Hadding ‎(unknown)‎ - I644759272 - Individual Information -

Hadding ‎(unknown)‎ (I644759272)

Given Names: Hadding

Gender: Male

Birth: Yes
Death: Yes

Personal Facts and Details

Notes

Note

Chronicon Lethrense lists Wihtlæg ‎ ‎‎‎‎(I644759259)‎‎‎ as Rorik's son, not great-grandson:

The Chronicle of the Kings of Lejre
‎‎(Chronicon Lethrense)‎‎

Preserved with the fourteenth century Latin Annals of Lund is an earlier record of Danish history, the Chronicle of the Kings of Lejre, of which this is an extract. The Chronicle of the Kings of Lejre was composed in the second half of the twelfth century. In contrast to Saxo's Gesta Danorum ‎‎(c.1200)‎‎, the Chronicle is terse, sometimes to the point of baffling, though it does include some curiosities not in Saxo, such as the Dog King of Denmark.

The translation here is based on the selection in Gordon & Taylor's An Introduction to Old Norse, which deals with Rolf Krage ‎‎(= Hrolf Kraki)‎‎, his immediate predecessors and successors, including the original Prince Hamlet ‎‎(Amblothe)‎‎, and Offe ‎‎(called Offa in Old English)‎‎.

References to Saxo are to Oliver Elton's 1905 translation: "The Danish History, Books I - IX" - online at http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/DanishHistory/

Then Haldan was king. He promptly killed his brothers Ro and Skat, and their friends, and died peacefully in his bed. Haldan had two sons: one was called Ro - though some say that he was called Haldan - and the other was called Helghe. They split the kingdom between them so that Ro got all the firm land and Helghe all the water. At that time, there was a market town in Zealand near Hogebierg, called Hokekopinge, and because it was a long way from the beach, King Ro made a market town near Ysefiorth, and called it Roskilde, Ro's spring, after himself. 1

One time, Helghe came to Halland2 and lay with Thore, the daughter of Ro's farmer, and had a daughter with her, called Yrse. Another time he took his own daughter without knowing it, and had a son called Rolf Krage. King Ro was buried in Lejre. Helghe killed the king of the Wends in battle and defeated Hodbrod and won the whole of Denmark. Then, out of shame for having his daughter, he fled to the east and killed himself there.

Then King Hakon of Sweden 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 life3. 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. Then the giant Lee of Lee's Isle4 told his herdsman Snio5 to get himself the kingdom from King Hakon. So king Hakon asked Snio the news. Snio answered, "The bees are all dazed in Denmark."

Then King Hakon said, "Where did you sleep the night?"

Snio answered the king, "There where the sheep ate the wolves."

"How so?"

"Because the wolf was boiled and given to the sheep to drink as a cure."

"Where did you sleep the next night?"

"Where the wolf ate the cart and the horses ran off."

"How could that be?"

"Because the wolves ate the beaver-thrall, who had the wood between his legs; and the beavers who drew him, they ran away."6

"Where did you sleep the third night?" said the king.

Snio answered, "Where the mice ate the axe but not the haft."

"How so?"

"Because children made an axe of white cheese. The mice ate that, but not the stick the haft was made of."

Then the king asked about the news.

Then Snio answered, "The bees are all dazed."

"Then Dog is dead!"

"You said it, not me," said Snio, and so he was king in Denmark - a twisted and excessively harsh judge, vicious too, who acquired goods by dishonest means, and he oppressed everyone very much. One man he oppressed was called Roth. He stood up to him. Out of malice, the king sent him to Lee the giant to ask about his death7. So Roth delivered the king's greetings to Lee the giant and told him three true sayings: one, that he never saw thicker walls on a house than on Lee's; second, that he never saw a man with so many heads; and third, that if he got away from there, he would never long to be back. And so he saved his life. Then the giant Lee sent the king two gloves, and so when he presided over the assembly in Jutland and he pulled on the gloves, lice ate him to death.

Then Helghe's son, Rolf Krage, was king. He was a grand man in body and mind, and gave so gladly that that no-one asked him twice for anything. There was count in Skaane, and he was German, and was called Hartwar8. He paid tribute to Rolf. He married Rolf's sister against his will; but some say he gave her to him along with Sweden. One time, Hartwar came to Zealand with a great army, and bade Rolf - who was then staying at Lejre - to take his tribute, and so Hartwar killed Rolf and all his men except one; he was called Wigge, and he ran him through that same day with the same sword he was going to do him homage with. Hartwar was king from dawn till nine in the morning; his queen was called Skulda9. Some say that Ake, Hauborth's brother, killed Hartwar, and so became king.

Then Hodbrod's son Hother was king, the son of Hadding's daughter, since he was the nearest heir. He was king of Saxland. He killed Othen's son, Balder, in battle, and pursued Othen and Thor and their companions. They were seen as gods, even though they weren't. Later he was killed in battle by Othen's son Both10.

Then his son, Rorik Slengeborre, also called Rake, was king11. He won Curland, Wendland and Sweden; they paid him tribute. He set up Orwendel and Feng as rulers in Jutland. The king gave Orwendel his sister, for the good work he'd done. With her he had a son called Amblothe12. Then Feng killed Orwendel out of envy and took his woman to wife. The Amblothe devised a plan to save his life, and acted the fool. Then Feng was wary of Ambothe and sent him to the king of Britain with two of his servants and a letter saying Amblothe should be put to death. He scraped it off13 while they slept and wrote saying that the two servants should be hanged and Amblothe get the king's daughter; and that's what happened. A year to the day, as Feng drank to the memory of Amblothe, he came to Denmark and killed Feng, his father's murderer, and burned all Feng's men in a tent, and so was king of Jutland. Then he went back to Britain and killed his father-in-law who wanted to avenge Feng's death. Then he took the queen of Scotland to wife. As soon as he came home, he was killed in battle.

After Rorik Rake, his son, Wighlek was king. Nanna was the name of his queen. He had peace and calm in his days, and died in bed.

Then Wermund, his son, was king. He had good peace at first, but in his old age he was blind and his son Offe was so slow and dim that he didn't seem cut out to be a king14. Then the king of Saxland's son threatened to make himself king of Denmark, unless Wermund would fight a duel with him. Then Offe offered to go to fight against two Germans, which was his choice - previously, one German had fought against two Danes15. Then the king of Saxland's son went with a strong fighter to face Offe, and he killed them both, and after that Offe the Strong was king in Saxland and in Denmark.

Note

Hadingus was one of the earliest legendary Danish kings according to Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum where he has a detailed biography. Georges Dumézil and others have argued that Gram was partially modelled on the god Njörðr.

Hadingus is fostered in Sweden by the giant Wagnofthus and his daughter Harthgrepa. He is eager to become a warrior but Harthgrepa tries to dissuade him from it in favor of entering into a quasi-incestuous love-relationship with herself.

Why doth thy life thus waste and wander? Why dost thou pass thy years unwed, following arms, thirsting for throats? Nor does my beauty draw thy vows. Carried away by excess of frenzy, thou art little prone to love. Steeped in blood and slaughter, thou judgest wars better than the bed, nor refreshest thy soul with incitements. Thy fierceness finds no leisure; dalliance is far from thee, and savagery fostered. Nor is thy hand free from blasphemy while thou loathest the rites of love. Let this hateful strictness pass away, let that loving warmth approach, and plight the troth of love to me, who gave thee the first breasts of milk in childhood, and helped thee, playing a mother's part, duteous to thy needs. The Danish History, Book One Elton's translation

Hadingus accepts Harthgrepa's embraces and when he wants to travel back to Denmark she accompanies him. After raising a man from the dead to obtain information, Harthgrepa is killed by supernatural beings. At this point Hadingus acquires a new patron, Odin, who predicts his future and gives him advice.

Hadingus wages wars in the Baltic and achieves victory and renown. He then returns to Scandinavia, defeats Suibdagerus, his father's slayer, and becomes king of Denmark. As king he has an eventful career ahead of him. He wars with Norwegians and Swedes, offends a god by killing a divine animal and atones for it by a sacrifice to Freyr, he rescues the princess Regnilda from giants and takes her as a wife, visits the underworld, participates in more wars and dies by hanging himself in front of his subjects.

Saxo describes the underworld that Hadingus visited. Giants, superhumans, black dwarfs, and snake people lived there. These strange beings occasionally surfaced to cause chaos.

The story of Hadding is retold in fictionalized form by Poul Anderson in the novel War of the Gods.

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	Events of close relatives
Birth	Yes
Death	Yes
Last Change	2 October 2007 - 17:48:40 Last changed by: ginnysanchez