Halga

Halga, Helgi, Helghe or Helgo was a legendary Danish king living in the early 6th century.

Scholars generally agree that he appears in both Anglo-Saxon (Beowulf) and Scandinavian tradition (Norse sagas and Danish chronicles).

It is also noticed a curb in Halga storyline's direction, all of them containing a version of the story of his incestuous relationship with his own daughter Yrsa.

He appears early in the poem where he is listed as the brave Halga, one of the four children of Healfdene, the others being Heorogar, Hroðgar and a daughter (who is unnamed, but called Signý in Norse sources) who was married to the king of Sweden.

The Chronicon Lethrense (and the included Annales Lundenses) tells that Haldan (Healfdene) had two sons, Helghe and Ro (Hroðgar).

Saxo agrees with Beowulf and the Chronicon Lethrense by describing Helgo and Ro (Hroðgar) as the sons of Haldanus (Healfdene).

Continuing his sea roving, Helgo arrived at Thurø, where he found and raped the young girl Thora, which resulted in Urse.

He earned the name Hundingsbane by slaying Hunding, the king of Saxony, and conquered Jutland from the Saxons and entrusted it to his commanders Heske, Eyr and Ler.

Name spellings are derived from Oliver Elton's 1905 translation, The First Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus, via Wikisource.

In Hrólfr Kraki's saga, Halfdan (Healfdene) had three children, the sons Helgi and Hróarr (Hroðgar) and the daughter Signý.

She was, however, not interested and humiliated Helgi by shaving his head and covering him with tar while he was asleep, and sending him back to his ship.

Yrsa was set to live as a shepherd until she was 12 years old, when she met her father Helgi, who fell in love with her, not knowing it was his daughter.

Learning that Helgi and Yrsa were living happily together, Queen Oluf travelled to Denmark to tell her daughter the truth.

The Skjöldunga saga[6][7] and Bjarkarímur[8] relate that Halfdan (Healfdene) and his queen Sigrith had three children: the sons Roas (Hroðgar) and Helgo and the daughter Signy.

Ingjaldus and Sigrith had the sons Rærecus and Frodo (Froda), while Signy grew up with her mother until she was married to Sævil, the jarl of Zealand.

Roas and Helgo survived by hiding on an island near Skåne, and when they were old enough, they avenged their father by killing Ingjaldus.

Helgo, on the other hand, raped Olava, the queen of the Saxons, and she bore a daughter named Yrsa.

When the boy was three years of age, Yrsa's mother, queen Alof of Saxony, came to visit her and told her that her husband Helgi was her own father.