Yrsa, Yrse, Yrs or Urse (fl. 6th century)[note 1] was a tragic heroine of early Scandinavian legend. She is typically characterized as the wife of Swedish king Eadgils and mother of Danish king Hrólfr Kraki.
Her legacy is recorded in several different versions. In all versions, she is regarded as a desirable and charming girl. The general nucleus of her character arc is that incestual sexual relations occur between her and her father, Halga, both of them at first ignorant of their kinship. In most versions, Yrsa is forcibly raped by Halga, and both of them learn later on from Halga's Queen Oluf, that they are actually related. This leads to Yrsa leaving Halga, and in one version Halga wants to pursue their incestual relationship regardless. In other versions, Halga commits suicide from the torment of his guilty conscience.
Yrsa's saga narrative is connected to King Beowulf's narrative. Halga is identified as the younger brother of King Hrothgar who receives aid from Beowulf, and king Hrólfr Kraki's identity as Halga's son is evidenced by the Yrsa tradition. Translators such as Burton Raffel have conjectured an emendment of her name from a corrupt line in the manuscript of Beowulf.
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