Beowulf

Historical and Literary

Background

Map of present-day Europe.

Europe:pre-6th Century

The British IslesPre-A.D. to 400 A.D.

Inhabited by:

• The Britons (Celtic)

• The Picts (Pre-Celtic)

•The Gaels (Celtic, Ireland)

Druids

•Intellectual class of Britons

•Responsible for many elements of society

•philosophers, judges, educators, historians, doctors, seers, astronomers, and astrologers.

Did the Druids really have anything to do with this?

The Roman Empire 150 A.D.

•Invaded by Julius Caesar, 55 B.C.

Roman Invasion

•Firmly brought under Roman control by the Emperor Claudius, A.D. 43

•Romans brought roads, running water, heating systems, writing

•Also brought armour, axes, etc.

•System of worship, including, although not for a few hundred years, Christianity

Early 400s AD, the Roman legions withdrew from the British Isles to return to Rome.

Without the protection of the Roman Army, this led to the

invasion of:•Angles

•Saxons

•Jutes

Known as Germanic tribes-from Northern Holland, Northern Germany, and Denmark.

Throughout the 5th and 6th Century (400s-500s AD)

War-oriented culture

They were obviously a sea-faring people.

Burial site found in England called Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk. Dates to 7th Century. Believed to be the

burial site of a king.

The Anglo-Saxons were heathens or pagans upon their arrival in Britain, meaning they

did not worship the traditional Judeo-Christian God.

Woden (Odin in Norse) was the God of War, poetry, magic, and learning. He was usually the

chief of the gods.

Click here to go to slide # 65

The Anglo-Saxons did not necessarily believe in an afterlife. They did, however, believe in WYRD- FATE.

For a true warrior, his fate was to fight and die in great battles. This would enable him to go to an eternal battle

hall, called Valhalla (in the Norse tradition).

They were an oral culture. Story telling was very important to them.

The only system of writing was the Runic alphabet.

                                                                   

The Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, as their Runic Alphabet is called, was brought into Britain by the various tribes of Anglos, Saxons,

Jutes, and Frisians. This would have been around the 5th Century, and it was used until the 11th Century.

These were used for inscriptions on jewelry, stones, weapons, money, and monuments.

Runes would have also been used to perform rituals and rites. In the Germanic

languages of the time, rune meant mystery or secret.

Most Runic alphabets are thought to be based on the Etruscan

alphabet.

Runic alphabets

• Elder Futhark

• Gothic Runes

• Anglo-Saxon Futhorc

• Younger Futhork

• Hungarian Runes

• Turkic Runes

• Cirth (Tolkein)

Once in Briton, the Anglo-Saxons settled down considerably and became more civilized.

Some historians

believe that this is due to Christianity

and its influence.

St Patrick is one of the more influential Christians in the history of this time.

•Originally from Briton but from a Romanized family.

•Kidnapped and taken to Ireland.•Turned to Christianity to comfort him.

•Walked nearly 200 miles to escape after 6 years

•Went back to Ireland as a missionary

Another Christian influence was Augustine*, who was sent by the Pope in

the late 500s as a missionary.

He became the first Archbishop of Canterbury and baptized the king of Kent.

*Not Augustine of Hippo, the world famous philosopher and saint.

The “invasion” continues.

Cornwall

and

Brittany.

Heptarchy-comprised of seven kingdoms

C-Cornwall

N-Northumbria

M-Mercia

EA-East Anglia

K-Kent

S-Sussex

W-Wessex

Heptarchy

Enter the Danes

The Vikings

The Norse

The Normans

•Like the Anglo-Saxons, many of the Danes were a fierce and war-oriented, sea-faring

people when they first arrived.

•The “Berserkers” were the most feared Viking. They were named after the bear shirts

they wore. Prior to each battle they would work themselves into a frenzy so they could

fight regardless of any pain or injury.

•At first they raided unprotected monasteries.

•They did not just invade the British Isles.

We now know for sure that they made it as far as Nova Scotia in their pioneering longships.

Viking Settlements during the Viking Age: AD 750-1050.

This is the only true Viking helmet ever found. Absolutely no evidence exists

suggesting they wore horned helmets.

Alfred the Great (871-899)

•Alfred was a Saxon and Christian king of Wessex.

•His battles with the Danes were numerous and

legendary.

•Eventually took London from their control.

•Forced many Danes to convert to Christianity

in one of his treaties/truces.

Alfred the Great encouraged people to read and write in the spoken

language.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle began in his

reign. Much of what we know today about the

history comes from this document.

This was written in Old English and was a timeline of British history written by

monks.

After the initial raids, the Vikings began to settle various areas of the British Isles. Their

settlements were agricultural and trading areas.

The next 100 years were very turbulent.

Canute I (Cnut): 1016-1035

•Canute invaded from Denmark and took over as

king.

•Married the widow of the Duke of Normandy.

•Became King of Denmark around 1018.

•In 1028 he conquered Norway.

•He was supposed to divide the land with

Edmund II, his predecessor.

•Edmund died within a month.

Edward the Confessor

•Very religious

•1044-1066

•No children

•Father was Anglo-Saxon, mother Norman

Harold, Earl of Wessex

•Took claim of the throne upon the death of

Edward the Confessor in 1066, supported by witan

•Other claims to the throne included Prince

Edgar and William, Duke of Normandy

•Fought battle in the North against the King of Norway

William the Conqueror

• Duke of Normandy

• Claimed that Edward promised him ascension

• Took advantage of Harold’s fight in the North to invade

• This is known as the Norman Conquest

The Battle of Hastings

• Establishes William as King of England

• Approximately 300 years of Norman Rule

• Aristocracy speaks Anglo-Norman (French dialect)

• Lower class speaks Anglo-Saxon (Old English)

Old English

• Language that Beowulf was written in.• Sprung from the Germanic settlers and

their various dialects.• Harsher in sound than today’s English.• Written phonetically-no silent letters.• More grammatically complex than Modern

English. A. Word changed form with function.

B. Word order was more flexible.

For entertainment and education:

•They sang songs

•Had epic and lyric poems

•Authors of the poems were known as scops.

•Glee men traveled from place to place to sing the song of the scops.

Beowulf

• An epic poem

• A folk-epic, which is a long narrative poem relating stories of a hero that embodies all the culture’s most important values.

• Written in the Wessex dialect.

• Divided into three primary episodes.

• Takes place in Denmark and Sweden, not in England.

Written by:

We don’t know!

Written in:

We’re not sure!

Original Intended Audience:

Uh, we’re not sure about that either . . .

•Only one manuscript survived

•Badly burned in the 1700s

•Some repairs made in the 1800s

•Dates from around 1000 A.D.

•May have been composed as early as 750 A.D.

•Author was probably a Christian addressing a royal audience.

•One historical figure: Hygelac, Beowulf’s uncle. Raided the Frisian coast around A.D. 516.

Beowulf Prologue

Hwæt! We Gardena         in geardagum, þeodcyninga,         þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas         ellen fremedon.

•Anglo Saxon Poetry had four beats or accents in every line.

•No fixed number of unaccented syllables.

•Each line is divided by a caesura.

•Alliteration on the accented beats on each side.

•Used kennings-hyphenated expressions of metaphor-wave-traveler-ship.

J R R Tolkien

•Was profoundly interested in and influenced by Beowulf

•Claimed that the story was “a heroic celebration of the lives of mortal men in a dangerous and transient world. “

•Was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University

•Once said in a letter, 'Beowulf is among my most valued sources ...'            (Letters, no.25)

Table 1:  A list in alphabetical order of Old English words from Beowulf             that appear in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Old English word 

from Beowulf

Beowulf reference

Definition Tolkien’s equivalent

Beorn* ll: 1299 Warrior, hero Beorn

Beor ll: 609 Bright, shining Beor the Old

Eotenas ll: 112 Giant / trollEnt/ Ettenmoors /

Ettendales

Flet ll: 1540 Floor Flet

Fródan / fróda* ll: 2025, 2928The wise one /

oldFrodo

Fyrgen-holt ll: 1393 Mountain-wood Firienfeld

Grimmon ll: 306 Mask Grima

Hádor ll: 497 Blithe Hador

Háma ll: 1198Skin, covering

(?)Hama

‘him wæs géomeor sefa

murnende mód’ll: 49-50

‘sad was their heart and

mourning in their soul’

‘has pity in her heart and mourning in her soul’

Old English word  from Beowulf

Beowulf reference DefinitionTolkien’s

equivalent

‘iúmonna gold,  galdre bewunden’ ll: 3052

‘the gold of men of long ago enmeshed

in enchantment’

‘The Hoard’ 

Lord of those rings*

ll: 1507 Lord of those ringsThe Lord of the

rings

Máthmas ll: 1867 Treasure Mathom

Méaras ll: 1035 War-horses Mearas

Medu-seld ll: 3065 Mead-hall Meduseld

Middan-geard ll: 75 Middle-Earth Middle-Earth

Myrcan* ll: 1405 Dark, gloomy Mirkwood

Orc-néas ll: 112 Evil shades Orc

Orþancum ll: 406 Skill / ingenuity Orthanc

Searo- ll: 406 Iron / metal Saruman

Thenga ll: 2033 A noble Thane

Ylfe ll: 112 Elves Elf

Elvish

Right click to end the show.

•In Old English, the language of the Anglo-Saxons, the word Wodnesdaeg meant

Woden’s Day.

•Constantine the Great gave names to each day of the week, naming the third day after the day of rest as the day which belongs to Mercury. This meant that the first hour of that day would be

influenced by that celestial body.

•Woden is the Germanic equivalent of Mercury, the Roman god, because he was

quick and eloquent.

•Thus, Dies Mercuri became Wodnesdaeg.

witan

• From Old English witenagemot, meeting

• A council summoned by Anglo-Saxon kings

• Nobles and church officials

• Discussed royal grants of land, church matters, charters, taxation, customary law, defense and foreign policy

• Size of the council varied