Editing Yrsa (section)

==In other pre-modern sources==

===''Chronicon Lethrense'' and ''Annales Lundenses''===
The ''[[Chronicon Lethrense]]'' (and the included ''Annales Lundenses'') tells that one day, the Danish king Helghe arrived in [[Halland]]/[[Lolland]]<ref group=note>[[Halland]] according to ''Chronicon Lethrense'' proper, [[Lolland]] according to the included ''Annals of Lund''</ref> and slept with Thore, the daughter of one of Ro's farmers. This resulted in '''Yrse'''. Much later, he met Yrse, and without knowing that she was his daughter, he made her pregnant with Rolf Krage. Lastly, he found out that Yrse was his own daughter, went east and killed himself.
{{Kraki}}
Ro is the same personage as [[Hroðgar]], who received [[Beowulf]] at [[Heorot]]. His co-king Helghe is the same as Hroðgar's brother [[Halga]], and Rolf Krage is the same personage as Hroðgar's nephew [[Hroðulf]]. However, in ''Beowulf'', it is never explained in what way they were uncle and nephew.

===''Gesta Danorum''===
The ''[[Gesta Danorum]]'' (Book 2) reports that Helgo was the brother of the Danish King Ro, but whereas Ro was king of the Danish lands, Helgo had inherited the sea. One day during his sea roving, arrived at [[Thurø]], where he found and raped the young girl Thora, who became pregnant with '''Urse'''. When Helgo, after many years, returned to Thurø, Thora avenged her lost virginity by sending Urse to Helgo who, unknowingly, raped his own daughter. This resulted in Roluo Kraki.

During a Swedish invasion, Ro was killed by [[Hothbrodd]], the King of Sweden. Helgo avenged his brother's death and made the Swedes pay tribute. However, he then chose to commit suicide due to his shame for his [[Uppsala, Sweden|incestuous]] relationship with Urse, and their son Roluo Kraki succeeded him. Athislus, the new King of Sweden, thought that the tribute to the [[Daner]] might be smaller if he married the Danish king's mother, and so took Urse for his queen. However, after some time, Urse was so upset with the Swedish king's greediness that she thought out a ruse to run away from the king and at the same time liberate him of his wealth. She incited Athislus to rebel against Roluo, and arranged so that Roluo would be invited and promised a wealth in gifts.

When the banquet had lasted for three days, Urse and Roluo escaped from [[Uppsala, Sweden|Uppsala]], early in the morning in carriages where they had put all the Swedish king's treasure. In order to lessen their burden, and to occupy any pursuing warriors they spread gold in their path, although there was a rumour that she only spread gilded copper. When Athislus, who was pursuing the escapers saw that a precious ring was lying on the ground, he bent down to pick it up. Roluo was pleased to see the King of Sweden bent down, and escaped in the ships with his mother.

This account is more elaborate than that of ''[[Chronicon Lethrense]]'' and ''[[Annales Lundenses]]''. Helgo is the same personage as [[Halga|Helghe/Halga]]. His brother the Danish King Ro is the same as [[Hroðgar]], Roluo is the same as [[Hroðulf]]/Rolf Krage, and the Swedish King Athislus is the same as [[Eadgils]], the Swedish king of ''Beowulf''. Yrse is here called Urse, and the story of her son fleeing the Swedish king with all his treasure is also found in the following accounts. It is noteworthy that all the Danish sources, ''Chronicon Lethrense'', ''Annales Lundenses'' and ''[[Gesta Danorum]]'' differ on where Halga found Yrsa, but make her Danish. The [[Iceland]]ic sources that follow make her a [[Saxons|Saxon]], on the other hand, and not Danish.
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:yrsa.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Yrsa learns of her true father's identity.]] -->
{{Kings of Gesta Danorum family tree}}

===''Beowulf''===
The poem ''Beowulf'' reads (lines 59–63):
<blockquote><blockquote><small>59</small>&nbsp; Ðæm feower bearn &nbsp;&nbsp; forðgerimed<br>
<small>60</small>&nbsp; in worold wocun &nbsp;&nbsp; weoroda ræswa<br>
<small>61</small>&nbsp; heorogar. 7 hroðgar &nbsp;&nbsp; 7 halga til<br>
<small>62</small>&nbsp; hyrde ic ꝥ &nbsp;&nbsp; elan cwen<br>
<small>63</small>&nbsp; heaðo-Scilfingas &nbsp;&nbsp; healsgebedda</blockquote></blockquote>
This appears in [[Francis Barton Gummere|Gummere's]] translation as:
<blockquote><blockquote><small>59</small>&nbsp; Then, one after one, there woke to him,<br>
<small>60</small>&nbsp; to the chieftain of clansmen, children four:<br>
<small>61</small>&nbsp; Heorogar, then Hrothgar, then Halga brave;<br>
<small>62</small>&nbsp; and I heard that&nbsp;– ela's queen,<br>
<small>63</small>&nbsp; the Heathoscylfing's helpmate dear.</blockquote></blockquote>
There is obviously something wrong with line 62. A name of a daughter has dropped out, a daughter who was the wife of someone whose name ends in ''-ela'' and who was [[Yngling|Scylfing]], i.e. belonging to the royal dynasty of Sweden. It is likely enough that at some time in copying the poem a scribe was unable to make out the exact spelling of these names and so left the text blank at that point to be fixed up later. It was never fixed up and so the names were lost in later copies.

By Old English poetic rules of alliteration the name of the daughter must also begin with a vowel. The choice is usually the name Yrs or Yrse, since Scandinavian tradition speaks much of Yrsa the granddaughter of [[Healfdene]] and wife of King [[Eadgils]] of Sweden. This assumes great shifting of names and roles, since Eadgils is the enemy of [[Onela]]. Onela appears in Norse texts as Áli. Accordingly, many editors and translators prefer to simply note that the line is corrupt. Others like Burton Raffel render the missing passage as Yrs (i.e. Yrsa), and modern commentary sometimes refers to the marriage of Onela and Yrsa without indicating that this exists only through somewhat dubious [[conjectural emendation]].