As you prepare to read Beowulf, let me try to provide some details about the world in which Beowulf lived, and the things I'd like you to look for as you read this great poem.
Note: I've attached a few graphics to this lecture, so it may take awhile to load.
Prehistoric and Roman Britain
The Britons of prehistory were the natives of the British Isles. These were the people who built some of the interesting earthworks and stone works that we still can see today - things like the ancient mounds and walls at Sarum, or the earthworks of Southern England, or even Stonehenge (at left).
The British Isles were invaded a few times between the time of Christ and the final invasion, the Norman invasion, of 1066. First, in 55 B.C., Julius Caesar came to England, trying to extend the Roman Empire. He came back a year later, too, but it wasn't until 43 B.C. that the emperor Claudius established settlements on British soil. There are still traces of Roman occupation in Britain, too, as in the impressive Hadrian's Wall which stretches from East to West across the northern boundary of England (built to keep the Scots out), or the Roman baths which still can be seen at the city of Bath (at right).
Now, if the Romans had stayed in England, you and I might be speaking a Romance language like French, Spanish, or Italian. But, around 400 A.D., the Roman Empire started to crumble, and the Roman armies were gradually summoned back to Rome for protection against the barbarian tribes which were encroaching on Rome's borders. Now, in the north of the crumbling Empire were various Germanic tribes.
Anglo-Saxon and Danish Britain
From about 406-410 A.D., then, the Germanic tribes known as the Angles and the Saxons gradually invaded Britannia. It is from the Angles, actually, that we get the name England: "Angle-lond" or "the land of the Angles". Similarly, there are regions of England today which bear the names of these tribes: "Essex" comes from "East Saxony", "Sussex" from "South Saxony", and so forth. In fact, the Germanic language which these people brought with them is either referred to as Old English or Anglo-Saxon. To see (and even hear?) what the Old English language looked like, click here.
So, the Old English period is characterized by features from the Germanic or Teutonic tribes of the continent. The Roman writer Tacitus provides us with an early (98 A.D.) account of these Germanic peoples. Here is how he described their physical characteristics:
"For my own part, I agree with those who think that the tribes of Germany are free from all taint of intermarriages with foreign nations, and that they appear as a distinct, unmixed race, like none but themselves. Hence, too, the same physical peculiarities throughout so vast a population. All have fierce blue eyes, red hair, huge frames, fit only for sudden exertion. They are less able to bear laborious work. Heat and thirst they cannot in the least endure; to cold and hunger their climate and their soil inure them."
The next wave of invaders came from across the North Sea, and they were the Vikings. The Vikings began by raiding outlying regions of the British Isles, like the North of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Ireland, for example, had been Christianized very early, in the 4th century, and the golden relics which churches kept became temptations for the Viking raiders. The Vikings were from Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden, Norway), which was also part of the Germanic culture from which the Angles and the Saxons came. Click here for a good map of Anglo-Saxon England which helps illustrate both the Anglo-Saxon towns and regions, and the Norse and Danish (Viking) holdings.
Thus, there are certain shared characteristics of culture and world-view among the Anglo-Saxons, the Danes, and other Germanic peoples of the period roughly 500-1000 A.D. These characteristics included a bloody, war-like society which centred around the chief and his warriors. The loyalty which the warriors had for their chief was extreme, almost sacred; so, to forsake one's chief was a terrible transgression. Courage and honor were highly prized, and the chief shared the spoils of war with his loyal followers. Here, again, is Tacitus describing some features of the society:
"When they go into battle, it is a disgrace for the chief to be surpassed in valour, a disgrace for his followers not to equal the valour of the chief. And it is an infamy and a reproach for life to have survived the chief, and returned from the field. To defend, to protect him, to ascribe one's own brave deeds to his renown, is the height of loyalty. The chief fights for victory; his vassals fight for their chief. If their native state sinks into the sloth of prolonged peace and repose, many of its noble youths voluntarily seek those tribes which are waging some war, both because inaction is odious to their race, and because they win renown more readily in the midst of peril, and cannot maintain a numerous following except by violence and war. Indeed, men look to the liberality of their chief for their warhorse and their blood-stained victorious lance. Feasts and entertainment, which, though inelegant, are plentifully furnished, are their only pay. The means of this bounty comes from war and rapine. Nor are they as easily persuaded to plough the earth and to wait for the year's produce as to challenge an enemy and earn the honour of wounds. Nay, they actually think it tame and stupid to acquire by the sweat of toil what they might win by their blood."
The chief usually housed his warriors in a great house or hall, providing for their needs. The counsel of women was, perhaps surprisingly, valued when it came to decision-making. The great hall often was shelter to a wandering minstrel called a scop who sang and recited poems for the entertainment of the inhabitants. The poems often recounted the exploits of the chiefs and heroes, and how their lives related to and illustrated their wyrd (the origin of our word "weird"), or fate.
The long poem Beowulf comes out of this tradition of medieval Germanic culture. It was probably one of many long poems which the minstrel, the scop, had committed to memory and performed for powerful leaders in exchange for food and a roof over his head, and maybe a small reward.
There are many interesting features about the poem. First of all, it is often considered as an epic, along with works like The Iliad, The Aeneid, or the Gilgamesh cycle. However, epics usually take place on a grander scale, and are tied directly to a culture's sense of nationhood; in The Iliad, for example, we have grand battles between the Greeks and the Trojans, and the national heroes (Achilles, Hector, Ajax, Paris, etc.) from each side are described in everyday life as well as in battle. Beowulf does not quite fit the pattern. J.R.R. Tolkein, author of The Hobbit but also a renowned medieval literature scholar earlier this century, considered the poem to be an "heroic-elegiac" poem rather than an epic. So, the question of genre is somewhat open to debate.
Another interesting feature of the poem is that it tries to "marry" two world-views. The character of Beowulf is an essentially pagan character; yet the work, the poem itself, tries to pass itself off as a Christian poem. For example, the conventions governing payment for wrong-doing resulted in some unique concepts and contributed to the feuding which is referred to in Beowulf. The rules were almost like modern-day insurance, with a monetary value called the "were-gild" ("man-money") often attached to a man's or woman's life. Here, I quote again from Tacitus:
"If a man, kinless of paternal relatives, fight, and slay a man, and then if he have maternal relatives, let him pay a third of the "were"; his gild-brethren [kindred] a third part; for a third let him flee. If he have no maternal relatives, let his gild-brethren pay half, for half let him flee.This particular rule or doom applies to those who commit manslaughter and do not have all the relatives they need, or the money they need, to pay 100% of the were-gild. This system also resulted in intricate and lengthy feuds, where people had to avenge the actions taken against a relative. Some of these features are alluded to in the poem.
Partly, this is because, we suspect, the poem circulated in an oral form for centuries, being performed by the scops who memorized the poem. But, when it was finally written down, it was, no doubt, written by a monk, since the educated people of the age, the ones who could read and write, were mostly the clergy. Further, there is a time difference of some hundreds of years; the action of the poem dates from 6th or 7th century Scandinavia, but it was not written down until the 11th century. These concurrent themes, world-views, symbol structures, and so on are something to look for in your reading of the poem.
Before I turn to the study questions for this week, let me remind you of the "headnotes" before most pieces in our text, The Norton Anthology. You should read these, too, before reading the primary works.
Sometime this week, (the earlier the better!), post a response to these questions to me. Once you have responded, log-on later to respond to others' responses.
Baker, Peter S. Beowulf: Basic Readings (1995)
Cantor, Norman F. The Medieval World (1968)
Kiernan, Kevin S. Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript (1981)
Tillyard, E.M.W. The English Epic and its Background (1954)
Tolkien, J.R.R. Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics (1936)
