GLOSSARY OF PROPER NAMES (The line-number where the name first occurs is given in brackets after each name.) ABEL (108), the biblical personage, killed by Cain. AELFHERE (2604), a kinsman of Wiglaf. AESCHERE (1323), a veteran Danish counsellor, ‘Yrmenlaf’s elder brother’, old friend and comrade-in-arms of Hrothgar; killed and carried off by Grendel’s mother avenging her son’s death. BEANSTAN (524), father of Breca. BEOWULF (18), not the hero of the poem but a Danish king, son of Scyld and grandfather of Hrothgar. BEOWULF (343 – first referred to, as ‘Hygelac’s warrior’, 194), the hero of the poem; a prince (later king) of the Geats, son of Ecgtheow, and (through his mother) grandson of Hrethel and nephew of Hygelac; brought up with Hrethel’s sons; in his boyhood scorned as unenergetic and unpromising, but in later youth renowned for his tenacity in the swimming-match with Breca; voyages to Heorot to help Hrothgar against Grendel, and destroys Grendel and his mother; returns to the land of the Geats, acts as regent after Hygelac’s death for the young prince Heardred, and on Heardred’s death becomes king himself; rules the Geats for fifty years, and dies while killing the dragon which has been ravaging his country. BRECA (506), son of Beanstan; a prince of the Brondings; engages in his youth in a famous swimming-match with Beowulf. BRONDINGS (521), a tribe ruled by Breca. BROSINGS (1199), owners of the necklace stolen by Hama from Eormenric; probably to be identified with the Brisings or dwarfs from whom Freyja seized her necklace in the Icelandic Elder Edda. CAIN (107), the biblical personage, and the legendary ancestor of monstrous and malicious creatures such as Grendel and his mother. DAEGHREFN (2502), a Frankish warrior, killed by Beowulf at the time of Hygelac’s invasion of Frankish territory (the Netherlands) in the early sixth century; apparently the killer of Hygelac. DANES (2), the people ruled by Hrothgar, inhabiting the southern tip of Sweden as well as what is now Denmark; their capital seat Heorot; the poet also calls them Spear-Danes, Ring-Danes, Bright-Danes, EastDanes, West-Danes, North-Danes, Scyldings, and Ingwine: of the variants, only ‘Danes’ and ‘Scyldings’ have been used in this translation. EADGILS (2393), younger son of Ohthere and brother of Eanmund; a Swedish prince who rebels with his brother against the Swedish king, 85