especially for his mother and uncle, slaughtered in the first flower of their youth.

[Euriphilus ruled the External Getae, and perhaps also the Cimmerians, ca. 1184-1146 BC, contemporary with Queen Amar of the Amazons. Following this we have Queen Thebe ca. 1146-1077 BC, who may have ruled the Cimmerians and Getae as well as the Amazons before they crossed the Black Sea in 1077 BC to live on the Volga.

After 1077 BC nothing more is known of their rulers until 660 BC, when it seems one Tugdamme, aka Lygdammis, was chief of the Cimmerians until he was slain by Mader the Scythian in 640 BC, who ruled until ca. 610 BC. Mader was followed by his nephew Brenner II, husband of Queen Tomyris of the Getae, with whom Magnus' account of the External Getae continues from here in Book III.]

## Book II

### Chapter 1

In the first book we complete the origin of the Goths, and the beginning of the events through them from the most ancient time. Next, supported by example of the authors whom we proposed at the beginning, returning to Gothia, let us diligently inquire whether they had passed amidst leisurely years after the memorable departure of Beric: and let us first take the account of King ***Humulf***, eldest son of King Beric, whom his father appointed king at home and in his own country, and ordered him to act bravely and wisely in all the affairs of the kingdom entrusted to him. Who, the most observant executor of his father's order, soon after his father's departure, repressed and pacified those civil strifes, which otherwise the most prudent father himself had not been able to abolish, so that calming the hatreds, peace and security were seen everywhere among all the inhabitants of Gothia, and it seemed that wars and seditions, having left the kingdom of Gothia, had migrated to foreign nations.

[The departure of Beric and accession of Humulf has been dated to 1780 BC. The dates supplied by Bertius would have Humelus succeeding him after 140 years, but Humulf cannot have reigned so long, for Humelus must have been reigning by 1751 BC when he installed his son Danus over the Danes.]

### Chapter 2

After a few years ***Humelus***, the grandson of Humulf, arrived at the scepter of his grandfather's kingdom. In whose time, when the Danes had observed that the greatest number of the Goths had already emigrated to foreign lands with their king Beric, and by that result the power of the Goths, who had remained in their country, and had returned to their mutual divisions, had greatly weakened, they did not delay to shake off their necks the Gothic empire, to whom they had been subject for many centuries. When the Saxons had considered this more prudently, they soon converted their arms on the Danes under the command of a certain Jutho (from whom Juthia or Juthonia received the name), doubting nothing, but as they had withdrawn themselves incautiously from the rule of the Goths, so too they had not very prudently stripped themselves of their necessary aid. But the Danes, led to these difficulties, when they saw that they could not resist the power of the Saxons, again approached Humelus as suppliant, and, having obtained the pardon of their errors, they were received into favor: and he took care to be put over to them two of his sons, *Danus* and *Angulus*, whom he had begotten from Gesilda, his most distinguished Swedish wife. These, being fortified by a strong army, after having joined a most bitter battle, liberated Denmark (which at that time first received the name from Dan), and after that they put to flight the Saxons.

[In Petreius' account, Jutia received its name for the Cimbric king in Jutland, Guti I, from the line of Togarmah. His dates for this Guti correspond to ca. 1983-1919 BC, which is too early for events in the reign of Humelus. He also mentions a Guti II in this dynasty, ca. 1860-1830 BC which is still too early. However it seems the Cimbri / Juti remained subject to the German Empire throughout this time, usually called the 'Saxons' by Magnus and Saxo. Dania had to this point been known as Vetala or Withesleth, occupying the islands and adjoining southern Sweden, and ruled by judges appointed by the Gothic kings. However the ruler of the Jutes, from the Togarmic line, by this time is also named Dan, son of Habling, according to Petreius, who says this Dan subdued the Thracians and Getae to the Danube. His father Habling further seems a match for Humelus or Humbel of the Swedes and Goths. Habling is called son of Vamling, son of Guti II, so if he equates to Humbel, we must assume Humulf is his maternal grandfather.

The Latin text of *Chronicon Lethrense*, ca. AD 1170, provides further clues as it says Dan was sent by his father king Ypper of Sweden to rule Withesleth, the four main easternmost islands, when the Jutes were threatened, not by the Saxons, but by Augustus Caesar as it says, causing Jutland, as well as Funen island and Scania (southern Sweden) to be added to Dan's holdings. These last two may have been the original fiefs of Dan's brothers, here called Nori and Osten. This would further account for Dan showing up on the Jutish kinglist of Petreius as well as traditional Danish ones. Discounting the anachronistic mention of Augustus in *Lethrense*, we may assume the German Emperor by that time would have been Boiger or Baier (1758-1698 BC)]

### Chapter 3

For this is that Dan son of Humelus King of the Goths, whom his father made first king of Danes. And he is mentioned to have bequeathed obedience to two commands. First, that he might not construct temples in any part of Denmark, but worship the divinity with reverence in the metropolis of the Swedes at Upsala; The other, that, considering the distress of the Danish land, he would wage war against none but by provocation of the most grievous injury. But Angulus, the brother of Dan, when he was striving to be admitted into the company of the kingdom, scarcely escaped from his brother's intrigues, and escaped into the kingdom of Anglia saved by flight. I might believe that the Danish kingdom had been founded by brotherly blood, just as the Romans, who arose much later, of whom it is written, they were the first stained with fraternal blood. But Saxo the Dane seems to affirm that Angulus ruled over the kingdom of Anglia, and took care to adapt his name to the province over which he presided. Now returning to Humelus, I perceive that his power was not less than that of his great-grandfather Beric, who seemed to have declared war on the whole world. For he defeated and put to flight the powerful nation of Vandals with strength and arms; the brave and combative Saxons. He extended his empire to the Ulmerugi, Pomeranians, Poles, and Magnopolenses; here he presided over the Goths, the Swedes, the Helsingi, the Biarmis, the Bothnians, the Lapps, the Finns, the Scricfinni, and the whole Scandian islands. And he not only ruled over the neighboring islands of the Danes, but also (as we have said) appointed a king over them. Indeed, I find in some histories that he had appointed Norum, the third time King of Norway, and gave the name of his country from that place: but, as it seems to me more probable, that Norway had taken its place and name from the road to the North Sea.

[Saxo relates in a similar vein: *Now Dan and Angul, with whom the stock of the Danes begins, were begotten of Humble, their father, and were the governors and not only the founders of our race... And these two men, though by the wish and favour of their country they gained the lordship of the realm, and, owing to the wondrous deserts of their bravery, got the supreme power by the consenting voice of their countrymen, yet lived without the name of king: the usage whereof was not then commonly resorted to by any authority among our people. Of these two, Angul, the fountain, so runs the tradition, of the beginnings of the Anglian race, caused his name to be applied to the district which he ruled. This was an easy kind of memorial wherewith to immortalise his fame: for his successors a little later, when they gained possession of Britain, changed the original name of the island for a fresh title, that of their own land.*

Aventinus mentions the Angles as existing along the Elbe from the time of Emperor Suevus (1967-1915 BC), however as this is too early for the Angles on the basis of Magnus and Saxo, we may assume that it was rather the "Saxons" proper who had been there since Suevus, and that Angul the ancestor and namesake of the Angli and English, fled to their vicinity around 1748 BC.

*Lethrense* states Dan ruled Withleseth for 3 years, which probably means before the kingdom was expanded and renamed Dania in 1748 BC. Anderson allots 41 years to Danus, first king of the Danes, which can be assigned to c. 1751-1710 BC. Humelus was thus reigning over the Swedes in 1751 BC, but his son Gothila seems to have been over them not long after that.]

### Chapter 4

After the death of Humelus, his son ***Gothilas*** succeeded to the throne in his father's kingdom by the consent of the nobility. Who, having undertaken so extensive an empire over the Goths, Swedes, and other Northern nations, degenerated not at all from his paternal or ancestral magnanimity. But after he had restored all peace at home and in his country, at the request of his cousin Amalus, who at that time ruled over the Goths engaged in military service beyond the sea, he led out a very large army among the Estones, Magnopolenses, and Curetes, having joined the battle at sea and land, he made the rebels submissive, and imposed a double yoke upon them (as we have said before), who were waiting impatiently for ones more expedient for them. Then a controversy arose between his nephews, namely Humelus and Lother, whom Dan had borne to Gyritha, the granddaughter of the Swedish king Siggo, over the succession of the kingdom of Denmark; he decided to appoint the tumultuous man Lother over it, after the removal of the more moderate Prince Humelus, thinking that peace would be made from the domestic disturbances of their neighbors among the Danes. Nor is it to be doubted that there were the greatest and most illustrious deeds of this Gothilas (like that of many other great princes), which the ungrateful forgetfulness of antiquity, had obliterated. For this reason I leave his story to others who have inquired more about it.

[This Gothilas was a contemporary of Amalus, estimated to have ruled the 'External' Getae ca. 1747-1733 BC (Book I chap. 18). The Siggo mentioned here is probably the predecessor of Beric, Siggo II aka Gert, estimated to have ruled the Goths and Swedes ca. 1864-1819 BC (Book I chap. 13).

In his Danish History, Saxo continues: *From Dan, however, so saith antiquity; the pedigrees of our kings have flowed in glorious series, like channels from some parent spring. Grytha, a matron most highly revered among the Teutons, bore him two sons, HUMBLE and LOTHER. The ancients, when they were to choose a king, were wont to stand on stones planted in the ground, and to proclaim their votes, in order to foreshadow from the steadfastness of the stones that the deed would be lasting. By this ceremony Humble was elected king at his father's death, thus winning a novel favour from his country; but by the malice of ensuing fate he fell from a king into a common man. For he was taken by Lother in war, and bought his life by yielding up his crown; such, in truth, were the only terms of escape offered him in his defeat.*

*Lethrense* is less reliable at this point, calling Dan's wife "Dannia" and making him father of Roe, omitting several intervening generations.

Anderson assigns Humbel son of Dan 8 years over the Danes (=1710-1702 BC), and his brother Lotherus 17 years (1702-1685 BC). As we see from Magnus, Lother was installed with help from his uncle Gothilas of the Goths and Swedes. Gothilas was thus still reigning over Sweden in 1702 BC.

Note that if Danus is the same as Petreius' Dan son of Habling, then he also had a daughter Vesta, mother of 'Velmer', whom we may surmise married Gadaric of the Getae, father of Filimer.]

### Chapter 5

***Sigthunius***, whom some others call Sigtrug, the grandson of King Gothila and his successor in the kingdom of Sweden, when from the beginning of his reign he was offering sacrifices and libations to his gods at Uppsala, he inquired for the fate of his own people, and to inquire into the future outcomes of things, and, receiving an answer by the victims, he learned that supreme destruction and death were threatened by a fatal necessity from the metal of gold, and for this reason he must take great care as he could never be harmed or killed by iron, or steel, and other metals. Wherefore, when he thought that he was invincible by the kindness of the immortal gods, he faced many dangers in wars with a great and undaunted spirit. To him was a very beautiful daughter Gro, of whose beauty and character some songs came to us in her native language. King *Schiold* of the Danes demanded this one as a wife to his son *Gram*, sending an ambassador, ​​but her father had already betrothed her to the most brave and noble warrior Sumblus, brother of the King of the Finns. Therefore Gram, supposing that he was despised by Sigthunius, because he had espoused his daughter to another lesser noble, inquired of his companion Bessus, whose works he always employed in the most difficult matters, how he might avenge the injury of his contempt. At length it was decided to adapt all their endeavors to this, that the girl was seized even against the will of her father. For it was then considered among the most remarkable feats of illustrious men, if the maidens, who had been seized by violence and arms, should unite in their marriage. Therefore Gramus (taking his companions with him) having left the country of the Danes, entered Gothia. But lest he might be endowed with a known countenance, and recognized and slain, he clothed in the skins of various wild animals, and with great peril arrived at the palace of Sigthunius, around which time he was hiding, and observed the time until he enticed the virgin forth into mutual love, and, allured and willing, carried her away. At first, however, that faithful and prudent Count Bessus, by the influence of the greatest talent, most prudently introduced the girl into the love of her most illustrious king, although from the beginning he had been rough and hard, now mentioning the power and arms of his father, now the most famous of the lineages of his grandfathers and grandfathers. But Bessus lacked neither eloquence nor opportunity, by which he extolled his Prince with remarkable praise, now nobility of blood, now bravery and military discipline, now at length unconquered in arms and battles by commending his wondrous power of skill, as the Danish Saxo attests in that poem to Adonius: "*Gro is my name; my sire is a king, glorious in blood, gleaming in armour. Disclose to us, thou also, who thou art, or whence sprung!*"

[Saxo relates these events from the Danish point of view:

*Gram, chancing to hear that Groa, daughter of Sigtryg, King of the Swedes, was plighted to a certain giant, and holding accursed an union so unworthy of the blood royal, entered on a Swedish war; being destined to emulate the prowess of Hercules in resisting the attempts of monsters. He went into Gothland, and, in order to frighten people out of his path, strode on clad in goats' skins, swathed in the motley hides of beasts, and grasping in his right hand a dreadful weapon, thus feigning the attire of a giant; when he met Groa herself riding with a very small escort of women on foot, and making her way, as it chanced, to the forest-pools to bathe, she thought it was her betrothed who had hastened to meet her, and was scared with feminine alarm at so strange a garb: so, flinging up the reins, and shaking terribly all over, she began in the song of her country...*Saxo further adds the information that Gram's father, king Skiold of the Danes, had previously slain a rival suitor, Skat governor of Allemania, for the hand of Alfhild, daughter of the unnamed Saxon king, in combat before the Danish and Teuton armies, after which Allemania was subjected to the Danes. This Allemania corresponds to Aventinus' Helvetia, named for Helvus, prince of one of the factions in the Teutonic civil war of 1783-1758 BC.

We are now clearly in the era of international marriages between princes and princesses, for which we have already seen anecdotal evidence in the possible unions of Vamling of the Jutes with the daughter of Humulf of the Swedes, and of Gadaric of the Getae with Vesta of the Jutes, as well as in the marriage of Danus of the Danes with Gyritha or Grytha, whom Magnus calls a granddaughter of Siggo II Gert of the Swedes, and who Saxo says was 'revered among the Teutons', it being not unthinkable that both were correct given the international atmosphere of the time. Now to these alliances may be added that of Skiold of the Danes with Alfhild of the Saxons, as well as of Gram of the Danes with Groa or Gro of the Swedes, both accomplished by violence.

Anderson, following Bertius, allots to Sigtraug of Sweden 33 years, placing him roughly during the years 1702-1669 BC. Since the discovery of iron smelting by the Idaean Dactyls of Crete can be dated to 1680 BC, it is striking that we should find mention of iron so far north already.

Anderson further gives Skiold of Denmark, son of Lothar, 80 years, but the synchronization problems such a long reign would introduce, may entirely be resolved if this is taken as an error for 20 years. He gives the ephemeral Boghi, mentioned in some traditional king lists, as ruling after his brother Lothar was overthrown by the Danes, for 5 years. i.e. 1685-1680 BC, followed by Lothar's son Skiold, who must therefore be dated to ca. 1680-1660 BC. Thus the Teutonic Emperor whose daughter Alfhild was won by Skiold in combat, must have been Ingram of Boigeria, who ruled 1698-1646 BC.

This Skiold gave his name to the legendary Skiolding dynasty of Denmark, and even appears in the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf (? AD 700-975) as Scyld, whose father the poem calls not Lother but Heremod, who is said to have fled to Jutonia. As pointed out by Tolkien, Messenius (AD 1616) also had recorded that Lother had fled to Jutonia when he was deposed. This would indicate that Jutonia, united with Dania since 1748 BC, was separate again by 1685 BC.]

### Chapter 6

At length, when Gram perceived that he was safe from the will of the girl, and that his father's treachery was not to be feared, unwittingly, laying aside the skins of wild beasts with which he was attired, he gained the coveted embrace of the girl; having first given her royal fortune and magnificence as amorous gifts, by which the minds of the girls were sooner wont to be taken. Then, stopping for nothing, he brought her to Denmark with a rapid pace, and loved her with great love, and begat from her *Gutthormus*, later king of Denmark, who married the daughter of *Sibdagerus*, the Norwegian king. But Sigthunius, the father of the ravishing girl, being moved by a just indignation, summoned up hostility to the King of the Danes; and on both sides great preparations for wars were made: while the one endeavored to avenge the great power of the Swedes and the Goths, for a great injury inflicted on him and his own blood; the other, in order that he may enjoy freely the seizure of his wife, hastens to face the powerful enemy of Denmark with all their strength. Accordingly, the power of both kings being brought forth to war, the fight was so fierce and stubborn that it seemed that the battle was being fought not for home and hearth or for fortune, but for blood and life. For Sigthunius was threatening the enemy more importunately and more vigorously, because he thought that the oracles of the gods were more certain, by which he had learned that he would be undefeated by iron. But there was not wanting to Gram the prompt protection of Danish cunning. For he made the club, which he carried in the manner of a giant, more ponderous with infused gold, and he not only rebuked Sigthunius, waving it over his head, but slew him with many blows, leaving no useless testimony to the future kings of the Swedes in that deed, because they believed gold more terrible than iron. For more kings are in danger of gold than of iron, when those who suffer from the hunger for sacred gold are in danger of scarcity and rebellion in their subjects, and an untimely fate for themselves, or hasten expulsion from their kingdoms. Having secured this victory over Sigthunius, Gramus ordered a signal to be sounded for a retreat, believing that the whole country of the Swedes had been routed by the death of the king and by the right of war. But ***Scarinus***, king of the Goths, remained, who did not allow the Swedes to be subjugated by the conquering prowess of the Danes, considering the future more prudently, because, after the subjugation of the Swedes, he threatened even more powerfully the empire of the Goths.

### Chapter 7

Scarinus, therefore, though wisely administering the principality of all Gothia, embraced all the inhabitants under him with an equal and kind affection, yet still enlightened Vestrogothia by his more frequent presence: and regarding the neighboring King Sibdagerus of Norway, to whom, just as he was connected by blood, so too he wished to be a neighbor in place of the land. Here he erected from his name Scara, a city of the Vestrogoths, in a place very strongly fortified by marshes and swamps, so prudently, that his successors inadvertently permitted it to collapse and be desolate. This was the ancient settlement of the Goths. Indeed, not far from it are still extant the traces of the Royal Aranes, whose sites, walls, and buildings lead their inspectors so much to astonishment, that they firmly believe no more excellent building could have been found at that time in all the Northern kingdoms. But what does not change with long-lived age? The city of Scara, however, still reflects the image of the old dignity, exalted above the Pontifical honor. Now let us return to Scarinus. Who as soon as he discovered that his kinsman, Sigthunius, king of the Swedes, had been slain by the arms of the Danes, he did not delay in drawing together all the power of his kingdom, and drew up a war against Gramus, who thought he was the victor. But when he had received many advances in the war machine, and Gramus himself perceived that the power of the Gothic king had been increased too much, and believed he could not easily be overcome by the strength of the Danes, he decided it was opportune to borrow protection from a singular struggle. For he knew that it was received by public law and custom, that whosoever would refuse to engage in such a contest with the enemy, should be considered as a vanquished and cowardly man. Therefore he challenged Scarinus, whom he considered to be destitute of strength from great age, to raise hand to hand. A freeman's modesty overcame the old prince, lest he should take as an excuse, just as he could, from the age of a weak man. Accordingly, armed, both kings proceed into the plain, and a garland of valiant brave men surrounded on every side; part of whom for Scarinus, part for Gramus, begged a happy ending of the fight, part shouted that it would be far more unequal, and that this duel would be unjust, in which Gramus was conspicuous in the flower of his youth, and upright in strength, and gigantic in force endowed with an attack on Scarinus, disabled by the distrust of old age. By this encounter it easily fell out, what all who were present had of necessity foretold would come to pass, namely, that the weak must be overcome by the strong, the old by the young, the helpless by the giant. But neither did Gramus, after defeating him, gain a victory over the Goths or the Swedes; for Scarinus was girt with a great race of kinsmen, who in turn went forth to fight in a singular battle against Gramus. But while the kinsmen of the king contended to avenge the fall, they increased the number of the dead by their fate. But neither could the kingdom of Sweden be won over to Gramus by that victory. For although in that Danish war almost all the progeny of the blood of the King in Gothia had been destroyed, nor was there still any one among the Swedes, who, in the hereditary succession, might be deemed worthy to be placed over the vacant kingdoms, and yet united to the Swedes and Goths, the King of Norway, ***Sibdagerus***, illustrious in Gothic blood, and nearest kinsman of Sigthunius and Scarinus, and the implacable enemy of the King of the Danes, they took to the throne of the kingdom, thinking it just and honorable, that the royal dignity might rather remain in the blood and the family of those Kings who fell for their country, than be said to have been inadvertently placed in Gramus, the invader of another empire.

[Saxo gives the following account of these events from the Danish point of view:

*Having now slain Sigtryg, the King of Sweden, Gram desired to confirm his possession of the empire which he had won in war; and therefore, suspecting Swarin the governor of Gothland of aspiring to the crown, he challenged him to combat, and slew him. This man's brethren, of whom he had seven lawfully born, and nine the sons of a concubine, sought to avenge their brother's death, but Gram, in an unequal contest, cut them off. Gram, for his marvellous prowess, was granted a share in the sovereignty by his father, who was now in extreme age, and thought it better and likewise more convenient to give his own blood a portion of the supremacy of the realm, than now in the setting of his life to administer it without a partner.*Prince Gram of Denmark must have killed Sigtryg of Sweden in 1669 BC, at which point Skarin or Swarin, the governor or king of Gothia, led the resistance. Gram seems to have succeeded his father Skiold as king of the Danes in 1660 BC, so his slaying of Skarin of Gothia may be dated to that year. Skarin thus ruled from 1669 to 1660 BC, after which Sweden was wholly subject to the Danes until Swipdag of Norway slew Gram, 40 years after Sigtryg was slain according to Bertius, or in 1629 BC.

Saxo relates that Gram after becoming king, first suppressed a revolt by the Zeelander renegade Ring. Some time after this he went on a similar adventure for the hand of a princess, related as follows:

*He declared war against Sumble, King of the Finns; but when he set eyes upon the King's daughter, Signe, he laid down his arms, the foeman turned into the suitor, and, promising to put away his own wife, he plighted troth with her. But, while much busied with a war against Norway, which he had taken up against King Swipdag for debauching his sister and his daughter, he heard from a messenger that Signe had, by Sumble's treachery, been promised in marriage to Henry, King of Saxony. Then, inclining to love the maiden more than his soldiers, he left his army, privily made his way to Finland, and came in upon the wedding, which was already begun. Putting on a garb of the utmost meanness, he lay down at the table in a seat of no honour. When asked what he brought, he professed skill in leechcraft. At last, when all were drenched in drunkenness, he gazed at the maiden, and amid the revels of the riotous banquet, cursing deep the fickleness of women, and vaunting loud his own deeds of valour, he poured out the greatness of his wrath in a song... And as he spoke he leapt up from where he lay, and there he cut Henry down while at the sacred board and the embraces of his friends, carried off his bride from amongst the bridesmaids, felled most of the guests, and bore her off with him in his ship. Thus the bridal was turned into a funeral; and the Finns might learn the lesson, that hands should not be laid upon the loves of other men.*This episode may be dated to 1646 BC, for this king Henry (Henricus) of Saxony can only be identified with the king Aventinus calls Ingram or Ingeramus Herminius of Boigeria, who was succeeded by his son Adalger in that year.

As for Swipdag slaying Gram in 1629 BC, Saxo continues: *"After this SWIPDAG, King of Norway, destroyed Gram, who was attempting to avenge the outrage on his sister and the attempt on his daughter's chastity. This battle was notable for the presence of the Saxon forces, who were incited to help Swipdag, not so much by love of him, as by desire to avenge Henry.*"

It is unclear how Swipdag would have been related to the Gothic kings, as Magnus alleges, but it seems Norway had only recently been settled by Celts in the reign of king Romus, who ruled Celtica from 1698 BC. The Norwegian regions of Raumike may bear traces of this ancient kingdom.]

### Chapter 8

Therefore Sibdagerus, King of Norway, was raised for many great and honorable reasons to the kingdoms of Gothia and Sweden, just as he was borne by the Danes, on account of their king's insolence, with a grievous hatred, so he began to meditate compassionately upon the Swedes harassed by them, by what strength and arms he might avenge the wrongs inflicted upon them. A grievous hatred had already grown among these kings on account of the abduction of his virgin cousin Gro: nor could the indignation of Sibdagerus be subdued on any occasion, until he compensate for the abduction of rape by committing a crime. For, having advanced with a fleet of war into Denmark, he first rescued the king's sister, who had been ravaged with an infamous shame, then he carried off into Norway his very beautiful daughter, forcibly taking her, and united her to him, taking her away in marriage, very much exulting in this successful deed, because he had avenged one double and more dreadful injury. Here, of course, I am drawn to great amazement, as I am confident that the seizing of these virgins came into practice at the same time and years with the North Kings, when the Trojan war was carried on most brutally on account of the abduction of women. Nor is here recorded a smaller number of the slain princes and soldiers, than among the Phrygians and the Greeks, if so great a number of writers had emerged from the cold north. But let this rest, and let us return to Gramus. Who, considering that his arts had been doubled by the cunning of Sibdagerus and surpassed by his cunning, there was no hope left for him, but he, having seized so many kingdoms and people round about, at length fought against Denmark, and subjugated it by storm, determined to test once more all the strength of his own power against so powerful an enemy. But the meditation of the enemy could not be concealed from the prudent Sibdagerus; but, on the contrary, it made him far more cautious. For he invited not only his fellow Norwegians and the rest who were subject to his own empire, but the Saxons (whose Prince Henry, Gramus had subdued by treachery and secretly), who had been called into an alliance of war, to the siege of Denmark. Nor did Gramus, moving slowly, oppose as much as he could, the strength of the advancing enemy with his strength. But then the inevitable fate had arrived, because it could not be surpassed either by gigantic fortitude, nor by thousand undefeated armed men, or by any human power. Therefore, the most valiant warrior Gramus, after so many illustrious and magnificent feats, was overpowered by Sibdagerus, King of Norway, while he was trying to avenge the outrage of his debauched sister, the chastity of his daughter, and the violence of the snatched kingdoms. Therefore, when Gramus, king of the Danes, was oppressed and extinguished, Sibdagerus was made sole moderator of all the North Kingdoms, and *Gutthormus*, the son of Gramus, and brother of his abducted wife, once recalled from exile, ruled over the Danes under tribute; and the liberty of all being corrupted, he reeked of a condition equal to ignominy under the tribute of a king; as if they had been but little afflicted in wars, unless they were fined even by the most abject established condition. But *Hading*, the brother of Gutthorm, a man of great and eminent spirit, when he realized he was begotten of a very brave father, chose rather an honorable condition of exile, than to bear in his country a bondage combined with disgrace. And yet his deeds would not have been more noble if he had shunned them in his ancestral soil, than they are now among those heroes, whose acts are more to be admired than to be imitated. For, after the triumphs of the soldiers far and wide, he led back his naval force into the Swedish sea from the defeat of the Russians, and in battle attacked Sibdagerus residing in Gotland.

[As Saxo relates, Gram had declared war on king Swipdag of Norway to avenge his unnamed sister and daughter already when (1646 BC) he slew Henry of Saxony, in Finland, for the hand of Signe. It was 1629 BC when Swipdag finally slew Gram, thereby adding Sweden and Danica to his empire. Anderson indicates a 40 year reign for Swipdag over the Danes, though Bertius gives him 60 years over the Swedes, which is too long; hence Swipdag ruled both the Swedes and Danes 1629-1589 BC, while Anderson has Gram's son by Gro, Guthorm, appointed tributary king of the Danes by Swipdag for the last 14 of these years, hence in 1603 BC.

In Saxo's account, it was during these years, when Guthorm was tributary ruler of Danica, that his half-brother Hading, born from Signe, adventured in Courland, where he was defeated (as described in the next chapter), and then following this, "*he assailed Handwan, king of the Hellespont, who was entrenched behind an impregnable defence of wall in his city Duna, and withstood him not in the field, but with battlements. Its summit defying all approach by a besieger, he ordered that the divers kinds of birds who were wont to nest in that spot should be caught by skilled fowlers, and he caused wicks which had been set on fire to be fastened beneath their wings. The birds sought the shelter of their own nests, and filled the city with a blaze; all the townsmen flocked to quench it, and left the gates defenceless. He attacked and captured Handwan, but suffered him to redeem his life with gold for ransom... After this he prevailed over a great force of men of the East, and came back to Sweden. Swipdag met him with a great fleet off Gottland; but Hadding attacked and destroyed him.*"

This naval battle where Hading prevailed over Swipdag must have occured in 1589 BC. "Duna" seems to refer to modern Daugavpils Latvia, so this would not be a city of the "Hellespont" as Saxo has, while Magnus' reference to 'Russians' (Russi) in this era is used interchangeably Ruthenians (Ruteni), who may have been based in modern Estonia.]

### Chapter 9

***Asmund***, the son of Sibdagerus, after he had succeeded his father by hereditary right in the kingdoms of Gothia, Sweden, and Norway, had the first care, how he might turn away the power of the victorious *Hading*, king of the Danes, from him and from his own kingdom: although it seemed quite difficult, that the same could be overcome by human prowess, who was considered hemmed in and protected by so many aids to the magic art, or by sorcery. For if we believe the Saxo the Dane, he was delivered from his cradle to teachers most skilled in magical art, namely Vagnoptus and Haphlius, the Swedish giants; by whom it was believed that he was so instructed, that if he had not brought fate upon him, he could have been harmed by no human arms. For he was so familiar with the gods whom he worshipped, that soon after calling upon their name, he felt the most immediate assistance. He was led alive by them to infernal places, where he contemplated many secrets unknown to mortals. He also learned from Hartgrepa, Vagnoptus' daughter, who was second to none in the vanity of the magic art, to place all hope in the aid of the demons. He conversed as a friend with *Odin* of all the Magi, even the most ignominious of demons, who at first appearing in human form, ordered him to commence war against the Curetes, and having been defeated in that battle, he made him stronger and more vigorous by the benefit of a very sweet drink; then he acquired the industry of an army centurion from a certain old man (who I think was a magical apparition). Considering that he was instructed and fortified by these arts, nothing was thought so laborious and difficult, because he believed that by his prowess he was unbeatable. Accordingly, the most deceitful demons had exposed him to many and various wars; and having exposed him, they mocked him in many and wonderful ways, now overcoming the conqueror, and now again forsaking the conquered by all means.

[Anderson, citing Bertius, assigns 48 years to Asmund, but this seems exagerrated considering he was slain by the same Hading who slew his father in 1589 BC, and to maintain synchronistic continuity, this must be reduced to 8 years, ie 1589-1581 BC. Krantz (a contemporary of Annius) indicates that Asmund also inherited the throne of Norway, as said here, but soon lost it to Hadding in the war, and his son Uffe was only able to recover part of it.

In Saxo's version, while Hadding's half brother Gutthorm is still tributary to Swipdag in Danica, Hadding and an old warrior named Lysir attack king Loker of Courland, who defeats them, before Hadding seiges Duna from king Handwan. After Hadding has killed Swipdag and become king of Denmark (ruling 54 years according to Anderson, ie 1589-1535 BC), Saxo then inserts the first tale of Odin, saying "*At this time there was one Odin, who was credited over all Europe with the honour, which was false, of godhead, but used more continually to sojourn at Upsala; and in this spot, either from the sloth of the inhabitants or from its own pleasantness, he vouchsafed to dwell with somewhat especial constancy. The kings of the North, desiring more zealously to worship his deity, embounded his likeness in a golden image; and this statue, which betokened their homage, they transmitted with much show of worship to Byzantium, fettering even the effigied arms with a serried mass of bracelets. Odin was overjoyed at such notoriety, and greeted warmly the devotion of the senders. But his queen Frigga, desiring to go forth more beautified, called smiths, and had the gold stripped from the statue. Odin hanged them, and mounted the statue upon a pedestal, which by the marvellous skill of his art he made to speak when a mortal touched it...*" Odin thus appears as an entirely human and vain figure who merely aspired to godhood and apparently had a cult following (witness the name Wednesday surviving in English to this day), and who may also have advised Hadding's failed campaign on Curonia as Magnus suggests, though this is not mentioned by Saxo.

Aventinus portrays an era of crusade-like waves or migrations of Germans and conscripted Wends to attack Lycia in eastern Anatolia in revenge for the slaying of queen Marpesia in ca. 1605 BC. The region of Byzantium was then under their control, and was perhaps prestigious enough a seat as depicted by Saxo, that Odin's statue was sent there.]

### Chapter 10

Therefore, having experienced the hazard of war against King Asmund, he prepared to launch a strong army into Sweden. Asmund being forewarned of this apparatus, he led out two combined armies: whom he thought strong enough to restrain the attack of the approaching enemy, he took care that one should be placed in the charge of his son Henricus, and the other of himself. The battle worsened

*Henricus, laying his right hand on the hilt, and holding back the shield, hurried towards the enemy, and made no blows. His limbs and face covered with iron and gilt with a helmet, he is carried into the midst of the blocks, as though he were sure to overcome, fearless in flight, and surmounted by no daring. But the success of that war did not answer his daring enterprise,that extinguished his youth at the first flower of his life; who felt so much for the care of his dear father, that he would wish to accompany him to his fate, despising his life by the pledge of his death.*
Saxo ascribes the poem to his most sad father, which show his extraordinary love for his lost son, and his most determined spirit to die. For, throwing back the javelin in his back, he put both of his hands on the hilt, and then, raging and growling, attacked Hading, after having accomplished the death of many of them, with a most ferocious attack. But Hading, perceiving that the inevitable fate was imminent, and that it could not be averted by any means of man, soon invoked his divinities, whose worship had been accustomed from his cradle: there was suddenly a demon dressed in the form of Vagnoptus, and he raised the part of his worshiper and student to turn again into a dangerous sort. Therefore it was necessary that Asmund, who could not be overcome by human strength, should go down in battle with the demons, although he did not die entirely unavenged. For when Hading, aided by his own deities, had pierced him by a spear in a thong, among the few survivors of his life he punished the wounded slayer's foot with a perpetual lameness, sending before him a sharp reproach, that, placing all his aid in the art of magic, he was overgrown with pitiful crimes, and was filled with stains and vices, like an infamous and stinking taint. Immediately afterward, the body of the slain Asmund was carried at a solemn funeral, and the royal funeral was arranged at Uppsala. But his wife Gumilda, imitating many famous women, whom the history of the heathens recommend; that she might not survive the death of her husband, committed suicide with his sword, and was entrusted to the same tomb (with her husband) by his friends, worthy to be associated with the ashes of a man, of whom she declared a manly spirit and great deeds under the female sex.

[Hading's slaying of Asmund here is as related in Saxo, where Asmund's queen is called Gunnhild, and may be dated as we have seen to 1581 BC.]

### Chapter 11

***Uffo*** the son of Asmund, after the death of his father, was substituted in his father's kingdom by hereditary succession; to whom Hading did no less business, than formerly to his father and grandfather, whom he had at length extinguished, exhausted by many wars. For he was now insolent with the same confidence, and even more in the minds of his ancestors, after he had brought so many triumphs from many and most powerful enemies. For he was not content to slay father and son by the aid of some crafty spirits, he added ravaging the Swedish country far and wide. Whereupon Uffo, having collected his forces from all quarters, prepared himself to take up arms, then, making a most bitter battle against the plunderer, compelled him to return to his own Dania, following from the rear as he fled, to whom it seemed that Sweden had fallen to his own. I do not, however, ignore that Saxo wrote that Uffo had crossed over into Denmark with a naval army, while in the mean time, the Swedish field was laid waste by Hading, as is said to have been formerly done with similar cunning by Agatocles; who, when he was besieged by the Carthaginians in the city of Syracuse, transferring the war to Africa, besieged the city of Carthage. Nor was the crime of the most prudent Scipio Africanus dissimilar, who turning his army to Carthage from the city of Rome, he compelled the warlike Hannibal to return to his own home in defense of his own countrymen, after harassing the Romans in Italy after a long war. Having fought a battle in Denmark, Uffo returned to Sweden, neither defeated nor victorious. But Hading, after the winter had passed, and on the return of the heat of spring, being enraged by the deities, returned to Sweden by a hideous omen, and there he finished the quagmire of the most unfortunate in warfare. For when he perceived that he was unequal to the strength of Uffo, he was compelled to take refuge in the narrowness of the woods, and the mountains, and the valley groves, and the hiding-places; where he was most stubbornly besieged by Uffo, and was permitted to neither advance to war nor return to Denmark. Whence it fell, that he and his soldiers, after so long a siege, having consumed their victuals, and being reduced to extreme misery, first began to soothe their hunger with woody mushrooms and grasses; then, having consumed their roots, bark, and herbs even to the darker ground, they rummaged with iron the bowels of cats and dogs; when they had not provided it, the fury of the starving horses was borne to the unclean corpses: at length the horses, cats, mice, and all the abominable ashes of death, which could be found, had been carried off more filthily than delicately (for a crime, as their own Saxo testifies) that the unfortunate gluttony of the unfortunate Danes turned to human flesh, to drive off extreme famine.

### Chapter 12

Accordingly, many of those who had hitherto been untouched by the enemy's sword, were slaughtered by the spear at home as food for the rest. What greater unhappiness then could have been left to the besieged Danes, when they devoured their slain by mutual slaughter? Therefore that song which Saxo introduces is not from any nocturnal apparition, to be inculcated in the middle of night by the Danes driven into the utmost anguish of despair, but from some prudent adviser, who endeavored to deter the folly of the Danes from attacking Sweden, when he seems to speak thus by reproaching the Danes with the afflicted:

*You leave your ancestral lands with filthy fortune, and you believe that this kingdom will easily succumb to your war: but this is the blind mind that believes such things. Mars is not aware of the vast extent of Sweden, you will turn your back on Mars, fear and flight will accompany you. The use of the sword is available to any coward. A free hand will slay you, and he will double his slaying.*
This prediction was fulfilled in the frequent massacres of the Danes not only the following day, but the events of the following centuries, and, when necessary, from now on will be fulfilled. It might have seemed strange, that the Swedes had afflicted the Danes themselves with so much importunate and protracted harassment, and had compelled them to that extreme despair, unless the manifold injuries inflicted upon Uffo were considered. He held the besieged invader of the kingdom, the ravager of Sweden, the desolator of his country, and the murderer of his father and grandfather: and though his clemency wished him to be spared, yet his piety toward his unjustly murdered parents seemed to demand revenge. Therefore Hading, after he had discovered that Uffo was lying in wait for him with the most obstinate hatred, he vowed that he had no other thing than his own head and life, and saving himself by the night sally and flight, retired to Helsinki: from which he finally reached Denmark, through Norway, after overcoming many and great dangers. Being in this position, he perceived that war was being prepared for him by the Biarmienses, under the command of one Tumingus, prompted to it by Uffo: from this war, indeed, because he learned to arrange the military by the instruction of his deities, the victor escaped; and having gained the victory, he retired into the metropolis of Upsala, so that by the pretense of a conversation he might crush Uffo. But Uffo, sensing his peril, turned it upon the authors, that Hading received as much protection from the habit of night, as from the hiding-places of the woods: bursting forth from them again, he assailed Uffo by a treacherous ambush: whose body his brother *Hunning* carrying out in a very grand funeral, he buried at Upsala in the royal tombs.

[Anderson, following Bertius, allots Uffe son of Asmund 44 years, which would be from 1581 to 1537 BC, when Hadding slew him as he had his father Asmund in 1581 BC and grandfather Swipdag in 1589 BC. Saxo adds that at some point in Uffe's reign, Hadding ventured to Norway where he rescued Ragnhild, daughter of Hakon, King of the Nitherians, from betrothal to a 'giant', whom Hadding slew and married Ragnhild. The Nitherians seem to have been located in Northern Norway, though Crantz asserts Hakon with Hadding's help was able to gain Norway itself (ie Raumica), which Uffe had hitherto held part of, as apparently his frontline with Hadding had stretched across Swedia and Norway. This was before Hadding was attacked by the Biarmenses under 'Thuning', who Saxo explains was answering Uffo's bounty on Hadding for the reward of Uffo's fair daughter in marriage. Uffo evidently never had a son as his brother Hunding would succeed him.]

### Chapter 13

***Hunning***, who succeeded in the place of his deceased brother Uffo, inherited the first care, because arms were to be procured against Hading; both because he was the murderer of his brother and of his parents, and also because he was attempting to rule over the vacant kingdom by his accustomed importunity. But when Hading added to the recent memory what calamities he had endured from Uffo in previous years and battles, he easily (lest it should again happen the same or greater) permitted him to be brought to those conditions by fair arbitrators; that Hunding would enjoy peaceably his paternal and grandfather's kingdom, promised to Hading, and mutually accepted by him in the faith that they should preserve inviolable peace and friendship among themselves until the end of the spirit of life; and that they would not lend their ears or minds to those who were to break the treaty between them, sow hatred, and attempt to undermine the concord; but would take care to defend and enlarge one another's interests, honor, repose, dignity, and authority. By these agreements being established between so powerful kings, how many noble deeds, we think, have ensued, which are considered far more worthy of crude and pious genius, than arms, sword, stealing, and monsters of such vices, which are wont to accompany the furies of war? In the first place also came that daughter of peace, namely, the venerable power of laws, who brought with her all the services of justice, from which neither fortitude of mind, nor prudence could be absent in doing good things: which though they are more beautiful than all the stars, yet at the time when Mars reigns with his Bellona, are so trampled, that no vestige of charity would ever appear. Wherefore peace having been restored to the earth, there returned that most beautiful dance of all the virtues, among which the civil tranquility had by no means the deepest place of these two kings, whose constant and lasting friendship no old time abolished. For among them it was so arranged that, on discovering the fate of one another, he should hasten his death to himself as quickly as possible, lest he alone hastened to the grave without a companion.

[1537 BC, after Hading of Dania slew Uffe of Swedica, he made a firm and solemn peace with Uffe's brother Hunning or Hunding, whom he raised to the throne of Sweden. This year thus marks the end of hostilities between the two realms that had been more or less continuous since 1669 BC when Gram, still a prince of Dania, had killed king Sigtryg of Swedia over his daughter Gro.]

### Chapter 14

In the meantime it happened that a false report was carried around, that Hading, King of Denmark, had fallen by the ambuscades of his son-in-law Gutthorm (whom he long before had united to his sister Uluilda) in an assault. When this report was brought forward, Hunding decided to declare his royal loyalty so that all posterity would understand that he had more influence than life in him. Accordingly, having summoned the nobility of the whole kingdom, he provided such a magnificent banquet which he would prepare for his dead friend; and so that nothing should seem to be wanting to the royal majesty, the king ordered the butler to store up a huge jar of grain or honey filled with wine. The King himself, the butler carrying around his office, was supposed to fulfill the ministry of piety. For he was endeavoring to show in every way that he would not gladly and joyfully concede to fate so much on account of his friend's fall, as on account of the preservation of the good faith that had been given him. Therefore, after he had noticed that they were all steeped in drunkenness, and threw himself headlong into a jar of the sweetest liquor, he seemed to show that that kind of death ought to be considered more sweet, which, when undertaken in accordance with friendship and faith, deserves immortal glory and praise. Upon learning this, Hading thought, by what kind of death he might be able to give a greater grace, or an equal, to a most faithful friend, (although it is difficult to believe that such extraordinary valor, or friendship could be surpassed in equal measure) not by their satraps and nobles, but by the whole people in the scene (lest treachery should be noted) he permitted himself to be hanged in a snare, so that he might become the most certain of all, that the faith he once promised had more to do with life than that he would fall away, and at length he thought he would necessarily perish. Albert Crantz maintains that this was a very funny death of two kings, but I think it was of the utmost importance to the bravery of the great Greek and Latin princes, who voluntarily surrendered themselves to death, lest they violate the promise of faith.

[As we have seen above, Hading of Dania's reign ended in 1535 BC, thus his puppet ruler Hunding of Swedia's reign ended that year as well, having ruled only two years, 1537-1535 BC.

Into this short reign Saxo inserts the tale of Toste the Wicked, a Jutland renegade who first defeated the Saxon general Syfrid in the field, then persuaded Syfrid to join with him for a campaign on Hading. After wins and losses on both sides, Toste eventually escapes to Britannia where he conscripts another force, but Hading slays him upon his return to Dania. At least this last event must be placed during the years 1537-1535 of Hunding's reign, but some or most of the preceding events had likely transpired when Uffo ruled Swedia.

The Irish historian Keating says the Britanni had settled in Albion and given it the name Britannia, long before Brutus of Troy arrived there in 1116 BC -- being descended from a Nemedian chieftain named Briotan Mael, who had landed there in ca. 1730 BC. Toste of Jutland's activities in Britannia dated to ca. 1535 BC thus do not seem like an asynchronism.

At any rate Saxo has it following on that episode, that Hadding survives an assassination attempt by the Gutthorm who had married his daughter (not sister) Ulfhild, leading to the unfortunate rumor that he had died, and the death of both Hunding and Hading in 1535 BC.

In Aventinus' account of German history, following Emperor Larein who seems to have ruled 1597-1546 BC, we must assume the "Manethonian Gap" wiped out records of the intervening years until the Emperor Ylsing ruled 1298-1245 BC. Saxo's anecdote of Toste the Wicked of Jutland and the Saxon 'general' Syfrid is thus the only clue about conditions in Germany right after Larein. The Scandinavian records available to Saxo and Magnus were not subject to the Manethonian gap, and continue right through it, but will feature a later, longer gap roughly 1047-275 BC.]

### Chapter 15

Although ***Regnerus*** should have immediately succeeded to his father Hunding in the hereditary right of his father's kingdom, yet there were before him many and very great misfortunes to be overcome. Among these, that stepmother seems to have had the chief place of hatred, whereby he was often pursued for death by ***Queen Thorilda***: who in proportion as she considered his character more distinguished in her stepson, so much the greater she attempted to lay an ambush on his head; nor would she remain inactive until she had swallowed up his blood in the cup of cruelty, unless his father's friend (whose great influence was in the kingdom) had repressed her wicked endeavors. Yet the stubborn indignation of his stubborn stepmother advanced so far, that at length she had ruled over him and his brother *Thoraldus*, the kings of cattle, in contempt, so that, being affected by that extreme disgrace, they would someday cease to aspire to the extent of his father's kingdom. But the fates did not endure, that the blood of the royal family might be forgotten in the midst of the anguish of the slave's condition, whom the nature of others had begotten governor and ruler. For *Suanhuita*, the daughter of King Hading of the Danes, in order to secure the marriage of a most illustrious young man by a glorious deed, (adopted as a sister in the family) arrived in Sweden after a long and difficult journey, to a place where she had formerly learned that the royal boys had been unworthy of being exiled: who, when they saw that a woman of so great estate was approaching, from shame on account of the deformity of worship, and at the same time confounded with fear on account of their stepmother's treachery, which they suspected to be beneath it, they asserted that they were kings and herders of cattle; but on the contrary, Suanhuita (as she was an expert in Danish eloquence) endeavored to show that she was persuaded by many arguments brought forward, that they were not of slaves, but of kings; from the habit, from the flashing of the lights, from the keenness of the sight, from the eagerness of the pupils, from the glittering of the eyes, from the beauty of the form, from the brightness of the face and the countenance, from the pleasant and ingenuous appearance. But a decent and convenient response was not found lacking to the King. Servants, he says, are not always devoid of virtue. Virility is often hidden under a dirty dress; nor is it fitting that a man should be measured from clothing, but clothing from a man: more so from virtue, than from the race of men; renown is proven: nobility is from another's good, virtue depends on one's own: the glory of the parents is obscured, when the perversity degenerates from the uprightness of their children; and who can justly say that those slaves are ignoble, who compensate by the greatness of their virtues for the loss of their race? In short, who is ignorant of the wise, that all slaves originated from kings, and that all kings originated from slaves?

[Bertius allows 48 years from the accession of Hunding in Sweden, 1537 BC, and that of his son Ragnar in 1489 BC. However it appears since Hunding died in 1535 BC, after only about two years, the remaining 46 years of his reign to 1489 BC should be alotted to Hunding's queen, Thorhild, who kept Hunding's sons by another wife, Ragnar and Thorwald, as lowly livestock keepers.

King Hadding of Danica, who also died in 1535 BC, was then succeeded by his son Frodo or Frotho I. We learn from Saxo that while Queen Thorhild ruled Swedia, Frodo of Danica engaged in a series of eastern campaigns, first defeating the Curetes under king Dorn, then conquering the Ruthenians under King Trannon. When the Ruthenians killed those sent to collect tribute, Frodo returned and took their city Rotel (identified with Ridala, modern Haapsalu Estonia), then seized the city Paltisca (Polotsk, Belarus) from its king Vespasins. Frodo then beseiged Duna, still under a king Handwan, either the same or different as had been attacked by Hadding in about 1590 BC.

Princess Suanhuita's name is remarkably similar to Sanahuitta (Shanakhwitta, earlier Shinahuttum), a city northeast of Hattusash in Anatolia, besieged by Hittite king Hattushili I who ruled during this same timeframe (1551-1528 BC). This city is also mentioned as where the earlier king of Hatti, Hishmi-sharuma, had named Labarna as his successor, which would have been 1593 BC. But the similarity of names may be a complete coincidence.]

### Chapter 16

At length, after Suanhuita had sufficiently ascertained the youth's constancy and gallantry, and the other distinguished qualities of his mind, with great admiration, she disclosed herself, and her race, and her purpose, to explain why she had arrived, and ordered him to be of a brave mind, and to hope for better things than the wishes of his stepmother. Then, when the gifts were brought out of her repository, and the clothes fitting for the honor of the country, she caused him to appear more dressed, discarding the squalid clothing of poverty. Allured by this remarkable kindness, the young man consented to the marriage of a girl so clear and conspicuous in all honesty. Having now become a bride, in order that she might not show herself as an incongruous, or a worthless dowry, she took care to hand over the sword to her beloved bridegroom in various conflicts, and against monsters, attacks of monsters, and all the efforts of his enemies; manifold entreaties to undertake his courage were added, as Saxo the Dane recalls in poems of great importance to him, who ascribes those words to a girl, that seem to have been drawn not from a woman's, but from a man's breast. For the women of that tempest were, especially among the North winds themselves, little lower in military strength than the men themselves. Not content with having delivered up the sword to her new bridegroom, he added to his family, and his family income, and provisions: with which furnished, he approached the old friends of the deceased parent, and exaggerated complaints against his cruel stepmother: that he was shoved down by her to the most unworthy hero, without any consideration of the royal blood; nay, without any respect for his humanity, that he was compared not only to the most vile slaves, but also to the unwise beasts. The nobles, dismayed by these severe and just complaints, immediately placing him on the throne of the kingdom, decreed both against the impious woman Thorilda herself, as well as against the other enemies of Ragnar, that they must be punished with the sword. Ragnar, therefore, from the most abject and despairing condition, having been elevated to the royal scepter, most worthy of honor promoted Suanhuita to the queen and consort; who, bearing to him his son *Hothebrotus* as successor to the throne, sent a commendable memory of his name and honesty to all his posterity. Of course she always and everywhere showed herself to her country, and to the princes, and to the most noble people, that she was believed to have come from no other source, but was born in Sweden. She not only checked her brother *Frotho*, king of the Danes, but led the wars into Sweden from the parts of the East; nor did she restore them to freedom before she had pardoned *Ubbo* her brother-in-law, because he had seized Denmark by force and arms. This pardon being obtained in favor of Ubbo, Ragnar added so much the number of his soldiers to his army, as much as he had taken away from him, when he had just finished a most vigorous war. But Frotho's sincere gratitude did not answer the merits of Ragnar, to whom, again, having repaired his army, he turned a serious mass of war with no provocation; yet fortune favored the just part of Ragnar, and destroyed Frontho himself (albeit girt with all his mighty Danish powers). When the enemy had been removed, Ragnar, having gained the protracted and supreme tranquility of the times, preserved the kingdoms and peoples under a peaceful harmony of just and good laws, until he was full of days at the city of Upsala, and his life changed to death. Nor did his dearest wife Suanhuita survive long, after half of her heart had been torn from her bowels and beheld locked up in a tomb, so much indeed, and she drew so much unconquerable pain from that death, that it was necessary for her to concede to her fate, when she demanded no other thing to earnestly seek a remedy, than death itself, by which she might be joined in the same tomb with her deceased husband.

[Frotho of Danica, son of Hadding, is allotted a long reign of 77 years by Anderson, placing him from 1535 to 1458 BC. In 1489 BC, when his sister Swanhwita found Ragnar in Sweden, married him, and Ragnar was elected king there in place of his stepmother Thorhilda, Frotho was engaged in the Eastern wars when around the same time, his regent in Danica, Ubbo, married to his other sister Ulfhild, tried to usurp the throne there. This is the Ulfhild who had previously been wed to the earlier usurper Gutthorm. Frotho, who must have regarded Queen Thorhilda as his ally, first invaded Sweden, but was stopped by his own sister Swanhuita, who convinced him to make peace with her husband Ragnar. As Saxo relates, Ragnar then entered Danica himself and captured the usurper Ubbo, punishing him by stripping him of princess Ulfhild and wedding her to a noble named Scot. Saxo claims the name of Scotland was derived from this same Scot, but that is inconsistent with the Scots' own annals, and may be dismissed.

Saxo then details further campaigns of Frodo undertaken to the west, against Frisia, up the Rhine, then invading Britannia, defeating its unnamed king, as well as Melbrik governor of Scotland, and Daleman governor of London. These campaigns must be placed in the years between 1489 and 1458 BC, in which year Frodo again made war on Ragnar in Sweden, but fell in battle, being succeeded in Danica by his son Halfdan.

As for Ragnar, Bertius assigns him only 29 years, which cannot be correct, as it would bring us to only 1460 BC, before Frodo's death. Indeed to synchronize with the following reigns, this must be extended to 69 years, or until 1420 BC. If Ragnar had indeed been born to Hunding in 1535 BC, this would give him an estimated age of 115 years, which is not unthinkable given Magnus refers to him in the margin as *senex*.]

### Chapter 17

***Hothebrotus***, the son of Ragnar, lost nothing from his father's virtues, as he strove to become a successor in the kingdom, so in the greatness of his affairs. But after he had recalled to mind the serious and notable wrongs which the Russians, the Estones, Sembi, Curetes, and the other Eastern peoples, allied with Frotho the Dane, perpetrated against his father Ragnar, and the kingdom of Sweden, he established the principles of their wars against their own lands and peoples, as justly, so to stretch out even more powerfully. Nor was there any one of the nobles, or the people in the whole kingdom, who declined such a just and necessary expedition. Therefore the power of the Swedes and Goths having been poured out into those and other neighboring regions, he shed an immense slaughter of the peoples; and, extending his empire far and wide, he prescribed laws and taxes to the nations defeated by him. Then, returning to Sweden with a magnificent victory, he long and peacefully governed the kingdoms and nations that were under him; and in the mean time he united to himself the beautiful virgin *Gyritha*, of the most illustrious family of the Norwegian kings, by whom he begat two sons, *Attilus* and *Hotherus*. At length, after he had considered that military discipline is undermined by the tranquility of long periods of time, and that the Swedish and Gothic youth, unless they are continually employed in the practice of arms, degenerate more easily from the strength of their parents and ancestors: therefore looking around he thought it to be a fair title for prosecuting war. But when the inhabitants of the East, the Ruthenians, and the Estones, and the others, who had long been subdued by him, depended on tributes, they would keep their orders, and attempt no rebellion; nor could he make war upon the Norwegians, notwithstanding their ancient harmony, and respect for their new kinship, he subjoined in his mind the memory of the injuries which Frotho the Danish king had inflicted on the Swedes and the Goths in that unjust war (in which he had formerly died): provoked by this too, he drew out all the strength of his kingdoms against *Roe*, the king of the Danes, the grandson of Frotho, and, having joined in the most bitter battle, defeated him. But while the battle was carried on in Denmark, and the auxiliaries of the Danes were easily employed in restoring the war, Roe, having recovered from the strength of his new recruits of the soldiers, again unsuccessfully tempted the war. For strengthened against Hothebrotus, the unconquered warrior of the Goths and the Swedes, the second fortune of war was equally unfortunate, as he experienced the first; he would have then lowered himself to the conqueror of Hothebrotus, had not the obstinate confidence of the Danes suggested to him that he might experience the hazard of Mars even on the third day.

['Sembi' refers to the Sambians of Sambia, northeast Prussia, among those subjected by Hothebrot of Sweden. Bertius gives him 65 years of reign, which would be 1420-1355 BC. Meanwhile Halfdan son of Frotho, not mentioned by Magnus, and remembered by Saxo and *Lundenses* only as a cruel Danish king who slew his brothers Roe and Skat, is said in Anderson to have ruled 56 years, or from 1458-1402 BC. From *Beowulf* and other sources, that Roe may be the Frodo who feuded with his brother Halfdan (see below), while Skat may be the same as Taetwa, indicated in Anglo-Saxon genealogy as an ancestor of Woden - too late for the first Odin, who already appeared as a contemporary of Hadding c. 1589 BC, but appropriately placed for an ancestor of the Odin II who will appear 300 years after the first Odin, as a contemporary of Hother.

Halfdan's son, also named Roe (ie Hrothgar), thus acceded in 1402 BC, along with his brother Helge who was made co-king over the islands. Per Saxo, Helge promptly defeated king Skalk of Sklavia (*Lundense*: he slew the king of the Wends in battle) and made it a province, then he went on to defeat Hunding, son of king Syrik of Saxony, near the town of Stad, thereby acquiring Jutland from Saxony, now under his Danish generals Heske, Eyr and Ler. "*In Saxony he enacted that the slaughter of a freedman and of a noble should be visited with the same punishment.*" Helge also begat a maiden Thora of Thorey a daughter Urse, with whom he later committed incest and begat his son and heir Rolf, by the time Hothebrot of Sweden invaded and defeated his brother Roe. Helge had been preceded in this unfortunate deed by Lot, father of Moab and Ammon, by over 750 years.

*Lethrense* erroneously transposes the names of Halfdan and his son Ro, and asserts Helgi begat Ursula from Thora, daughter of Baron Rolfcarl of Lolland, while *Lundenses* says Thora was from Halland, southwest Sweden.

Halfdan and his sons Roe and Helge, and Helge's son Rolf also appear in *Beowulf* as Healfdene, Hrothgar, Halga, and Hrothwulf respectively. They also appear, along with Urse, in later Norse sagas, but with often bewildering discrepancies. In some accounts, Halfdan was killed by his brother (?) Frotho or Ingeld, who may have ruled the Heathobard (i.e. Hothbrod) territory. *Beowulf* would also add an older son of Halfdan who had ruled Dania before Hrothgar, called Heorogar, and it says Hrothgar's queen was named Wealhtheow, possibly of the Geatish Wulfing clan. The Norse sagas on the other hand generally suggest Halfdan's son Hroar (Roe or Hrothgar) fled to the Angli and married Ogn daughter of king Northri, leaving all Dania to Halga, who they say begat Yrse from the warlike Queen Aloph of Saxony. The chronology seems a bit late for the Queen Aloph mentioned by Aventinus as commanding the German Amazons roughly 1605-1545 BC, but as we are now within the *Manethonian Gap*, there could well have been a namesake of hers in Boigeria, along with Hunding and/or Syrik.]

### Chapter 18

Roe, therefore, having recovered the strength of his army, being twice conquered and routed, not as crazy and furious as he did rushing into the enemy's cliffs, immediately King perished pierced by King. Having advanced to the interior of the kingdom of Denmark, Hothebrotus the victor, took possession of the whole kingdom, gave garrisons to citadels, and directed laws and tribute to the vanquished. After this success, he returned to Sweden with no less triumph than the subjugation of Denmark, other than from the conquered countries of the East, with all shoutings of success and happiness, because by his bravery and industry the empire of Sweden had been extended and enlarged from the river Don eastward to the river Elbe, or Weser in the west. He returned to the breadth of the principality, the most ample peace and concord everywhere: to which Hothebrotus devoted no less zeal in preserving it, than he had previously spent in extending and increasing the boundaries of the kingdom, so that it might be clear that both time, and war, and peace, are most rightly governed by prudence. Finally, after a few years passed in great tranquility and peace, some of the chiefs of Sweden, when they saw that unlawful things were not allowed to them, brought forth domestic discord (the pernicious evil of all republics) to the best King, by which he was entangled, and failed to provide so very broad a line of government, that all his parts were in obedience and contained within a unit. Accordingly, the leading Danes, having obtained a suitable opportunity to rebel, and massacring the garrisons erected on the citadels of Hothebrot, revealed that they had more reason for recovering their liberty than for preserving the loyalty of servitude. Whereupon Hothebrotus, upon discovering it, drawing together his forces from the people of all his kingdoms, drew out a very powerful army: which, laying on his ships, he hastened to cross over against the revolting Danes. But when he thought that his course was in the middle and tranquility of the sea, he was suddenly overwhelmed by a very terrible storm, and breathed out among the waves of unconquerable fortitude the spirit of the sea, leaving behind him two sons of a most eminent character, *Attilus* and *Hotherus*, whom he had formerly recommended to the most eminent King *Gevarus* of Norway to be educated.

[Magnus and Saxo agree that Roe was slain by Hothebrot and succeeded in Danica by his brother and co-king Helge, but Anderson errs in giving Roe 63 years and Helge only 34 coterminous years, which must be reversed. It was thus Roe who ruled 34 years, from 1402 until 1368 BC when he was killed by king Hothebrot of Swedia in their 3rd battle. In Saxo's account, Helge himself led the rebellion and destroyed Hothebrot in a naval battle, which would have been in 1355 BC.

In the Norse *Poetic Edda*, the Helgi who had slain king Hunding of Saxony, and later slew king Hothbrot of Sodermanland (Sweden) is given a completely different genealogy, and made a scion of the Geatish house of Wulfing, rather than a Danish king. These sources make Helgi and Hothbrot into rivals for the hand of Sigrun, daughter of king Hogne of Ostergotland. Most likely, the names Helgi, Hunding and Hothbrot were appropriated by these sagas and confused with some later, or fanciful, events.]

### Chapter 19

***Attilus***, therefore, (as we have said) born of the most prudent father Hothebrotus, and instructed and educated by the wisest king Gevarus, in wondrous arts, which could contribute to civil society and military discipline, on the death of his father, both on account of his distinguished merits, and by hereditary right, he succeeded in the most magnificent principality. To him the first and foremost affair of war sprang from the rebels of the Danes. For on the death of Hothebrotus, they were stubbornly executing the rebellion which they were endeavoring during his lifetime under the command of *Helgo*, they refused tribute; they slew the Swedes, who had been left in their garrisons, and prepared arms against Attilus, and they omitted no zeal by which they might show that they were held in the infinite hatred of the Swedes. If any one of the Swedes should be slain among them, or suffer at the same time the injury of their mutilated limbs, and their loss, they enacted a law that no harm should be incurred according to the traditional laws of old, but a far cheaper valuation. Wherefore Attilus embraced the Danes in their abode in Sweden, and began to hate them with no less, nor more peaceful hatred, even his own Queen *Ursilia*, because he was of Danish blood, and began to hate them more vehemently: At length, after a long bitterness of mind conceived from the hatred of her husband, she found a more crafty and more honorable plan by which she might avenge the lasting troubles inflicted on her. For she inquired of her husband that he should summon to him from Denmark to Sweden her son *Rolvo*, whom the Danes had appointed over them, and therefore he used as a consultant and collaborator in allaying controversies between the Swedes and the Danes; asserting that it would happen, that the Danes, being persuaded by his authority and prudence, would cease from rebellion, should pay their taxes, pay their taxes, and invent no wrongs from now on. These designs of the queen indeed seemed beautiful to her credulous husband, although in truth she was plotting the oppressive treachery of his life and fortune. However, her son Rolvo, aware of his mother's machinations, was summoned. But since the mother had already spent many years in Sweden outside her birthplace, and did not recognize her son (whom she had left a young man), it was necessary that he should sign by effective documents to prove that he was the one Rolvo who had been summoned to come. The mother, being informed of her son's fidelity and constancy in the conduct of affairs, disclosed whatever treachery she had previously conceived on her husband's throat, and his treasures, in maternal confidence (in the absence of her husband). She said that at their disposal was the greatest quantity of gold which Hothebrotus had amassed from the conquered Eastern nations, and having subdued the Danes, and the ancient treasures of the former kings: and if they should be conveyed in secret into Denmark, not only would the Swedes be deprived of power and war stocks, but it would supply the Danes with timely assistance, in order that they may sooner restore themselves to liberty. Accordingly, caution and foresight is the greatest need in such a crime, lest royal severity take away the gold (a broken throat) and take away the breath of life. She commanded the rest, by thinking and by silence, that he might turn back with her.

[After 1355 BC, when Helge of Danica defeated Hothebrot of Swedica, the Danes subjected and oppressed the Swedes. However it seems Hothbrot's son Athils or Athisl was tolerated as a vassal ruler and even allowed to marry Urse, daughter of Helge and mother of Rolf. Helge himself returned to the East where he died in 1339 BC, before Rolf succeeded him.]

### Chapter 20

Meanwhile Attilus, on his return from business, when he learned that Rolvo had arrived, and to promise magnificently all the wishes and happinesses for which he had been invited, provided a banquet with magnificent and royal pomp, where, when a conversation had arisen about the various virtues and their responsibilities, the King, on being asked what virtue would adorn his royal dignity, replied that he exhibited the greatest liberality to kings and princes, and that he was more delighted in its studies than by the exercises of other virtues. Then, Rolvo being bidden to tell, what valor adorned the soldiers the most, he affirmed that military men were commended for no valor more than patience (which conquers all). This opinion he so proved against the present object, and the blazing fire, with the naked side, that he should be called by those present not only as an experienced disputant, but as an effective executor of the virtues. Being asked to show his opinion of the king's liberality, Attilus generously distributed many gifts among those present, and among other things, hanged a golden chain of great weight on Rolvo's neck, to show his glory. But whatever he weighed against the Queen and her son was expended on the most ungrateful and deceitful enemies; for for no other reason had they turned their speech to the commendation of the virtues, except that they might hide under their most distinguished names, the most infamous crimes, and the most shameless thefts, which they devised from the depths of deceit. For on the third day of the banquet, after they had stored their stolen treasures on their vehicles, and had arranged everything in order to make haste their flight sufficiently for the night, the queen, having used the kindness of the bright moon, stripping her husband of wealth and couch, and herself of her virtues and honor, turned herself to the protection of this infamous flight. In the mean time Rolvo gave words to a very gullible king, and, drawing out an hour of dialog, seized his mind, lest he should think of the Queen. At length, when she thought that she had come to secure places unencumbered by dangers, having requested permission to depart, he betook himself to the fugitives with the greatest speed; since their strength was not sufficient for the greatness of the treasures being taken away, they were compelled to throw away a great part of it, thinking that it was better to be deprived of money than of life. For Attilus was threatening them very impotunately behind their backs; and if he had not overtaken them by the speed of their vehicles, they would arrived at the ships prepared for them; for he had the greatest will to bring out the robbers with a fork, and to bring back the treasures into the confiscation from which they had been compiled: but fortune favored the fleeing ones, who, with a very vehement attempt at the oars, frustrated their pursuit.

### Chapter 21

Therefore Attilus with a bitter spirit, considering so many and so notable wrongs, namely, that the Swedes had been brutally slain in Denmark: then that the rest should be held alive in the lowest rank, and not be considered worthy, that their losses would be repaired according to the formulas of the laws; lastly, he himself having been attacked by them with so many insults and treachery, stripped of so much and so vast a treasure left to him from his ancestors, that his consort had been taken away from his side in bed; nor did they seem afterwards to be willing to suffer the injustices which they had deliberately and obstinately inflicted on the Swedes in malice; he bound himself by an oath, that he might strive with all zeal to perform whatever hatred, damage, or insults against the Danes. For this is that Attilus, whom many historians of the ancient Danes and the Swedes assert, that such hatred was kindled against the Danes, that first he might ascribe to them a barking dog, whom he called Raccho, to them as king; then, after his being torn apart by dogs, he might appoint over them the giant *Laes*. Upon his death his servant *Suio* succeeded, whom the insurmountable multitude of lice, consuming even to the bare bones, showed a horrifying kind of death to all onlookers. In our time also, at Viburg, in Denmark, a place was named for that meeting. In the mean time a certain *Hiartman* of the nobles of Sweden, kinsman of Attilus, and united in great friendship, although he had Schulda the sister of Rolvo as his consort, yet he could by no means bear with a peaceful mind so grievous injustices to his King, and to the kingdom of the Swedes, unworthy of him inflicted by Rolvo. Wherefore armed with a strong and powerful fleet, obtained by Attilus of the Goths and Swedes, he hastened to Denmark, not so that he should pay tribute (as Saxo the Dane asserts), but that he should, first of all, endeavor to restore the harmony which had been so markedly weakened; with which endeavor not succeeding, he attacks with arms, and oppresses the wrongdoer. He was most hospitably received by Rolvo, and magnificently furnished with general equipment. But because between the cups (as is still the custom of those countries) discourse of the republic, and of the right of kings, of inflicting and receiving injuries, of repairing damages, and the like of the most serious controversies, was drawn out further than convenient; stumbling upon one another, their minds were vigorously drawn to arms; a fierce and bloody battle took place, not between brave men who were rejected, but among the nobles of both sides, of whom extraordinary bravery and unconquered spirits, many and excellent poems written in their native language, are celebrated, which Saxo, by his learned and eloquent genius, converted the eloquence into Latin; and he attributed such great strength of body and mind to the Goths and the Swedes, that they might appear to have exceeded the general strength of human strength by a long distance. For, being quoted by him, the Danish warrior, Biarcho, to Hialtho his friend and comrade, says, among other things,
<poetry quoted from Saxo omitted>

[While Saxo omits the Dog king of Denmark at this juncture, he tells of a dog presiding over Norway in a much later era, in book 7. It is mentioned in *Lethrense* and *Lundenses* that upon the death of Helge of Denmark (in 1339 BC), Athisl of Sweden, called Hakon in *Lundenses*, "*sent the Danes a small dog for a king, with the warning that whoever was the first to say that it was dead would lose their life. One day as Dog sat at table, and the hounds were scrapping on the floor, he sprang from the table and they tore him to death. And no one dared tell King Hakon that.*" Athisl eventually replaces the dog (called Raccha in *Lethrense*) with Snow as governor of Denmark, with the giant Lee advising him, ruling harshly until he was eaten to death by lice when he put on gloves Lee had sent him. And only then was Helge's son and grandson Rolf 'Kraki' able to succeed him in Denmark, evidently reversing the tide so that Sweden was once again subjected and the count of Scania, Hartuar or Hiarwart, said in both those sources to be an ethnic German rather than Swede, was made vassal duke of Sweden for Rolf.

This Hiartman or Hiarwart also appears in the Norse accounts as Hjorvarth, and in *Beowulf* as Heoroweard, called there a son of Heorogar son of Healfdene.

The hero in Saxo named here as Biarcho has been identified with none other than Beowulf himself, though the text of *Beowulf* was yet unknown in Magnus' day.]

### Chapter 22

These things which have been said above, therefore I have wished to have brought from Saxo the Dane, because the praise of military prowess, which is bestowed on each other by the Swedes and Goths, is wont to be considered more true, than if it were attributed to an inhabitant and a citizen; that they were the Northerns, whom we see still continued in the same place, namely, that if a fight should be fought with arms, the Danes will receive three strokes from the Goths and the Swedes for one; but it will be contended by the words, that the Danes will return three or ten words for one word (by multiplying interest) by the Goths and the Swedes. At length, after Rolvo was slain, Hiartman seized the kingdom of Denmark. But when he was intent on arranging the affairs of the new kingdom, and entrusting his own safety to the faith of the Danes, with an overly gullible mind, he was slain at the banquet. When these things were discovered, Attilus conceived joy mingled with pain. He was greatly grieved, indeed, that his faithful friend Hartmann had been taken away by an unworthy and untimely death; but, pouring out the joy which was convenient, he exulted on account of the death of his most hated enemy Rolvo. While he was celebrating his sacrifices with extreme hilarity, he was more anxiously taken from a drink, and fell asleep for a disease from which he could be cured with difficulty; indeed Saxo affirms that he then died from overindulgence, whom he had also said previously died; these seem to me to be so repugnant to each other in a contradictory sense, that it was necessary that the other side be foreign to the truth. For the life of Attilus lasted until, after the reign of Denmark was subdued (as Saxo attests), in his victorious hands he had appointed his younger brother *Hother*, to the kingdom of Denmark. For although the Danes, after the fall of Hothebrotus, had ill-treated his son Attilus, their successor, and had attempted to avenge their liberty now under the command of Helgo, and now Rolvo, and yet, when the authors of the rebellion were taken away from them, they were at length compelled to submit their necks to the rule of the Swedes. For Attilus, on discovering the slaying of Rolvo and Hiartmann, did not immediately die on account of the intemperance of drunkenness (as Saxo relates), but was very much happy that the long-desired occasion had come, by which he might call back the minds of the Danish rebels to a more gentle manners. He therefore led into Denmark a very great army from the countries and nations that were subject to him, and took possession of the port of Zeeland, with a great number of fleets, enjoying the kindness of his impending fortune. But the Danes, when they saw that they were inferior to Attilus' power, anticipated the uncertain fortune of war by surrendering, asking more earnestly that he might be content to appoint his brother Hother as their king, who, being of a milder mind, appealed to himself the benevolence of all. After Attilus had assented to these wishes of the Danes, Hother was acclaimed king of the Danes. In this manner, the Danes under the control of the Swedes, Attilus hastened his return into Sweden with a glorious victory; and, since he was without children, he assumed Hother as a partner in the kingdom; and at last, worn out by the age of longer years, he finished his last day at Uppsala.

[Anderson, following Bertius, allots Athisl 49 years over Sweden. This seems to be counted from 1355 BC, when Helge of Danica had slain Athisl's father Hothebrot, thus ending in 1306 BC, when Athisl abdicated his title to his brother Hother. Rolf is said to have ruled 41 years from ca. 1338 BC, which brings us to 1297 BC, the same years as Hiarward's tenure as official duke of Sweden for Rolf, though Athisl and then Hother apparently remained as leaders of the resistance and titular kings during that time. In 1297 BC Rolf was slain, and Hiarward, who had joined the resistance, seized Dania but was slain the same day, at which point Athils sailed into Zeeland and installed Hother, already titular king of now-liberated Swedia, over the Danes as well.]

### Chapter 23

**Hotherus**, therefore, the son of Hothebrotus, the most powerful and most prudent king, and brother of his predecessor Attilus from both parents, succeeded in the kingdoms of Gothia and Sweden, not so much by hereditary right as by the kindness of his brother Attilus. The cases of this, if considered from the beginning, were of various importance. No one was more fit and diligent in learning the arts (which make men prudent and civil). For having been delivered by a very wise parent into the discipline of the most learned King Gevarus of Norway, he was so receptive in all his distinguished studies and ingenuous arts (which at that time were considered in practice and highest esteem) that he was believed to be able to be surpassed by none of his contemporaries: there was in him the greatest firmness of his body, a talent distinguished by many arts, and no less by exercise, which mighty strength surpassed, as yet, an early age, with the most fruitful endowments of mind. It was then given the greatest disgrace to kings and princes, if they were overcome by them in virtue and wisdom, whom they outranked in dignity and royal authority. Accordingly, they were considered happy, and those of the land were, when princes more wise than powerful ruled over them. A young man of so great and so brilliant a hope, after he had departed from his boyhood, he experienced the first difficulty of his affairs on account of the marriage of the maiden Nanne, the daughter of his teacher King Gevarus. For, as she was of a rare and undiscovered beauty, the son of Othin, *Balder* duke of Zeeland, demanded her in marriage with very stubborn entreaties: but because it was not permitted to the father in a ambiguous manner to freely place the daughter herself on account of the power of both suitors, it was important that the daughter's intention was to be consulted by both, lest anything should seem to have been presumed against her unwilling father's severity. Upon learning this, Balder entered the territories of Gevarus armed with the grace of suing for Nanne, and, attempting to entice her with the exquisite enticements of words, was unable to obtain or extort any assent from his vows, since the maiden would change from one side to another by the various excuses, that she might not consent to her embrace. For she says, that since he is a god himself, and begotten of the seed of the gods, that it would be unworthy to be associated with a mortal bond with a god, and the promises of the gods are not wont to be sufficiently constant, who are often wont to break down the agreements and the bonds of alliances which they had contracted with the unequal. Balder being repulsed, drew together all the strength of the Danish and Saxon people to arms, and at the same time endeavored to display them, using the art of soothsaying inventions (as Saxo the Dane says), to show that they were not only men, but also gods, who had called them into an alliance of wars against the enemy Hotherus, and summoned them armed with a great army and unconquerable arms, and he flew to the spot immediately. But Hother did not lack the arts by which such gods could be repulsed and conquered. For he was no less skilled in magic art than Balder himself.

[Hother, as we have seen, fully succeeded his brother Athils in Swedia as titular king in 1306 BC, while the latter remained alive. Hiarward was allied with them, though nominal vassal duke for Rolf of Dania. The remainder of this chapter is, as in Saxo, a 'flashback' beginning in 1355 BC when his father Hothebrod was slain and he was left as an infant in the court of king Gewar of Norway. His struggles for the hand of Nanna with his rival Balder duke of Zeeland, called son of Odin, took place during Rolf's reign (1338-1297 BC).

The legendary rivalry of Hother, and Odin's son Balder is depicted in the Icelandic *Eddas* showing that they were both deified by the pagan Scandinavians. Balder is said there to have had a son Forseti, while the traditional Anglo Saxon genealogies name Brond, son of Baldag, son of Woden as an ancestor of the royal houses of Kent, Bernicia, Deira, and Wessex.

In *Lundenses*, Hother is called, probably erroneously, a king of Saxony, and his mother is not called Gyritha of Norway, but rather a daughter of Hadding of Dania, whereby he is called nearest kin to the Danish throne following Rolf.]

### Chapter 24

Wherefore they entered into a naval war with such obstinate arms, that they might seem to be hemmed in mutual destruction not by the forces of man, but by the tricks of infernal specters. Balder, being defeated in this war, sufficiently proved that his own, and the divinity of his fellow-gods was such, and so weak, that he could be conquered and despised by men. Then the victor, Hotherus, after the defeat of Balder, and his fleet sunk, and having destroyed *Galder*, the King of Saxony with his whole army, he brought with him a new and beautiful bride, Nanna to Sweden, the victory was as glorious to all, as Balder's ridicule and disgraceful flight. Not long after the marriage had been completed, a delay did not occur; he subdued the kingdom of Denmark with the assistance of Attilus (as we mentioned above). But while he believed the Danish faith to be firm and steadfast, and was occupied with pacifying the territories of the kingdoms of Sweden in his father's kingdom, behold a messenger sped up in too much haste, who affirmed that the Danes had raised Balder, the most bitter rival of Hother, to the throne of the kingdom of Denmark. The opinion of our ancestors (says Saxo) was tossed with such a critical censure; for he was unwilling to say that their faith had been broken and their integrity violated. Wherefore Hotherus, having collected his army (as chance offered), sailed for Denmark, thinking that it would come to pass that, considering the Danes' loyalty, they would soon exclude Balder, the occupier of another kingdom (seeing the legitimate king). But having experienced a far lower faith than his own opinion, after having fought a very bitter battle with Balder, he scarcely escaped by flight, and escaped into Juthia. For the Danes besieging his fleet, after defeating them, hindered their return to Sweden. Therefore, after he had completed his winter quarters among the Juthians, and had given his name to the village in which he had dwelt, he went back to Sweden, alone and unaccompanied: when, in the presence of the nobles, having been summoned to a public meeting, the faith of the Danes being condemned, he complained that he had suffered the most severe punishments for his excessive credulity, and that he wished for the whole time to abstain from the lands and conduct of the Danes. Then the nobles, not a little excited in their minds, denounced the ease of his mind, because he had rashly conferred upon them, who were attempting an open rebellion, accompanied by only one and another group of soldiers, there he would experience the offices of entire faith, where deceit and treachery had violated all the rights of fidelity. Accordingly, they must strive very much, so that if he wished to avenge the contempt of his majesty, and to recover the titles of the lost of his bravery, and at length bring back the brightness of his reputation to his former glory, let him be of a brave and firm mind: he will remember that he is the King of many and of the mightiest of nations; most brave, and no less cunning, than the brave, against which he extends not one centurion, but the whole power of the Swedes and Goths. By persuading and convincing these things, they drew back his mind from deep despair to arms and battles. For that exhortation of the nobles was so effective, that he, who had long been convicted of aversion to the human race, and had decided to take refuge in the hiding-places of the woods, now doing more favorably to his mind, summoned an election, recruited his soldiers, prepared an army, and vigorously executed all the offices of the most prudent Prince; and, finally, when all things were properly prepared, he led out his fleet, which could not be easily despised by the enemy, or could not be conquered.

[King Galder of Saxony is an important synchronization, as he is called Gelder by Saxo, Galter by Aventinus, and Galates II in French sources and the *Manethonian Supplement* where he appears immediately after the gaps. The latter states that he reigned among the Celts, roughly from 1318 BC, "*overcame the Sarmatians and founded Galathas in Asia*". Aventinus similarly says "*During this time of this king Ylsing [in Germany, ca. 1298-1245 BC], the Germans with their king Galter fell upon Asia.*" This indicates that Galder was not only king of the Celts, but also of the Teutonic Cimmerians who campaigned in Sarmatia and Asia Minor, if not king of Germany itself. This is more or less consistent with the French accounts and confirms the general synchronization. However, the date given for the next king of Celtica in the *Supplement*, Namnes, seems to correspond with 1267 BC. If Galder perished that late, then the notice of it in Saxo and Magnus would be placed too early, to just before Hother acquired Nanna and was acclaimed as king of Dania in 1297 BC. This may be resolved if we assume Ylsing actually succeeded the slain Galder in 1298 BC in both Germany and Celtica, turning the latter over to Namnes in 1267 BC.

Saxo adds further details about this struggle. After defeating and making peace with Gelder, Hother ventures to Halogaland (northern Norway), where he helps their petty king (*regulus*) Helgi obtain the hand of Thora, daughter of king Kuse of the Finns and Biarmenses. At this point Balder invades Norway to obtain Nanna from Gewar, is intercepted and defeated by Hother in the naval battle from which Balder escapes, and in which Gelder is destroyed - and given a funeral by Hother, now apparently his ally. After this Hother occupies Zeeland and is acclaimed king of Denmark (1297 BC); however once he had returned to Sweden, Balder likewise occupied Zeeland as a rival claimant. Hother swiftly responds, but is obliged to winter in Jutonia.]

### Chapter 25

Balder, having drawn up arms against the Danes, received Hother in battle: a fierce and uncertain battle was made, and a battle of the most courageous spirits was begun, until the darkness of the night brought an end to the fighting. But Hotherus, thinking nothing should be forgotten, changed his mind and entered into the camp of the enemy by night, to examine their own devices; and upon learning this, he went to a more cautious and crafty battle; in which Balder, having received a mortal wound, departed from the battle dying; and after three days had elapsed, the torture of the wound was excessive, not without the public sorrow of the Danes. For who can believe with how much weeping and mourning they buried their god Balder, on account of whom they had waged so many bloody wars, had lost so many citizens, and had violated their oath? But his death and burial plainly show that the worshipers of the vain deity had subdued their vain hope. If his divinity had been perfect, he would not have allowed his venerable Danes to be humbled under the yoke of the Swedes, to whom the vanquished were again compelled to extend their hands. Accordingly, Hotherus, returning to Sweden with a triumph, and having obtained protracted and quieter times, reigned happily and peacefully for many years, in which also he wisely governed the kingdom of Norway. For since his King Gevarus (by whom he had been brought up) whose daughter he had as his wife, had been slain by his rivals under the command of *Gauton*, he did not rest until he had severely punished his slayer, and had transferred the paternal kingdom to his sons and heirs, *Herletus* and *Geritus*. In his reign, even for years, the Danes, with low heads and tributes, obeyed the kingdom of Sweden, until *Bous*, the son of Odin, king of the Ruteni, stubbornly pondering the vengeance of his brother Balder, threatened and declared war on Hother; his son ***Rodericus*** was to be appointed as a successor in his father's kingdom; and after obtaining this, he went on to war against Bous, and lost his victory and life. Here Saxo the Dane seems to have somewhat spared the truth, when he writes that the Curetes, and the Swedes, freed from the burden of their tribute in the same manner by the death of Hother, had made up their minds to attack Denmark (which they were accustomed to embrace by annual tributes) by arms. I do not believe that Saxo was so dull of talent, that he said that the Swedes were tributaries to the Danes, when they subjugated Denmark to their own King Hother, and that not once, but in a double battle and a double victory; first when they subjugated to themselves the port Isora of Zealand with a great number of their fleet; then when (after Balder's slaying) they again recovered the same Denmark with an armed hand, and held it under full dominion under the yoke until the death of Hother. Since these things are plainly asserted by Saxo in the context of history, I cannot persuade myself that those very words have come forth from his mind. For it is very different, to subjugate kingdoms, and to rule over them, and to pay tribute to the defeated from them, since the victors were wont to exact tribute from the conquered, not on the contrary the conquered from the victors. Now let us turn the pen to Roderic.

[Anderson gives Hother 42 years as king of Denmark, hence 1297-1255 BC. In 1255 BC Hother was slain by Boe ('Both' in *Lundense*, 'Vali' in *Eddas*), king of the Ruteni, brother of Balder; Hother was succeeded in both Swedia and Dania by his son Roderic. Hother must have been aged around 100, for his father Hothebrod had been slain in 1355 BC. Bertius allots Hother 78 years as king in Swedia, which seems erroneous, unless perhaps Athisl had made him a co-king in 1333 BC, but Bertius makes no clear indication of that.

After Balder was slain by Hother (ca. 1296 BC), Saxo inserts additional tales regarding his father Odin, including his hearing the prophecy that Rinda, daughter of the king of Ruteni, would bear him a son who would avenge Balder. After four years he finally seduces her, then the son Boe is born, then Odin learns that the council of gods at Byzantium have ejected him from their number, and replaced him with a certain Oller, who receives the title of 'Odin' for the next ten years, before Odin reclaims his position at Byzantium and is reinstated, with more prestige than ever. As the previous mention of Odin showed him flourishing around 1589 BC (chapter 9 above), some 300 years earlier, we may justly wonder from this account if 'Odin' had not become an elective title, for this could hardly be the same individual. This "Odin II" would fit the Anglo Saxon royal genealogies that would make him son of Frithwulf, son of Finn, son of Godwulf, son of Guta, son of Taetwa, who would probably be brother of king Halfdan (1458-1402 BC).

Subsequent to this (1281 BC or later), Saxo tells us that Hother avenged his stepfather king Gewar of Norway, who had been slain by his own satrap Gunne; having in turn slain this Gunne, Hother instated Gewar's sons Herlek and Gerit over Norway.]

### Chapter 26

Therefore ***Roderic***, whom Hotherus begat from Nanna the daughter of King Geuar, not only on account of his last will's entreaties, which the same father Hotherus, before entering the last war with Prince *Boe* of the Ruteni, had extended to his nobles, but also on account of the hereditary succession, arrived at the scepters of the kingdom of Sweden. But he was compelled to undertake the same and similar affair with the Danes, as his grandfather Hothebrotus, then his uncle Attilus, and finally his father Hotherus himself had endured. For the Danes, as from the beginning, omitted nothing by which to increase their honor, so, with the passing of time, disdaining him, and on his return to Sweden, they created for themselves another Prince and King (as we shall say soon after). But the story must begin from the beginning, which we have extracted from the ancient books of the Swedes, in which it is clear that Roderic united Denmark, after the death of his father, to the kingdom of Sweden, and that the first war had been arranged against the Ruteni, the slayers of his father Hotherus, and that they had been conquered, and brought under the rule of the Swedes, the whole of their kingdoms had turned their power to the Curetes and other nations of the Vandals. These, too, lest they should be altogether surprised by war, had long before taken care to provide for themselves beforehand, endeavoring very much to destroy or put to flight the army of the approaching enemy, shoved down into ambuscades. But with cunning surpassing cunning, Rodrigo shot back the ambuscades against the authors. For when the Vandals lay hidden within the woods and forests not very far from the harbor where the Swedish fleet had been contracted, and by the absence of the soldiers expected the opportunity of sinking their ships, they, being surrounded by those whom they hoped to surround themselves, were slain. The rest of the army of the Vandals refrained from attacking the enemy; yet in them was found a warrior of obstinate mind, a sorcerer distinguished for his physical posture, office, and profession, and he challenged them to a one on one contest. And no less the king, placing the reward of the duel with a golden chain of immense weight and prowess, raised the youth to acquire the glory of valor and honor, and the reward. Then there was found in the army a daring champion of spirit, Ubbo the Dane, or (as others write) Frisius, who, provoked by the greatness of the reward, promised the encounter: When requested by him, Roderic decided to lay down the precious chain, which was presented to him as the reward of valor and victory, into the other's hands, and presently the bracelets and chain (as it was placed on the ship) thrown off by a large cast, he resolved to extend his request, but the greatness of that endeavor failed in the interval. By which time it came to pass, that they collapsed on this side of their destination, and perished when intercepted by the waves; whence there fell to Rodericus the surname of Slingabond (which means a sling line or slinger).

### Chapter 27

Nevertheless, the constant spirit of the warrior, in whom there was a greater appetite for courage than for gold, being not stirred by that chance, entered the field in a merry spirit, and, having defeated his opponent the Vandal warrior, obtained the victory, although being mutually wounded, he immediately went out of the field and exhaled his spirit. On his return to Denmark, *Horvendillus*, whom he had first promoted to the presidency of Jutia, and, in order that he might be bound by a more faithful obedience, he had united to him his daughter *Gerutha* in marriage, confronted Roderic with the first and most invincible difficulty. But there was something greater, that Horvendill's ambition required. For, not content with being regarded as the second king, he remained to occupy the kingdom, before it was believed that his mind could be satisfied. Accordingly, those whom he thought would best resist his wishes, he took care to remove from his life: in whose number was *Collerus* the King of Norway, the foremost friendship allied with Rodericus.This Horvendillus, having traversed the woods and forests with much endeavor, and provoked to a duel, slew him: then he pursued his sister by the name of *Sela*, with an army of pirates, skilled in the duties of war; nor did he think he would bring an end to the fortification of an ambuscade, until he could plunge the sword into the king's throat. Wherefore Roderic, making valor out of necessity, retired into his father's kingdom of Sweden: and there he continued throughout the whole time during which three successive tyrants, namely Horvendill, *Feugo, Amletus*, had ruled Denmark: and at last, being worn out with age, he died, being content with the tribute or booty which Horvendillus in the mean time endeavored to convey to him. Indeed Saxo says, that the spoils were rich, and a goodly chosen booty destined for Rodericus by him; but that booty consisted of a very great price, since it could be compensated for by no other reward than the crown of the Danish kingdom. But just as things acquired by crime and disgrace are not wont to last long, so Horvendillus left the kingdom, compared with injustice and impiety, to be slain by his brother Feugo sooner than he had hoped. But neither did the occupation of another kingdom by Feugo succeed more successfully, since he was slain by Amletus, not without the public joy of all. At length, what Amletus had done against Feugo, he endured, being slain by Vigletus. And thus several tyrants descended in a short time to the bloody death of Ceres' son-in-law. When in the mean time Roderic had reached a tranquil age on the penultimate day of King Amlet, he left his son **Attilus** as heir to his kingdom, to whom he had adapted his uncle's name.

[Bertius assigns Roderic or Rorik 84 years as king of Sweden, i.e. 1255-1171 BC, followed by his son Athils II, but Anderson, following an unknown source, accords him 49 years as king of Denmark, i.e. 1255-1206 BC, followed by Wiglek, who is said by him to be another son of Roderic. This much longer reign for Rorik in Sweden after Wiglek became king of Dania, may seem to contradict Magnus as well as Saxo, yet it seems necessary in order to make the following reigns synchronize. Saxo thus may perhaps err when he says Wiglek came to the throne of Denmark upon Rorik's death. Like Magnus, Saxo does not say Wiglek is Rorik's son.

As for Rorik, Saxo says, as noted earlier by Magnus, that at the start of his reign, after Hother had been killed by Boe of Ruthenia, the Curonians and Swedes (?) revolted, along with the Slavs (ie Wends). Saxo has the contest as with a warrior of the Slavs, not the Vandals.

Saxo also says Horwendil and Feng were sons of a Gerwendil, who had been governor of Juthia, and now Rorik appointed them in their father's place over Juthia. After governing 3 years, Horwendil slew king Coller of Norway, married Rorik's daughter Gerutha, and begat Amleth, but was then slain by his brother Feng. Feng later sends Amleth, who is his nephew, Horwendel's son, and Rorik's grandson, to Britain with a written message for the British king to slay him. Amleth manages to read the message and alter it, and returns after a year married to the British princess, and slays Feng. Amleth returns to Britain again and marries the queen of Scotland, Hermutrude. (Synchronistically, this would be not long after the appearance of the Picts, then ruled by Cathluann). Back in Jutland as governor, Amleth drove Fialler, governor of Scania into exile, then he fought with the new king Wiglek, whose parentage is not mentioned, and is slain, 1206 BC. Most of these details appear also in *Lundense* where he is called Amblothe. He would be the inspiration for the story of Hamlet made famous by Shakespeare.

As for Wiglek, if he is the Wihtlaeg mentioned in Anglo-Saxon genealogies as an ancestor of the Mercian kings, he is indicated as the son of Woden's son Withelgeat or Gwedolgeat, but sometimes of Withelgeat's son Waga or Gueagon, or of Woden himself. Withelgeat / Gwedolgeat might correspond with the enimatic Guitalchus, said by Anderson to be a descendant of Hrolf, and given 32 years over Dania, but following Wiglek. Or Gueagon / Waga son of Withelgeat may correspond with Feng or Feugo, son of Gerwendil, with the elements in Withel-geat transposed. If this is the case, the 32 years of Guitalchus as Gerwendil may belong in Hother and Rorik's reigns (c. 1267-1234 BC), with him as governor of Jutland, with about 25-30 years being divided among the governorates of Horwendel (c. 1235-1231 BC), Feng (c. 1231-1210 BC) and Amleth (c. 1210-1206 BC). This may mean the Feugo whom Amleth slew was Wiglek's father, and Amleth and Wiglek were thus first cousins. This would also mean a return to Denmark of monarchs descended from Skiold, via Taetwa son of Frodo I.]

### Chapter 28

***Attilus*** the son and heir of Roderic, elevated in the kingdom of his deceased father by the unanimous vote of the Swedes and Goths, delivered himself entirely to military fortitude and discipline, that in his time he was thought to be second to none in it; and not only did he escape notably in the near, but in distant warfare. For he endeavored with every zeal to surpass or equal the glory of his ancestors; and he believed that he would achieve this more easily, if he did not leave behind the brilliance of the nobility created by his parents, to be corrupted by idleness and sloth. And he thought constantly and prudently about the practice of the Gothic youth in every military exercise. For he believed that no more destructive pestilence could be found in any republic, than that the youth should be idle, or be imbued with corrupted morals. Accordingly, after he had established his army far and wide, not only in military arms and exercises, but also in the most honorable offices of virtues, for lofty and honorable achievements, he hastened to wage war on the Eastern lands and peoples. Having collected these orders, he adds, to memory and consideration, that *Veremund* possessed the kingdom of Denmark with an unjust title, leaving himself the legitimate successor and heir to Roderic. Therefore he took care to send forward a messenger, who demands a gift of his grandfather and father's kingdom, or a yearly tribute from Veremund, so that he might not seem to have sought sooner the inconveniences of wars, than the conditions of peace. Verèmundus denied both of them, and Attilus led out a strong fleet, drawn up against Denmark with choicest soldiers. But when he had learned that the chief strength of the Danish kingdom had been assembled among the Jutes, he did not hesitate to expose himself thither, and the power of the whole corps. *Frovinus*, the commander of the entire army, met him, having been allied with innumerable forces of the Danes; the fight was prolonged and savage, and was no more tolerable than if it were for the highest honor, and for life itself. In the mean time, by wars of crude descent, it happened that the leaders of the armies themselves came to a mutual encounter, and so engaged each other with the sword, that they changed the public war into a singular struggle. And both of them seemed to wish this, by their vows, born for war, and brought up in wars. For then so great an honor was given in a duel, as great as it was wont to show to the emperors when a triumphal chariot was scarcely brought into the city to Rome; since the contest is peculiar to its own, and the triumph is often compared to that of another by virtue of it. Then the signal was given, and both armies ceased from the battle. The circus is described, the champions descend into battle with equal arms and spirits; a condition is added, that if Frovin should win, Denmark should be free from the Swedes: if Attilus were victorious, Denmark should pay tribute to the Swedes, and confess that they had been defeated. And it came to pass that, when their wounds were increasing on both sides, Attilus, superior in arms, overthrew Frovinus, united to the state of his private victory, and scattered the troops of the Danes everywhere.

[Athils II according to Bertius, ruled 30 years, which would be 1171-1141 BC. Wermund ruled Dania after Wiglek, 61 years according to Anderson, but this must be adjusted to 32 years for synchronization, 1158-1126 BC. Frowin was said in Saxo to be governor of Sleswik (ie Anglia), whose daughter was married to Wermund's son prince Uffe. He also appears on the royal genealogy of Wessex as Freawine, son of Frithgar, son of Brand, son of Baeldaeg, son of Woden. The genealogy of Mercia goes through the Danish kings at this time, Wihtlaeg, Wermund and Offa.]

### Chapter 29

Therefore, [Attilus] having won the victory over the Danes, Veremund was permitted to administer the kingdom of Denmark under tribute. Attilus, morever, bringing back the victorious troops into Sweden, was received with great joy by the inhabitants. But when the Danes afterward departed from the treaties, and did not keep their orders, nor have an account of their promises, Attilus again procured his forces, and armed a large army, and crossed over into Denmark, to bring back the rebels upon their promise, and the debt of service. Again there was a vigorous and most violent battle, when the Swedes were indignant, because the enemy, being so often defeated, should take back arms and rebel. But then the gamble of war was turned to the favor of the Danes (lest they be overcome), and permitted the Swedes, neither defeated nor victorious, to return to their lands. Veremundus, however, could not put down the dread which he had long ago conceived concerning the valor and military experience of Attilus, as long as he knew that he was engaged in the number of the living. For this reason he decided to take him out of the midst of the living by an ambuscade. For this reason, he summoned to him the sons of Frovin who had long been slain, *Retho* and *Vigo*, and imposed the affair of killing a rival, as a reward for their father's deed, and for gifts worthy of the greatness of the deed. The young men were glad to have acquired a pleasing business, and to be commanded under the most assured hope of great rewards, to which they were led of their own free will and with all desire, and promise their faithful and effective services: immediately the conspirators, in the vows of avenging their father's vengeance, borrowed the equipment of the lighter infantry, and made their way to Sweden in isolation: then (as we see even today in Sweden) they approached the King as suppliants: they were inquired of by what unfortunate event, were they compelled to leave their country: they beseech that extraordinary pity of the Swedes, which was wont to be most promptly offered to all the strangers: they promise the most faithful services to any precept, and beg that they will be enrolled in the number of the least of their men. But Attilus, permitting himself and his credulity to be swayed by these consonantal words, ordered them to be enrolled in the first, or next first rank of the army. Then, after receiving the highest sweetness of the Danish eloquence, he inquired of the eager ears, who in that battle, very recently finished in Denmark, was said to have slain that great and eminent man of valor Frovinus, the prefect of the King. Soon the elder Rheto said these words, "It is still doubtful who the slayer of such a man is: for it is necessary that he surpasses all other mortals in military valor and the glory of all the virtues, who alone and so distinguished the honor of the whole army."

[In Saxo Frowin's sons are named Ket and Wig, whom Wermund adopts and makes governors of Sleswik after their father. Wig son of Freawine is also an ancestor of the royal Wessex line. Their journey to slay Athils must have taken place in 1141 BC.]

### Chapter 30

Then Attilus says, "I am the one who in the public duel deserved such distinguished praise by this right of mine." Immediately he pointed to the slain Frovin's children, of their age, of their intention to be responsible for his father's murder, of their threats to the murderer. To all this they answered with a roundly-flowing charm of eloquence, so that Attilus could receive a sufficient document of the plots which they were planning. But even to this day their craft and effort had not been fully understood, although he himself immediately paid the penalty of his most imprudent belief. For a few days later, when Attilus was using the business of a solitary digression to sharpen his strength, or for the sake of relieving his mind, the Danes themselves, having recovered their arms, attacked him alone and unprepared, by the confession that they were sons of Frovin, of whom he had long inquired, and had come to avenge their father's death. Upon discovering this, he halted, unafraid, and warned lest he might rashly throw his flowering youth into untimely destinies. A certain feeling of compassion towards you, he says, touches my mind, whom I know with just pain, that I have come into these very present dangers. Spare your age, spare your character, save you from the more fortunate fortune, lest while you hasten to avenge the death of your father rashly, you fall into the number of avenging men. Accordingly, let them permit money to be repaid from him for the injury of their father's death; which of course could be ascribed to their eternal glory and glory. But that he was not amazed by these things, that he had admonished the movement of their youth, not by fear, but by the compassion of their youth. But that admonition was far too slow and vain, which failed to soften the fierce spirits of the young men, who were most obstinately inflamed with vengeance. For after many words, having been tossed from one side to the other in vain, they leapt forward together against the king, and, because it was then extremely disgraceful, two slew one: because of this infamous victory, the Danes, being insulted by the Teutones, were said to be half men that one of them would not dare to engage one, unless protected and supported by the garrison of the other. This deed being perpetrated, the young men returned to their King Veremund, and were first received by him with honors, and he judged that the most profitable work had been published by them, and the most worthy of promises of rewards. For, in estimating more utility than honesty, he seemed to approve not that which virtue ought to have done, but that whereby he could afford greater security.

### Chapter 31

Then ***Botuildus***, the son of Attilus, or (as others say) his grandson, his parent having been slain by an ambuscade of the Danes, by the unanimous vote of the nobles and people, elevated to the ancestral scepters of both kingdoms of the Goths and Sweden, executed the duties of the royal administration in such a manner that a glorious beginning, was followed by an end too painful. For the whole republic of the Swedes, which promised to themselves all the most prosperous things by his prudence, having fallen from an irreparable ruin, so much sighed and ceased, that by the diligence and labor of many prudent nobles it could scarcely after a long time be restored to the vestige of its former freedom. For although he was so instructed in the most distinguished endowments of mind and body, that he was not chosen, but born to be reckoned by all to the dignity of the royal family, yet he endeavored to perform little of those things, for which he was taken up to such a high degree. The wars which were wont to extend from his parent and ancestors to distant lands, and ill-deserved enemies, he introduced into illustrious citizens, and in the bowels of his kingdom. The prudence with which he was thought to have been endowed with active operations, he often turned to the destruction of his countrymen, more than to the safety of his people. He applied himself very much to the ears and minds of malignant consultants: by whose perverse suggestion he was led to that unfortunate hero, so that he might first be considered contemptible in his own country, then in contempt of the neighboring countries and kingdoms, and justly infected with public hatred. In the mean time he was suffering from such extreme unhappiness that he was loved neither by his countrymen nor by strangers, but he fell into battle with *Hugulinus*, king of the Danes. Who, upon discovering his own domestic dispute with his own citizens, rejoiced not a little, that at length the long-desired occasion had come, by which he might be able to avenge the injuries inflicted on the kingdom of Denmark for a long time by the Swedes. For he recalled to mind how the Danes had been made tributaries of the Swedes by Hothebrotus the Swedish king, and then by his sons, Attilus and Hother after many severe battles, and not to bear the disgrace of a provocation; that tempest of wars seemed to be considered, which Attilus, the parent or uncle of Botuildus, long ago had introduced into the kingdom of Denmark, not by one, but by a double invasion.

[Bertius gives Botwild 42 years over Sweden, which would be ca. 1141-1099 BC.

As for the Danes, Wermund in 1135 BC had arranged a single combat between his son Uffe and the son of the king of Saxony, who would have been Frank of Franconia. Uffe slew two contenders, avenging the dishonor of two (Ket and Wig) having slain Athils II, and Frank forfeited Franconia to Uffe, also known as Olaf the Gentle, Wolfheim Siclinger in Aventinus, and as Offa on the Mercian genealogy. He also succeeded his father Wermund in Dania in 1126 BC, ruling both realms in personal union. Although Anderson assigns him 30 years in Dania, he could not have ruled there much more than 10, ca. 1126-1116 BC, before leaving Dania as a fief to his son Dan II. Offe / Wolfram continued in Franconia until 1077 BC, being succeeded there by other sons, Kels, Galther III and Hillyr. The Mercian line follows yet another son, Angengeat.

Dan II is given 37 years over Dania in Anderson, but this is similarly impossible, and must be corrected to 17 years, 1116-1099 BC, so that his successor Hugleik came to the throne in Botwild's final year.]

### Chapter 32

Wherefore he thought that the campaign of war should by no means be postponed any further, but that the fleet should be immediately drawn up with soldiers, and that the naval war should be transferred to the Swedes. Having understood the machinations of the Danish king, Botuildus imposed a navy on his own nation too little willing to make wars on behalf of a tyrant, and placed two naval captains over it, *Hemotus* and *Hegrimus*: who had also challenged the public hatred of all against them on account of the pernicious counsels furnished to them by the King. The Danes therefore attacked and made a naval and very bitter battle, and defeated and slew both prefects of the fleet at the first attack. And they, together with some others, having been slain, the Swedes defending themselves more courageously and more obstinately, returned safely to their shores, very well animated and contented, not only because they had been equal to the enemy in battle, but because their domestic tyrants were of all citizens, and the whole country very worstly deserved, at sea they would have left them to be burying the beasts: whom now all those most desperate counselors would follow, who seduce the ears of the princes by flattery and lies, and a thousand other frauds to the destruction of the innocent. Certainly we would never have heard of so many wars, so many seditions, so many destructions of kings and kingdoms, if those loyal counselors assented to the sides of princes and magistrates, to suggest that a greater proportion of justice and honesty should be had than by generous gains of gold and silver. For who can doubt that this Botuildus, distinguished for so great nobility, distinguished for endowments of mind and body, prudence and military fortitude, was second to none, if he had attained the same rank as consultors of his own fortune and majesty, now that he is named in freedom, so by the just judgment of men, that the stubborn slave of avarice is named, and the foul portent of all wickedness, so far removed from all true praise, how close did he, when he came, to be the flattery of malignant men? But let them rest.

[Saxo sums up the entire reign of Hugleik (Hugulinus) with the following terse statement: "*After this HUGLEIK was king, who is said to have defeated in battle at sea Homod and Hogrim, the despots of Sweden.*" This also must have occured in c. 1099 BC, near the start of Hugleik's reign in Dania and the end of Botwild's in Swedia, after all required adjustments.]

### Chapter 33

In the mean time, when the Danes considered Botuildus himself, backed by so little favor at home, they often threatened to break in upon Sweden, so that the people subjected to taxes and exactions, too oppressed by him, at length might avenge themselves for their freedom. Nor did the cunning design deceive the enemy. For while he was preparing to resist the Danes from the West side of the kingdom, the Ruteni, allied to the Danes, making an attack on the East against the Danes, induced a difficult and dangerous affair not only for the unfortunate king, but for the whole kingdom. While the king considered himself surrounded by these straits, it would not be possible for him, at the same time to allay his domestic strife, and to meet with the most powerful enemies rising up from the East and West, he thought to abandon the kingdom, and seek safety by flight. He did not delay long, before he had conceived and intended to accomplish his purpose, and sent himself into the fleet prepared for this purpose. But before he could commit himself to the wind, and the sails by raised anchors, a certain keeper of that treasure, but prodigal, slayer of King Storblindus, whispering in his ears, inquired whether he had forgotten any thing on earth. To which the wise king replied very slowly, I, (he says) had long forgotten to listen to the counsels of my good nobles; unless I had fallen into this forgetfulness, I could continue, safe in the safe country, which I am compelled to leave now in disorder. Immediately after the sails were erected, he retired like a fugitive slave to the Curetes; whence he at length returned to a more peaceful kingdom, and then, using sounder measures, endeavored to bring thm back to a more prosperous state. But succumbing to the necessity of fate, he first conceded to death, before he could see that his pious intention had reached such a desired end. At length he died, and was buried near his uncle Attilus, not far from Uppsala, in the tombs of the Kings, leaving behind his grandson ***Carolus***: of whom a broader discourse will be extended by us below in Book IV.

[The counterattack on Botwild by the Danes and Ruteni, Botwild's exile to the Curetes (Courtland), his death and Karl II accession would also have been in 1099 BC.

Book II ends here, and Book III resumes the history of the External Goths or Getae around the Black Sea, after it left off with Euriphilus above, now jumping ahead some 500 years to Queen Tomyris, who ruled ca. 588 BC. In Book IV he continues with Botwild's successor, Carolus II, after whom there is another lengthy and unexplained gap jumping ahead to Grimmerus, 315 BC.]

## Book IV

### Chapter 1

Returning then to Gothia and Sueonia, not only new and old histories of the country, but also obelisks and pyramids, on which are inscribed the exploits of kings and heroes, nay, the most ancient poems of our father's idiom, and the fragments of books, in search of nothing, we shall not leave anything anywhere, so that we may show good princes worthy of everlasting glory for good deeds, and evil men worthy of immortal hatred, and perpetual disgrace. For it is just, just as the excellent virtue of the best princes is extolled to the highest praise, so the dishonesty of tyrants is inflamed with a perpetual reproach, who, under the human form, have carried on the nature of beasts. The first, therefore, after King Botuildus (from whom we departed at the end of the second book), was his grandson ***Carolus***, whose achievements were so remarkable and magnificent, that he deserves to be inscribed by all means among the best kings. For although he had succeeded in his father's sceptres, and in the most extensive kingdoms, yet, mindful of his father's misfortunes, he behaved himself so moderately in all things, that he was not considered by all to be king, but the father of his fatherland. The nobles, on whom royal honor had been bestowed, had no other than his brothers, and he strove to raise their sons with the greatest bounties, thinking that he ought to be reckoned without honor, unless he was striving to surpass honor, and to compensate small or moderate benefits, with the highest or greatest. He was the most merciful of the nobles, turning to poverty, and tending to support the revenues of the kings; he did not rarely pay tribute to the community of the people; among the transgressors of the laws, when they had sinned through ignorance or frailty; he, however, exercised the greatest severity on those who had committed crimes through malice; and just as he himself continually exercised himself in all the offices of virtue, so the subjects of the people, with joy and enthusiasm, accommodated themselves to virtues without ceasing. For it generally happens that, just as there have been princes in the republic, so will the people be also. This Charles established among the most important laws and commandments, that the Goths and the Swedes should observe hospitality among themselves, and especially against all foreigners and travellers; and if any man had failed to do this, and had been convicted thrice by suitable witnesses, to have denied his hospitality, he ordered his houses to be burned upon sending fire, so that he would justly be deprived of his own houses, who would inhumanely deny the use of them.

### Chapter 2

From this I think it was brought down, that there is scarcely in another place in all Europe, a more ready and more liberal hospitality than is today found among the Swedes and the Goths. For they not only kindly admit strangers, but freely supply all the necessities of life to a liberal man, and without any compensation for coins; then they bring down their horses or cattle to the neighbors, and commit them to them. And there is not very often a dispute among the villagers about who would exclude a stranger. For he is wont to be borne out of the greatest praise by others, who had collected many strangers with a liberal hospitality, just as he is thought to be justly infected by the public hatred, who denies food, drink and hospitality to a traveler. For there is everywhere so great an abundance of food and drink, that he is reputed to be a slave of savage avarice, who will feed the hungry for cash money; except perhaps in cities and towns, where all things are measured by coin, as in other countries; although less is considered there without comparison. But in the townships, which are inhabited by fortunate farmers, all is distributed freely, and a greater liberality is held to their guests than to their own children. For the cheaper ones are placed before them at the table, as long as the more costly are reserved for the newcomers. For among the Goths there is a certain innate sense of praise, by which they are greatly influenced, when they have been unable to present themselves as liberal to all. The writer of Danish history Saxo confesses this chief liberality to the Goths and Swedes, who seems to favor not enough other things from the Swedes; and after him Crantz of Hamburg, who maintains that hospitality is great in all the Northern kingdoms, but is chief among the Goths and the Swedes. Therefore, when Carolus, at home and in his country, had composed the whole administration of his principality to the rule of the best virtues, he conducted a long peaceable life, even to a happy old age, that none dared to challenge his empire, which had been propagated and confirmed by so many virtues, except one *Tordonus*, a Norwegian satrap. But when he had his daughter as his wife, and hated him too much, he scorned to satisfy the matrimonial faith, being admonished by his father, and being provoked to war, and going forward in battle, he was slain at the hands of Carolus. I find no other wars carried on by him: nor does he seem to have had a mind ready or prepared for battles, who, according to laws, and excellent customs, and customs, endeavored to preserve himself and his people in complete tranquility and concord.

[Bertius says Karl II ruled 48 years, which would be ca. 1099-1051 BC. Magnus clearly says the next king Grimmerus ruled after an indefinite interval, which turns out to be a gap of around 750 years. In Dania, Anderson says 'Hugletus the Little' (Hugleik) ruled 52 years, which would be 1099-1047 BC. The next Danish king, Frodo II, must be placed after a similar long gap, in about 175 BC, also Saxo and Anderson ignore this gap and says Frodo II was the son and successor of Hugleik.]