Hrothgar and Etzel: Beowulf Analogues in Middle High German Literature

Abstract

ABSTRACT Figures identical to Hrothgar in Scandinavian analogues (i.e., Ro or Hróarr) shed minimal light on the king’s character in Beowulf. More promising insights into the literary history of Hrothgar can be obtained by comparing him with the figure of Etzel in Middle High German literature. Two passages involving Etzel, one from the Nibelungenlied and the other from the Klage, are identified herein as the closest extant analogues to two passages from Beowulf involving Hrothgar. Behind the two sets of analogous passages evidently lies an archaic character type that informs the representation of both Hrothgar and Etzel. The type is that of the sedentary overlord, whose cosmopolitan court attracts wealth and warriors from beyond its borders. The type is courteous and magnanimous, yet also tragic and pitiable, with a glorious past and a precarious present.