Misplaced Pages

#390609

113-602: The Wulfings play an important role in Beowulf as Beowulf 's father Ecgþeow of the Wægmunding clan had slain one of its members, and was banished for not paying the weregild . The Danish king Hroðgar , who was married to Wealhþeow , a Wulfing woman, graciously paid the weregild, and when Beowulf arrived at the Danish court in order to slay Grendel , Hroðgar interpreted this as a son's gratitude. In Old Norse sources,

226-425: A kenning for dís . A few scholars have drawn from the work of Eric Stanley by exploring the term ides as "lady" when discussing Grendel's mother, such as Temple ("Grendel's Lady-Mother", 1986) and Taylor (who argues in his 1994 essay that the term Ides indicates that "Grendel's mother is a woman of inherently noble status."). In addition, others have suggested that Grendel's mother may be associated with

339-477: A slave steals a golden cup from the lair of a dragon at Earnanæs. When the dragon sees that the cup has been stolen, it leaves its cave in a rage, burning everything in sight. Beowulf and his warriors come to fight the dragon, but Beowulf tells his men that he will fight the dragon alone and that they should wait on the barrow. Beowulf descends to do battle with the dragon, but finds himself outmatched. His men, upon seeing this and fearing for their lives, retreat into

452-554: A "noticeable disparity between the Grendel's mother originally created by the Beowulf poet and the one that occupies contemporary Beowulf translations. Instead of being what Sherman Kuhn calls a 'female warrior', the modern Grendel's mother is a monster. This assumption informs almost all areas of Beowulf scholarship, although there is little evidence for this characterization in the original Anglo-Saxon work." Melinda Menzer offered

565-411: A connection between Beowulf and Virgil near the start of the 20th century, claiming that the very act of writing a secular epic in a Germanic world represents Virgilian influence. Virgil was seen as the pinnacle of Latin literature, and Latin was the dominant literary language of England at the time, therefore making Virgilian influence highly likely. Similarly, in 1971, Alistair Campbell stated that

678-551: A giant's sword that he found in her lair. Later in his life, Beowulf becomes king of the Geats, and finds his realm terrorised by a dragon , some of whose treasure had been stolen from his hoard in a burial mound. He attacks the dragon with the help of his thegns or servants, but they do not succeed. Beowulf decides to follow the dragon to its lair at Earnanæs , but only his young Swedish relative Wiglaf , whose name means "remnant of valour", dares to join him. Beowulf finally slays

791-565: A hall was built in the mid-6th century, matching the period described in Beowulf , some centuries before the poem was composed. Three halls, each about 50 metres (160 ft) long, were found during the excavation. The protagonist Beowulf , a hero of the Geats , comes to the aid of Hrothgar, king of the Danes , whose great hall, Heorot , is plagued by the monster Grendel . Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare hands, then kills Grendel's mother with

904-683: A more attractive folk tale parallel, according to a 1998 assessment by Andersson. The epic's similarity to the Irish folktale "The Hand and the Child" was noted in 1899 by Albert S. Cook , and others even earlier. In 1914, the Swedish folklorist Carl Wilhelm von Sydow made a strong argument for parallelism with "The Hand and the Child", because the folktale type demonstrated a "monstrous arm" motif that corresponded with Beowulf's wrenching off Grendel's arm. No such correspondence could be perceived in

1017-443: A number of conditions to Hrothgar in case of his death (including the taking in of his kinsmen and the inheritance by Unferth of Beowulf's estate), Beowulf jumps into the lake and, while harassed by water monsters, gets to the bottom, where he finds a cavern. Grendel's mother pulls him in, and she and Beowulf engage in fierce combat. At first, Grendel's mother prevails, and Hrunting proves incapable of hurting her; she throws Beowulf to

1130-433: A peaceful demon, or the like, this definition would fall apart." Kuhn concluded that Grendel's mother was an 'aglæc-wif', 'a female warrior' [...] there is no more reason to introduce the idea of monstrosity or of misery here than there is in line 1519 where she is called merewif , defined simply as 'water-woman', 'woman of the mere'. Eric Stanley added to the debate by critiquing both Klaeber and Gillam: Grendel

1243-511: A powerful impression of historical depth, imitated by Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings , a work that embodies many other elements from the poem. The dating of Beowulf has attracted considerable scholarly attention; opinion differs as to whether it was first written in the 8th century, whether it was nearly contemporary with its 11th-century manuscript, and whether a proto-version (possibly

SECTION 10

#1732780410391

1356-404: A result, the second scribe's script retains more archaic dialectic features, which allow modern scholars to ascribe the poem a cultural context. While both scribes appear to have proofread their work, there are nevertheless many errors. The second scribe was ultimately the more conservative copyist as he did not modify the spelling of the text as he wrote, but copied what he saw in front of him. In

1469-550: A revised reprint in 1950. Klaeber's text was re-presented with new introductory material, notes, and glosses, in a fourth edition in 2008. Another widely used edition is Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie 's, published in 1953 in the Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records series. The British Library, meanwhile, took a prominent role in supporting Kevin Kiernan 's Electronic Beowulf ; the first edition appeared in 1999, and

1582-446: A section with 22 reviews of Heaney's translation, some of which compare Heaney's work with Liuzza's. Tolkien's long-awaited prose translation (edited by his son Christopher ) was published in 2014 as Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary . The book includes Tolkien's own retelling of the story of Beowulf in his tale Sellic Spell , but not his incomplete and unpublished verse translation. The Mere Wife , by Maria Dahvana Headley ,

1695-541: A single copy in the manuscript known as the Nowell Codex . It has no title in the original manuscript, but has become known by the name of the story's protagonist. In 1731, the manuscript was damaged by a fire that swept through Ashburnham House in London, which was housing Sir Robert Cotton 's collection of medieval manuscripts. It survived, but the margins were charred, and some readings were lost. The Nowell Codex

1808-411: A source of information about Scandinavian figures such as Eadgils and Hygelac, and about continental Germanic figures such as Offa , king of the continental Angles. However, the scholar Roy Liuzza argues that the poem is "frustratingly ambivalent", neither myth nor folktale, but is set "against a complex background of legendary history ... on a roughly recognizable map of Scandinavia", and comments that

1921-402: A version of the " Bear's Son Tale ") was orally transmitted before being transcribed in its present form. Albert Lord felt strongly that the manuscript represents the transcription of a performance, though likely taken at more than one sitting. J. R. R. Tolkien believed that the poem retains too genuine a memory of Anglo-Saxon paganism to have been composed more than a few generations after

2034-453: Is " British Library , Cotton Vitellius A.XV" because it was one of Sir Robert Bruce Cotton 's holdings in the Cotton library in the middle of the 17th century. Many private antiquarians and book collectors, such as Sir Robert Cotton, used their own library classification systems. "Cotton Vitellius A.XV" translates as: the 15th book from the left on shelf A (the top shelf) of the bookcase with

2147-405: Is "plenty of evidence for defending Grendel's mother as a heroic figure" as she "accepted and adhered to the heroic ethic of the blood-feud, the main difference between Grendel's feckless feud with the noise at Heorot and his mother's purposeful one exacting retribution for the death of her son. In heroic terms, her vengeance for the death of her kinsman Grendel." This lack of consensus has led to

2260-724: Is also retold in the Völsunga saga . Sam Newton and others (including Rupert Bruce-Mitford ), have proposed that the East Anglian Wuffing dynasty was derived from the Wulfings, and it was at their court that Beowulf was first composed. According to the Norse sagas , the Wulfings ruled the Geatish petty kingdom of Östergötland . In the first poem ( Helgakviða Hundingsbana I ), Sinfjötli has his residence on

2373-404: Is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines . It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature . The date of composition is a matter of contention among scholars; the only certain dating is for the manuscript, which was produced between 975 and 1025 AD. Scholars call the anonymous author

SECTION 20

#1732780410391

2486-442: Is by its nature invisible to history as evidence is in writing. Comparison with other bodies of verse such as Homer's, coupled with ethnographic observation of early 20th century performers, has provided a vision of how an Anglo-Saxon singer-poet or scop may have practised. The resulting model is that performance was based on traditional stories and a repertoire of word formulae that fitted the traditional metre. The scop moved through

2599-438: Is called aglæcwif by translating the word as Klaeber does, 'wretch', or 'monster, of a woman'. We must never forget that she is called there ides aglæcwif (1259) and ides , 'lady', is not a term of abuse [...] the poet does not speak of his monsters abusively. Other scholars have offered varying opinions on this topic. Christine Alfano also questioned standard translations related to Grendel's mother. She states that she found

2712-408: Is described as an æglæca, a word which we do not understand. One scholar [Gillam] has, in fact, made investigation of this word a model for the methodology of establishing meaning. The attempt is of interest, but in the end we always come back to the fact that, as Klaeber's glossary shows, the word is used by the poet not only to describe Grendel as here, and later in the poem to describe the dragon, and

2825-509: Is due to the ambiguity of a few words in Old English which appear in the original Beowulf manuscript . While there is agreement over the word "modor" (mother ), the phrase "ides, aglæcwif " is the subject of scholarly debate. The poem, Beowulf , is contained in the Nowell Codex . As noted in lines 106–114 and lines 1260–1267 of Beowulf, monsters (which include Grendel's mother and Grendel ) are descendants of Cain . After Grendel

2938-511: Is housed in the British Library . The poem was first transcribed in 1786; some verses were first translated into modern English in 1805, and nine complete translations were made in the 19th century, including those by John Mitchell Kemble and William Morris . After 1900, hundreds of translations , whether into prose, rhyming verse, or alliterative verse were made, some relatively faithful, some archaising, some attempting to domesticate

3051-406: Is killed, Grendel's mother attacks Heorot in revenge. Beowulf then ventures into her cave under a lake, and engages in fierce combat with Grendel's mother. She nearly kills him until he sees an ancient sword, with which he kills her, and beheads the dead Grendel. Beowulf then returns to the surface and to his men at the "ninth hour" (l. 1600, "nōn", about 3 pm). Some scholars have argued that

3164-699: Is known only from a single manuscript, estimated to date from around 975–1025, in which it appears with other works. The manuscript therefore dates either to the reign of Æthelred the Unready , characterised by strife with the Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard , or to the beginning of the reign of Sweyn's son Cnut the Great from 1016. The Beowulf manuscript is known as the Nowell Codex, gaining its name from 16th-century scholar Laurence Nowell . The official designation

3277-593: Is never directly described in Old English by the original Beowulf poet, part of the debate revolves around what is known, namely her descent from the biblical Cain (who was the first murderer, according to the Abrahamic religions ). For some scholars, this descent links her and Grendel to the monsters and giants of the Cain tradition , while others such as Kevin Kiernan in Grendel's Heroic Mother argue that there

3390-530: Is pained by the sounds of joy. Grendel attacks the hall and devours many of Hrothgar's warriors while they sleep. Hrothgar and his people, helpless against Grendel, abandon Heorot. Beowulf, a young warrior from Geatland, hears of Hrothgar's troubles and with his king's permission leaves his homeland to assist Hrothgar. Beowulf and his men spend the night in Heorot. Beowulf refuses to use any weapon because he holds himself to be Grendel's equal. When Grendel enters

3503-618: The Angelcynn , in which Scyldic descent was attributed to the West-Saxon royal pedigree. This date of composition largely agrees with Lapidge's positing of a West-Saxon exemplar c.  900 . The location of the poem's composition is intensely disputed. In 1914, F.W. Moorman , the first professor of English Language at University of Leeds , claimed that Beowulf was composed in Yorkshire, but E. Talbot Donaldson claims that it

Wulfings - Misplaced Pages Continue

3616-646: The Bear's Son Tale ( Bärensohnmärchen ) type, which has surviving examples all over the world. This tale type was later catalogued as international folktale type 301 in the ATU Index , now formally entitled "The Three Stolen Princesses" type in Hans Uther's catalogue, although the "Bear's Son" is still used in Beowulf criticism, if not so much in folkloristic circles. However, although this folkloristic approach

3729-414: The Beowulf manuscript, as possible source-texts or influences would suggest time-frames of composition, geographic boundaries within which it could be composed, or range (both spatial and temporal) of influence (i.e. when it was "popular" and where its "popularity" took it). The poem has been related to Scandinavian, Celtic, and international folkloric sources. 19th-century studies proposed that Beowulf

3842-447: The Beowulf metre; B.R. Hutcheson, for instance, does not believe Kaluza's law can be used to date the poem, while claiming that "the weight of all the evidence Fulk presents in his book tells strongly in favour of an eighth-century date." From an analysis of creative genealogy and ethnicity, Craig R. Davis suggests a composition date in the AD 890s, when King Alfred of England had secured

3955-503: The Beowulf text is too varied to be completely constructed from set formulae and themes. John Miles Foley wrote that comparative work must observe the particularities of a given tradition; in his view, there was a fluid continuum from traditionality to textuality. Many editions of the Old English text of Beowulf have been published; this section lists the most influential. The Icelandic scholar Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin made

4068-637: The Book of Genesis , the Book of Exodus , and the Book of Daniel in its inclusion of references to the Genesis creation narrative , the story of Cain and Abel , Noah and the flood , the Devil , Hell , and the Last Judgment . Grendel%27s mother Grendel's mother ( Old English : Grendles mōdor ) is one of three antagonists in the anonymous Old English poem Beowulf (c. 700–1000 AD),

4181-661: The Brávellir (see Battle of the Brávellir ). Stanza 42: Helgi Hundingsbane resides at Hringstaðir (probably modern Ringstad , an old royal estate on the same plain). In the Heimskringla, Högni was the ruler of Östergötland. The legends of Helge Hundingsbane relate that Högni lost his throne to Helgi Hundingsbane. On the other hand, Sögubrot relates that Ivar Vidfamne gave the East Geatish throne to Hjörmund,

4294-420: The Norse figures of the valkyries and of the goddess Gefion who may be an extension of Frigg and Freyja . Freyja , the daughter of the sea god Njörðr , was both a fertility goddess and a goddess of war , battle , death , seiðr , prophecy and was also sometimes associated with the valkyries and disir . Nora Kershaw Chadwick (1959) and later Helen Damico in two works ( Beowulf's Wealhtheow and

4407-524: The Scyldings , appears as "Hrothulf" in Beowulf . New Scandinavian analogues to Beowulf continue to be proposed regularly, with Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar being the most recently adduced text. Friedrich Panzer  [ de ] (1910) wrote a thesis that the first part of Beowulf (the Grendel Story) incorporated preexisting folktale material, and that the folktale in question was of

4520-557: The apologue technique used in Beowulf is so rare in epic poetry aside from Virgil that the poet who composed Beowulf could not have written the poem in such a manner without first coming across Virgil 's writings. It cannot be denied that Biblical parallels occur in the text, whether seen as a pagan work with "Christian colouring" added by scribes or as a "Christian historical novel, with selected bits of paganism deliberately laid on as 'local colour'", as Margaret E. Goldsmith did in "The Christian Theme of Beowulf ". Beowulf channels

4633-631: The battle between Eadgils and Onela ). The raid by King Hygelac into Frisia is mentioned by Gregory of Tours in his History of the Franks and can be dated to around 521. The majority view appears to be that figures such as King Hrothgar and the Scyldings in Beowulf are based on historical people from 6th-century Scandinavia. Like the Finnesburg Fragment and several shorter surviving poems, Beowulf has consequently been used as

Wulfings - Misplaced Pages Continue

4746-421: The " Beowulf poet". The story is set in pagan Scandinavia in the 5th and 6th centuries. Beowulf , a hero of the Geats , comes to the aid of Hrothgar , the king of the Danes , whose mead hall Heorot has been under attack by the monster Grendel for twelve years. After Beowulf slays him, Grendel's mother takes revenge and is in turn defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland and becomes king of

4859-510: The 20th century. In 2000 (2nd edition 2013), Liuzza published his own version of Beowulf in a parallel text with the Old English, with his analysis of the poem's historical, oral, religious and linguistic contexts. R. D. Fulk, of Indiana University , published a facing-page edition and translation of the entire Nowell Codex manuscript in 2010. Hugh Magennis 's 2011 Translating Beowulf: Modern Versions in English Verse discusses

4972-725: The 5th and 6th centuries, and feature predominantly non-English characters. Some suggest that Beowulf was first composed in the 7th century at Rendlesham in East Anglia , as the Sutton Hoo ship-burial shows close connections with Scandinavia, and the East Anglian royal dynasty, the Wuffingas , may have been descendants of the Geatish Wulfings . Others have associated this poem with the court of King Alfred

5085-421: The 8th century; in particular, the poem's apparent observation of etymological vowel-length distinctions in unstressed syllables (described by Kaluza's law ) has been thought to demonstrate a date of composition prior to the earlier ninth century. However, scholars disagree about whether the metrical phenomena described by Kaluza's law prove an early date of composition or are evidence of a longer prehistory of

5198-656: The Bear's Son Tale or in the Grettis saga . James Carney and Martin Puhvel agree with this "Hand and the Child" contextualisation. Puhvel supported the "Hand and the Child" theory through such motifs as (in Andersson's words) "the more powerful giant mother, the mysterious light in the cave, the melting of the sword in blood, the phenomenon of battle rage, swimming prowess, combat with water monsters, underwater adventures, and

5311-524: The Beowulf's Afterlives Bibliographic Database listed some 688 translations and other versions of the poem. Beowulf has been translated into at least 38 other languages. In 1805, the historian Sharon Turner translated selected verses into modern English . This was followed in 1814 by John Josias Conybeare who published an edition "in English paraphrase and Latin verse translation." N. F. S. Grundtvig reviewed Thorkelin's edition in 1815 and created

5424-680: The Critics ." In contrast, she argued that the three-part structure has become "increasingly popular". She later developed this argument in Woman as Hero in Old English Literature. There is ongoing debate among medieval scholars concerning the ambiguity of certain words in Old English (related to Grendel's mother) which appear in the original Beowulf manuscript . Because these terms are ambiguous, scholars disagree over aspects of her nature and appearance. As her exact appearance

5537-788: The Fight at Finnsburg , has been considered a standard in Beowulf scholarship since its first publication in 1922. According to Klaeber's glossary, "aglæc-wif" translates as: "wretch, or monster of a woman". Klaeber's glossary also defines "aglæca/æglæca" as "monster, demon, fiend" when referring to Grendel or Grendel's mother, or as "warrior, hero" when referring to the character Beowulf . Klaeber has influenced many translations of Beowulf. Notable interpretations of "aglæc-wif" which follow Klaeber include "monstrous hell-bride" (Heaney), "monster-woman" (Chickering) "woman, monster-wife" (Donaldson), "Ugly troll-lady" (Trask) and "monstrous hag" (Kennedy). Doreen M. E. Gillam's 1961 essay, "The Use of

5650-560: The Geats are defenceless against attacks from surrounding tribes. Afterwards, a barrow, visible from the sea, is built in his memory. The poem contains many apparent digressions from the main story. These were found troublesome by early Beowulf scholars such as Frederick Klaeber , who wrote that they "interrupt the story", W. W. Lawrence , who stated that they "clog the action and distract attention from it", and W. P. Ker who found some "irrelevant ... possibly ... interpolations". More recent scholars from Adrien Bonjour onwards note that

5763-452: The Geats of the poem may correspond with the Gautar (of modern Götaland ); or perhaps the legendary Getae. Nineteenth-century archaeological evidence may confirm elements of the Beowulf story. Eadgils was buried at Uppsala ( Gamla Uppsala , Sweden) according to Snorri Sturluson . When the western mound (to the left in the photo) was excavated in 1874, the finds showed that a powerful man

SECTION 50

#1732780410391

5876-482: The Geats. Fifty years later, Beowulf defeats a dragon , but is mortally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants cremate his body and erect a barrow on a headland in his memory. Scholars have debated whether Beowulf was transmitted orally , affecting its interpretation: if it was composed early, in pagan times, then the paganism is central and the Christian elements were added later, whereas if it

5989-548: The Great or with the court of King Cnut the Great . The poem blends fictional, legendary, mythic and historical elements. Although Beowulf himself is not mentioned in any other Old English manuscript, many of the other figures named in Beowulf appear in Scandinavian sources . This concerns not only individuals (e.g., Healfdene , Hroðgar , Halga , Hroðulf , Eadgils and Ohthere ), but also clans (e.g., Scyldings , Scylfings and Wulfings) and certain events (e.g.,

6102-637: The Icelandic Grettis saga , the Norse story of Hrolf Kraki and his bear- shapeshifting servant Bodvar Bjarki , the international folktale the Bear's Son Tale , and the Irish folktale of the Hand and the Child. Persistent attempts have been made to link Beowulf to tales from Homer 's Odyssey or Virgil 's Aeneid . More definite are biblical parallels, with clear allusions to the books of Genesis , Exodus , and Daniel . The poem survives in

6215-506: The Last Survivor" in the style of another Old English poem, " The Wanderer ", and Beowulf's dealings with the Geats such as his verbal contest with Unferth and his swimming duel with Breca, and the tale of Sigemund and the dragon; history and legend, including the fight at Finnsburg and the tale of Freawaru and Ingeld; and biblical tales such as the creation myth and Cain as ancestor of all monsters. The digressions provide

6328-545: The Term 'Æglæca' in Beowulf at Lines 893 and 2592", explores Klaeber's dual use of the term "aglæca/æglæca" for the heroes Sigemund and Beowulf as well as for Grendel and Grendel's mother. She argues that "aglæca/æglæca" is used in works besides Beowulf to reference both "devils and human beings". She further argues that this term is used to imply "supernatural", "unnatural" or even "inhuman" characteristics, as well as hostility towards other creatures. Gillam suggests: "Beowulf,

6441-463: The University of Minnesota, published his edition of the poem, Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg ; it became the "central source used by graduate students for the study of the poem and by scholars and teachers as the basis of their translations." The edition included an extensive glossary of Old English terms. His third edition was published in 1936, with the last version in his lifetime being

6554-709: The Valkyrie Tradition and "The Valkyrie Reflex in Old English Literature") argue that Grendel's mother may refer to the myth of the valkyries. Damico states: in both their benevolent and malevolent aspects, the valkyries are related to a generic group of half-mortal, half-supernatural beings called idisi in Old High German, ides in Old English, and dis in Old Norse, plural, disir . Both groups are closely allied in aspect and function: they are armed, powerful, priestly [...] The Beowulf poet follows

6667-453: The adventure of Beowulf, adeptly tell a tall tale, and ( wordum wrixlan ) weave his words." The poem further mentions (lines 1065–1068) that "the harp was touched, tales often told, when Hrothgar's scop was set to recite among the mead tables his hall-entertainment". The question of whether Beowulf was passed down through oral tradition prior to its present manuscript form has been the subject of much debate, and involves more than simply

6780-462: The bear-hug style of wrestling." In the Mabinogion , Teyrnon discovers the otherworldly boy child Pryderi , the principal character of the cycle, after cutting off the arm of a monstrous beast which is stealing foals from his stables. The medievalist R. Mark Scowcroft notes that the tearing off of the monster's arm without a weapon is found only in Beowulf and fifteen of the Irish variants of

6893-524: The bust of Roman Emperor Vitellius standing on top of it, in Cotton's collection. Kevin Kiernan argues that Nowell most likely acquired it through William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , in 1563, when Nowell entered Cecil's household as a tutor to his ward, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford . The earliest extant reference to the first foliation of the Nowell Codex was made sometime between 1628 and 1650 by Franciscus Junius (the younger) . The ownership of

SECTION 60

#1732780410391

7006-481: The challenges and history of translating the poem, as well as the question of how to approach its poetry, and discusses several post-1950 verse translations, paying special attention to those of Edwin Morgan , Burton Raffel , Michael J. Alexander , and Seamus Heaney. Translating Beowulf is one of the subjects of the 2012 publication Beowulf at Kalamazoo , containing a section with 10 essays on translation, and

7119-491: The champion of men against monsters, is almost inhuman himself. [Aglæca/æglæca] epitomises, in one word, the altogether exceptional nature of the dragon fight. Beowulf, the champion of good, the 'monster' amongst men, challenges the traditional incarnation of evil, the Dragon: æglæca meets æglæcan." The Old English ides , Old High German itis and Old Norse dís are cognates that all mean "lady", and idisi appears as

7232-763: The clan figure prominently in the Heimskringla and in Sögubrot , where Hjörvard and his son Hjörmund belong to it. It is also mentioned in the Lay of Hyndla and in Skáldskaparmál where Eiríkr the Wise was one of its members. However, its most famous member was Helgi Hundingsbane who had two poems of his own ( Helgakviða Hundingsbana I and Helgakviða Hundingsbana II ), in the Poetic Edda , and whose story

7345-415: The codex before Nowell remains a mystery. The Reverend Thomas Smith (1638–1710) and Humfrey Wanley (1672–1726) both catalogued the Cotton library (in which the Nowell Codex was held). Smith's catalogue appeared in 1696, and Wanley's in 1705. The Beowulf manuscript itself is identified by name for the first time in an exchange of letters in 1700 between George Hickes, Wanley's assistant, and Wanley. In

7458-571: The completion of the Christianisation of England around AD 700, and Tolkien's conviction that the poem dates to the 8th century has been defended by scholars including Tom Shippey , Leonard Neidorf , Rafael J. Pascual, and Robert D. Fulk . An analysis of several Old English poems by a team including Neidorf suggests that Beowulf is the work of a single author, though other scholars disagree. The claim to an early 11th-century date depends in part on scholars who argue that, rather than

7571-516: The digressions can all be explained as introductions or comparisons with elements of the main story; for instance, Beowulf's swimming home across the sea from Frisia carrying thirty sets of armour emphasises his heroic strength. The digressions can be divided into four groups, namely the Scyld narrative at the start; many descriptions of the Geats, including the Swedish–Geatish wars , the "Lay of

7684-400: The dragon, but is mortally wounded in the struggle. He is cremated and a burial mound by the sea is erected in his honour. Beowulf is considered an epic poem in that the main character is a hero who travels great distances to prove his strength at impossible odds against supernatural demons and beasts. The poem begins in medias res or simply, "in the middle of things", a characteristic of

7797-505: The encounter between Beowulf and Unferth was parallel to the encounter between Odysseus and Euryalus in Books 7–8 of the Odyssey, even to the point of both characters giving the hero the same gift of a sword upon being proven wrong in their initial assessment of the hero's prowess. This theory of Homer's influence on Beowulf remained very prevalent in the 1920s, but started to die out in

7910-471: The end for Beowulf. The poem is tightly structured. E. Carrigan shows the symmetry of its design in a model of its major components, with for instance the account of the killing of Grendel matching that of the killing of the dragon, the glory of the Danes matching the accounts of the Danish and Geatish courts. Other analyses are possible as well; Gale Owen-Crocker , for instance, sees the poem as structured by

8023-430: The epics of antiquity. Although the poem begins with Beowulf's arrival, Grendel's attacks have been ongoing. An elaborate history of characters and their lineages is spoken of, as well as their interactions with each other, debts owed and repaid, and deeds of valour. The warriors form a brotherhood linked by loyalty to their lord. The poem begins and ends with funerals: at the beginning of the poem for Scyld Scefing and at

8136-434: The female characters in Beowulf fulfill certain established roles such as hostess ( Wealhþeow and Hygd ) and peace-weaver ( Freawaru and Hildeburh ). Grendel's mother and Modthryth (before her marriage to Offa ), challenge these roles, and therefore represent "monster-women". Jane Chance argues in "The Structural Unity of Beowulf : The Problem of Grendel's Mother" that there are two standard interpretations of

8249-617: The first ... the referent can be either Beowulf or Grendel. If the poet and his audience felt the word to have two meanings, 'monster', and 'hero', the ambiguity would be troublesome; but if by áglæca they understood a 'fighter', the ambiguity would be of little consequence, for battle was destined for both Beowulf and Grendel and both were fierce fighters. Thus Kuhn suggested aglæca should be defined as "a fighter, valiant warrior, dangerous opponent, one who struggles fiercely". He supported his argument by also stating that "if there were one clear instance of áglæca referring to an unwarlike monster,

8362-439: The first complete verse translation in Danish in 1820. In 1837, John Mitchell Kemble created an important literal translation in English. In 1895, William Morris and A. J. Wyatt published the ninth English translation. In 1909, Francis Barton Gummere 's full translation in "English imitative metre" was published, and was used as the text of Gareth Hinds's 2007 graphic novel based on Beowulf . In 1975, John Porter published

8475-556: The first complete verse translation of the poem entirely accompanied by facing-page Old English. Seamus Heaney 's 1999 translation of the poem ( Beowulf: A New Verse Translation , called "Heaneywulf" by the Beowulf translator Howell Chickering and many others ) was both praised and criticised. The US publication was commissioned by W. W. Norton & Company , and was included in the Norton Anthology of English Literature . Many retellings of Beowulf for children appeared in

8588-464: The first transcriptions of the Beowulf -manuscript in 1786, working as part of a Danish government historical research commission. He had a copy made by a professional copyist who knew no Old English (and was therefore in some ways more likely to make transcription errors, but in other ways more likely to copy exactly what he saw), and then made a copy himself. Since that time, the manuscript has crumbled further, making these transcripts prized witnesses to

8701-543: The following decade when a handful of critics stated that the two works were merely "comparative literature", although Greek was known in late 7th century England: Bede states that Theodore of Tarsus , a Greek, was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 668, and he taught Greek. Several English scholars and churchmen are described by Bede as being fluent in Greek due to being taught by him; Bede claims to be fluent in Greek himself. Frederick Klaeber , among others, argued for

8814-416: The four funerals it describes. For J. R. R. Tolkien , the primary division in the poem was between young and old Beowulf. Beowulf begins with the story of Hrothgar , who constructed the great hall, Heorot, for himself and his warriors. In it, he, his wife Wealhtheow , and his warriors spend their time singing and celebrating. Grendel, a troll -like monster said to be descended from the biblical Cain ,

8927-678: The fourth in 2014. The tightly interwoven structure of Old English poetry makes translating Beowulf a severe technical challenge. Despite this, a great number of translations and adaptations are available, in poetry and prose. Andy Orchard, in A Critical Companion to Beowulf , lists 33 "representative" translations in his bibliography, while the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies published Marijane Osborn 's annotated list of over 300 translations and adaptations in 2003. Beowulf has been translated many times in verse and in prose, and adapted for stage and screen. By 2020,

9040-409: The ground and, sitting astride him, tries to kill him with a short sword, but Beowulf is saved by his armour. Beowulf spots another sword, hanging on the wall and apparently made for giants, and cuts her head off with it. Travelling further into Grendel's mother's lair, Beowulf discovers Grendel's corpse and severs his head with the sword. Its blade melts because of the monster's "hot blood", leaving only

9153-757: The hall and kills one of Beowulf's men, Beowulf, who has been feigning sleep, leaps up to clench Grendel's hand. Grendel and Beowulf battle each other violently. Beowulf's retainers draw their swords and rush to his aid, but their blades cannot pierce Grendel's skin. Finally, Beowulf tears Grendel's arm from his body at the shoulder. Fatally hurt, Grendel flees to his home in the marshes, where he dies. Beowulf displays "the whole of Grendel's shoulder and arm, his awesome grasp" for all to see at Heorot. This display would fuel Grendel's mother's anger in revenge. The next night, after celebrating Grendel's defeat, Hrothgar and his men sleep in Heorot. Grendel's mother, angry that her son has been killed, sets out to get revenge. "Beowulf

9266-490: The hero" or the "hero on the beach" do exist across Germanic works. Some scholars conclude that Anglo-Saxon poetry is a mix of oral-formulaic and literate patterns. Larry Benson proposed that Germanic literature contains "kernels of tradition" which Beowulf expands upon. Ann Watts argued against the imperfect application of one theory to two different traditions: traditional, Homeric, oral-formulaic poetry and Anglo-Saxon poetry. Thomas Gardner agreed with Watts, arguing that

9379-576: The hilt. Beowulf swims back up to the edge of the lake where his men wait. Carrying the hilt of the sword and Grendel's head, he presents them to Hrothgar upon his return to Heorot. Hrothgar gives Beowulf many gifts, including the sword Nægling , his family's heirloom. The events prompt a long reflection by the king, sometimes referred to as "Hrothgar's sermon", in which he urges Beowulf to be wary of pride and to reward his thegns. Beowulf returns home and eventually becomes king of his own people. One day, fifty years after Beowulf's battle with Grendel's mother,

9492-497: The issue of its composition. Rather, given the implications of the theory of oral-formulaic composition and oral tradition, the question concerns how the poem is to be understood, and what sorts of interpretations are legitimate. In his landmark 1960 work, The Singer of Tales , Albert Lord, citing the work of Francis Peabody Magoun and others, considered it proven that Beowulf was composed orally. Later scholars have not all been convinced; they agree that "themes" like "arming

9605-438: The letter to Wanley, Hickes responds to an apparent charge against Smith, made by Wanley, that Smith had failed to mention the Beowulf script when cataloguing Cotton MS. Vitellius A. XV. Hickes replies to Wanley "I can find nothing yet of Beowulph." Kiernan theorised that Smith failed to mention the Beowulf manuscript because of his reliance on previous catalogues or because either he had no idea how to describe it or because it

9718-456: The letters. Rebinding efforts, though saving the manuscript from much degeneration, have nonetheless covered up other letters of the poem, causing further loss. Kiernan, in preparing his electronic edition of the manuscript, used fibre-optic backlighting and ultraviolet lighting to reveal letters in the manuscript lost from binding, erasure, or ink blotting. The Beowulf manuscript was transcribed from an original by two scribes, one of whom wrote

9831-409: The manuscript stood on a shelf unbound, as was the case with other Old English manuscripts. Knowledge of books held in the library at Malmesbury Abbey and available as source works, as well as the identification of certain words particular to the local dialect found in the text, suggest that the transcription may have taken place there. The scholar Roy Liuzza notes that the practice of oral poetry

9944-478: The monsters of the mere as they attack Beowulf, but also Beowulf himself; and at one point the two enemies, Beowulf and the dragon, are described together using the plural æglæcean. As we assemble the many uses including compounds [...] it becomes clear that it is not pejorative in force. We must not follow Klaeber's distinction of 'wretch, monster, demon, fiend' for Beowulf's enemies, and 'warrior, hero' for Beowulf himself; and we must not abuse Grendel's mother when she

10057-663: The name of the Valkyries in the only surviving pagan source in Old High German , the Merseburg Incantations . More generally, in Norse mythology , the Dísir ('ladies') are fate goddesses who can be both benevolent and antagonistic towards mortal people. Consequently, many have pointed out that dís is probably the original term for the valkyries (lit. "choosers of the slain"), which in turn would be

10170-414: The other two being Grendel and the dragon . Each antagonist reflects different negative aspects of both the hero Beowulf and the heroic society in which the poem is set. Grendel's mother is introduced in lines 1258b to 1259a as: "Grendles modor/ides, aglæcwif". Grendel's mother, who is never given a name in the text, is the subject of an ongoing controversy among medieval scholars . This controversy

10283-465: The poem: one view which suggests a two-part structure (i.e., the poem is divided between Beowulf's battles with Grendel and with the dragon) and the other, a three-part structure (this interpretation argues that Beowulf's battle with Grendel's mother is structurally separate from his battle with Grendel). Chance stated that, "this view of the structure as two-part has generally prevailed since its inception in J. R. R. Tolkien 's Beowulf: The Monsters and

10396-456: The production of some seminal texts by scholars over the past few decades. One important focus of these articles and books concerns the numerous, and at times opposing, translations of especially the Old English compound "ides aglæcwif" (1259a). Until the late 1970s, all scholarship on Grendel's mother and translations of the phrase "aglæc-wif" were influenced by the edition of noted Beowulf scholar Frederick Klaeber . His edition, Beowulf and

10509-445: The prose at the beginning of the manuscript and the first 1939 lines, before breaking off in mid-sentence. The first scribe made a point of carefully regularizing the spelling of the original document into the common West Saxon, removing any archaic or dialectical features. The second scribe, who wrote the remainder, with a difference in handwriting noticeable after line 1939, seems to have written more vigorously and with less interest. As

10622-443: The scenes, such as putting on armour or crossing the sea, each one improvised at each telling with differing combinations of the stock phrases, while the basic story and style remained the same. Liuzza notes that Beowulf itself describes the technique of a court poet in assembling materials, in lines 867–874 in his translation, "full of grand stories, mindful of songs ... found other words truly bound together; ... to recite with skill

10735-575: The son of Hjörvard, after Ingjald 's death since it had been the kingdom of Hjörmund's father Hjörvard. However, this contradicts both the legend of Helge Hundingsbane and the Heimskringla in which the dynasty never lost Östergötland, unless Ivar killed either Högne or Helgi Hundingsbane before giving the throne to their relative Hjörmund. Beowulf This is an accepted version of this page Beowulf ( / ˈ b eɪ ə w ʊ l f / ; Old English : Bēowulf [ˈbeːowuɫf] )

10848-702: The submission of Guthrum , leader of a division of the Great Heathen Army of the Danes, and of Aethelred , ealdorman of Mercia. In this thesis, the trend of appropriating Gothic royal ancestry, established in Francia during Charlemagne 's reign, influenced the Anglian kingdoms of Britain to attribute to themselves a Geatish descent. The composition of Beowulf was the fruit of the later adaptation of this trend in Alfred's policy of asserting authority over

10961-485: The tale; he identifies twelve parallels between the tale and Beowulf . Attempts to find classical or Late Latin influence or analogue in Beowulf are almost exclusively linked with Homer 's Odyssey or Virgil 's Aeneid . In 1926, Albert S. Cook suggested a Homeric connection due to equivalent formulas, metonymies , and analogous voyages. In 1930, James A. Work supported the Homeric influence, stating that

11074-509: The text. While the recovery of at least 2000 letters can be attributed to them, their accuracy has been called into question, and the extent to which the manuscript was actually more readable in Thorkelin's time is uncertain. Thorkelin used these transcriptions as the basis for the first complete edition of Beowulf , in Latin. In 1922, Frederick Klaeber , a German philologist who worked at

11187-456: The tradition of depicting the valkyrie-figure as a deadly battle demon in his characterization of Grendel's Mother. As Chadwick has argued, Grendel's Mother, that wælgæst wæfre 'roaming slaughter-spirit' epitomizes the earlier concept of the valkyrie. Damico later argues in Beowulf's Wealhtheow and the Valkyrie Tradition that Wealtheow and Grendel's mother represent different aspects of the valkyries. Contemporary scholars have suggested that

11300-414: The transcription of a tale from the oral tradition by an earlier literate monk, Beowulf reflects an original interpretation of an earlier version of the story by the manuscript's two scribes. On the other hand, some scholars argue that linguistic, palaeographical (handwriting), metrical (poetic structure), and onomastic (naming) considerations align to support a date of composition in the first half of

11413-487: The use of the term "aglæcwif" indicates that Grendel's mother is a woman warrior . In 1979, Beowulf scholars Kuhn and Stanley argued against Klaeber's reading of Grendel's mother. In Old English Aglaeca-Middle Irish Olach Sherman Kuhn questioned Klaeber's translations of both "aglæc-wif" and of "aglæca / æglæca" when referring to Grendel and Grendel's mother, stating that there are five disputed instances of áglæca [three of which are in Beowulf ] 649, 1269, 1512 ... In

11526-476: The way that it is currently bound, the Beowulf manuscript is followed by the Old English poem Judith . Judith was written by the same scribe that completed Beowulf , as evidenced by similar writing style. Wormholes found in the last leaves of the Beowulf manuscript that are absent in the Judith manuscript suggest that at one point Beowulf ended the volume. The rubbed appearance of some leaves suggests that

11639-515: The woods. However, one of his men, Wiglaf, in great distress at Beowulf's plight, comes to his aid. The two slay the dragon, but Beowulf is mortally wounded. After Beowulf dies, Wiglaf remains by his side, grief-stricken. When the rest of the men finally return, Wiglaf bitterly admonishes them, blaming their cowardice for Beowulf's death. Beowulf is ritually burned on a great pyre in Geatland while his people wail and mourn him, fearing that without him,

11752-404: The work. Among the best-known modern translations are those of Edwin Morgan , Burton Raffel , Michael J. Alexander , Roy Liuzza , and Seamus Heaney . The difficulty of translating Beowulf has been explored by scholars including J. R. R. Tolkien (in his essay " On Translating Beowulf " ), who worked on a verse and a prose translation of his own. The events in the poem take place over

11865-513: Was a parallel with the Grettis Saga , but in 1998, Magnús Fjalldal challenged that, stating that tangential similarities were being overemphasised as analogies. The story of Hrolf Kraki and his servant, the legendary bear- shapeshifter Bodvar Bjarki , has also been suggested as a possible parallel; he survives in Hrólfs saga kraka and Saxo 's Gesta Danorum , while Hrolf Kraki, one of

11978-428: Was buried in a large barrow, c.  575 , on a bear skin with two dogs and rich grave offerings. The eastern mound was excavated in 1854, and contained the remains of a woman, or a woman and a young man. The middle barrow has not been excavated. In Denmark, recent (1986–88, 2004–05) archaeological excavations at Lejre , where Scandinavian tradition located the seat of the Scyldings, Heorot , have revealed that

12091-546: Was composed later, in writing, by a Christian, then the pagan elements could be decorative archaising; some scholars also hold an intermediate position. Beowulf is written mostly in the Late West Saxon dialect of Old English, but many other dialectal forms are present, suggesting that the poem may have had a long and complex transmission throughout the dialect areas of England. There has long been research into similarities with other traditions and accounts, including

12204-478: Was elsewhere. Earlier, after the award of treasure, The Geat had been given another lodging"; his assistance would be absent in this attack. Grendel's mother violently kills Æschere , who is Hrothgar's most loyal advisor, and escapes, later putting his head outside her lair. Hrothgar, Beowulf, and their men track Grendel's mother to her lair under a lake. Unferth , a warrior who had earlier challenged him, presents Beowulf with his sword Hrunting . After stipulating

12317-632: Was probably composed during the first half of the eighth century, and that the writer was a native of what was then called West Mercia, located in the Western Midlands of England. However, the late tenth-century manuscript "which alone preserves the poem" originated in the kingdom of the West Saxons – as it is more commonly known. Beowulf survived to modern times in a single manuscript, written in ink on parchment , later damaged by fire. The manuscript measures 245 × 185 mm. The poem

12430-561: Was published in 2018. It relocates the action to a wealthy community in 20th-century America and is told primarily from the point of view of Grendel's mother. In 2020, Headley published a translation in which the opening "Hwæt!" is rendered "Bro!"; this translation subsequently won the Hugo Award for Best Related Work . Neither identified sources nor analogues for Beowulf can be definitively proven, but many conjectures have been made. These are important in helping historians understand

12543-428: Was seen as a step in the right direction, "The Bear's Son" tale has later been regarded by many as not a close enough parallel to be a viable choice. Later, Peter A. Jorgensen, looking for a more concise frame of reference, coined a "two-troll tradition" that covers both Beowulf and Grettis saga : "a Norse ' ecotype ' in which a hero enters a cave and kills two giants, usually of different sexes"; this has emerged as

12656-405: Was temporarily out of the codex. The manuscript passed to Crown ownership in 1702, on the death of its then owner, Sir John Cotton, who had inherited it from his grandfather, Robert Cotton. It suffered damage in a fire at Ashburnham House in 1731, in which around a quarter of the manuscripts bequeathed by Cotton were destroyed. Since then, parts of the manuscript have crumbled along with many of

12769-426: Was translated from a lost original Scandinavian work; surviving Scandinavian works have continued to be studied as possible sources. In 1886 Gregor Sarrazin suggested that an Old Norse original version of Beowulf must have existed, but in 1914 Carl Wilhelm von Sydow claimed that Beowulf is fundamentally Christian and was written at a time when any Norse tale would have most likely been pagan . Another proposal

#390609