Editing Hygelac (section)

==Historical identification==
The raid to Frisia enabled [[N. F. S. Grundtvig]]<ref>Grundtvig produced the first translation of ''Beowulf'' into a modern language, ''Bjovulfs Drape'' (1820).</ref> to approximate the date of Hygelac's death to c. 516, because a raid to France under a Danish King '''Chlochilaicus''' is mentioned by [[Gregory of Tours]].<ref>{{citation |last=Gregory of Tours |author-link=Gregory of Tours |title=Decem Libri Historiarum III 3| url=http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/gregorytours/gregorytours3.shtml}} at [[The Latin Library]]</ref> In that source he is recorded as invading the [[Frankish Empire|Frankish Kingdoms]] during the reign of [[Theuderic I|Theodericus I]] (died 534), the son of [[Clovis I|Clovis ("Chlodovechus")]], the king of the Franks in the early sixth century, and was killed in the ensuing chaos after the Scandinavian raiders were caught by the sudden appearance of a military response force led by Theodericus I’s son, [[Theudebert I|Theodebertus]]. After the defeat the rest of the survivors took to sea in such disordered haste that they left their dead on the field, including their king. The Franks must have taken back whatever had been taken in pillage as well as spoils of the battlefield; and it is reported by Gregory that they found the corpse of Chlochilaicus so awe-inspiring due his extraordinary height, that, as a pagan barbarian not entitled to burial, his remains were exposed for a long time in the nearest Merovingian Court as a curiosity, following the usual triumphal trophy exhibition customary after battle or pirate captures.

While Gregory calls him a king of the Danes, the much younger ''[[Liber historiae Francorum]]'' instead calls him a king of the Goths (''rege Gotorum''), agreeing with ''Beowulf''.<ref>[http://www.heorot.dk/beowulf-rede-notes.html#e1202 All three sources in Latin and in English translation]</ref>