Hrethel

Hrethel (Template:Langx; Template:Langx<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>) is a king of the Geats.

Name

Hrethel's name appears with both the root vowel Template:IPAalink and Template:IPAalink and with both the consonant Template:Angbr IPA (i.e. the phoneme Template:IPAslink, pronounced Template:IPAblink in Old English) and Template:Angbr (which would ordinarily represent the phoneme Template:IPAslink).<ref>Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th rev. edn by R. D. Fulk, Robert E. Bjork, and John D. Niles (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008), pp. liii, 469.</ref> This is thought to be due to an early manuscript of Beowulf writing the root vowel using the early graphs Template:IPAalink (for the vowel resulting from the i-mutation of Common Germanic Template:IPA) and Template:Angbr (for the phoneme Template:IPAslink, pronounced Template:IPAblink). Later scribes misread the former as Template:Angbr and failed to recognise that the latter represented the sound Template:IPAblink rather than Template:IPAblink.<ref>R. D. Fulk, A History of Old English Meter (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992), p. 317 (§353.17).</ref>

The name also appears as a genitive weak noun, in the half-line "þæt is Hrǣdlan lāf" ('that is Hrǣdla's bequest'). Rendered in ordinary Late West Saxon spelling and in nominative form, this form of the name would presumably have been *Hrēðla.<ref>Cf. R. D. Fulk, A History of Old English Meter (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992), p. 317 (§353.17); Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th rev. edn by R. D. Fulk, Robert E. Bjork, and John D. Niles (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008), pp. liii, 469.</ref>

Role in Beowulf

Hrethel is married to a sister or daughter of Swerting (Hygelac is the nefaTemplate:Definition needed of Swerting) and he has three sons: Hæþcyn, Herebeald and Hygelac. He also has a daughter who marries Ecgþeow and has the son Beowulf.<ref>Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th rev. edn by R. D. Fulk, Robert E. Bjork, and John D. Niles (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008), pp. lix, 472.</ref>

Hrethel fosters Beowulf (his grandson) by taking him into his royal household aged seven.<ref>Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th rev. edn by R. D. Fulk, Robert E. Bjork, and John D. Niles (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008), p. 83 (lines 2428-2434).</ref> Fostering was a common Germanic practice and does not indicate Beowulf's father, Ecgþeow did not want to raise him; indeed, the practice was intended to further improve relations between families and family members, and create close ties of obligation, affection and shared responsibility. As an adult, Beowulf expresses his gratitude to his foster-father explicitly: Template:Verse translation

Hreðel dies of grief when his oldest son Herebeald is killed by his own brother Hæþcyn in a hunting accident, a death that could not be avenged. He is succeeded by Hæþcyn.<ref>Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th rev. edn by R. D. Fulk, Robert E. Bjork, and John D. Niles (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008), p. lix.</ref>

References

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