text: Beowulf before Beowulf Scholars have long debated the origins of the character Beowulf. Some have argued that Beowulf existed in heroic-legendary tradition prior to the composition of Beowulf, while others have believed that the Beowulf poet invented his Geatish protagonist. Leonard Neidorf has argued that Beowulf was present in (now lost) heroic-legendary cycles before Beowulf was composed. Neidorf argued that the seventh-century usage of the name ‘Biuuulf’ (Beowulf), which involves an element (Beow) that was unproductive in contemporary name-giving, suggests that legends of Beowulf existed well before the composition of our extant poem.
  Beowulf manuscript
  Origins in Geatland
  As told in the surviving epic poem, Beowulf was the son of Ecgþeow, a warrior of the  Swedish Wægmundings. Ecgþeow had slain Heaðolaf, a man from another clan (named the Wulfings) (according to Scandinavian sources, they were the ruling dynasty of the Geatish petty kingdom of Östergötland). Apparently, because the victim was from a prominent family, the weregild was set too high, and so Ecgþeow was banished and had to seek refuge among the Danes. The Danish king Hroðgar generously paid the weregild, and had Ecgþeow swear an oath.
  Ecgþeow was in the service of the Geatish king Hreðel, whose daughter he married. They had Beowulf, who grew up with the Geats. Beowulf's childhood friend was Breca the Bronding "supposed to be the inhabitants of the island Brännö, lying off the coast of West Gothland in the Cattegat". This would be a realistic location for a childhood friend of Beowulf, and the poem describes a swimming contest between them.