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Hreðric and Hroðmund

characters in the Old English epic Beowulf

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ3787313 ↗
Source-derived summary

Hreðric and Hroðmund were the sons of the Danish king Hroðgar and his queen, Wealhþeow, in the Old English epic Beowulf. They are only mentioned in passing, and there seems to be some foreshadowing in Beowulf that their cousin, Halga's son Hroðulf, i.e. Hrólfr Kraki, would usurp the throne from them.

Scandinavian tradition

It has been suggested that Hreðric corresponds to Hrœrekr Ringslinger (aka Hrörekr, Rørik, Hrókr or Roricus) in Scandinavian tradition. However, the traditions vary and so Hrörekr is either killed by Hrólfr Kraki or his successor as the ruler of Zealand (the Danish heartland).

In Saxo Grammaticus's Gesta Danorum (Book 2), Hrólfr Kraki kills a Rørik: "... our king, who laid low Rorik (i.e. Rørik), the son of Bok the covetous, and wrapped the coward in death." Rørik is the expected Old East Norse form of Hreðric, and personages named Rørik, Hrok or similar such names can be found in most versions of the Hrólf Kraki tradition.

In the Skjöldunga saga, Valdar disputes Hrörekr's succession of Hrólfr Kraki as the king of the Daner. After the war, Hrörekr took Zealand, while Valdar took Skåne.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Hreðric and Hroðmund” as characters in the Old English epic Beowulf. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current 186-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Hreðric, Hroðmund and characters can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as characters in the Old English epic Beowulf. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3787313. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Hreðric and Hroðmund” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.