Beowolf

ab. 700

The epic was given its present form in the England of the 7th or 8th century by a single poet, who welded his material into a single poem. The manuscript from the late 10th century formed part of the collection of Sir Robert Cotton (1571-1631), whence it passed into the British Museum in London. Some of the events and persons referred to in the poem are historical. Hygelac was a real king who fell in battle near the mouth of the Rhine between 512 and 520 AD His people, the Geats, probably lived in a part of what is now southern Sweden. Gregory of Tours (b. 594) tells us in the “Gesta Francorum” how Hygelac, between 512-520, sought the shores of Gaul (France) and going up upon the land devastated one of the towns of King Theodoric, but when Theodoric heard of this he sent his son Theodobert into that land with a great army, who, when the king (Hygelac) was killed, overcame the enemy in a naval battle and restored the plunder.

There is good reason to suppose that the Swedish king and princes mentioned in the poem - Radgils, Onela, Ohtere, Ongentheow, are historical. The Danish king Healfdene and his descendants are also probably historical, and their great hall Heort almost certainly stood on the island of Seeland, off the coast of Denmark, where the village of Leire now stands.

Beowulf I, the son of Scyld Sceffing, is not to be confused with the main hero of the poem, Beowulf II, or the Great, who is not introduced until the fourth canto.

Of the three large sections into which the story of Beowulf falls - the fight with Grendel in Denmark, the fight with Grendel’s mother, and the subsequent deeds of Beowulf in Geatland (Sweden) - the first is here given practically entire, and the second in part. The third section tells the last phase of the hero’s life in Geatland. After the death of Hygelac, Beowulf succeeds to the kingdom where he reigns for fifty years. A dragon which has been guarding a treasure finds that it has been robbed, and devastates the country.

Beowulf and eleven companions go out to meet it. The dragon issues from its mound breathing out fire. All the companions, save Wiglaf, flee to a wood. Beowulf’s sword breaks, and the dragon sets its teeth in Beowulf’s neck. Wiglaf wounds it, and its strength wanes. Beowulf kills it, but is mortally wounded. He bids Wiglaf bring the treasure out of the mound, that he may see it. He directs that a barrow be built for him on the Whale’s Headand and then dies. Wiglaf rebukes his companions and sends word of Beowulf’s death.

The messenger warns the people of coming troubles, Beowulf’s body is burned on a pyre, with his armour and the treasure. (Epitomized from R. K. Cordon, Anglo-Saxon Poetry, London 1937).

The manuscript contains 3182 verses divided into 43 chapters written like prose in lines which run on irrespective of the commencement of a new verse, and without any separation marks between the verses. Of the two excerpts presented below the first, 1383 to 1472 verses, is modernized by Benjamin Thorpe, 1885, and is meant to familiarize the reader with the epic. The second, 2794 to 2820 verses, is to be analyzed and translated by the student.