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Wealhþēow (pronounced ; also rendered Wealhtheow or Wealthow) is a queen of the Danes in the Old English poem, ''Beowulf'', first introduced in line 612. ==Character overview== Wealhtheow is of the Wulfing clan,〔Wealhþeow is identified as a ''Helming'' in the poem, i.e. belonging to the clan of Helm, the chief of the Wulfings (''Widsith'', 21)〕 Queen of the Danes. She is married to Hroðgar, the Danish king and is the mother of sons, Hreðric and Hroðmund, and a daughter Freawaru. The meaning of her name is disputed. One possible translation is "foreign slave" (Hill, 1990). In her marriage to Hrothgar she is described as ''friðusibb folca〔Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation. 136〕'' (l. 2017), 'the kindred pledge of peace between peoples', signifying interdynastic allegiance between Wulfing and Scylding achieved with her marriage to Hroðgar. She is both 'Lady of the Helmings' (l. 620) (by descent, of the Wulfing clan of Helm) and 'Lady of the Scyldings' (l. 1168), by marriage and maternity. Two northern sources associate the wife of Hroðgar with England. The ''Skjöldunga saga'', in Arngrímur Jónsson's abstract, chapter 3, tells that Hroðgar (''Roas'') married the daughter of an English king. The ''Hrolfs saga kraka'', chapter 5, tells that Hroðgar (''Hróarr'') married Ögn who was the daughter of a king of Northumbria (''Norðhymbraland'') called Norðri. The argument was advanced in 1897 that the Wulfing name may have been synonymous with the East Anglian Wuffing dynasty, and the family name ''Helmingas'' with the place-names 'Helmingham' in Norfolk and Suffolk, both of which lie in areas of 5th-6th century migrant occupation.〔Gregor Sarrazin 1897, Neue Beowulf-studien, ''Englische Studien'' 23, 221-267, at p. 228-230. See also Fr. Klaeber (Ed.), ''Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburgh'' (Boston 1950), xxxiii, note 2.〕 Although the theory was not favoured by some,〔e.g. G. Jones, ''Kings, Beasts and Heroes'' (Oxford 1972), 132-134.〕 it has more recently resurfaced in a discussion of the identity of Hroðmund.〔S. Newton, ''The Origins of Beowulf and the pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia'' (D.S. Brewer, Woodbridge 1993), esp. p. 122-128.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wealhþeow」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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