Hygelac

Hygelac (Old English: Hygelāc; Old Norse: Hugleikr; Proto-Germanic: *Hugilaikaz;[1] Latin: Ch(l)ochilaicus or Hugilaicus;[2] died c. 516 or 521) was a king of the Geats according to the poem Beowulf.

In that source he is recorded as invading the Frankish Kingdoms during the reign of Theodericus I (died 534), the son of Clovis ("Chlodovechus"), the king of the Franks in the early sixth century, and was killed in the ensuing chaos after the Scandinavian raiders were caught by the sudden appearance of a military response force led by Theodebertus, the son of Theodericus.

[6] After cutting the Geatish danger, the rest of the survivors took to sea in such disordered haste that they left their dead on the field, including their king.

The Franks must have taken back whatever had been taken in pillage as well as spoils of the battlefield; and it is reported by Gregory that they found the Scandinavian monarch (Hygelac)'s corpse so awe-inspiring due his extraordinary height—which is implied by his name[how?

][citation needed], perhaps a sobriquet like Longshanks (Edward I) and not his real one—that as a pagan barbarian not entitled to burial, his remains were exposed for a long time in the nearest Merovingian Court as a curiosity, following the usual triumphal trophy exhibition customary after battle or pirate captures.

Anachronistic portrait depicting a battle between Franks and Danes in 515, from Jean Fouquet 's illumination in the Grandes Chroniques de France , Tours, c 1455-60
Hettergouw at the lower Rhine , inhabited by the Attoarii or Hetware , who killed Hygelac, according to Beowulf , line 2916