Beowulf the Jute; His Life and Times

Much of the history of the period in question is dependent on the works of Bede. Yet he was writing in Latin a century or more later and often must include material from his sources that could not be checked. Much of this was biased. His interest was in the English Church and important people. He shows every indication of dislike for the historical British Church, and the Britons are virtually ignored by him, except for when they clashed with the Anglo-Saxon royal houses. Yet the impact of the Scottish Church of Columba was something that he could not ignore, given its connections with the two royal houses of Northumbria and consequent importance to those two kingdoms. His extensive coverage of the life of St. Cuthbert hence contrasts with his treatment of a British saint like Ninian. The history of the Anglo-Saxons as recorded by themselves is thus riddled with prejudice and omission. These weaknesses can to some extent be corrected by recourse to the study of poetry, legends, historical accounts from British and other traditions, and even place-names. However, as always, these sources all hide interpretational traps peculiar to themselves. The prime task is to establish reasons for enhancing the relevance of “Beowulf” to English history. To do this it is necessary to challenge the notion that it is basically concerned with the main Scandinavian peninsula. After all, why should a poet writing in an Anglo-Saxon language be so interested in events in an area as remote from him as that? For that matter, assuming a sole author, who was he indeed and where did he live? And what motivated him to compose it at all? The Poem This can be divided into two halves. Each half contains a narrative dealing with an encounter of the hero Beowulf with monsters. In the first as a young man he kills the anthropomorphic Grendel, who has been terrorizing the hall of the Danes, and then his fearsome mother. In the second he dies as an elderly man while attempting to rid his own tribe the Geats of a dangerous dragon. He needs the help of a young companion to accomplish this. The only link between the two halves is provided by the personage Beowulf and his people the Geats. Both narratives contain extensive interruptions. These are anecdotes relating to the past of the Geats, Danes and other Germanic tribes and they have become known as digressions. There are also pious interjections that seem to be out of place in the heathen context of the poem, since they apparently refer to the God of the Christians. The poem is presented in 43 fits. The thematic division between the two halves takes place in fit 27, at which point Beowulf sails back to the land of the Geats and whereat the second scribe also takes over. However, there elapse some medial passages in which Beowulf describes his adventures at Heorot and some reminiscence takes place between him and King Hygelac about the past of the Danes. This is before the dragon raises its head at the end of fit 31. The Poet This was a man who had amassed a lot of material about the past of the Anglo-Saxons. Despite his various ventures into history having taken place in a completely heathen setting, he persistently makes references to God. One can safely assume that this is the deity of the Christians, even though the only direct reference to the Bible is to do with Cain, familiar to many even today as the man who slew Abel, his own brother. This single episode from the Bible is there for a specific purpose, because it illustrates the poet's abhorrence at kin killing, especially when it involved brothers. The monster Grendel is identified as a descendant of Cain, and hence by inference a kin killer, although without evidence. Indeed the vast bulk of the references to God occur when the text is about Grendel. It is much reduced where his mother or the dragon are involved. As far as this work is concerned, all mention of the Christian God can be ignored. With the possible exception of the Grendel episode it could easily have been omitted without affecting the messages embedded in the poem, which are cultural rather than religious. The anomaly is emphasized after Beowulf has rid the Danes of Grendel and his mother. The heathen Danish king gives a lot of advice to the Geatish hero in the form of a moralizing speech. Here too God is mentioned much more frequently than elsewhere. This is because the poet is using Hroðgar as a mouthpiece for his own views. It is clear that his interest was in human relationships and behaviour. As elsewhere in the poem there is not a hint of liturgy. A narrow aspect of theology - grace and who was worthy of it - is obscured and complicated by the attitude of the poet and the very diction of the poem. The inference is that he was not ordained, but that his patronage probably consisted of those that were. The Characters Involved Although evidently a Christian, the poet concerns himself with folk who are all from a heathen culture. Yet despite their various shortcomings he usually recalls their doings without overt criticism. An obvious exception to this is Heremod, a Danish king who fell from grace. Another of this ilk, Hroðgar is apparently treated with a certain admiration, yet the same man, as found in other sources, clearly had his faults. The poet presents Hroðgar as having been a great king until he built the hall Heorot. It was this ostentation and associated activities there that attracted the murderous attention of the monster Grendel. In the end he did the right thing, he accepted help. His brother Halga is known as Helgi in Scandinavian sources, where he is shown to have been rather naughty; yet in “Beowulf” he bears the epithet til - “the Good”.