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58-429: Unferth's name can be understood in a number of ways. A common reading, by Morton W. Bloomfield is to see it as un + frith , "mar peace": similarly, J. R. R. Tolkien considered the name to mean Unpeace/Quarrel, or perhaps 'Unfriend'. However, Searle's Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum lists several mentions of medieval historic personages, such as bishops and archbishops, named Hunfrith. Another reading, by Fred C. Robinson,

116-425: 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

174-554: 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

232-573: A bad result if Beowulf dares face Grendel. Beowulf answers the challenge by boasting that he is the strongest swimmer in the world, and entertains the company with a tale about how, in that contest, he swam the North Sea in full armor while carrying a sword, killed nine huge sea-monsters who dragged him to the ocean floor, and was carried by the currents to the shore of the land of the Finns. Beowulf says that he has never heard of anyone else having such

290-504: A great sea-fight as he had; and then adds particularly that he has never heard such stories told of Unferth, and in fact the story people tell about Unferth is how he killed his brothers, for which, Beowulf predicts, Unferth will be tormented in Hell despite his cleverness. Unferth silently concedes defeat and the feast continues. After Beowulf kills Grendel, Unferth seems to have a change of heart. When Beowulf hangs up Grendel's torn-off arm at

348-412: A helmet, against Grendel's dam "this was the first time that the glorious treasure failed"; Unferth had no reason to foresee this failure, he gave his sword to Beowulf fully expecting it to be entirely successful. Another thought comes from Carroll Rich, who notes that the biblical tale of Cain and Abel is deeply woven into the poem, and as Unferth is a character who is notorious for slaying his own brother,

406-404: A parallel might exist. Rich observes that "the depiction of Unferth as an envious fratricide makes clear the threat he poses to Beowulf and to a society dependent upon mutual trust." However, Norman E. Eliason suggests that the mention of Unferth's fratricide, although apparently reiterated in line 1167, is not to be taken seriously but is a mere bit of billingsgate. Eliason's theory is that Unferth

464-433: 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

522-418: A priest of Woden confronted by a presumably Christian Beowulf. J.D.A. Ogilvy similarly speculates that Unferth's post at the feet of the king demonstrate that he was some sort of entertainer, and that he may have been a landless exile as a result of the misadventures with his kinsmen and given refuge by Hrothgar, as had been done with Ecgtheow (lines 459–472). Unferth only speaks once (an insult aimed at Beowulf),

580-405: 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

638-499: Is also the anti-hero of John Gardner 's novel, Grendel . Portrayed as a boastful but weak-willed warrior, Unferth is mocked by Grendel for false piety, hypocrisy, and failing to live up to the ideals of the heroic culture that Unferth claims to embrace. Late in the novel, Unferth is mocked publicly by Beowulf. In Gardner's adaptation of lines 580–607 of the epic, Beowulf responds to Unferth's verbal attacks by reminding all present that no one sings of Unferth's courage, and that Unferth

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696-554: Is an admirable character, well-intentioned, despite the narrator's suggestions to the contrary. The social taunter has many roles, as has been stated by Thalia Phillies Feldman in her article, "The Taunter in Ancient Epic: The Iliad , Odyssey , Aeneid , and Beowulf ". In a society of kings and warriors, the social taunter acts as the spokesman of the court, revealer of truths, means of social control, and provocateur. Unferth performs these functions, thus fulfilling

754-530: Is best known in the northern lands for having murdered his brothers. Beowulf concludes by telling Unferth and assembled guests that Unferth "will prowl the stalagmites of hell" for his crime. In the 1981 animated film Grendel Grendel Grendel , Unferth (voiced by Ric Stone) captures Hrothgar in a bear pit, and blackmails him into making him his heir. Tension however arises from the two when Unferth falls in love with Wealhtheow and Hrothgar shows no sign of intending to keep his promise. Unferth begins to plot against

812-438: 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

870-408: 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

928-478: Is described as intelligent and a kin-slayer, and is responsible for lending Beowulf his legendary, yet ill-fated sword, Hrunting. Kenneth Sisam argues that readers would be advised not to speculate beyond these basic facts as laid out by the poet. It should be kept in mind that, although the sword provided by Unferth was ineffective against Grendel's mother, we are told that this sword is an ancient treasure, "never had it failed", but although it had sliced through many

986-569: 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

1044-406: 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

1102-648: 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

1160-422: Is the compilation and production of a cartulary , called Hemming's Cartulary , by the monk Hemming . Since nearly half a century lies between Wulfstan's death (1095) and John's final entry (1140), historian Simon Keynes has offered the tentative suggestion that Florence may have been the monk first commissioned by Wulfstan to compile material for a world chronicle and that John continued the task. According to

1218-472: Is to see it as un + ferth , "no wit". Other scholars, such as R. D. Fulk , have suggested that Unferth's name should not be associated with frið (peace) but with ferhð , which translates as “soul, spirit, mind, and life.” Fulk writes that it is difficult to assign significance to names in Beowulf because some of the characters involved are historical figures. However, Fulk argues that this can be done in

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1276-471: 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

1334-604: The Anglo-Norman chronicler Orderic Vitalis visited Worcester sometime in the early twelfth century. Historians have formulated two main arguments against the ascription to Florence and in favour of that to John. First, there is no stylistic break in the Chronicon after Florence's death, which gives the impression that a single author was responsible for the entire work. Second, certain sections before 1118 have been shown to make use of Eadmer 's Historia novorum , which

1392-680: 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

1450-788: 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

1508-592: The Scyldings. The poet states that Unferth is envious of Beowulf's fame (since Beowulf has offered to defeat the monster Grendel , which Unferth has failed to do). At line 506, Unferth impugns Beowulf, bringing up the story of Beowulf's swimming-contest with Breca the son of Beanstan. Unferth makes fun of the young Beowulf's foolish decision to have a swimming (or rowing) contest in the North Sea , ignoring all advice, and declares that he lost. He ends by predicting

1566-545: 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,

1624-769: 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

1682-434: The beginning of the film). Deviating from the poem, Unferth's sword melts when Beowulf is seduced by Grendel's mother, forcing Beowulf to concoct a lie about having to leave his sword buried in Grendel's mother's corpse or else she would come back from the dead. Unferth also remains in the story until the final act. His family is killed in an attack by the dragon, which then has Unferth deliver a message to Beowulf – "the sins of

1740-616: The case of Unferth because the name Un-ferth is not known to appear in history, or in any manuscript other than the Nowell Codex. But the Chronicon Ex Chronicis , a 12th-century history of England, variously attributed to Florence of Worcester ("Florentii Wigorniensis") or to John of Worcester , mentions an 8th-century bishop of Winton whose name in Latin is given as "Hunfridus" and "Hunfertho". The first element of

1798-491: 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

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1856-500: The door of Heorot, the poet says that "no man was more silent than Ecglaf's son", and that he made no more boasting speeches. At the celebratory feast after the killing of Grendel, the poet repeats that Unferth sat at the feet of the king, and calls him a þyle (also spelled ðyle ) (pronounced thyle) (see Analysis below). The poet goes on to say that everyone knows of Unferth's courage and fealty, "though he did not show mercy to his kin in sword-play." When Grendel's mother attacks

1914-423: The fathers" – revealing that the dragon is the son of Beowulf and Grendel's mother. In the film, Unferth has a servant named Cain which he continually abuses for the slightest mistake. Cain takes the role of the slave who upsets the dragon in the original story. Florence of Worcester Florence of Worcester ( Latin : Florentius Wigorniensis ; died 1118) was a monk of Worcester , who played some part in

1972-434: 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

2030-617: 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,

2088-511: The hall, the Danes and Geats pursue her to the mere where she lives. As Beowulf arms himself to enter the mere, Unferth lends him his sword, Hrunting . Unferth is here referred to as a ðyle for the second and last time. The poet says that Unferth "did not bear in mind" his earlier challenging insults that he had spoken "when drunken", but acknowledged that Beowulf was "the better sword-fighter." The poet adds that Unferth "did not dare" to dive into

2146-514: The historian Nick Higham , William of Malmesbury and John of Worcester probably both followed a lost text of Florence. The names of Hemming, Florence and John are found together in the Durham Liber Vitae , a confraternity book listing the names of benefactors of and visitors to the episcopal church of Durham (and its predecessor houses). The relevant section is a list of monks of St Mary's (the cathedral chapter) at Worcester, which

2204-421: The king with the court minstrel, but is murdered on Hrothgar's orders by Beowulf. Unferth's role is expanded on in the 2007 animated film where he is played by John Malkovich . In this film he is shown to be the king's advisor and openly hostile but also learned in the ways of Christianity (he suggests to Hrothgar that they should also pray to "the new Roman God, Christ Jesus" after Grendel attacks Heorot at

2262-579: The letter h does not appear anywhere else in the Beowulf manuscript, and Leonard Neidorf concluded that a scribe substituted the element Hun- for Un- simply because Hun- was familiar to him as a name element where Un- was not. In Old English, un usually functions as a negative prefix. However, in certain contexts the meaning must be interpreted as 'abnormally', rather than 'not' (cf. German Untiefe , un-depth, which may mean either an excessive or an insufficient depth, or Old English unhar , "very old"). This use of un could add new possibilities to

2320-461: The meaning of the name Unferth. Despite the vast amount of research that has gone into the etymology of Unferth's name, there can be no easy consensus about its meaning. Unferth appears a total of five times in Beowulf . Unferth first appears at line 499: Hunferð maþelode, Ecglafes bearn, þe æt fotum sæt frean Scyldinga. Unferth spoke, Ecglaf's son, He who sat at the feet of the lord of

2378-420: The mere to attack Grendel's mother, and thus "his fame was lessened." Beowulf is grateful for the loan, however, and at line 1488 he tells King Hroðgar that if he, Beowulf, does not return from the mere, then his own sword should be given to Unferth. The morning after the celebratory feast on the occasion of Beowulf killing Grendel's mother, Beowulf and his people prepare to return to their home. Beowulf returns

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2436-478: 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

2494-663: 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

2552-405: The name, un , appears exclusively as hun in the sole manuscript of Beowulf , yet the alliterative metre of the poem shows conclusively that when the poem was composed the name began with a vowel. Fred C. Robinson suggested that this h- was a Celtic scribal habit, indicating that u had a vocalic function by adding an unpronounced, diacritic letter h . Fulk argued, however, that this use of

2610-414: 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

2668-465: 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

2726-456: 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

2784-694: The production of the Chronicon ex chronicis , a Latin world chronicle which begins with the creation and ends in 1140. The nature and extent of his contributions remain unclear. The usual starting point for an examination of his career is the notice of his death in the final entry for the year 1118 in the Chronicon : On 7 July, the Worcester monk Florence died. His meticulous learning and scholarly labours have made this chronicle of chronicles [ chronicarum chronica ] outstanding among all others. Earlier generations of scholars took this to mean that Florence

2842-409: The role of social taunter. He is able to do so mainly because of his characteristic fast tongue, unabashed speech and wit. The taunter, as opposed to a satirist, is able to make personal attacks on specific characters. He reveals a character's flaws and failures that other court members may not be aware of, or are too afraid to point out. Unferth does this as he questions the events that took place during

2900-421: The swimming contest. Because of Unferth's taunt, Beowulf has no choice (in fact it is part of his duty to defend his honour) but to correct Unferth's version of the story and to rectify himself once again. Unferth's taunt spurs Beowulf into action and reignites Hrothgar 's and the people's faith in him. Their exchange also provides dramatic tension between the hero's arrival and the fight with Grendel . Unferth

2958-479: The sword Hrunting to Unferth, praising the weapon and its owner: he has "no ill word" for the sword (although it had not helped him against Grendel's mother), and he thanks Unferth for the loan. This is Unferth's last appearance in the poem. Unferth's presence in the poem has been a point of much scholarly debate. He is called a þyle or ðyle – thyle (the word occurs only twice, once in line 1165 with þ and then in line 1456 with ð; it seems most scholarly articles use

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3016-456: 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

3074-487: 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

3132-474: The word to suggest something villainous or scurrilous. This was, however, rejected by Ida M. Hollowell, who theorizes that the Anglo-Saxon audience who immediately know what a thyle was and would even identify Unferth as such by his position at the feet of the king, and it is someone innocuous or even worthy of respect. She refers to another suggestion for the meaning of thyle - a pagan priest, making Unferth

3190-435: The þ) – a term related to Old Norse thul , a court orator, reciter, or jester. It is noticed that Unferth's brief remarks against Beowulf's youthful risk-taking is "a masterpiece of invective" and yet there is no reprimand for it, which suggests that it may have been part of Unferth's duties or practices to make a visitor defend his reputation. James L. Rosier, relying on Latin glosses in other Old English writings, interpreted

3248-441: Was entered during the time when Samson was bishop of Worcester (1096–1112). Florence is also the first monk to be commemorated in a so-called titulus for Worcester, preserved on a mortuary roll belonging to Vitalis (d. 1122), abbot of Savigny. 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),

3306-407: Was not completed before 1121 to 1124. That said, the debt to Florence acknowledged by John in the entry for 1118 is considerable. One possibility if ultimately unverifiable is that Florence's contribution lay in assembling the source materials which John consulted for the entries covering the period between the ninth and eleventh century. A precedent for such a task commissioned by Bishop Wulfstan

3364-453: Was the principal author of the chronicle for the entries before 1118, an assumption which led to its being commonly referred to as the 'Chronicle of Florence (of Worcester)'. However, it is now recognised that the work as it survives today was authored by John , a fellow monk at Worcester, whose signature is found in two later entries (1128 and 1138). He was found working on it at the behest of Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester (d. 1095), when

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