Beowulf

FootNotes

0a

Not, of course, Beowulf the Great, hero of the epic.

0b

Kenning for king or chieftain of a comitatus: he breaks off gold from the spiral rings — often worn on the arm — and so rewards his followers.

1a

That is, “The Hart,” or “Stag,” so called from decorations in the gables that resembled the antlers of a deer. This hall has been carefully described in a pamphlet by Heyne. The building was rectangular, with opposite doors — mainly west and east — and a hearth in the middle of th single room. A row of pillars down each side, at some distance from the walls, made a space which was raised a little above the main floor, and was furnished with two rows of seats. On one side, usually south, was the high-seat midway between the doors. Opposite this, on the other raised space, was another seat of honor. At the banquet soon to be described, Hrothgar sat in the south or chief high-seat, and Beowulf opposite to him. The scene for a flying (see below, v.499) was thus very effectively set. Planks on trestles — the “board” of later English literature — formed the tables just in front of the long rows of seats, and were taken away after banquets, when the retainers were ready to stretch themselves out for sleep on the benches.

1b

Fire was the usual end of these halls. See v. 781 below. One thinks of the splendid scene at the end of the Nibelungen, of the Nialssaga, of Saxo’s story of Amlethus, and many a less famous instance.

1c

It is to be supposed that all hearers of this poem knew how Hrothgar’s hall was burnt, — perhaps in the unsuccessful attack made on him by his son-in-law Ingeld.

1d

A skilled minstrel. The Danes are heathens, as one is told presently; but this lay of beginnings is taken from Genesis.

1e

A disturber of the border, one who sallies from his haunt in the fen and roams over the country near by. This probably pagan nuisance is now furnished with biblical credentials as a fiend or devil in good standing, so that all Christian Englishmen might read about him. “Grendel” may mean one who grinds and crushes.

1f

Cain’s.

1g

Giants.

2a

The smaller buildings within the main enclosure but separate from the hall.

2b

Grendel.

2c

“Sorcerers-of-hell.”

2d

Hrothgar, who is the “Scyldings’-friend” of 170.

2e

That is, in formal or prescribed phrase.

3a

Ship.

3b

That is, since Beowulf selected his ship and led his men to the harbor.

3c

One of the auxiliary names of the Geats.

3d

Or: Not thus openly ever came warriors hither; yet...

4a

Hrothgar.

4b

Beowulf’s helmet has several boar-images on it; he is the “man of war”; and the boar-helmet guards him as typical representative of the marching party as a whole. The boar was sacred to Freyr, who was the favorite god of the Germanic tribes about the North Sea and the Baltic. Rude representations of warriors show the boar on the helmet quite as large as the helmet itself.

5a

Either merely paved, the strata via of the Romans, or else thought of as a sort of mosaic, an extravagant touch like the reckless waste of gold on the walls and roofs of a hall.

6a

The nicor, says Bugge, is a hippopotamus; a walrus, says Ten Brink. But that water-goblin who covers the space from Old Nick of jest to the Neckan and Nix of poetry and tale, is all one needs, and Nicor is a good name for him.

6b

His own people, the Geats.

6c

That is, cover it as with a face-cloth. “There will be no need of funeral rites.”

6d

Personification of Battle.

6e

The Germanic Vulcan.

6f

This mighty power, whom the Christian poet can still revere, has here the general force of “Destiny.”

7a

There is no irrelevance here. Hrothgar sees in Beowulf’s mission a heritage of duty, a return of the good offices which the Danish king rendered to Beowulf’s father in time of dire need.

7b

Money, for wergild, or man-price.

7c

Ecgtheow, Beowulf’s sire.

8a

“Began the fight.”

8b

Breca.

9a

Murder.

10a

Beowulf, — the “one.”

11a

That is, he was a “lost soul,” doomed to hell.

12a

Kenning for Beowulf.

13a

“Guarded the treasure.”

13b

Sc. Heremod.

13c

The singer has sung his lays, and the epic resumes its story. The time-relations are not altogether good in this long passage which describes the rejoicings of “the day after”; but the present shift from the riders on the road to the folk at the hall is not very violent, and is of a piece with the general style.

14a

Unferth, Beowulf’s sometime opponent in the flyting.

15a

There is no horrible inconsistency here such as the critics strive and cry about. In spite of the ruin that Grendel and Beowulf had made within the hall, the framework and roof held firm, and swift repairs made the interior habitable. Tapestries were hung on the walls, and willing hands prepared the banquet.

15b

From its formal use in other places, this phrase, to take cup in hall, or “on the floor,” would seem to mean that Beowulf stood up to receive his gifts, drink to the donor, and say thanks.

15c

Kenning for sword.

15d

Hrothgar. He is also the “refuge of the friends of Ing,” below. Ing belongs to myth.

15e

Horses are frequently led or ridden into the hall where folk sit at banquet: so in Chaucer’s Squire’s tale, in the ballad of King Estmere, and in the romances.

16a

Man-price, wergild.

16b

Beowulf’s.

16c

Hrothgar.

16d

There is no need to assume a gap in the Ms. As before about Sigemund and Heremod, so now, though at greater length, about Finn and his feud, a lay is chanted or recited; and the epic poet, counting on his readers’ familiarity with the story, — a fragment of it still exists, — simply gives the headings.

16e

The exact story to which this episode refers in summary is not to be determined, but the following account of it is reasonable and has good support among scholars. Finn, a Frisian chieftain, who nevertheless has a “castle” outside the Frisian border, marries Hildeburh, a Danish princess; and her brother, Hnaef, with many other Danes, pays Finn a visit. Relations between the two peoples have been strained before. Something starts the old feud anew; and the visitors are attacked in their quarters. Hnaef is killed; so is a son of Hildeburh. Many fall on both sides. Peace is patched up; a stately funeral is held; and the surviving visitors become in a way vassals or liegemen of Finn, going back with him to Frisia. So matters rest a while. Hengest is now leader of the Danes; but he is set upon revenge for his former lord, Hnaef. Probably he is killed in feud; but his clansmen, Guthlaf and Oslaf, gather at their home a force of sturdy Danes, come back to Frisia, storm Finn’s stronghold, kill him, and carry back their kinswoman Hildeburh.

16f

The “enemies” must be the Frisians.

16g

Battlefield. — Hengest is the “prince’s thane,” companion of Hnaef. “Folcwald’s son” is Finn.

16h

That is, Finn would govern in all honor the few Danish warriors who were left, provided, of course, that none of them tried to renew the quarrel or avenge Hnaef their fallen lord. If, again, one of Finn’s Frisians began a quarrel, he should die by the sword.

16i

Hnaef.

16j

The high place chosen for the funeral: see description of Beowulf’s funeral-pile at the end of the poem.

16k

Wounds.

17a

That is, these two Danes, escaping home, had told the story of the attack on Hnaef, the slaying of Hengest, and all the Danish woes. Collecting a force, they return to Frisia and kill Finn in his home.

17b

Nephew to Hrothgar, with whom he subsequently quarrels, and elder cousin to the two young sons of Hrothgar and Wealhtheow, — their natural guardian in the event of the king’s death. There is something finely feminine in this speech of Wealhtheow’s, apart from its somewhat irregular and irrelevant sequence of topics. Both she and her lord probably distrust Hrothulf; but she bids the king to be of good cheer, and, turning to the suspect, heaps affectionate assurances on his probity. “My own Hrothulf” will surely not forget these favors and benefits of the past, but will repay them to the orphaned boy.

19a

They had laid their arms on the benches near where they slept.

20a

He surmises presently where she is.

20b

The connection is not difficult. The words of mourning, of acute grief, are said; and according to Germanic sequence of thought, inexorable here, the next and only topic is revenge. But is it possible? Hrothgar leads up to his appeal and promise with a skillful and often effective description of the horrors which surround the monster’s home and await the attempt of an avenging foe.

21a

Hrothgar is probably meant.

21b

Meeting place.

22a

Kenning for “sword.” Hrunting is bewitched, laid under a spell of uselessness, along with all other swords.

22b

This brown of swords, evidently meaning burnished, bright, continues to be a favorite adjective in the popular ballads.

23a

After the killing of the monster and Grendel’s decapitation.

23b

Hrothgar.

23c

The blade slowly dissolves in blood-stained drops like icicles.

23d

Spear.

24a

That is, “whoever has as wide authority as I have and can remember so far back so many instances of heroism, may well say, as I say, that no better hero ever lived than Beowulf.”

25a

That is, he is now undefended by conscience from the temptations (shafts) of the devil.

25b

Kenning for the sun. — This is a strange role for the raven. He is the warrior’s bird of battle, exults in slaughter and carnage; his joy here is a compliment to the sunrise.

26a

That is, he might or might not see Beowulf again. Old as he was, the latter chance was likely; but he clung to the former, hoping to see his young friend again “and exchange brave words in the hall.”

27a

With the speed of the boat.

27b

Queen to Hygelac. She is praised by contrast with the antitype, Thryth, just as Beowulf was praised by contrast with Heremod.

27c

Kenning for “wife.”

28a

Beowulf gives his uncle the king not mere gossip of his journey, but a statesmanlike forecast of the outcome of certain policies at the Danish court. Talk of interpolation here is absurd. As both Beowulf and Hygelac know, — and the folk for whom the Beowulf was put together also knew, — Froda was king of the Heathobards (probably the Langobards, once near neighbors of Angle and Saxon tribes on the continent), and had fallen in fight with the Danes. Hrothgar will set aside this feud by giving his daughter as “peace-weaver” and wife to the young king Ingeld, son of the slain Froda. But Beowulf, on general principles and from his observation of the particular case, foretells trouble. Note:

28b

Play of shields, battle. A Danish warrior cuts down Froda in the fight, and takes his sword and armor, leaving them to a son. This son is selected to accompany his mistress, the young princess Freawaru, to her new home when she is Ingeld’s queen. Heedlessly he wears the sword of Froda in hall. An old warrior points it out to Ingeld, and eggs him on to vengeance. At his instigation the Dane is killed; but the murderer, afraid of results, and knowing the land, escapes. So the old feud must break out again.

28c

That is, their disastrous battle and the slaying of their king.

28d

The sword.

28e

Beowulf returns to his forecast. Things might well go somewhat as follows, he says; sketches a little tragic story; and with this prophecy by illustration returns to the tale of his adventure.

28f

Not an actual glove, but a sort of bag.

29a

Hygelac.

29b

This is generally assumed to mean hides, though the text simply says “seven thousand.” A hide in England meant about 120 acres, though “the size of the acre varied.”

29c

On the historical raid into Frankish territory between 512 and 520 A.D. The subsequent course of events, as gathered from hints of this epic, is partly told in Scandinavian legend.

29d

The chronology of this epic, as scholars have worked it out, would make Beowulf well over ninety years of age when he fights the dragon. But the fifty years of his reign need not be taken as historical fact.

29e

The text is here hopelessly illegible, and only the general drift of the meaning can be rescued. For one thing, we have the old myth of a dragon who guards hidden treasure. But with this runs the story of some noble, last of his race, who hides all his wealth within this barrow and there chants his farewell to life’s glories. After his death the dragon takes possession of the hoard and watches over it. A condemned or banished man, desperate, hides in the barrow, discovers the treasure, and while the dragon sleeps, makes off with a golden beaker or the like, and carries it for propitiation to his master. The dragon discovers the loss and exacts fearful penalty from the people round about.

31a

Literally “loan-days,” days loaned to man.

31b

Chattuarii, a tribe that dwelt along the Rhine, and took part in repelling the raid of (Hygelac) Chocilaicus.

31c

Onla, son of Ongentheow, who pursues his two nephews Eanmund and Eadgils to Heardred’s court, where they have taken refuge after their unsuccessful rebellion. In the fighting Heardred is killed.

32a

That is, Beowulf supports Eadgils against Onela, who is slain by Eadgils in revenge for the “care-paths” of exile into which Onela forced him.

32b

That is, the king could claim no wergild, or man-price, from one son for the killing of the other.

32c

Usual euphemism for death.

32d

Sc. in the grave.

33a

Eofor for Wulf. — The immediate provocation for Eofor in killing “the hoary Scylfing,” Ongentheow, is that the latter has just struck Wulf down; but the king, Haethcyn, is also avenged by the blow. See the detailed description below.

33b

Hygelac.

33c

Shield.

33d

The hollow passage.

34a

That is, although Eanmund was brother’s son to Onela, the slaying of the former by Weohstan is not felt as cause of feud, and is rewarded by gift of the slain man’s weapons.

34b

Both Wiglaf and the sword did their duty. — The following is one of the classic passages for illustrating the comitatus as the most conspicuous Germanic institution, and its underlying sense of duty, based partly on the idea of loyalty and partly on the practical basis of benefits received and repaid.

34c

Sc. “than to bide safely here,” — a common figure of incomplete comparison.

34d

Wiglaf’s wooden shield.

34e

Gering would translate “kinsman of the nail,” as both are made of iron.

35a

That is, swords.

36a

Where Beowulf lay.

37a

What had been left or made by the hammer; well-forged.

37b

Trying to revive him.

38a

Nothing.

38b

Dead.

38c

Death-watch, guard of honor, “lyke-wake.”

38d

A name for the Franks.

38e

Ongentheow.

38f

Haethcyn.

39a

The line may mean: till Hrethelings stormed on the hedged shields, — i.e. the shield-wall or hedge of defensive war — Hrethelings, of course, are Geats.

39b

Eofor, brother to Wulf Wonreding.

39c

Sc. “value in” hides and the weight of the gold.

39d

Not at all.

39e

Laid on it when it was put in the barrow. This spell, or in our days the “curse,” either prevented discovery or brought dire ills on the finder and taker.

40a

Probably the fugitive is meant who discovered the hoard. Ten Brink and Gering assume that the dragon is meant. “Hid” may well mean here “took while in hiding.”

40b

That is “one and a few others.” But Beowulf seems to be indicated.

40c

Ten Brink points out the strongly heathen character of this part of the epic. Beowulf’s end came, so the old tradition ran, from his unwitting interference with spell-bound treasure.

40d

A hard saying, variously interpreted. In any case, it is the somewhat clumsy effort of the Christian poet to tone down the heathenism of his material by an edifying observation.

41a

Nothing is said of Beowulf’s wife in the poem, but Bugge surmises that Beowulf finally accepted Hygd’s offer of kingdom and hoard, and, as was usual, took her into the bargain.