'tis but a scratch: fact and fiction about the Middle Ages
'tis but a scratch: fact and fiction about the Middle Ages
Beowulf
This is the first of a two-part series on the most famous monster story in pre-modern literature, the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf. My co-host for both is Dr. Christine Senecal of Shippensburg University. In this episode Chrissy and I talk about the poem itself. We begin with the story of the hero Beowulf and how as a youth he kills two monsters ravaging the mead-hall of King Hrothgar, the fearsome Grendel and his even more fierce mother, and how as an aged king he fights and kills a fire-breathing dragon, saving his kingdom and winning the dragon's treasure, but at the cost of his life. We then discuss when the poem was written and what we can learn from it about the warrior aristocratic culture of early Anglo-Saxon England. In the follow-on episode, Chrissy and I talk about modern literary and cinematic adaptations of the Beowulf story. I hope you can join us.
Passages are quoted from
Beowulf, A Dual-Language Edition, trans. Howell D. Chickering, Jr. (New York: Anchor Books, 1977).
Beowulf: The Donaldson Translation Backgrounds and Sources Criticism, ed. Joseph Tuso (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1975).
Beowulf, A New Translation, trans. Maria Dahvana Headley (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020).
The Heliand: The Saxon Gospel, trans. G. Ronald Murphy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992).
The Dating of Beowulf, A Reassessment, ed. Leonard Neidorf (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2014).
Music:
"Wælheall," composed by Hrōðmund Wōdening (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g)
"Caedmon's Hymn" on a lyre, sung and played by Peter Pringle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8WaPIu1tAc)
If you are interested in the Middle Ages--and I assume you are if you listening to 'Tis But A Scratch--you might want to check out Dr. Christine Senecal's Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/chrissysenecal/) and her webpage, "Weird History Stories" (https://chrissysenecal.com/). Both are well worth a visit.
I would same about Medievalists.net, a website dedicated to offering readers news, articles, videos and more about the medieval world and how that history is presented today (https://www.medievalists.net/)
Finally, if you are enjoying 'Tis But A Scratch, please tell friends and family about it. Good ratings and good reviews help spread the word!
Listen on Podurama https://podurama.com
Intro and exit music are by Alexander Nakarada
If you have questions, feel free to contact me at richard.abels54@gmail.com
Welcome back to our podcast, "'Tis but a scratch: fact and fiction about the Middle Ages." I'm your host Professor Richard Abels. For the next two episodes, we'll be talking about one of the most famous monster stories in Western literature. The Old English poem Beowulf. The focus of this episode is on the poem itself, its historical context, and what it tells us about aristocratic culture and kingship in early Anglo Saxon England. The follow up episode will examine how they will has been adapted for a modern audience by writers and movie makers. Returning as my co host for these two episodes is Dr. Christine Senecal, whom you may remember from our episodes on the Vikings and the movie The Northman. But before I bring Chrissy on, let me just tell you the story. The poem consists of two parts and two monster fights. The first pits the young hero Beowulf against the troll like Grendel and his mother; the second which takes place 50 years later, pits Beowulf, now in ancient king, against the dragon. There's a symmetry in the two parts of the poem. The poem begins and ends with great ancient kings, who have acquired wealth and large retinues through their prowess against human enemies, but now find their realms ravaged by monstrous foes. The poem thus begins with Hrothgar, King of the Danes, or as they're called, in the poem, the Scyldings. He is what the poet terms a good king, one who has gained wealth, power and glory and war against his neighbors. As a monument to his success. Hrothgar orders the construction of a great mead hall, Heorot. Each night Hrothgar, accompanied by his wife, two young sons and nephew, provides food and drink to his large retinue of warrior retainers. As the ideal gift giving lord, he rewards his followers for their loyalty and service with silver and golden rings and other treasures, while a minstrel plays his harp, and sing songs about the glory of creation
Chrissy Senecal:minstrel plays and sings Caedmon's hymn in Old English is the store
Unknown:the poet seems to be describing Caedmon's hymn, sung here by Peter Pringle playing the lyre. And that is odd considering that the poet also tells us that this was a pagan society that made sacrifices to false god-- but consistency may be asking too much of the poet and the poem. Back to the story. There is near Heorot a mere, a marshy shallow lake, and dwelling in a cave below the mere are two monsters. Grendel and his mother. They are of the race of Cain, and have inherited his feud against mankind. The sound of joy coming from the hall, infuriates Grendel. He breaks into Hera. The tight slot is 30 of both cars retainers, and returns back to his lair with his bloody plunder. Thus begins a as the payment poet calls it a war that lasts for 12 years. Everything that Danes try, whether with arms or with sacrifices, to their pagan gods prove futile. That is until a hero arrives from the overseas tribe of yets. This is Beowulf, nephew of King Hygelac,. Hearing about Grendel's monstrous acts, they will gathers together a band of things and sails to Denmark after being challenged by the Dane C Ward and they will finish troupe are brought to Herod to meet with Hrothgar they will has come to a quid a debt. Hrothgar had given refuge to Beowulf's father Ecgtheow, after Ecgtheow had slain the prince of a powerful tribe and had also paid the weregild, the blood price needed to purchase piece for Ecgtheow. Beowulf is welcomed by the king, which seems to raise the hackles of one of Hrothgar's thanes, Unferth, who taunts Beowulf about an oceanic swimming match he lost against another young man named Brecca. Beowulf responds that not only did he win that match, but in the process he slew nine sea monsters. He then says that the only deed of Unferth that he had heard of was Unferth's. slaying of his own brothers. He adds that if Unferth was as brave and heroic as he claims, Beowulf would not have had to come to the rescue of the Danes. Beowulf, of course, proves his boast by killing Grendel--Unferth afterwards is going to give him his sword as a way of showing his admiration--Beowulf does so however, without weapons. When Grendel breaks into Heorot, and reaches down to grab the arm of what he believes to be the sleeping Beowulf, Beowulf instead grabs Grendel's arm. Grendel tries to get loose, but he can't. And finally, Beowulf rips off Grendel's arm entirely. The monster flees back to his lair to die. The Danish court celebrates the heroic victory of Beowulf, not realizing that there is a second monster. Grendel's mother, who has not previously attack Heorot now seeks vengeance for a son. She breaks into the hall, killing Hrothgar's and Beowulf's thanes. Beowulf pursues her to her lair beneath the mere. She is even more powerful than her son, and Beowulf needs an ancient sword that he happens to find hanging on the wall.--after Unferth's sword breaks--to kill the monster. Beowulf has saved Heorot. Hrothgar rewards him with ample treasure, and Beowulf returns home. He gives the treasure to his lord and kinsmen King Hygelac and receives back from him a large estate of land.
Richard Abels:The poem now skips about 50 years, we learned that they will became king of the Geats, after the deaths of Hygelac and Hygelac's son Headred in battle. Like Hrothgar, he is a good king. He's been the defender of the people. He has protected the Geats against neighboring tribes, none of whom are willing to challenge the power of Beowulf. The peace is broken, however, as it was in the beginning of the poem not by human enemies, but by a monster. This time, it is a dragon. Dragons an Anglo Saxon a Germanic legend, our fire breathing serpents, who seemed to have a single purpose to accumulate gold and silver and just sit on their hoards. In an ancient barrow in the land of the Geats is a dragon, who for the last 300 years, has guarded its treasure. For the most part, this serpent seems just asleep, but he is awakened by the theft of a gold cup. A man needing wealth to purchase peace from the lord he offended, steals the gold cup from the dragon's treasure. When the dragon discovers the theft, he flies over the kingdom burning everything to a crisp. Beowulf is king and protector of warriors, and the guardian of his people, arms himself and seeks out the dragon. He tells his thanes that this is his fight alone and enters the barrow. Eventually, one of the thanes, Beowulf's young kinsmen Wiglaf, feels duty bound to disregard his lord's command and goes to Beowulf's aid. This proves necessary, as Beowulf has found it difficult to strike the dragon while protecting himself with his shield against his fiery breath. Wiglaf stands beside Beowulf, holding a shield, allowing Beowulf to kill the dragon. But the struggle has been too much for the old king. Dying, Beowulf commands Wiglaf to lay out the dragon's treasure before him, so that he can see what he has won. He then instructs him about his funeral arrangements. Observing that Wiglaf is his last remaining kinsman, Beowulf gives him his armor, acknowledging Wiglaf as hisheir, and then Beowulf dies. The poem ends with Beowulf's funeral,. The hero's body is burnt on a funeral pyre and the dragon's treasure is buried within the hero's barrow. The Geats mourn Beowulf's death and anxiously await the renewal of wars with their old enemies. I am privileged to have back as my co host, one of my very favorite historians of early England, Dr. Christine Senecal, Associate Professor at Shippensburg University, where she teaches a wide range of courses in Byzantine and medieval history, as well as global cultures. For those who love pre modern history. I can't recommend highly enough, her wonderful Instagram account and her "Weird History Stories" website. Both are a lot of fun. Both are really informative as well. To find them. Just Google"Chrissy Senecal" with a 'y' and you'll get there. Welcome back, Chrissy
Chrissy Senecal:too flattering of an introduction, Richard, thank you so much for having me back.
Richard Abels:Okay, let's start with the manuscript and the dating of the poem. They will survive in a single manuscript. As part of the Nowell Codex. The novel Codex, named after its early 16th century owner, the English antiquarian, Lawrence Nowell, is a miscellany containing the Beowulf poem and
four other Old English texts:the "Wonders of the East"; the"Letter of Alexander to Aristotle"; the poetic translation of the book of Judith; and a fragment of the"Life of St. Christopher." It's uncertain why these five texts were copied together, but it may be because they all deal with or allude to monsters and exotic beasts. Based on the scribal hand, scholars date the manuscript to between 975 and 1025. The consensus seems to be now that it's probably early eleventh century. It was acquired in the late 16th century by Sir Robert Cotton, and was damaged though not destroyed, in a fire that consumed the Cotton library and 1731. It's currently in the British Library, and cataloged as Cotton Manuscript Vitellius A 15, because Cotton organized his library by bookcases under the busts of the 12 Caesars. With one prominent exception, the scholarly consensus is that the poem as it appears in the Codex is a copy of a much older poem. The actual date of composition of the poem is a matter of scholarly controversy. Providing a date for the poem is absolutely essential to an historian who wishes to use that poem, as a source for information inside about Anglo Saxon kingship or Anglo Saxon culture.
Chrissy Senecal:Knowing the date of composition of a source is really important to best being able to use it to understand the past. So the medieval world of 800 isn't going to be the same as the medieval world of the year 1000. And the knowing like, for example, things like the place of Christianity who's in charge, what the role of women are, like. If you know, where, when, by whom and for whom something's written. It tells you a lot more clearly.
Richard Abels:A consensus among literary critics seems to be emerging that would take the poem to the eighth century, in fact, probably the early eighth century. This is based on lexical and metrical considerations. Beowulf contains words that were obsolete by the year 1000, and names common in the early Anglo Saxon period that were rarely found after the ninth century. In places, the meter can only work and the required number of syllables only obtained if a word in the line was pronounced as it had been, in the seventh and eighth centuries before 1980. Most scholars regarded Beowulf as one of the earliest surviving Old English literary texts, and assigned it to the period between 650 and 800 JRR. Tolkien, who loved this poem and eventually attempted His own translation of it, was firmly convinced that Beowulf was a product of the age of Bede. All this changed in 1981, with the publication of a book of essays, the dating of Beowulf, edited by Colin Chase, five of his essays argued for elite dating of the poem, assigning it to the Viking period. Indeed, one of the contributors, Kevin Kiernan, went so far as to maintain that the poem was original to the surviving manuscript, right. The result was not a new consensus, but rather, as the historian Patrick Wormald put it, dogmatic agnosticism. In the words of the literary scholar James Earl, quote, "I now consider it axiomatic the problem of the poem state is insoluble." Consequently, Earl continued, quote, "we cannot assume the poem is representative of any period, or even of anything at all." End quote. A truly depressing conclusion for historians of Anglo Saxon England like myself.
Chrissy Senecal:Yeah,
Richard Abels:but the nature of academic debate is dialectical. And the new thesis received pushback, culminating in a 2014 volume tellingly entitled, the dating of baled a reassessment. This was edited by Leonard Neidorf. Several literary scholars, most notably R.D. Fulk, Leonard Neidorf, Tom Shippey and Tom Bredehoft, argue that the most reliable approach to determining the date of Beowulf or any literary work is through linguistic analysis. Their consensus is that based upon the poem's language and meter, Beowulf most likely was composed sometime between the late seventh and the mid eighth century. Meet the new consensus, same as the old! I'm persuaded by the linguistic arguments, though, to be honest, some of them are so technical, that I find it difficult to understand, let alone assess the validity. I guess partly my acceptance is based upon my confidence in the expertise of scholars such as Fulk and Neidorf.
Chrissy Senecal:I mean, I don't know, you know, the linguistic history of Old English, but I like I tend to favor those arguments. If, especially if there's a confluence of a whole bunch of people on the same point
Richard Abels:exactly. But I also have to confess that are receptive to their conclusions on the dating because as a historian of Anglo Saxon England, the poem strikes me as fitting in best with the political and aristocratic culture of the eighth century, mercy and hegemony. Certainly kingship as presented in the poem is much more reflective of the eighth century than it is of the 10th as is the Christianity as it is presented in the poem.
Chrissy Senecal:Right, yeah.
Richard Abels:Okay. So if we accept the poem as a product of the century, what does they will tell us about the culture, political ideology, and ethical values of its aristocratic audience?
Chrissy Senecal:Sounds good. So is it okay that we just riff then or is that
Richard Abels:yeah, let's just
Chrissy Senecal:That sounds really good. This was really good. Okay.
Richard Abels:Let's start with kingship in the poem. This is gonna probably sound pretentious, because I can't help it be pretentious. But in some ways, the poem Beowulf can be read as a "speculum principum," a "mirror of princes." It's, it's a work meant to guide a ruler on how best to perform his duties. The poet, in fact, begins the poem by explaining what a good king is,
Chrissy Senecal:right
Richard Abels:"Listen, we have heard of the glory of the Spear Danes. In the old days, the kings of tribes, how noble princes showed great courage. Often Scyld Scefing seized mead benches from enemy troops, from many a clan. He terrified warriors, even though first he was found a waif, helpless. For that came a remedy. He grew under heaven, prospered in honors, until every last one of the bordering nations beyond the Whale Road, had to heed him, pay him tribute. He was a good king." The translation, by the way, is by Howell Chickering Jr., and I chose it because of its fidelity to the meaning of the Old English text. Okay, so Scyld Schefing was a good king. But why was he a good king, because he terrified the enemies of the dates, subjected all the neighboring kings to his will, and extorted tribute from them. By this measure, Hrothgar and Beowulf would also be good kings, as would the historical seventh and eighth century kings of Mercia, Penda, AEthelred, AEthelbald, and Offa, who established a Merican hegemony over all southern England.
Chrissy Senecal:To me, to me the poem's about--so everything you said regarding what makes a good king--but the background song seems to be what will screw over a people, and it's when you don't have a powerful protector.
Richard Abels:I completely agree. The Old English words for a lord are hlaford, from which we get the word lord and mundbora. Hlaford literally means protector of the loaf, protector of the bread. Mundbora more generally means protector, guardian, with the implication of guardian of the people. Beowulf as he laid dying, tells his last kinsman Wiglaf that, quote, "I ruled this people for 50 winters, and there was no ruler of surrounding nations, not any who dared meet me with armies, seek out of battle, make any onslaught, terror, oppression upon Geatish men. At home, I awaited what the years brought me. Held my own, sought no intrigue, not often I swore deceitful oath"--like that, not often--"sick with my death wound, I can take joy in all these things. The ruler of men do not blame me for the murder of kinsmen, once life is gone, has left my body."
Chrissy Senecal:And that's that so whether you're talking about unfairness and his loyalties, or Queen Modthryth and how she's bad. Every character sort of has this kind of North Star orientation about are they helping a kingdom? Or are they ruining it? And if you act certain ways loyal and you're heroic, etc, you're a peace weaver. These are things that are good, and the opposite, destroying one's kinsmen. And going down into feuds. I mean, those are the monsters whether they're literal monsters are whether the humans
Richard Abels:Absolutely, What's at the center of the poem is what stabilizes, or what destroys a kingdom. The welfare of a kingdom depends both upon the character and prowess of its king, and the loyalty of the men who serve them. In the world of Beowulf, a king and a people are only as powerful and safe as the king's warrior followers. The obligation of a follower is summarized well by the ancient King Beowulf's recounting his life as a thane of King Hygelac."I earned those treasures that Hygelac gave me, paid him with battle, as fate allowed me, with glittering sword. He had given me land by native home. He had no need to go to the Gifthas, Swedes, or Spear-Danes, for some worse fighter to buy with gifts. Always I walked before him on foot, his man at the point, and so lifelong shall i do battle while this sword serves, which then and now has held up so well." Soon after the speech is given. Wiglaf also has the opportunity to fulfill his obligation to his lord, and he does so by disobeying his lord's order to stand aside, while Beowulf fights the dragon alone,"Wiglaf spoke in fitting words to his armored companions, was grieved to the heart. I recall the time when taking the mead in the Great Hall, we promised our chief who gave us these rings, these very armlets that we would repay him, for these wore helmets, tempered edges if he ever needed us. For that he chose us from all his forces, chose as he pleased his men for this journey. He thought us war worthy, and gave me these gifts because he believed we would be spearmen, good in battle, eager in helmets. Though he had planned, our chief, in his courage to do this deed alone, as folk guard, because of all men, he had done most when daring fame. The time is at hand when our generous lord could use the strength of good soldiers. Let us go to him now, help our war leader through this heat, fire horror. As for me, God knows I would much rather the fire seized my body, beside my gold giver, lord and friend. It is hardly right, that we should bear shields back to our homes, unless we can first kill off the monster, save the life of the king of the Weather-Geats." But dragons are scary. And Beowulf has given his troops and out which they seem eager to take. Wiglaf's stirring call to arms falls on deaf ears, and he alone goes to his lord's aid. And I think that this is the reason that the treasure that Beowulf says he won for the people ends up being reburied with him. The Geats don't deserve it. Or maybe only Wiglaf does. And as I said, the poem ends on a very pessimistic note. The Geats are no longer protected. There's not going to be a happy future. As the news of Beowulf's demise spreads, it means that wars are going to renew
Chrissy Senecal:Yeah. And as a kind of leit--not leitmotif but background story, is the consistent questioning of how does power get transferred
Richard Abels:yes
Chrissy Senecal:to different leaders. And what's the best way to do that? Because I think it's it is something that even though Hrothgar and Beowulf are protagonists, on the other hand, what's Hrothgar doing, just letting his Danes be attacked all the time? And what's Beowulf doing saying no, no, I'll go in this cave by myself, like, not knowing--and, and Beowulf has shown to be a very good leader when he doesn't try to assume power out of order. Because whatever is preventing feuding, I think, is something that comes forward as a positive pro social way to keep people safe.
Richard Abels:Yeah, and I, I think that it's, it's, it's both in entertainment, but it's also a moral treatise, instructing princes on how they ought to behave. And I think also instructing retainers how they ought to behave.
Chrissy Senecal:Yeah, and I know we're supposed to talk about translation later. But I think one of the interesting things that this story has done in consistent retelling Things is at some point or another reflect optimal power structures in society, whether that's, you know, gardener, the gardener, but like on Grendel or whether it's Maria Headleys, translation, or the original poem, they all do that. And they all have different approaches.
Richard Abels:Yeah, they do. And I like placing it in the first half of the eighth century, during the Mercian Hegemony, in part because of the problems of succession. One of the really interesting things about the Mercian Hegemony, the Mercian Supremacy, whatever you want to call it, is how rare it is, for a son to succeed as Father, it's okay. In fact, I can only think of one of the kings who succeeded by a son., and that's Offa. And this is at the this is in the late eighth century, and also does it by pruning the branches of his family tree. He calls on kinsmen to come out, "I know, I have cousins out there," and the reason he's doing that is because he's going to kill them. And that's because Anglo Saxon succession was throughout the Anglo Saxon period, was at least in theory, elective. It's the magnates of the realm, both the secular and religious magnete. So it's bishops, archbishops, as well as the ealdermen, and the great nobles, the great landowners, getting together and choosing a king. And the rules of the game is that if you have any royal blood, if you can claim any descent from a king, I think it's like seven generations and something right? Then you're an aethiling you are, you're throne worthy. You can get chosen. Anglo Saxon elections turned on the self interest of the electors, whichever aetheling could promise the most stood the best chance of being chosen king. As the [Beowulf] poet observed, "so ought a young man in his father's household treasure up the future, by his goods and good despite splendid bestows, so that later in life is chosen men stand by him in turn, his retainers serve him When war comes. By such generosity any man prospers." The court of an aging or ailing Anglo Saxon king, at least before the 10th century, must have been an anxious place. With so many adult throne worthy males, all of them warriors, striving for the throne, election sometimes devolved into civil war,. A king could improve a son's chances by loading him with treasure while that king still lived--though the surest way of making sure your son gets chosen is to make sure there's no other aethelings around. And Beowulf, one of the boasts he makes when he's meditating about his kingship, is that is that he never killed any kinsmen. Or for that matter, he never killed any friend while he was drunk.
Chrissy Senecal:All right, all right.
Richard Abels:That's a low bar. It's a high bar for Mercians. It's
Chrissy Senecal:yeah, I think it's probably because I most recently read Maria Headley's translation, but the bro culture that she taps into just resonates. It's great.
Richard Abels:Yeah, yeah, that's the first word in her translation is bro, bro. Yeah. So yeah. And in terms of the retainers, what really interests me about this in terms of the retainers? Is that Wiglaf does the right thing by disobeying Beowulf.
Chrissy Senecal:Yeah
Richard Abels:that what is more important than simply following the orders of your lord is doing the right thing.
Chrissy Senecal:Right, Which means being fearless with your life
Richard Abels:and being willing to give up your life. Because Wiglaf goes in there, knowing that it's likely he's going to die alongside his lord
Chrissy Senecal:right
Richard Abels:Not that he wants to die alongside his lord, but he feels obligated, duty bound. This is a reciprocal relationship. Gift giving is not one sided. You accept gifts from your lord. What you have done is also accepted the obligation of loyalty and service to that lord. And the failure to do that is equivalent to cowardice. So Wiglaf does the right thing by disobeying,; Beowulf does the the right thing by saying, "This is my job, I'm your protector. And I'm not going to risk your lives." But the right response to that is, "we're going anyway."
Chrissy Senecal:Yeah, I think it's I think it's one of the fun points to debate though. Is Beowulf really doing? Like? Or is he pulling a Roland like the Song of Roland and not being really wise about his age and the need that he has to accept where he is in order to make that transition much easier
Richard Abels:And it is it? These are complicated. These are complicated issues.
Chrissy Senecal:That's why the poem is so fun. It's because you can debate it's
Richard Abels:like the Battle of Malden when when Byrhtnoth, Ealdorman Byrhtnoth, says to the Vikings, you know, come over the causeway so we can fight you. And the poet says he does it out of "ofermod." It's such a difficult word, because it could mean high mindedness. But it also could mean hubirs, pride.
Chrissy Senecal:Correct, right. And it's like, Roland--right--Roland's refusal
Richard Abels:And Beowulf is a hero, and Wiglanf shows himself to blow the horn. Roland is a hero, Oliver is wise. to be wise. Right. But the other thanes haven't
Chrissy Senecal:clearly are cowardly. And they they don't deserve. They don't deserve the great treasure, that they will use one for them, or the peace in their land that he also has preserved in
Richard Abels:the land that you're also one for them. It's such an interesting culture that's in it, the culture of gift giving. Yeah. And a court which is in which all of these rituals of peacemaking are so important, because violence is just under the surface. It's always the threat. It's always the threat, because it's a society of very young men, all trying to prove themselves, all thinking of themselves as warriors.
Chrissy Senecal:Yeah, this extreme honor culture where if you're slighted, and you don't take revenge, you have to take revenge. If you don't, you're showing your weak so as
Richard Abels:to be public. There seems to be one exception to this, the flighting. The public exchange of insults between built and unfort performed before wrote code is code doesn't end in violence. That it doesn't suggest that flighting is an accepted formal substitute for a duel. Unfair is an interesting character. He's represented as an honored retainer of Roth GOP, and the king does not interfere. When when Firth rises to challenge they will want the fetus on for this function in the poem, I think, is to give Beowulf the opportunity to boast about one of his greatest deeds, his clearing of the sea lanes of sea monsters. It also underscores the importance of growth gardeners code against the monster and growth guards need for Beowulf the hero. But what is most interesting about the flighting is that it does not result in one for declaring enmity against Beowulf. Instead, unfort will lend Beowulf an heirloom sword, which will, of course fail against Grendel's mother, but nonetheless, it's an act of generosity on the part of lynford. And that is despite Beowulf winning the flighting by denouncing Woodford for having killed his brother's an accusation that Winford doesn't deny, and bail will tribes home the gravity of the accusation by declaring that goon Firth will suffer inhale for the killings. Now, the poem has more than its fair share of kitten killing all of it tragic or evil. They will grandfather King Grethel died of grief because one of his sons have kin killed an older brother in a hunting accident. Rattles grief is not only for the loss of his son, before his inability to avenge the boy's death. Grendel is of course spawn of Cain, the first brother killer. This puts into perspective, both Bay wills boast that he never killed the kinsmen and his taunting have conferred for having killed his brothers. what complicates matters is that the accusation goes on answered, and no one in both cars court seems to be disturbed by it. If Unsworth killed his brothers, it didn't lower his status in the eyes of his lower growth car. The backstory is missing. The word may have been familiar to the poems audience. Let it night often offers an interesting possibility that Winford killed his brothers in war while serving both guard
Chrissy Senecal:interesting, which I think
Richard Abels:is possible. Yeah, you can hear a kid a wolf story in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, will you give loyalty to your Lloyd over loyalty to your kids?
Chrissy Senecal:Yeah.
Richard Abels:And that's possible.
Chrissy Senecal:And the unforced battle, I think, is cool, because I feel like, you know, in American history, African American traditions called the dozens have that insult exchange. So it's like an anthropological phenomena across different cultures and times. And one rendering of that. What that exchange is doing is that it it's establishing wit as a quality that makes for a good leader. And so when unfort just yields after bailiffs like microphone drop, that's, you know, already bailiff establishing his
Richard Abels:it's a hip hop trope, this combat between artists, yeah, that that established one of them as being superior to the other. You're right. It is a battle of wit. And it reminds me of a movie of French movie ridiculed, which is a wonderful French movie set in Louie the 14th. Court and preside. And the point of the movie is that the way that you compete for the favor of the king and establish yourself is by wit, because the old way would have been dueling, right? And if you're going to establish order, and preserve order, than the way that you substitute for the violence of the duel, is by conquering the person through an exhibition of wit, which establishes a hierarchy, putting him in his proper place below you. Yeah. And the movie, so I recommend ridicule. Cool. I like thanks. The character in the poem who best exemplifies this peacekeeping goal. Is the Queen, wealthier, right? Wealthy owl is a piece Weaver Yep, she herself represents peace, because her marriage to both gar is a marriage which establishes peace between two people. Her function in the court and in the poem, is to weave peace courteously going from one to another bearing a cup with the wind. Yep. And also, because in this court, there are tensions, not only for it, but the main tension is Ruth gars, teenage nephew, and Ruth gars, two little sons. And the audience who knew about who knew the story knows that this is not going to turn out well. We'll be out is trying desperately to keep peace and enough peace that her children will survive, and their children will rule afterwards. So it's really interesting. In this, they will visit outsider, but she sees Babel as a possible protector for children. Right? If he is what he proves what he claims to be.
Chrissy Senecal:Sure, yeah, right. Yeah, there aren't that many female characters in Beowulf. And so there's the evil queen, the good queen, and then of everybody's favorite is Grendel's mother, and all of those point to you know, what, the inverse of well not the inverse, but gendered very gendered roles about what was expected among aristocrats at the time of the poem. It's
Richard Abels:a masculine poem. Yeah, yeah, we'll talk about that because the translation by Headley isn't it emphasizes this is a toxic masculinity. It is
Chrissy Senecal:so good. It's so good. I love how he calls well feel Hashtag blessed, or she calls Wildfell Hashtag blessed is hysterical. And then I actually have her section where Queen Mothra is introduced, and I thought it would be fun to read because it's hysterical like, you know if you compare it I'm gonna have my students read sections of Hadleys translation but I'm okay where she is okay. Nothing like monstrous Oh shit. Remember her people's princess and other criminal bro if anyone even looked at her in daylight save her own overlord. She deal that man death order him bound each shackled, tightened to torture his sentence resounding from on high sword selection then the entertainment a public flaming arteries spurting Gore good Britain's she may have been beautiful. She may have been royal but can we agree here by the brutality? Pretty piece, weavers aren't meant to claw bringing good men down just for looking innocent odler sent death word. Talk about inflated offenses. Right? You know I I, of course, I'm drawn to the way that Grendel's mother is portrayed because her actions make sense. In light of the culture, she's taking revenge which she ought to because her son was killed by Beowulf. And it's this kind of idea that if your monster isn't super important or deadly or you know, doesn't make an impact, then the monster isn't really worth fighting. So and I think it's particularly interesting the ways that, you know, Grendel he's fighting because he's crabby about noises, the dragon is mad because his goal is taken away, but the female monster, she's acting out of a much more noble reason. And I know people have debated about, you know, translations of, of that particular section of the poem for the vocabulary surrounding Grendel's mother how monstrous she really is, or how powerful she really is. Those guys like Angelina Jolie, Neil Gaiman, right? Right. I'm definitely a fan of that movie. I don't know if it's time to talk about the movies and the kind of contemporary adaptations or if you feel like we should talk more about the themes, I think one of the themes that just needs to be mentioned because or, you know, maybe not students always want to talk about the paganism and and also how popular the poem was. I feel like those two points are interesting.
Richard Abels:It the the poem has a sort of a pagan feel to it, that the song that's being sung is about the creation. It's cabins him that's being sung. And it feels very much and one of the arguments for an early dating of the poem. Yes, feels very much like the type of Christianity that I see in the age of beat.
Chrissy Senecal:Right? Where it's not actually it's not a done thing, like this level of Christianization is,
Richard Abels:yeah, it's a it's a Christianity, which is a highly masculine, highly heroic Christianity. It's how you make a pagan warrior culture, receptive to a religion that might otherwise seem wimpy. The Old Testament with its vengeful god and warrior Hebrew kings, is not a stretch, but the New Testaments, turn the other cheek, and love your enemies is a tough sell. Missionaries needed to be able to present Christianity in a dramatic heroic idiom, if they were to be successful. A great example of that is the Hellion that spelled H E L. i A N D. This is an early ninth century epic rendition of the Gospels, in old Saxon commissioned by the Frankish. Ever, Louis the pious, as part of the Carolingian effort to Christianize, the pagan Saxons of North Eastern Germany. This is what the poet did to the gospel of John's depiction of Peters defense of Jesus, when the Roman soldiers tried to take them into custody. The Gospel count reads really simply, Simon Peter, than having a sword drew it and struck the high priests slave, and cut off his reign air, and the slaves name was Marcus. So here's how it appears in the Hellion. Then Simon Peter, the Mighty, the noble swordsman, flew into a rage His mind was in such turmoil, that he could not speak a single word, his heart became intensely bitter because they wanted to tie up his Lord. So he strode over angrily, that very daring thing to stand in front of the commander, right in front of his Lord, no doubting in his mind, no fearful hesitation in his chest. He drew his blade and struck straight at the first man of the enemy, with all the strength in his hands, so that melkus was cut and wounded. On the right side by the sword. His air was chopped off. He was so badly wounded in the head, that is cheek and ear burst open with a mortal wound. Blood gushed out, pouring from the wounded cheek of the enemies first man had been cut open, the men stood back, they were afraid of the slash of the solid. If you look at the Old English biblical epics, epics like the Exodus, or Genesis a, what you have is a very similar heroic idiom. The poem bailiff was written for an audience who shared that view of Christianity, and it's an audience whose grandparents great grandparents, may have been pagan. The poem is said in that pagan past,
Chrissy Senecal:right? But it's interesting too, because I feel like you could go to any point in any culture at any time where Christianity has been adapted. And of course, as historians, what we're going to probably be most likely to notice is the ways that people take on religiosity and there's, they take it on and express it in their own culture. So that Christianity, to say that this isn't a Christian culture isn't quite the case. This is a baby bead era, Christian culture. And also, there are definitely pagan remnants. And I think one of the things that, like, we want to ask ourselves is, how just how pagan is this? Is this? And is it sort of like, the poet is telling the story about a pastime that they don't identify with anymore? Because there's different places in the poem where the poet says, Oh, they didn't know there. He's heathenish ways. Yeah. And at the same time, though, just, you know, talking about God as a weaver of faith, which is not a, you know, there's a lot of not Christian stuff in that sentiment.
Richard Abels:There's Yeah, there there is. And in terms of the popularity, that brings us to a really knotty issue. There's only one manuscript. Absolutely.
Chrissy Senecal:It's really not. I don't think it's possible to say how, how well known the story was, yeah,
Richard Abels:that manuscript that we have is from around the year 1000, may be slightly maybe a decade later than the year 1000. It's by happenstance that it's been preserved. Absolutely. It's also was stored in a library. That was three quarters destroyed by fire. Right. And in the early 18th century, yeah. The unfortunately named Ashburnham. Right,
Chrissy Senecal:right, right. Yes. Yeah.
Richard Abels:Right. It's how little we have from the Anglo Saxon period. Yes. When I say that they will face the greatest Old English epic poem. It's a little bit like saying that my daughter, Rebecca is the best daughter I have. She's the only daughter I have. She reminds me every time I say that. And
Chrissy Senecal:I think that's worth noting, too, that even though you can say, oh, right, we just have this one manuscript and nobody, you know, it's just a fluke, that it survived, and they didn't really know what they were copying. On the other hand, there's a whole bunch of name dropping, assuming of stories in the background that people would have heard. And also we know from other you know, just here and there. The Franks casket, for example, about how these kinds of stories among the warrior elite would have been popular. And, and the
Richard Abels:monks and even among the Radek families, right,
Chrissy Senecal:and it's the monks that are copying all this stuff. And it's not really their wheelhouse, right? They're not supposed to be very much interested in these kinds of very secular fabulous tales. I mean, like, so I remember being 13 When I first read about the fight between Beowulf and Grendel and being super surprised at the blood and gore, and thinking like, wow, this is this is pretty badass thing for this poem written hundreds and hundreds of years ago. It's still captivating. Yeah. Yeah. So it is, it's hard to say how many people would have recognized it and thought of it as a well known story, at the time that it was originally composed.
Richard Abels:But it's become a well known story. And a lot of that has to do with JRR. Tolkien. Tolkien is everybody knows Tolkien. Now, I'm old enough that I felt sort of betrayed when Tolkien became popular because I was one of those people who love the Lord of the Rings before by everybody. And my wife is the same way about that about Tolkien away from us. Tolkien was not just simply the author of Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, and all of this wonderful, mythic high fantasy. He was a professor of literature at Oxford, and his greatest publication was an article about Babel. They will for Monster and the critics still read argues it's a good story. Right, right. Yeah. Well, you guys are trying to pull history out of it. You're trying to go ahead and say, what do we learn about history from this? No. This is a story about monsters, the story of heroes. All
Chrissy Senecal:right, talking about how how. Yeah, Tolkien really liked in his own fiction, to talk about it, put aesthetics first rather than matchup, or moralized with his story. So that the Yeah, exactly.
Richard Abels:And I love that it's become really popular, it was always popular with lit people, because it's been used as the beginning of the English literary tradition, right? So for regenerations in lit classes, if you were an English major, you would have to start with Beowulf. And then you could move on to Middle English and Chaucer, and Quain in the Green Knight and whatever, right, you would start with Beowulf. But it was only because look how English is changed, right.
Chrissy Senecal:And that used to be something that all people that majored in English Literature had to do. They had to be able to know old English. And Beowulf was always part of that curriculum. At
Richard Abels:Yep. And but that has changed for Beowulf being part of popular culture. Exactly. Yeah. And that's what we'll be talking about in our next episode. Cool. Thank
Chrissy Senecal:you so much.
Richard Abels:My pleasure. Greet. I
Chrissy Senecal:feel really like that was really fun. I was looking forward to it. And can I just tell you, this also provided me I have 50 research papers coming in on Monday. And so focusing on this was like, a treat. I will tell
Richard Abels:you, No, I can't tell you how much I envy that you'll be getting to be great them. And we'll be able to see how your hard work in the classroom has paid off with all these brilliant insights by your students. It's the one part of teaching that I truly miss. Oh, I think you have two words for me that you couldn't say for yourself to say. The Thank you. That's what the two words were. Thank
Chrissy Senecal:you. Thank you.
Richard Abels:Only thing that I disappointed that our faculty meetings. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay, happy grading to you.
Chrissy Senecal:Yes, thank you and Happy Hanukkah and happy season and
Richard Abels:happy holidays. And thank you for joining us for this episode. I hope you come back to hear the second part of our series about they will bye for now.
