Starkad

Starkad (Old Norse: Starkaðr or Störkuðr;Latin: Starcaterus; in the Late Middle Ages also Starkodder; modern Danish: Stærkodder) was a legendary hero in Norse mythology.

Starkad appears in numerous accounts, and the stories of his adventures relate to different Scandinavian traditions. He is most fully treated in Gesta Danorum but he also appears in Icelandic sources. He is portrayed as a great warrior who performed many heroic deeds but also many crimes.

A cognate of the Starkad legends can be found in the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf.

In Beowulf, the feud between the Danes and the Heaðobards was to be ended with the marriage of Ingeld, the son of the fallen Heaðobard king Froda, and Freawaru, the daughter of the Danish king Hroðgar. During the wedding an unnamed old warrior reminded the Heaðobards of their defeat and encouraged them to revenge. That is the origin of Starkad's admonishing speech to the Danish king Ingellus, son of Frotho (see the account given in Gesta Danorum below). Sophus Bugge derived the name Starkaðr from originally meaning "the strong Heaðobard". Modern research is more reluctant, however, as the Gothic root stark- ('strong') might be connected with several possible suffixes.

A version of the legend of Starkad can be found in the prologue of the U-version of Hervarar saga, and in a shortened form in the H-version of the Hauksbók.

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