Havelok the Dane and the Norse king Olaf Kuaran. 



By 

 Dr. Gustav Storm. 



The traditions of Havelok the Dane, which English chronicles 

 of the latest centuries of the middle ages often mention and trie 

 to insert in the English history, are happily recovered in this Cen- 

 tury. They are found in a French „lai d'Aueloc le Danois", com- 

 posed in the first half of the 12 th century and abridged by Geffrei 

 Gairaar ca. 1145, and in the English „Lay of Havelok the Dane" 

 from about A. D. 1280. I shall here give a short abridgment of 

 the French Lay and there upon notice the variations of the Eng- 

 lish, in so far as they concern my purpose, to research the histo- 

 rical matter of the tradition. „The Britons made a lay concerning 

 king A vel oe, who is surnamed Cuaran. His father Gunter, king 

 of the Danes, was overrun by Arthur, and Gunter perished by the 

 treason of Hodulf, who became king under Arthur. Aveloc was 

 saved by Grim, who crossed the sea and arrived at the haven 

 afterwards named Grimesby by Grim. There he settled as fisher- 

 man and the child grew up as his son. Grim sent him to the 

 king's court at Lincoln. At that time Alsi (i. e. Ælfsige) was king 

 of Lincoln and Lindisey and of the country southward, where the 

 late king Ekenbright had committed his daughter Argentille to the 

 care of Alsi with the command, that she was to be married to 

 the strongest man that could be found. Aveloc, on his arrival to 

 the court, Was employed to carry water and cut wood, and there- 

 fore he was named Cuaran, which in the British language means 



Vid.-Selsk. Forh. 1879. No. 10. 1 



