List of Beowulf Characters - Tribes and Clans

Tribes and Clans

• Brondings - the people of Breca.
• Danes - a tribe having their centre on the island of Zealand.
• Geats - a tribe whose centre was in modern Västergötland.
• Finns - Finno-Ugric peoples in the north and north-east of Scandinavia.
• Franks - a powerful Germanic tribe on the Continent.
• Frisians - a tribe led by Finn living along the eastern shores of the North Sea.
• Gifðas - the Gepids, a tribe which had migrated to the Balkans by the time of Beowulf. They are mentioned in connection with Swedes and Danes, and it has been suggested that Beowulf refers to the people of Östergötland.
• Heathobards, or Heaðo-beardnas, a clan or tribe at war with the Danes.
• Helmings - the people of queen Wealhþeow. Widsith mentions Helm as the leader of the Wulfings.
• Hetware - a tribe part of the Franks, or allied with them.
• Hugas - a name for the Franks or for a group of their allies.
• Heaðoræmas - a tribe named Heaðoreamas appears in Widsith, and -reamas agrees with ON Raumar which positions the tribe in what is today south-eastern Norway.
• Ingwins - a name used for the Danes and which means "friends of Ing (Freyr)".
• Jutes (Eotenas) a tribe living in modern Jutland, and who took part in the migration to England.
• Merewioingas, i.e. Merovingians - the ruling Frankish dynasty, by metonymy used to refer to the Frankish nation as a whole.
• Sceadugenga - Shadow-Walkers
• Scylding - the ruling clan in Denmark, by metonymy also used to refer to the Danish nation as a whole.
• Scylfing - the ruling clan in Sweden, by metonymy also used to refer to the Swedish nation as a whole.
• Swedes - a tribe who had their centre in modern Uppland.
• Wægmundings - a Swedish clan to which belonged Beowulf, Ecgþeow and Wiglaf. Wiglaf is called "the last of the Wægmundings".
• Wendlas - identified as the people of Vendsyssel.
• Wulfing - the clan of Heaðolaf and possibly Wealhþeow. Old Norse sources describe them as the lords of Östergötland.