Note 5 — INTRODUCTION.

Vetustissima Regum Septentrionis Series Langfedgatal dicta. According to this “Series,” the list of Danish kings prior to Odin is as follows:—Noah, Japhet, Zechim, Ciprus, Celius, Saturn of Crete, Jupiter, Darius, Erichthon, Troes, Ilus, Laomedon, Priam of Troy, Memnon (the son-in-law of Priam), Tror or Thor, Lorith, Einrith, Vingethar, Vingener, Moda, Magus, Seskef, Bedoig, Athra, Iterman, Heremotr, Scealdna, Beaf, Eat, Godulf, Finn, Frealaf—Odin.

Here is a precious list, and we should vainly inquire where it was originally procured. One thing, however, is remarkable,—that of the immediate predecessors of Odin, most are the same as those contained in the Saxon Chronicle, in the genealogy of the Anglo-Saxon kings. Let us now transcribe that of Saxo Grammaticus, who flourished in the twelfth century, and is content with making Dan the ancestor of the Danes, about a thousand years before Christ.

Dan I., Humble, Lother, Skiold, Gram, Swibdager, Guthrum, Hadding, Frode I., Haldan, Roe and Helgo, Rolf or Rollo, Hoder, Ruric, Wiglet, Guitlach, Wermund, Olaf I., Dan II., Hugleth, Frode II., Dan III., Fridleif, Frode III. According to Saxo it was in the reign of Hadding that Odin first appeared in the north. In this case, the reader may say Odin must have flourished long before the period usually assigned, viz., A.C. 70. But most of these princes, doubtless, reigned after the birth of Christ, notwithstanding the positive assertion of Saxo (who is supported by some other chroniclers), that the Redeemer of mankind assumed our nature in the reign of Frode III. Sweyn Aggo is more rational than his contemporary Saxo; he rejects all the sovereigns prior to Odin, and commences his list with Skiold, a son of that deified hero. Undoubtedly Denmark, like the other states, had its kings before that period; but they were mere reguli, perpetually at war with each other in struggling for the ascendancy; and small reliance is to be placed on their alleged actions, or even their names. Saxo, in taking as authorities the popular songs of his country, followed the worst of all guides.