[554] In Beow. 946 ff. (cf. 1175 f.) Hrothgar pays a similar compliment to the hero, who is not a king at this time. Probably the intention is to do Beowulf a quite exceptional honour.
[555] Cf. Cassiodorus, Var. III 3.
[556] Cf. Chron., ann. 945. For the form of agreement entered into upon such occasions reference may be made to ann. 874, 921 (ad fin.) etc. The terms probably varied from case to case.
[557] For the case of the Frankish kingdom see Waitz, Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte3, II, p. 145 ff.; Brunner, Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte, II, p. 25 f.
[558] In the account of Wulfstan's voyage given in King Alfred's translation of Orosius (p. 20 in Sweet's edition) it is stated that the land of the Este (in East Prussia) contains very many fortified places (burh, i.e. probably stockaded villages) and that in each of these there is a king. But it is scarcely probable that such primitive conditions survived among the Angli even four or five centuries before Alfred's time (cf. p. [380], note).
[559] It is only in this way that we can account for the more or less simultaneous appearance of Heruli in Gaul and on the Black Sea in the latter part of the third century. In the fifth century this nation had a powerful kingdom in Central Europe. We may refer also to the traces of various peoples (Angli, Warni, etc.) which we find in the basin of the Saale, as well as to the kingdom of the Suabi in Spain, the Goths in the Crimea, etc. Abundant parallels are to be found in the history of the Viking Age.
[560] It is quite possible that many of the leading characters in the heroic stories may belong to such communities, e.g. Hnaef, Sigmundr and Sigurðr, Heðinn, Hamðir and Sörli, Haki and Hagbarðr.
[561] In explanation of this phenomenon the view has been put forward (cf. Finsler, N. Jahrb. XIII 319 ff., 396 ff.; summarised 410 ff.) that the form of government depicted in the Odyssey is really an aristocracy, whereas the evidence of the Iliad is inconsistent owing to traditional reminiscences of a time of real kingship. Thus in the latter poem βασιλεύς (in the singular) is generally used only of Agamemnon, though there are exceptions, e.g. I 331, where it is applied to "Achilleus, dem der Titel, streng genommen, nicht zukommt, da Peleus noch lebt" (p. 404 f.). I do not think that this explanation is likely to carry conviction to anyone who has studied early Teutonic history. It is clear that in early times throughout the Teutonic area—in England down to the end of the seventh century and in the North much later—the title of king was applied to sons and other relatives of kings, as well as to dependent princes. The only qualifications for the title were (i) royal birth, (ii) the possession of some kind of authority or 'lordship' (τιμή). How small this authority might be can be seen from St Olaf's Saga (Heimskr.), cap. 4, where we are told that Olaf had the title of king given to him by his followers; "for it was customary that herkonungar (i.e. Viking chiefs) who were engaged in piracy should take the title of king at once, if they were of royal birth, although they governed no territories." The qualification of royal birth however was essential. The title was not taken even by so great a man as Earl Haakon of Lade, who had kings practically dependent on him. I see no reason for regarding the conditions depicted in either of the Homeric poems as different from what we find in the North, although, owing presumably to the smallness of the kingdoms, all the important characters appear to be persons of royal birth.
[562] St Olaf's Saga (Heimskr.), cap. 30 ff.
[563] This passage offers at least a partial explanation of the phenomenon which we have been discussing. If royal rank is traced both on the male and female sides the kingly class will inevitably be numerous. Such may have been the case among the Angli also at one time. But it is not unlikely that at least in the remoter parts of Greece each 'city' or small district may have retained a royal family of its own, like the communities visited by Wulfstan (cf. p. [376], note). We may refer to such a passage as Il. IX 395 f., if ἀριστήων here means dependent princes.