From the obscure hints in the passage, a part of the poem
may be
approximately
dated,--if Hygelāc is the _Chochi-laicus_ of Gregory
of Tours, _Hist.
Beowulf
l. 1196. E. takes the expression to mean "mantle and its rings or
broaches." "Rail" long survived in Mid. Eng. (_Piers Plow._, etc.).
l. 1196. This necklace was afterwards given by Beowulf to Hygd, ll. 2173,
2174.
ll. 1199-1215.
From the obscure hints in the passage, a part of the poem
may be
approximately
dated,--if Hygelāc is the _Chochi-laicus_ of Gregory
of Tours, _Hist.
Francorum_, iii. 3,--about A.D. 512-20.
l. 1200. The Breosinga men (Icel. _Brisinga men_) is the necklace of the
goddess Freya; cf. _Elder Edda, Hamarshemt._ Hāma stole the necklace from
the Gothic King Eormenrīc; cf. _Traveller's Song_, ll. 8, 18, 88, 111. The
comparison of the two necklaces leads the poet to anticipate Hygelāc's
history,--a suggestion of the poem's mosaic construction.
