View source for Wulfings

{{short description|Clan in the Norse sagas}}
[[Image:Wulfing navy on the move.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The Wulfing navy on the move, an illustration from the poems on the Wulfing [[Helgi Hundingsbane]]]]The '''Wulfings''', '''Wylfings''' or '''Ylfings'''<ref group=Note name=etymology>Word initial ''w'' was lost before rounded vowels in [[Proto-Norse]], e.g. ''wulf'' corresponds to ''ulf'', and ''Wulfing''/''Wylfing'' corresponds to ''Ylfing'', because the ''i'' in the second syllable causes an [[Germanic umlaut|umlaut]] in the first syllable ''u''->''y''.</ref> (the name means the "wolf clan") was a powerful [[Norse clans|clan]] in ''[[Beowulf]]'', ''[[Widsith]]'' and in the Norse [[saga]]s. While the poet of ''Beowulf'' does not locate the Wulfings geographically, Scandinavian sources define the Ylfings (the [[Old Norse]] form of the name) as the ruling clan of the [[Östergötland|Eastern Geats]].<ref>{{Cite book|first=Birger|last=Nerman|title=Det svenska rikets uppkomst|publisher=[[Generalstabens litografiska anstalt]]|location=[[Stockholm]]|year=1925}}</ref>
The Wulfings play an important role in ''[[Beowulf]]'' as [[Beowulf (hero)|Beowulf]]'s father [[Ecgþeow]] of the [[Wægmunding]] clan had slain one of its members, and was banished for not paying the [[weregild]]. The Danish king [[Hroðgar]], who was married to [[Wealhþeow]], a Wulfing woman, graciously paid the weregild, and when Beowulf arrived at the [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danish]] court in order to slay [[Grendel]], Hroðgar interpreted this as a son's gratitude.
In [[Old Norse]] sources, the clan figure prominently in the ''[[Heimskringla]]'' and in ''[[Sögubrot]]'', where [[Hjörvard Ylfing|Hjörvard]] and his son Hjörmund belong to it. It is also mentioned in the ''[[Lay of Hyndla]]'' and in ''[[Skáldskaparmál]]'' where Eiríkr the Wise was one of its members. However, its most famous member was [[Helgi Hundingsbane]] who had two poems of his own (''Helgakviða Hundingsbana I'' and ''Helgakviða Hundingsbana II''), in the ''[[Poetic Edda]]'', and whose story is also retold in the ''[[Völsunga saga]]''.
[[Sam Newton]] and others (including [[Rupert Bruce-Mitford]]), have proposed that the [[East Anglia]]n [[Wuffing]] dynasty was derived from the Wulfings, and it was at their court that ''[[Beowulf]]'' was first composed.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Sam|last=Newton|year=2004|title=The Origins of Beowulf: And the Pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia|publisher=[[Boydell & Brewer]]|isbn=978-0-85991-472-7}}</ref>
==Location==
According to the [[Norse saga]]s, the Wulfings ruled the [[Geat]]ish [[petty kingdom]] of [[Östergötland]].
In the first poem (''Helgakviða Hundingsbana I''), [[Sinfjötli]] has his residence on the [[Brávellir]] (see [[Battle of the Brávellir]]).
Stanza 42:
{|
|
:''Sinfiotli qvaþ:''
:«''Þv vart brvþr Grana''
:''a Bravelli'',
:''gvllbitlvþ vart''
:''gor til rasar'';
:''hafda ec þer moþri''
:''mart sceiþ riþit'',
:''svangri vnd sa/þli'',
:''simvl! forbergis''.»
|
:''Sinfjotli quoth'':
:"You were the bride of Grani the horse
:you were at Brávellir;
:harnessed with a golden bridle,
:and you were ready to run;
:I have ridden you tired downhill
:quite often,
:slim, as you were,
:under the saddle you fool!"
|}
Helgi Hundingsbane resides at Hringstaðir (probably modern [[Ringstad (disambiguation)|Ringstad]], an old royal estate on the same plain).
In the Heimskringla, Högni was the ruler of Östergötland. The legends of Helge Hundingsbane relate that Högni lost his throne to Helgi Hundingsbane. On the other hand, ''[[Sögubrot]]'' relates that [[Ivar Vidfamne]] gave the East Geatish throne to Hjörmund, the son of Hjörvard, after [[Ingjald]]'s death since it had been the kingdom of Hjörmund's father Hjörvard.
:''Hann setti konunga ok jarla ok lét ser skatta gjalda; han setti Hjörmund konung, on Hervardar Ylfings, yfir Eystra-Gautland, er átt hafði faðir hans ok Granmarr konungr''.
However, this contradicts both the legend of Helge Hundingsbane and the ''Heimskringla'' in which the dynasty never lost Östergötland, unless Ivar killed either Högne or Helgi Hundingsbane before giving the throne to their relative Hjörmund.
==Known Wulfings==
{{div col}}
*[[Ylfur or Úlfur]] (''Possible ancestor of the clan''), based on clans being named after an ancestor.
*Helm Wulfingum ("Helm of the Wulfings"), mentioned in ''[[Widsith]]''.
*[[Heaðolaf]] (''Beowulf'')
*[[Helgi Hundingsbane]] (''[[Edda]]'', ''[[Völsunga saga]]'' and ''[[Norna-Gests þáttr]]'')
*[[Hjörvard Ylfing]] (e.g. ''[[Heimskringla]]'' and ''[[Sögubrot]]'')
*[[Hjörmund]] (e.g. ''Heimskringla'' and ''Sögubrot'')
*[[Högne]] (e.g. ''Heimskringla'') {{citation needed|date=January 2017|reason=No mention of Högne and his family belonging to the Wulfings}}
*Hildur, the son of Högne (e.g. ''Heimskringla'') {{citation needed|date=January 2017|reason=No mention of Högne and his family belonging to the Wulfings}}
*[[Eric the Wise]] (''[[Skáldskaparmál]]'' and the ''[[Lay of Hyndla]]'')
*[[Rikiwulf]] ("The rich and powerful wolf"), settled in Flanders in 876 near present [[Tielt]], where he built Rikiwulfinga-haim.
*[[Wealhþeow]], the queen of the Danish king [[Hroðgar]], in ''Beowulf''.
{{div col end}}
==In popular culture==
* Wulfing raiders appear as antagonists in ''[[Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands]]''.
==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
*[[Sögubrot]]
*[[Beowulf]]
*[[Skáldskaparmál]]
*[[Heimskringla]]
*[[Lay of Hyndla]]
*[[Edda]]
*[[Widsith]]
*[[Hundings]]
{{div col end}}
==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|group=Note}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Norse mythology}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Characters in Beowulf]]
[[Category:Characters in Norse mythology]]
[[Category:English heroic legends]]
[[Category:Geatish clans]]
[[Category:Norse clans]]
[[Category:Völsung cycle]]