Study Guide to Beowulf

Intelligent Education

• Publisher: Influence Publishers
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781645420378
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Study Aids
• Subtopic: Study Guides

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Beowulf, considered by some to be representative of the earliest stage in the development of oral poetry. As one of the most well-known works of early Anglo-Saxon literature, Beowulf is one of the earliest records of standard Old English. Moreover, this epic is studied for its use of fusing pagan and Christian elements through the lens of a hero’s struggles. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Beowulf as a classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains: - Introductions to the Author and the Work
- Character Summaries
- Plot Guides
- Section and Chapter Overviews
- Test Essay and Study Q&As The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

BEOWULF

EARLY HISTORY OF ENGLAND

THE ROMANS

Writing in the first quarter of the eighth century, the Anglo-Saxon historian Bede informs us that the first Roman to reach Britain was Julius Caesar. From other sources we know that Caesar invaded Britain twice: in 55 B.C. and 54 B.C. The first invasion was little more than a reconnaissance, lasting only about three weeks; the second was an ambitious undertaking employing large forces. In both enterprises the Romans experienced a heavy loss of ships owing to ignorance of the Channel tides, and were discomfited by the mobility of British chariot warfare. On the second invasion - a failure in terms of the forces employed - some alliances were made and hostages taken; but no Roman troops were left behind. Subsequently, Caesar’s energies were diverted to Gallic revolt and then to civil war, and thoughts of the possible occupation of Britain were abandoned. Almost a century would elapse before the conquest of Britain under Claudius.

THE CELTS

The inhabitants of Britain were of Celtic extraction, Celtic peoples having migrated into Europe as early as the ninth century B.C. The Britons were related to the Gauls and as such were certainly no strangers to either the Romans or Julius Caesar. Indeed, military operations had been conducted against the Celts by the Romans from the earliest times and the Celtic peoples inhabiting Northern Italy had provided an important source of manpower for the armies of Hannibal during his invasion of the Roman peninsula in 218-203 B.C. As we shall see, the unsubdued Celtic peoples, e.g., the Picts who inhabited present-day Scotland, and the Scots, who inhabited - until the third century A.D. - present-day Ireland, eventually overran a large part of Roman Britain.

The Roman conquest and occupation of Britain, begun in A.D. 43 by the emperor Claudius, was consolidated in the reign of the emperor Hadrian by the building of Hadrian’s Wall in A.D. 121 as a bulwark against the unruly tribes (the Picts and Scots) of Northern Britain. Generally, the failure of Caesar’s invasions is indicative of weaknesses in the Roman Empire that would not become obvious or apparent for several centuries. Caesar’s failure on the North parallels Roman operations in the East, where the millionaire Crassus was killed in a war with the Parthians - an exhaustive war in an area which would, like Britain, eventually prove to be more troublesome than Imperial Rome cared to admit. The progress of history is uneven and for both the Britons under Roman rule and the Romans themselves there were to be happier times. From the establishment of Hadrian’s Wall in the second century until well into the fourth century, the Britons were to enjoy peace and prosperity. The northern invaders had been largely constrained and it was not until the third century that the Romans were required to build coastal defense against the sea-raiders, the Saxons. Roman writers of this period employ the term Saxon as a generic classification of several sea-faring peoples, including the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. The first mention of the Angles (from which we get the word England) occurs in Germania, written in the first century A.D. by the Roman historian Tacitus. Tacitus’ reference to the “Anglii” is rather nebulous: he refers to them merely as an “island people.”

DECLINE AND INVASION

The time of troubles of Roman Britain may be said to have begun in the middle of the fourth century when the Roman garrisons were withdrawn for operations against continental barbarians who were beginning to make inroads upon the Empire. Clearly, the Romans did not regard Britain as an integral part of their empire and were willing to sacrifice it, just as lands east of the Rhine were given up centuries earlier when they became too difficult and costly to defend. The fate of the Britons seems to parallel the fate of the Romans to a degree, because both peoples lost that spirit which characterized the Germanic peoples of this period - the Roman symptom was easily noticed by Tacitus three centuries before. Subtly contrasting the Roman life of “bread and circuses” with the German, Tacitus describes the virtuous and vigorous life enjoyed by the German tribes; he extols their conception of the family as the basic unit of society. By demonstrating the advantages of the more stoic or “natural” man, Tacitus was pointing out the dangers which existed for a society devoted to pleasure. Tacitus’ moral might just as easily have been drawn for the Britons themselves because they had become stultified under peaceful centuries of Roman rule and protection. When the Britons appealed to Rome for aid against their enemies, the emperor Honorius replied that he could not send aid and that they must look after themselves. According to Bede, it was Honorius’ observation that the Britons suffered attack because they lacked the spirit to defend themselves.

Hadrian’s Wall, the bulwark against the savage tribes of the North, was overwhelmed by a united force of Picts and Scots in 367 and almost all of Britain was overrun. Roman superiority was reestablished briefly by Theodosius two years later, but the internal affairs in the Roman empire - notably power struggles between military commanders - left Britain undefended for long periods of time. As an example, a Roman military commander in Gaul, Magnus Maximus, determined to seize the Western Empire from the Emperor Gratian and removed almost all Roman troops from Britain in 383. This operation left Hadrian’s Wall completely undefended and ended its usefulness as a container of the Picts and Scots. Thereafter, Roman control of the island wavered until the Britons were left to the mercy of the invaders entirely.

THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD

Traditions of the invasions of Britain may be grouped into two categories, the Welsh and the English. The best source for the Welsh tradition is De Excidu et Conquestu Britanniae (On the Invasion and Conquest of Britain), composed in the middle of the sixth century by a teacher and religious figure, Gildas. Although there are many errors in the work, and its function is chiefly religious rather than historical, it suggests certain facts about which we would otherwise know nothing. De Excidu is apparently Bede’s source for the account of the earliest Anglo-Saxon invasions of Britain. In The History of the English Church and Peoples, Bede relates that Anglo-Saxon contingents were invited by Vortigern - a fifth-century king of the Britons - to help in the defense against the Picts and Scots. After the successful conclusion of a war against them, however, Vortigern found that his allies did not wish to leave, nor could he dislodge them. Eventually, the Britons were able to defeat the mercenaries and, according to Gildas, this was followed by a brief period of peace.

This Vortigern is the king to whom Gildas refers as superbus Tyrannus. On the whole Bede’s work integrates the work of Gildas, other legends, accounts and chronicles with time and place, making a rather more definite - though possibly not a more accurate work.

TRADITIONS

English traditions are found in the Old English poem The Fight at Finnsburg and also in the so-called Finn Episode, contained in Beowulf. The general tradition is that King Hnaef of Denmark and his warriors visited Finn, king of Frisia. A band of Finn’s men attacked Hnaef and his men in their mead-hall and a fight ensued which lasted five days. During this period no Dane fell and their attackers were about to retire. Here, unfortunately, the poem breaks off. From Beowulf, we learn that Hnaef is eventually killed and peace is temporarily concluded between the two groups, the Danes receiving their own hall and lands. The Danes - except Hengest, their new leader - went home for the winter, later returning with reinforcements. In a subsequent battle, Finn is killed.

THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, written in Old English and Latin, is an important source for the partial verification of Welsh and English traditions, but, as the reader may already suspect, there is to be no such thing in the study of Anglo-Saxon history as absoluteness. In most of Western Europe yearly diaries, or chronicles, were kept in which the significant happenings of the year were recorded. Obviously such records would be very uneven, some years being passed by completely or noted by only a sentence, other years treated extensively according to the taste, disposition or interests of the chronicler. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is actually a compilation of separate chronicles, seven in number, of which six are written in Old English and one written in a combination of Old English and Latin. There is evidence to suggest that chronicles were being kept in England as early as the eighth century, although the earliest manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle dates from c. 891.

In one of the texts of the Chronicle, an account is given under the dates 449-473 of a kingdom established in Kent by Hengest, his brother Horsa, and his son Aesic. This also includes an account of battles against the Welsh and the arrival of other chieftains: “456. In this year Hengest and Aesic fought the Britons at a place called Crayford and slew four companies there. The Britons then gave up Kent and fled in fear to London.”

We notice that the Chronicle begins with a date. The manuscript was probably first marked off in lines for each year which was to be filled in by the chronicler. Obviously, the entry would depend upon the amount of information available to the compiler; thus many spaces were left blank. After the date would follow the Old English word Her, meaning, literally, “at this place in the annals.” The process of gradual recording is probably the main reason for the use of an adverb of place rather than time in a book of annals. The Chronicle has value as history and also occasionally as literature. For example, the entry of 755 (written at least as late as 784 and probably inserted in the earlier year’s space) gives an account of Cynewulf and Cyneheard (of the latter’s murder of the former), and the little story is often called the first short story because of its delicate denouement.

OTHER RECORDS

The English and Welsh traditions, although suggestive of historical facts, have to the present time provided little for the historian except sources for speculation and inquiry. Continental sources are largely fragmentary and do little more than to suggest the most general outline of the history of the Early Anglo-Saxon period. The historian Zosimus records that in the fifth century, the Britons seceded from the Roman Empire, took up arms and defeated the barbarians. Zosimus’ reference for this account is believed to be a work (which was subsequently lost) written by the Greek historian Olympidorus, who was contemporary with the events. Other references - and they are few in number - are equally indefinite.

ANGLO-SAXON KINGDOMS - COMITATUS

That the Anglo-Saxon invasions were largely successful, however, is not open to dispute, because by the beginning of the seventh century there were almost a dozen separate Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in Southern England alone. As we have noted, the historical events of this period seem to be veiled in nebulosity and this is perhaps due to the small-scale conditions of the invasions. Of great help in understanding the character of the Anglo-Saxon institutions of the period is the account given by Tacitus in his Germania. Although written several centuries before the German tribes were to invade Britain, it seems likely (from other evidences) that Germanic society had not changed too significantly to preclude the validity of his observations. We are informed that the Germans, considered the family the basic unit of their society, were industrious, warlike, and chose their kings for birth and their generals for merit. Although slavery existed and it was possible for a German to sell or gamble himself into slavery, the social structure was not rigid and poorer Germans could rise by demonstrating their bravery and valor in battle. An institution noticed by Tacitus is the comitatus (in his term) by which a youth would attach himself to a strong leader: “… such lads attach themselves to men of mature strength and strong valor.” (Germania.) This institution is almost the precursor on a lessor scale of certain feudal institutions and does form the basis for the lord-thane relationships which we will subsequently observe in Beowulf. The obligation of the lord was to provide his retainers with goods and bounty in exchange for their services. It was considered dishonorable for a lord to be outdone in bravery by one of his thanes and it was equally dishonorable for a thane to leave the battlefield upon which his lord remained. In the Nibelungenlied we see evidences of this in “comrades of the sword,” and in Anglo-Saxon England this tradition would persist until well into the tenth century.

We may see that the numerous chieftains or lords with personal bands of followers would, in a sense, represent no more than “adventurers,” and as such would not be at great pains to provide history with a record of their accomplishments or deeds.

CHRISTIANITY

According to Bede, the British king Lucius sent a letter to Eleutherius and asked to become a Christian (A.D. 156). The Chronicle gives the date as 167, but in any case it is obvious that many Celts had become Christianized during the Roman occupations. The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons began in 597 when Pope Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine (not to be confused with another St. Augustine, author of the City of God) to England with instructions to proceed slowly in his conversion of the Anglo-Saxons. The institutions of the English were to be slowly and patiently transformed, a distinct contrast to the manner which would subsequently be employed by the “Knight of the Christian Faith,” Charlemagne, when he gave his subjects the choice of Christianity or the sword. This deliberate policy suggested by Pope Gregory goes far in explaining the late persistence of Germanic traditions in Britain and, as we shall see later, accounts for many a curious admixture of pagan and Christian elements in Beowulf and other Old English literature.

After Augustine had converted Kent, Canterbury became the center of the Roman Church activity in Britain early in the seventh century. The Synod of Whitby in 661 marked the first step in the gradual ascendancy of the Roman Church in England and although there was some backsliding toward heathenism or heterodoxy, the influence of the church gradually extended itself. Canterbury, York and other monasteries became centers of learning and of Latin and Greek scholarship. As we might remember from later English history, the geography of Britain - its insularity - tended to permit the English a lifeless subject to papal control than that of their continental neighbors.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

While coins and inscriptions and dwelling sites constitute most of the body of remnants of Romano-British civilization, there is little similar evidence of Anglo-Saxon civilization. Since the Anglo-Saxons built their houses of wood, left few inscriptions and did not manufacture their own coins, there is little left to the archaeologist but objects left in the graves of the dead. Generally, the Anglo-Saxons buried their dead in shallow graves and did not mark them by any special mound or means. However, the pattern of the already uncovered graves indicates (because of their sparseness in the North) that the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Northern England was little more than an imposition of rule upon a basic Celtic population, unlike Southern England which became inhabited by the Anglo-Saxons extensively.

PLACE-NAMES

Like archaeological evidence left by the Anglo-Saxons, the evidence of place-names is not such that it may easily be assigned a chronology. However, when a place-name is mentioned by Bede we know that it is at least as old as the eighth century, and scholars may reasonably infer that it is much older. Generally, place-names in Britain have remained the same (although there are significant exceptions) except in the cases where a new language and consequently new names have been introduced through invasion. One of the most important of the types of place-names are names that end in ingas. This suffix means “follower of,” and is usually combined with a personal name. As an example, Hastings, derived from the Old English, is ...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• 1) Early History of England
• 2) The English Language
• 3) The Anglo-Saxon Language
• 4) Heroic Literature and Epics
• 5) Non-Heroic Anglo-Saxon Poetry
• 6) Old English Prose
• 7) Introduction to Beowulf
• 8) Detailed Summary and Commentary
• 9) Index of Characters
• 10) Genealogical Tables
• 11) Critical Commentary
• 12) Essay Questions and Answers
• 13) Bibliography