Beowulf and Hrólf Kraki

Beowulf And Hrólf Kraki

The Old English Beowulf poem and the Old Norse legend of Hrólf Kraki are both set in the Germanic Heroic Age, around AD 450–550. There has been some discussion in Germanic studies regarding an interconnection of the two traditions, possibly based on a historical nucleus of the legends.

It has even been proposed that Beowulf and Hrólf Kraki's story are two versions of the same original Germanic heroic epic. Critics maintain that, in spite of a host of similarities between the traditions, some of the similarities could be dismissed as common literary traditions and devices.