[1][2] The chief authority for the legend of Hermuthruda is the Danish chronicle Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus.
[4] However the queen had a reputation for killing all suitors, Saxo saying "in the cruelty of her arrogance she had always loathed her wooers, and inflicted upon them the supreme punishment, so that out of many there was not one but paid for his boldness with his head".
[5] Hermuthruda takes a liking to Amlethus after stealing his shield and learning of his past.
[3] After Wihtlaeg is victorious, Hermuthruda switches sides and immediately marries him in a display of inconsistency that leads to her becoming the "ancestress of Offa".
Name spellings are derived from Oliver Elton's 1905 translation, The First Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus, via Wikisource.