Beowulf, Chiefdoms, and the Dragon

Wade Tarzia, Naugatuck Valley Community College for WCSU

Click “Folklore” then “Chapter 4 Beowulf” at www.wtarzia.com for MANY details

Thanks for the Invite, Glad to be Here! Thanks for the Cool Poster!

We must study Beowulf because…?

Relationship between wealth, war, and society in the epic is still instructive today

Beowulf as leader doesn’t send warriors where he will not go himself (not a political statement)

Monsters are important symbols: Beowulf is the source of monsters in Western Tradition

“Strange” culture requires us to apply ethnographic & historical approaches to literary study (= good!) Oral vs. written narrative style, different worldview, and more!

And why worry about Chiefdoms?

The 3rd of 4 general organizations of society Band, Tribe, Chiefdom, [stratified?], State

Helps us study origin & function of power Chiefdoms are the basis for Western Society

(and most other societies) Still a hot topic in anthropology Might help us read some postColonial literature

What is a Chiefdom?

Permanent office of leadership, but… Leads by persuasion more than command

“…leaders can lead, but followers may not follow.” Society based in kinship

Relations usually form retinue and support positions Closer to the chiefly family = higher status (ranked)

Slight wealth differences Chief has bigger house, eats a little better Wealth from best land, raiding, trade control

Our Chief (ha!) Worry: Status Symbols

Chiefs gain followers by distributing wealth “food chiefs” = gather produce, give big feasts “war chiefs” = take your stuff, give it to followers “trade chiefs” = control trade of exotic materials

Chiefs gain power by showing off cool stuff Makes power/bravery/wits/luck visible Example: periods of scare exotic goods in Europe

may have not allowed complex society to form Contact with Rome boosted exotic good flow

Status stuff Can Cause Problems

When enter a society, social structure changes See great film, “The Gods Must be Crazy” Or think about problem of $400 sneakers

Taste for exotic goods can lead to Raiding and trading to get it to look cool Coolness leads to political power differences Envy: some angry they have no pretty things like you Inflation: too many pretty things in society = less

useful to display status. What to do…….?

Solution = sacrifice, wreck, hoard

Chiefdoms based on exotic goods experience problems of wealth abundance or scarcity

For envy/inflation problems, get rid of the stuff! Sacrifice to gods (so everybody feels better) Wreck the stuff (broken weapons) Lose the stuff (throw in bogs and rivers)

Surprise! Beowulf is obsessed with Owning, getting, and giving wealth Hidden wealth in monster caves

Treasure hoards = common ritual

Neolithic through early medieval periods Two types, hiding and sacrificing

Craftsman scraps hidden for safety Ritual goods hidden permanently (bogs, rivers) Goods destroyed (classic potlatch ritual)

Potlatch = status sacrifice competition, “last man standing”

Goods buried in sets suggest status positions Fits in to anthro theory of potlatch, inflation, envy

4th-5th-6th century (Migration Period)

Kragehul, Skedemose, Vimose, Nydam, Thorsbjerg -- much war gear, 2 ships, decorated ornaments/clothing, Roman imports, 100s objects: pottery, wood, leather.

Thorsbjerg -- some items deliberately broken Öland, Vastergötland, & Torslunda -- neck rings An old tradition -- Hjortspring, Denmark, 200 BC -- ship

with ~150 shields, 138 iron spearheads, 20 chain shirts, 6 swords; also, dishes, bowls, boxes Gear for complete war-band, useful stuff= emphasizes need for

burial ritual!

Important Trends of Hoards

items for display of individual’s social rank were focus votive deposits occur in wet areas (meadow, bogs,

lakes, some apparently bundled or marked by poles) deliberate destruction of some items occurred; related to

wet-area deposit (indicates rituality). largest votive deposits are near settlement areas,

suggesting community ritual communal-ritual hoards are focus in the sagas funerals associate wealth with lineage hoards divorce wealth from particular lineage/people

Scrap hoards

When is a hoard ritual, when pragmatic?Timboholm & Vittene

Nydam: lots of expensive stuff “lost”

Chiefly war canoe buried with goods

Wet-Place Sacrifice:seaside, cave under water, river

Illerup site, post draining: bogs are hard to navigate and recover lost things = great places for sacrifices

Iron-Age Hoards: Illerup

The Chiefdom in Europe

Chiefdoms fluctuated with climate and trade Food & Stuff = power; both affected by global issues Lack of precious metals slowed chiefdom evolution Contact with Mediterranean world brought wealth Influenced growth of complex society in Europe Chiefdom evidence controversial for Neolithic, very

good for Bronze and Iron Ages As Rome collapses, Europe relapses into chiefdoms Dramatic rise of states from chiefdoms: Scandinavia

near end of Viking Age, England ca 900, Eire too?

Chiefdom in England:

5th-6th cen., few changes for Gmnc. colonizers 7th century changes: move toward Feudal State

Greater wealth differences in graves Society became more rigidly organized, “royal” Law codes stipulate punishments (blood feud tradition

used to be everybody’s right = loss of kinship focus) Law codes start ranking society based on land

Beowulf preserves pre-7th cen. worldview? Medievalist fist fights over Beowulf dates

Chiefs and Chiefdoms in Beowulf

Elite focus, manly men concerned with: Getting and displaying material wealth as symbol of

relationship with other powerful men States use prestige goods but also laws, charters, etc.

Establishing relationships as follower or chief Showing loyalty to chief who is usually kin Persuading/justifying through long speeches Social ID through blood-feud obligations

Family obligated to revenge wrongs against family

Blood-feud as kinship-based control over crime, structures entire epic

Beowulf vows to help “Cyning” Hrothgar because H. helped Beowulf’s father in a feud (reciprocity, debts remembered and repaid)

Fight against Grendel envisioned as feud Grendel wants TOO MUCH revenge; against rules!

Grendel’s Mom avenges son’s death Dragon’s attack of chiefdom requires Beowulf’s

personal vengeance as head of chiefly lineage

But the Monsters Have Treasure!

Beowulf leaves treasure in ogre cave & lives Blade of magic sword melted = left behind

Beowulf kills dragon as revenge/win treasure & dies Young Wiglaf re-buries treasure quickly even though “useful”? Cp. the “Rhine Gold” pattern (Sigurd & everybody dies)

The “otherworld” taboo; source of retribution Sacrificed stuff=otherworld=leave alone! Religious support to chiefdom “hoarding” rituals

Belief in supernatural intersects socio-economic needs

Heroic Habits + Monster Treasure = Curse (someone check my math)

Ancient tradition has two worldviews Chiefs & chief-hopefuls: Get & give status goods Discard/destroy/sacrifice status goods

Hero: “I’m tired. Just tell me what you want!” Both acts OK at certain times in a region, but not at same time

Why both models in Beowulf? Poet under stress: tradition kept both rituals from prehistory Oral poets composing live hastily select from Tradition’s options A mistake out of oral performance issues? (Homer has them

too) Might answer this if we had more ancient Germanic epics….

Beowulf Now: Aliens and Enemies

Gardner’s Grendel: the “monster’s” side Suits our deconstruction of the war experience Expresses our sense that the “Other” has a story too

Beowulf and Grendel film Same tradition as Gardner; hero questions effects of

the heroic society The “folktale function” in Beowulf then and now

Folklore symbols express our minds’ deep-structures Home as safe place; monster attacking home is basic

symbolic expression (Aliens 2: home = spaceship)

The Hero in the Monster

Monsters invade. Aliens monster lays eggs in body = ultimate invader. Ripley gets “inside” a “monster” to defeat; tosses monster from ship Beowulf is a crusher; kills crushing monster; tosses Grendel from hall