Wednesday 8 June 2016

Grallon, Hadding And Hrolf

Maybe, in light of the previous post, a rereading of Poul and Karen Anderson's story of Grallon should be followed by a rereading of Anderson's stories of Hadding and Hrolf Kraki?

Here are some relevant data -

"...Hrolf flourished...when Rome had gone under..."
-Poul Anderson, Hrolf Kraki's Saga (Ballantine Books, New York, 1973), p. xviii.

"He became to the North what Arthur did to Britain and Charlemagne, later, to France." (ibid.)

Hrolf Kraki's Saga and Beowulf  "...include a number of the same people...," (p. xvii), including Beowulf.

The Gesta Danorum of Saxo "...includes the oldest extant account of Hamlet [and] tells the story of Hrolf." (p. xviii)

Saxo (wrongly) identifies Hadding's son Frodi with Hrolf's great-uncle of the same name.
-Poul Anderson, War Of The Gods (Tor Books, New York, 1999), p. 301.

How many names to conjure with?

The stories of Grallon, Hadding and Hrolf are of the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries. Next, Anderson has six volumes set in the tenth and eleventh centuries, then three in the fourteenth.

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