Ecgþēow (pronounced [ˈedʒðeːow]), Edgetho (Proto-Norse *Agiþewaz), or Ecgtheow is a character in the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf.
He is first mentioned in Bēowulf at lines 262–266, when Beowulf tells the coast-guard that "My father was known to everyone," calls him a "noble battle-leader", and says that he died after living through "many winters" and that he is remembered well by wise men everywhere.
At lines 456–472, Hrothgar recalls the story of how Ecgtheow once came to him for help: he had slain Heaðolaf, a man from another tribe called the Wulfings (probably the rulers of the East Geats).
One of the Germanic ways of resolving a blood feud was either to pay a wergild (Anglo-Saxon, "man-price") or to be banished.
At lines 2428–2429 we learn that the young Bēowulf was fostered and raised in the home of Hreðel starting when he was seven years old; Ecgþēow may have died by then, or the family may just have been following a custom.