Wecta Explained

Wecta (Old English: Wægdæg, Old Norse: Vegdagr) is a figure mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Historia Brittonum.

Wecta is considered mythological, though he shows up in the genealogies as a Saxon ancestor of Hengest and Horsa and the kings of Kent, as well as of Aella of Deira and his son Edwin of Northumbria.[1]

Wecta appears in the Prologue to the Prose Edda as Vegdeg, one of Woden's sons, a mighty king who ruled East Saxony. Although Wecta is mentioned as the father of Witta and the grandfather of Wihtgils in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Historia Brittonum, the Prose Edda and the Anglian collection of Anglo-Saxon genealogies reverses the order of Witta and Wihtgils in the genealogy.[2]

See also

References

  1. Book: Semple, Sarah . Perceptions of the prehistoric in Anglo-Saxon England. Religion, ritual, and rulership in the landscape . 2013 . 978-0-19-150560-7 . Corby . 75 . 860901458.
  2. Book: Chambers, Raymond Wilson . Widsith, a Study in Old English Heroic Legend . 1912 . University Press . 978-1-4047-7166-6 . 194 . en.