Baring BEOWULF

A brief over-view of the Anglo-Saxon Epic

 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Beowulf is the longest epic poem in Old English, the
language spoken in Anglo-Saxon England before the
Norman Conquest and the eventual reign of William
the Conqueror, Anglo-Saxon Englands first monarch
in 1066. More than 3,000 lines long, Beowulf relates
the exploits of its eponymous hero, and his successive
battles with a monster named Grendel, with
Grendels revengeful mother, and with a dragon
which was guarding a hoard of treasure.
 Nobody knows for certain when the poem was first composed. Beowulf is set in the pagan
world of sixth-century Scandinavia, but it also contains echoes of Christian tradition. The
poem must have been passed down orally over many generations, and modified by each
successive bard, until the existing copy was made at an unknown location in Anglo-Saxon
England.

Beowulf survives in a single medieval manuscript, housed at the British Library in London.
The manuscript bears no date, and so its age has to be calculated by analysing the
scribes handwriting. Some scholars have suggested that the manuscript was made at the
end of the 10th century, others in the early decades of the 11th. The most likely time for
Beowulf to have been copied is the early 11th century, which makes the manuscript
approximately 1,000 years old.
he first-recorded owner of Beowulf is Laurence Nowell (died c.1570), a pioneer of the study
of Old English, who inscribed his name (dated 1563) at the top of the manuscripts first
page. Beowulf then entered the famous collection of Sir Robert Cotton (died 1631) who
also owned the Lindisfarne Gospels and the British Librarys two copies of Magna Carta
before passing into the hands of his son Sir Thomas Cotton (died 1662), and grandson Sir
John Cotton (died 1702), who bequeathed the manuscript to the nation. The Cotton
library formed one of the foundation collections of the British Museum in 1753, before
being incorporated as part of the British Library in 1973.
 THE STORY OF BEOWULF
Beowulf is a classic tale of the triumph of good over evil, and divides
neatly into three acts. The poem opens in Denmark, where Grendel is
terrorising the kingdom. The Geatish prince Beowulf hears of his
neighbours plight, and sails to their aid with a band of warriors. Beowulf
encounters Grendel in unarmed combat, and deals the monster its
death-blow by ripping off its arm.
There is much rejoicing among the Danes; but Grendels loathsome
mother takes her revenge, and makes a brutal attack upon the kings
hall. Beowulf seeks out the hag in her underwater lair, and slays her after
an almighty struggle. Once more there is much rejoicing, and Beowulf is
rewarded with many gifts. The poem culminates 50 years later, in
Beowulfs old age. Now king of the Geats, his own realm is faced with a
rampaging dragon, which had been guarding a treasure-hoard.
Beowulf enters the dragons mound and kills his foe, but not before he
himself has been fatally wounded.
Beowulf closes with the kings funeral, and a lament for the dead hero.
 CAST OF CHARACTERS
The Geats were Beowulf's clan - a seafaring tribe residing in the south of Sweden. As the
poem suggests, the Geats appear to have been conquered and disappeared into history.
= BEOWULF, WIGLAF, HYGELAC

The Danes were residents of Denmark. Hrogar's Heorot (MEAD HALL) is likely to have been
located on the island of Sjaelland near the present day city of Roskilde.
= HROTHGAR, UNFERTH

Grendel was a monster, one of a giant race which survived the great flood, slain by
Beowulf. It is told that his origins stretch back to Cain, who killed Abel. He is of particular
cause of trouble to Hrothgar because of his disregard for law and custom: he refuses to
negotiate a peace settlement or to accept tributes of gold.

Grendel's mother is supposedly a smaller creature than her son. She is a vengeful creature
who illustrates the constant cycle of war in the poem, even when the enemy appears to be
defeated.