4. Hrölf Kraki corresponds to Hrothwulf, nephew of Hrothgar.
5. Frothi corresponds to Froda, and his son Ingialdi to Ingeld.
6. Otarr corresponds to Ohthere, and his son Athils to Eadgils.
With the exception of the Ynglinga tál all these records are quite late, hence they do not afford any evidence for the dates of events mentioned in Beowulf.
Further Scandinavian correspondences are seen in Böthvarr Biarki, the chief of Hrölf Kraki’s knights. He is supposed to correspond to Beowulf. He came to Leire, the Danish royal residence, and killed a demon in animal form. Saxo says it was a bear. This demon attacked the King’s yard at Yule-tide, but Biarki and Beowulf differ as to their future, for Biarki stayed with Hrölf Kraki to the end and died with him.
In the Grettis Saga the hero kills two demons, male and female. It is true that the scene is laid in Iceland, but minor details of scenery, the character of the demons, and other similarities make it impossible to believe the two stories to be different in origin. They both sprang out of a folk-tale associated after ten centuries with Grettis, and in England and Denmark with an historical prince of the Geats.
FRENCH RECORDS
1. Historia Francorum and Gesta Regum Francorum (discovered by Outzen and Leo).
In A.D. 520 a raid was made on the territory of the Chatuarii. Their king Theodberht, son of Theodric I, defeated Chocilaicus, who was killed. This Chocilaicus is identified with the Hygelac of our poem, and the raid with Hygelac’s raid on the Hetware (= Chatuarii), the Franks, and the Frisians. This helps us to estimate the date for Beowulf as having been born somewhere about the end of the fifth century.
2. Historia Francorum, by Gregory of Tours. The author speaks of the raider as the King of the Danes.