OS 



MYTHOLOGY AND COSMOGONY. 



THE SKJOLDUNGA BRANCH. 



< Min Asa-king. 



Skjuld. 



Fiidleif. 



Fridfrodi. 



Fridleif. 



Havar the Hand-stronsr. 



Frodi. 



Verminul the Wise. 

 (Mat tlie Humble. 

 Dan the Proud. 

 Frudi tlie Peaceful. 



Fridleif. 



Frodi the Valiant. 1 



Ingjald. 



Hrcerek Riiigniggard. 



Frodi. 



Half.lan. 



Hrcerek Ring-thrower. 



Harald Hilditonn. 



Halfdan. 

 Heki. 



Hrulf Kraki. 

 Hrdar. 



Valdar the mild. 

 Hurald the old. 

 Halfdan the Valiant. 

 Ivar Vidt'admi. 



And the Deep-minded = mnrried, 1 



thrower. 



Hrcerek 

 2. Raudbard. 



i 



Randver. 

 Sigurd Hriug. 

 Ragnar Ludbrok. 

 Sigurd Snake-eye. 



Aslrtllg. 



Sigurd Hart. 



Ragnhild. 



Harald Fairhair (A.D. 872-933). 



The following passage from the ' Later Edda,' which refers to 

 this branch, may help the curious to fix the dales of these 

 chiefs. According to it Odin the hero lived some years before 

 the beginning of the Christian era. 



' ; Skjold (Shield) was the son of Odin, from whom tlie 

 Skjoldungar are descended. He dwelt in and ruled over the 

 lands now called Danmork, which were then called Gotland. 

 Sk| old had a son, Fridleif, who ruled the lands after him. 



Fridleif s son Frodi got the kingship after his father, about 

 the time when the Emperor Augustus made peace all over 

 the world ; then Christ was born. As Frodi was the most 

 powerful of all kings in the Northern lands, all who spoke 

 the Danish (Danskj tongue 2 attributed the peace to him, 

 and the Northmen called it the Peace of Frodi. No man did 

 harm to another, even if he met the slayer of his father or his 

 brother bound or loose ; no thieves or robbers were then found. 

 so that a gold ring lay for a long time in Jalangr-heath 

 (i.e., was not taken by any one) " (' Later Edda.' Skald- 

 skaparmal, c. 43). 



1 Frodi had two sons Ingjald .'ind 

 HHfd.in. From the first was descended 

 the great Hani Id Hilditonn. who was 

 defeated by his kinsman Sigurd Hring 

 at the Bravalla-battle, see p. . From 

 the second was descended Harald Fairhair, 

 the ancestor of the Dukes of Normandy, 

 and so indirectly of Queen Victoria. 



3 '] his w.-is written after all the pettv 

 kingdoms of Denmark had been consoli- 

 dated into one ; the term Danish tonsjue 

 at earlier periods did not exist, but 

 Norrccna, or Northern tongue, was used 

 instead. 



