Images of Community in Old English Poetry (Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England)

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CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND

18

IMAGES OF COMMUNITY IN OLD ENGLISH POETRY

CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND GENERAL EDITORS SIMON KEYNES MICHAEL LAPIDGE ASSISTANT EDITOR: ANDY ORCHARD Volumes published 1 Anglo-Saxon Crucifixion Iconography and the Art of the Monastic Revival by BARBARA C. RAW

2 The Cult of the Virgin Mary in Anglo-Saxon England by MARY CLAYTON 3 Religion and Literature in Western England, 600-800 by PATRICK

SIMS-WILLIAMS

4 Visible Song: Transitional Literacy in Old English Verse by KATHERINE O'BRIEN O'KEEFFE 5 The Metrical Grammar of Beowulf by CALVIN

B. K E N D A L L

6 The Irish Tradition in Old English Literature by CHARLES D. WRIGHT 7 Anglo-Saxon Medicine byM. L. C A M E R O N

8 The Poetic Art of Aldhelm by ANDY ORCHARD 9 The Old English Lives ofSt Margaret byMARY CLAYTON and HUGH

MAGENNIS

10 Biblical Commentaries from the Canterbury School of Theodore and Hadrian by BERNHARD BISCHOFF and MICHAEL LAPIDGE

11 Archbishop Theodore: Commemorative Studies on his Life and Influence edited by MICHAEL

LAPIDGE

12 Interactions of Thought and Language in Old English Poetry by PETER CLEMOES 13

The Textuality of Old English Poetry by CAROL B R A U N P A S T E R N A C K

14 The 'Laterculus Malalianus' and the School of Archbishop Theodore by JANE

STEVENSON

15 The Text of the OldTestament in Anglo-Saxon Englandby RICHARD M A R S D E N 16 Old English Biblical Verse by P AUL G. REMLEY 17 The Hymns of the Anglo-Saxon Church by INGE B. MILFULL

IMAGES OF COMMUNITY IN OLD ENGLISH POETRY

HUGH MAGENNIS The Queen's University of Belfast

| CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521495660 © Cambridge University Press 1996 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1996 This digitally printed first paperback version 2006 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Magennis, Hugh. Images of community in Old English poetry / Hugh Magennis. p. cm. - (Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England: 18) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0 521 49566 0 (hard) 1. English poetry - Old English, ca. 450-1100 - History and criticism. 2. Community life in literature. 3. Christian poetry, English (Old) - History and criticism. 4. Epic poetry, English (Old) - History and criticism. 5. Civilization, Anglo-Saxon, in literature. 6. Literature and society - England - History. 7. Germanic peoples in literature. 8. Beowulf. I. Title. II. Series. PR203.M24 1996 829M-dc20 95-26344 CIP ISBN-13 978-0-521-49566-0 hardback ISBN-10 0-521-49566-0 hardback ISBN-13 978-0-521 -03184-4 paperback ISBN-10 0-521 -03184-2 paperback

Contents

Acknowledgements List of abbreviations 1 Introduction: ideas of community and an Anglo-Saxon audience/readership 2 Hall and city, feasting and drinking: images of communal life 3 Hall and feasting in Beowulf 4 Hall and feasting: transformations and alternative perspectives 5 Personal in conflict with communal 6 The mythic landscape of Beowulf, sea, stronghold and wilderness 7 The dwelling-places of God's people: place and setting in biblical poetry 8 Places of trial and triumph in hagiographical poetry 9 Conclusion: community and power in later poetic and other texts Bibliography Index

page vii viii 1 35 60 82 104 121 144 168 189 201 207

Acknowledgements

The Queen's University of Belfast granted study leave and funds for travel in connection with my research for this book, for which I am most grateful. I am also grateful to the publishers of English Studies, Swets and Zeitlinger, for kindly giving me permission to incorporate into the book, with minor revisions, my article, 'Treatments of Treachery and Betrayal in Anglo-Saxon Texts'. I would like to thank Mary Clayton, Ivan Herbison, Tom McNeill and Brian Scott for their advice and suggestions, and am particularly indebted to Michael Lapidge and Andy Orchard for their invaluable editorial assistance.

vn

Abbreviations

ASE ASPR

Anglo-Saxon England The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, ed. G. P. Krapp and E. V. K. Dobbie, 6 vols. (New York, 1931-53) (All references herein to Old English poems, including Beowulf, are to this edition, unless otherwise specified.) BAR British Archaeological Reports CCSL Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina (Turnhout) CSASE Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (Vienna) EEMF Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile (Copenhagen) EETS Early English Text Society os original series ss supplementary series ELN English Language Notes HE Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, ed. and trans. Colgrave and Mynors, Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People JEGP Journal of English and Germanic Philology MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica Auct. antiq. Auctores antiquissimi Epist. Epistolae Aevi Carolini MLR Modern Language Review NM Neuphilologische Mitteilungen OE Old English ON Old Norse PG Patrologia Graeca, ed. J.-P. Migne, 162 vols. (Paris, 1857-68) via

List of abbreviations PL

Patrologia Latina, ed. J. P. Migne, 221 vols. (Paris, 1844-64)

PMLA

Proceedings of the Modern Language Association of America

Vulgate

Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam Clementinam, ed. A. Colunga and L. Turrado, 5th. ed. (Madrid, 1977). (Latin biblical references and quotations herein are to this edition. Biblical quotations in English are based on The Holy Bible (Douai-Rheims version, rev. R. Challoner) (London, 1914).)

IX

1 Introduction: ideas of community and an Anglo-Saxon audience/readership

A concern with ideas of community and of the relationship of individuals to communities is widely evident in surviving Old English poetic texts, both secular and religious. Images of community in the poetry are most typically expressed in the terms of Germanic warrior society but they also make reference to ideals of divinely sanctioned order and authority. The concern with community in poetic texts is reflected in the very stances of narrators and speakers and is apparent both in the ostensible themes of many poems and in recurrent clusters of imagery found throughout the tradition. The narrator of Beowulf, for example, speaks in the first person singular: ne hyrde ic cymlicor hyrde ic fcaet.. }

ceol gegyrwan;

However, the use of the first person plural at the very beginning of this poem reflects the narrator's posture of speaking from and for a community: Hwaet! We Gardena in geardagum, J)eodcyninga, {>rym gefrunon. Beowulf presents itself as if it were the utterance of a traditional scop, 'minstrel', figure. Other narrative poems similarly suggest by their participatory use of the first person plural the communal aspect of the voice of the individual narrator. The Old English lyric poems referred to 1 2 3

Beowulf line 38: 'I have not heard of a ship more splendidly adorned.' Line 62: 'I heard that Beowulf, lines 1-2: 'Behold, we have heard of the glory of the Spear-Danes in days gone by, of the kings of the people.' Examples are Exodus: 'Hwaet! We feor and neah gefrigen habaQ' (line 1): 'Behold,

Images of community in Old English poetry

by critics as the 'elegies', even when they purport to present personal experience, do so with reference to their speakers' relation to ideas of community. 5 The Seafarer, for example, begins with a voice expressing such experience, outside society: 'Maeg ic be me sylfum soSgied wrecan', but it is the poem's underlying sense of community which gives this expression its depth and significance. And The Seafarer ends with the inclusive, authoritative voice of the homilist, in the first person plural, urging the audience, having forsaken earthly community, to strive to achieve heavenly community: 'Uton we hycgan hwaer we ham agen.'7 The poems whose overall themes relate most obviously to ideas of community are perhaps lyric poems like The Seafarer, but non-lyric verse also concerns itself with the theme of community. The poems which modern commentators have come to categorize as 'wisdom' poems8 can be seen as inviting their audiences to share in the acceptance and appreciation of communal values. Narrative works, as well as presenting pictures of social harmony, show a concern with portraying threats to and disruption of community. Like some of the elegies, narrative poems often appear to

far and near we have heard'; Andreas: 'Hwaet! We gefrunan on fyrndagum' (line 1): 'Behold, we have heard in former days'; The Battle of Brunanburh: 't>aes t>e us secgaS bee' (line 68): 'as books tell us'. On the narrators of Old English poetry, see W. Parks, 'The Traditional Narrator and the "I Heard" Formulas in Old English Poetry', ASE 16 (1987), 45-66; see also R. Frank, 'The Search for the Anglo-Saxon Oral Poet', Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 75 (1993), 11-36. See Klinck on the theme of exile in the elegies {The Old English Elegies, pp. 225-6). Klinck's discussion of exile is part of her useful genre study, 'The Nature of Elegy in Old English' {ibid., pp. 221-51). The Seafarer, line 1: 'I can utter a true tale about myself Line 117: 'Let us think where we have our home.' Lois Bragg contrasts the 'fictive speaker' of The Seafarer and other lyrics with the 'nonpersonal speaker' observed, for example, in The Ruin and The Battle of Brunanburh, but does not explore the communal aspect of lyric voices {The Lyric Speakers of Old English Poetry, pp. 65-111). The 'inclusive, authoritative' voices of Old English poetry are characteristically those of male speakers. The narrators of the poetry are overwhelmingly male. Even where gender is unspecified, as in The Seafarer, the narrational perspective is usually implicitly male. We shall see below that female speakers, though they are affected by communal concerns, are not normally presented as speaking from or for a community. See Shippey, Poems of Wisdom and Learning in Old English, pp. 1—4; Greenfield and Calder, A New Critical History of Old English Literature, pp. 253-79.

Ideas of community and an audience/readership

endorse received notions of community, but Old English poetic texts also raise unsettling questions about such notions and prompt critical reflection upon them. Ideas of community are reflected in the images of warmth and security of society found throughout Old English poetry and in antithetical images of dislocation and alienation. One such powerful image of warmth and security appears in the scene of joy in heaven in the closing lines of The Dream of the Rood.

Paer is blis mycel, dream on heofonum, J)aer is drihtnes folc geseted to symle, J?aer is singal blis. This image comes at the culmination of the poem's movement from a depiction of the speaker's solitariness and detachment from community to a closing scene of whole-hearted embracing of the joys of community in heaven. In this passage from The Dream of the Rood a Christian idea, that of eternal beatitude, is expressed in imagery which suggests the world of the secular hall with its feasting and fellowship among warriors. The poem is making use of the traditional Christian figure of the heavenly convivium, 'banquet', but this figure can be perceived as presented in terms distinctive of the tradition of Germanic literature. AN ANGLO-SAXON AUDIENCE/READERSHIP

The identification and exploration of ideas of community expressed in Old English poetic texts are one part of the purpose of this book. To the extent that it achieves this purpose, the book is a contribution to the 'traditional' study of Old English poetry, concerning itself with questions of the Old English scholarly agenda as it developed in the post-war period — What kind of poetry is Old English poetry? What are its distinctive characteristics and concerns? The present book, however, also concerns itself with another dimension of the topic, which interacts with the traditional philological one. This other dimension is that of the textuality of Old English poetry and pertains to questions of reception and interpretation of 9

The Dream of the Rood, lines 139-41: 'where there is great bliss, joy in heaven, where the Lord's people are seated at the feast, where there is perpetual bliss'. Note that the end of The Dream of the Rood also presents a shift from first person singular to inclusive first person plural: 'He us onlysde and us lif forgeaf' (line 147).

3


the poetry in Anglo-Saxon England rather than to those of composition. The book considers aspects of the significance of Old English poetry for a particular textual community. The term 'textual community' (which contains an implicit opposition to 'oral community') is employed here to refer to the nexus between texts and interpretation in a specific historicocultural context. I find the term useful as highlighting the reception of Old English poetry in a text-based culture in late Anglo-Saxon England. I also interchange the term 'textual community', however, with the looser term 'audience/readership', not least because of the potential ambiguity in the use of the word community (in 'textual community') in a book which itself focuses on the theme of community. We have little information, of course, about the circumstances of the composition of most Old English poetry, and what little information we have (as in Bede's story of the poet Caedmon) we wisely take with a pinch of salt. The 'pre-history' of the surviving texts, before they were textualized in their present form by being copied into the manuscripts in which they were preserved into the modern era, remains, to coin a phrase, a closed book: for most Old English poems we cannot even supply a reliable date of composition to within a century.11 On the other hand, we do have evidence to enable us to identify features of an interesting reception context for the poetry. The context for which we have significant evidence is that of the period of the copying of the great poetry codices, roughly the second half of the tenth and first half of the The term 'textual community' has been adapted here from the work of Brian Stock, particularly in The Implications of Literacy: Written Languages and Models of Interpretation

in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (Princeton, NJ, 1983). The term is applied to Old English in a recent essay by Martin Irvine, which I have found very useful to my own work: see Irvine, 'Medieval Textuality'. Irvine points out (p. 277, n. 9) the similarity of the term to Stanley Fish's notion of an 'interpretive community' (though 'textual community' is used in 'a far more historicizing sense'): see S. Fish, Is There a Text in the Class: The Authority of Interpretive Communities (Cambridge, MA, 1980). See also Lerer, Literacy and Power in Anglo-Saxon England: Lerer makes use of the idea of a textual

community (see esp. pp. 19-21), and his wider project of showing how the act of reading 'becomes a way of aligning the individual within a social framework' (p. 59) throws light on aspects of the relationship between texts and audience/readership which are not developed in the present study. See A. C. Amos, Linguistic Means for Determining the Dates of Old English Literary Texts

(Cambridge, MA, 1980). Dates have been proposed for the composition of Beowulf as far apart as the seventh and eleventh centuries: see The Dating of Beowulf ed. Chase.


eleventh century. 12 The codices themselves are a key part of the literary evidence for this period. The present study views the concern with community evident in Old English poetic texts as fitting into a larger pattern of preoccupation with issues of identity and society in the late Anglo-Saxon period, the period in which we know the poems to have been read. This period, stretching from the time of the aftermath of the battle of Brunanburh (937) to the decades of Danish rule in England, was, of course, far from monolithic in character: this was a time of change and upheaval, in which, among other things, the uses and significance of literature must have been diverse and even contradictory, rather than being narrowly associated with a particular ideological or spiritual view. Generally, however, this period has been characterized by recent commentators as one of growing intellectual and ideological confidence but also of political anxiety and instability. The late Anglo-Saxon period is also a period in which can be discerned a preoccupation with a 'desire for origins'. 14 There is interest in the AngloSaxon past and in the notion of a shared Germanic heritage,15 although relations with the contemporary Germanic reality of Scandinavians in For a convenient summary of knowledge about the dating and compilation of the poetry manuscripts, see D. G. Scragg, 'The Nature of Old English Verse', in The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature, ed. Godden and Lapidge, pp. 55-6. The manuscript context of the poetry is discussed by F. C. Robinson, 'Old English Literature in its Most Immediate Context', in Old English Literature in Context: Ten Essays, ed. J. D. Niles (Cambridge and Totowa, NJ, 1980), pp. 11-29 and 157-61. For an authoritative recent account of the period, see Stafford, Unification and Conquest. On aspects of the period, see the essays in Tenth Century Studies, ed. Parsons, particularly H. R. Loyn, 'Church and State in England in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries', pp. 94-102 and 229-30; see also E. John, 'The World of Abbot yElfric', in Ideal and Reality in Frankish and Anglo-Saxon Society: Studies Presented toj. M. WallaceHadrill, ed. P. Wormald, D. Bullough and R. Collins (Oxford, 1983), pp. 300-15; B. Yorke, 'Êthelwold and the Politics of the Tenth Century', in Bishop /Ethelwold, ed. Yorke, pp. 65-88; and Campbell, 'England, c. 991'. The phrase has been used recently with reference to the modern reception of Old English poetry: see A. J. Frantzen, Desire for Origins: New Language, Old English, and Teaching the Tradition (New Brunswick, NJ, and London, 1990). 'Desire for origins' is also evident, however, in late Anglo-Saxon England: see Irvine, 'Medieval Textuality', pp. 207-8. The cultivation of the Germanic past in Anglo-Saxon England is discussed by R. Frank, 'Germanic Legend in Old English Literature', in The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature, ed. Godden and Lapidge, pp. 88-106.


England are marked by contradiction: to the Anglo-Saxons, relations with Danes and Norwegians meant conflict and settlement, paganism and conversion, disorder and law (the latter epitomized by the legal and political writings of Wulfstan in the reign of Cnut, 1016-35). 16 In this broad historical context of perception of discontinuity and desire for cohesion, concepts of community are of particular interest and urgency. Such concepts inform much homiletic writing of the period, occurring not least in the most famous of all sermons of late Anglo-Saxon England, Wulfstan's Sermo Lupi ad Anglos, and an implicit appeal to a shared sense of community underlies even as apparently politically disinterested a text as Êlfric's Colloquy}1 The next section of this chapter will examine the notable preoccupation with themes of treachery and betrayal evident in later Anglo-Saxon texts. Before turning to these themes, however, we need to define more sharply our imagined audience/readership of the poetry codices, an audience/readership which, I suggest, found in Old English poetry a significant reinforcement of its ideological interests. The primary audience/readership which we must imagine for the poetry codices is a monastic one, since literacy throughout the Anglo-Saxon age is overwhelmingly associated with the monastery. The late Anglo-Saxon period, with which we are particularly concerned, is the period of the 'Benedictine Revival' in England, a time of monastic resurgence and of the cultivation of the vernacular written language as a medium for religious teaching. If we are to consider with any confidence the basic, but fraught, question of how Old English poetry might have been received in AngloSaxon England, how real Anglo-Saxon men and women might have 16

17

A recent assessment of Wulfstan's work as legal advisor to Cnut, noting his concern for continuity with the past, is provided by Greenfield and Calder, A New Critical History of Old English Literature: '[Wulfstan] evidently was in charge of the creation of I and II Cnut — the culmination of Anglo-Saxon law. For after the chaos of yEthelred's reign, Wulfstan tried to reestablish the laws of the West Saxon kings, especially those of Edgar' (p. 110). Wulfstan's Institutes of Polity is a detailed account of the proper structure of a Christian society, showing the integral relationship of church and state: see Die 'Institutes of Polity, Civil and Ecclesiastical', ed. Jost (trans. Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Prose, pp. 187-201). Sermo Lupi, ed. Whitelock; JElfric's Colloquy, ed. Garmonsway. Ruffing, 'The Labor Structure of Êlfric's Colloquy, brings out the social ideology of the Colloquy, noting how, 'After addressing the contending parties as socii to efface differences, the counselor stresses mutual service . . . and asks that no one disrupt the arrangements' (p. 68).


understood and interpreted the poetic texts, a starting point is provided by the existence of a number of specific poetry manuscripts in this late AngloSaxon monastic context. Our late Anglo-Saxon audience/readership may have been quite different in character from the original audiences of the literature and it may have interpreted the poems in a manner which the poets did not 'intend'. The origin of Wulfand Eadwacer, say, or The Fight at Finnsburh might have been a long way from the monastery walls. On the other hand, poems such as these were evidently (for whatever reason) of enough interest to literate religious at this time to allow for their preservation. Literate religious might have read new meanings into such poems but, even if they did, these readers and hearers must have been sufficiently attuned to the traditions represented in the poetry to make interpretations of it seem worthwhile to themselves. We do not have to assume that tenth- and eleventh-century monastic readings of earlier poems would in all cases have been different from other possible Anglo-Saxon readings. However, a critical approach which takes account of an identifiable reception for a body of literature can, it is hoped, avoid some of the dangers of the grander unverifiable generalizations about 'the Anglo-Saxon poet' and 'the Anglo-Saxon audience'. Some of the dangers will remain, since our imagined audience is itself a construct, and inevitably is crudely delineated. However, we can contemplate with more confidence the idea of an audience/readership with shared experience and expectations in our monastic context than we can the idea of the (oral?) reception of poetry in Anglo-Saxon England as a whole. A key dimension to the literature as we perceive it being received in late Anglo-Saxon England is its very existence in particular manuscripts, its textuality. Quite apart from considering the implications of the highly ruminative nature of the reading process in monastic culture (as mentioned below), this manuscript existence encourages us to include codicological factors in a historicized interpretion of the poetry: awareness of the overall As Carol Pasternack puts it, 'we should consider the extant texts of Old English poetry as treating issues of concern contemporary to the era of their manuscript production' {The Textuality of Old English Poetry, p. 200). Pasternack goes further than this, indeed, suggesting that the manuscript context of Old English verse is the only one that can be fruitfully discussed, since we can never recover antecedent forms of the verse: 'The task of identifying the poet's work versus the scribe's work is impossible and anachronistic' {ibid., p. 193).


composition of the 'Junius Manuscript', for example, is relevant to the interpretation of Exodus; The Battle of Brunanburh needs to be understood in the context of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; the recurrence of the themes of repentance and conversion throughout the 'Vercelli Book' contributes a significant intertextual context for reading individual works in the collection. The contents of the 'Vercelli Book' also warn us against too tidy a compartmentalization of Old English literature into prose and poetry (and thus encourage us to study the poetry in the context of Old English literature as a whole), whereas those of the 'Junius Manuscript' and the 'Exeter Book' — '.i. mycel englisc boc be gehwilcum l>ingum on leoSwisan geworht' — show that poetry could be taken as a textual genre separate from prose in the period (thus authorizing particular concentration on poetry on the part of the critic). Though it would not have been monolithic, we can identify characteristics of our possible audience/readership, enabling us to see how some Anglo-Saxons at least might have understood Old English poetry. One characteristic of this audience would be its acquaintance with the traditions of Christian Latin, particularly monastic, literature. This does not mean that its members would all have been well-read in the works of the church Fathers but that they would have been influenced by the perspectives and concerns of patristic writings, and would have been predisposed towards particular kinds of interpretation. Such an audience would, for example, have been familiar with the notion of the heavenly convivium, which we have seen represented in The Dream of the Rood. And

20

'One large book in English on many subjects, composed in verse': quotation from Leofric's bequest to Exeter Cathedral, ed. M. Lapidge, 'Surviving Booklists from Anglo-Saxon England', in Learning and Literature in Anglo-Saxon England: Studies Presented to Peter Clemoes, ed. M. Lapidge and H. Gneuss (Cambridge, 1985), pp. 33-89, at 64-9. This idea has its ultimate source in biblical texts such as Luke XIV. 15, 'Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God'; Luke XXII.30, 'That you may eat and drink at my table, in my kingdom'; Apoc. XIX.9, 'Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.' Allegorical interpretations of the Song of Songs, following Origen (In Canticum Canticorum, PG 13, 61-193), see this book as referring to feasting in heaven, when Christ is united with his bride, the church. Of the 'cellar of wine' (Cant. II.4), Origen writes that the bride of Christ asks to be taken into the house of happiness, the place where wine is drunk and food is prepared: 'This is the house of wine and the house of banqueting', says Origen (154C-155A), of which Christ spoke when he said, 'Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven' (Matth. VIII. 11).

8


they would have been nurtured on the ideals of monasticism, with its combination of renunciation and coenobium, '(house of) communal living'. 21 Reading itself, as Lois Bragg has recently reminded us, remained a communal activity in Anglo-Saxon England, in that the audience was more likely to be a group rather than individuals reading in private. 'The size of early manuscript books is one indication', writes Bragg (noting that the Junius, Vercelli and Exeter Books all measure approximately twelve by eight inches), 'that they were intended for reading aloud in a communal setting.' 22 Being read to aloud, however, even for the illiterate, is an experience of textual as opposed to oral culture. As Martin Irvine declares, 'Medieval textual communities were formed of literate, semiliterate and illiterate members: those unable or just learning to read were expected to participate in textual culture, having the necessary texts, and their interpretation, read to them.' 23 And in the monastic context of our textual The heavenly convivium becomes part of the common imagery of Christian tradition and is freely exploited in early medieval writing, not least in England. Alcuin is among those drawn to this imagery. He writes to a female correspondent urging her and those with her to strive to serve Christ so that he will bring them to his banquet of unending and unfailing joy: they must serve Christ, donee introducat vos in domum patris et in cubile genetricis suae (Cant. III.4), ut edatis et bibatis super mensam eius in regno suo (Luke XXII. 30), ubi est cibus sine fastidio, et potus sine siti, et vita sine morte, et gaudium sine tristitia, et gloria sine fine. (Ep. xv, ed. Dummler, MGH Epist. IV, 43, lines 4-6)

21

In another letter Alcuin expresses his desire for himself, 'ut . . . inter convivas Dei Christi in aeternae beatudinis epulis recumbere merear' (Ep. lxxxvi, ed. Dummler, MGH Epist. IV, 131, lines 14-16). JElfric speaks of the heavenly gebeorscip at which the soul will feast: in the homily 'On the Assumption of St John the Apostle', as the death of the saint approaches, Christ tells him that it is time for him to feast at his banquet, 'tima is |)aet Jni mid Sinum gebroSrum wistfullige on minum gebeorscipe' (Catholic Homilies I, ed. Thorpe I, 74). John thanks Christ that he has invited him to his banquet: 'Ic t>ancige Se t>aet t>u me gelaSodest to t>inum wistum' (ibid.). Another Old English homiletic example of the idea of the heavenly banquet occurs in one of the texts edited by Assmann, Angelsdchsische Homilien, where the banqueting of angels - engla gebeorscipe - is mentioned (p. 142, lines 106-7). Translation from R. E. Latham et al., Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources (London, 1975-) II (1981): among Latham's citations are Bede, Aldhelm, Alcuin, the Regularis Concordia and the Chronicon of Êthelweard.

22

Bragg, The Lyric Speakers of Old English Poetry, p . 2 8 .

23

'Medieval Textuality', p . 1 8 5 .


community the meditative and contemplative character of the reading process should also be borne in mind, since this would have had a distinctive influence on the way texts were read. Ruminatio introduces private response in reading even when the activity of reading may be communal. The great expression of religious community in monastic life is the liturgy itself. In shared worship the individual participates in a reflection of heavenly community on earth. Jean Leclercq speaks of the liturgy as 'the eternal praise that the monks, in unison with the angels, began offering God in the abbey choir and which will be perpetuated in heaven'. Emphasis on the opus Dei, 'work of God', the common daily services chanted in the choir, was particularly developed in the Cluniac tradition of Benedictinism, which influenced the reformers of English monasticism in the tenth century.2 In its form the liturgy reflects heavenly community, and in its content it dwells upon the theme of community, giving voice to the church's aspiration of complete unity with God. And the concept of community provides a recurrent theme in non-liturgical monastic writing as well, appearing particularly in hagiography. Community among the faithful (as opposed to treachery and social discord among the enemies of the saint) is often demonstrated in hagiography, and the saint is portrayed as choosing between different types of community, the earthly and the heavenly. In the saint the sublimity of heavenly community can be seen extending into the world.27 A second essential feature of our late Anglo-Saxon audience/readership (after that of its acquaintance with Christian Latin literature) is that it would have had some familiarity with the tradition of vernacular poetry. The classic account of monastic reading is Leclercq, The Love of Learning and the Desire 26

for God, pp. 78-93. The Love of Learning and the Desire for God, p. 249. See G. Zarnecki, The Monastic Achievement (London, 1972), p. 36. On continental influence on the English monastic reform, see D. A. Bullough, 'The Continental Background of the Tenth-Century English Reform', in Tenth-Century Studies, ed. Parsons, pp. 20—36 and 210—14; repr. in D. A. Bullough, Carolingian Renewal: Sources and Heritage (Manchester and New York, 1991), pp. 272-96; see also P. Wormald, 'Êthelwold and his Continental Counterparts: Contact, Comparison, Contrast', in Bishop JEthelwold, ed. Yorke, pp. 13-42. With reference to this extension of heavenly community into the world, see the discussion of the passio of St Margaret in The Old English Lives of St Margaret, ed. Clayton and Magennis, p. 39.

10


The interest in Old English poetry in late Anglo-Saxon England may have had an antiquarian aspect, as has recently been suggested,28 but the poems were certainly more than antiquarian documents. Familiarity with the tradition of vernacular poetry is indicated at scribal level by the kind of formulaic rewording apparent in the copying of poetic texts 29 and we may assume that scribes were not alone in the monastery in their appreciation of the techniques of Old English verse. The preservation of existing poems and the composition of new ones at the end of the Anglo-Saxon period point to an audience with a significant degree of literary competence in reading vernacular poetry. This audience would have been attuned to thinking in terms of the relationship between the secular world and the spiritual and would have found in traditional Old English poetry a rich body of secular imagery. The secular world can be a positive image in monastic culture as well as a negative one, and its significance can be adapted and transformed to religious purposes, as in our picture of the blessed 'seated at the feast' in The Dream of the Rood. The secular tradition can be seen as providing powerful images of community in Anglo-Saxon Christian literature. Our textual community would not itself live in a real-life version of the world of the hall as presented in the poetry. Though life in the monastery, with its communal eating and sleeping arrangements and its emphasis on social interdependence, is in a sense a spiritual version of hall life, our readers would ideally be detached from the secular culture described in the poetry, living instead under the spiritual lordship of God. But they could not have been oblivious to the reality of hall life around them. The world of Old English poetry is a literary construct, but one which reflects in idealized form a social reality which obtained throughout the whole Anglo-Saxon period. Awareness of this social reality of hall life is the third general characteristic which our monastic reader would bring to a reading of Old English poetry. This awareness enables the literature to be read not simply as an antiquarian exercise but as being about the present, portraying a recognizable social structure, to which the 28 29

30

Irvine, 'Medieval Textuality', p. 208. See K. O'Brien O'Keeffe, Visible Song: Transitional Literacy in Old English Verse, CSASE 4 (Cambridge, 1990), 2 3 - 4 6 and 108-37. O n the collaborative role of the scribe in the creation of Old English poetic texts, see Pasternack, The Textuality of Old English Poetry, esp. pp. 12—28. See Thompson, The Rise of the Castle, pp. 3 - 1 2 .

11


world outside the monastery can be compared. Critics of Old English poetry have somewhat shied away from the question of the relationship of the highly stylized world of the literature to 'real life', but this relationship can provide an important dimension to the interpretation of texts in a tenth or eleventh-century context. The archaeological excavations at Cheddar in Somerset in the early 1960s revealed a royal palace, developing and evolving over several centuries. The Anglo-Saxon site is dominated by a series of long timber halls, the oldest of which has been dated to the ninth century. Major changes were made to the site, particularly, it is thought, by ^thelstan (after c. 930), with further rebuilding occurring probably in the reign of JEthelred II (some time after 991). 33 Throughout this period and beyond, the dominance of the halls and the smallness of the number of lesser buildings indicate the continuity at this site of hall-based aristocratic life. Other archaeological sites support the evidence of Cheddar, and documentary sources reveal a similar picture of a highly personalized lordship and intimate association of the members of a comitatus. An anecdote in Wulfstan of Winchester's Vita S. JEthelwoldi even shows the customs of the hall extending into the hospice of Êthelwold's monastery at Abingdon: when King Eadred visited the monastery he was not entertained privately but a general drinking-party was held for him and his comitatus in the hospice, at which the company drank all day but miraculously the drink could not be exhausted. It is only from the twelfth century, under the more hierarchical structures of feudalism and with the growth of a literate clerical class requiring new types of facilities, that the hall's role as the focus of personal community begins to weaken. A recent commentator has contrasted the private eating habits of well31

32 33 34 35

For a recent discussion of the hall in Beowulf 'from the point of view of an archaeologist, see R. Cramp, T h e Hall in Beowulf and Archaeology', in Heroic Poetry in Anglo-Saxon England, ed. Damico and Leyerle, p p . 3 3 1 - 4 6 . See Rahtz, The Saxon and Medieval Palaces at Cheddar, pp. 1 0 3 - 6 . Ibid, p p . 3 7 4 - 7 . See Thompson, The Rise of the Castle, p p . 8 - 1 2 . Wulfstan of Winchester: The Life of St JEthelwold, ed. and trans. Lapidge and Winterbottom, pp. 22-5 (ch. 12); repeated by ^lfric, Vita S. JEthelwoldi {ibid, p. 73 (ch. 8)). On this episode, see Campbell, 'England, c. 991', pp. 5—6. Campbell points out, when discussing another account of a monastic banquet by Byrhtferth of Ramsey, that 'such banquets were characteristic of grand ecclesiastical life (as doubtless of grand secular life too)' (p. 5).

12


born Romans with the feasting in the hall of the Germanic and Celtic peoples of the early Middle Ages: 'In medieval times, public and private life coincided to a degree which was as entirely alien to the Classical world as it is to us today.' In this context, feasting in hall in the early Middle Ages 'was a public act, surrounded by protocol on seating, order of serving, and so on. It was the unifying factor that bound together the royal or chieftain's household and, from a sociologist's point of view, was probably the main common function of aristocratic secular society.' 7 Lords in late Anglo-Saxon England did not spend their time in the hall merely listening to heroic tales, as they tend to do in heroic poetry: the hall was also the seat of business, of political brokering and conflicts, where power was exercised. The political as well as ceremonial aspect of the hall life of the Germanic tribes, which had been noted as early as Tacitus, is rightly recognized by scholars. Tacitus commented that the Germanic tribes often made a feast in the hall an occasion for discussing 'the mutual reconciliation of enemies, the forming of family alliances, the appointment of chiefs, the question even of war or peace'.39 AngloSaxonists have learnt not to equate uncritically the world described by Tacitus with Anglo-Saxon England, but the hall as social symbol and power base can be seen persisting from the pre-settlement era to the end of the Anglo-Saxon period, showing an essential continuity with earlier generations. At the centre of the hall culture of the Anglo-Saxons is the personal bond between lord and retainer, which has not been weakened by the officialdom and greater formality associated with written records. Tacitus had also been struck by the great respect in which women were held in Germanic society, but the society he describes is essentially a patriarchal one, constructed around male goals, and this characteristic is reflected equally in hall life as we see it in Anglo-Saxon England. 36

Thompson, The Rise of the Castle, p. 1.

38

O n the 'real' as opposed to the 'idealized' hall of Germanic society, see Enright, 'Lady

37

Ibid.

w i t h a M e a d - C u p ' . C o m m e n t i n g on rivalries and touchiness in the matter of in giftgiving, E n r i g h t declares, 'The real atmosphere of the mead-hall, as opposed to its sanitized idealization, often rippled w i t h currents of bitterness and jealousy which gave rise to polemic, vindictiveness and bloodshed' (p. 188). See also Bullough, Friends, Neighbours and Fellow-drinkers. 39

Germania, ch. 22 (ed. and trans. H u t t o n , p . 165).

40

O f late Anglo-Saxon England Stafford

writes, 'The entire period is transitional

between an oral and a written culture' {Unification and Conquest, p . 3). Germania, chs. 18—19 (ed. and trans. H u t t o n , p p . 156—61).

13


By the later Anglo-Saxon period links between the church and secular authority had introduced new ideological dimensions to the exercise of power in England, as models of Christian kingship and legitimizations of secular rule were developed. This link is illustrated by the building of a chapel at the royal site at Cheddar in the early tenth century and is apparent in documents of the Benedictine Revival, such as the Regularis Concordia and accounts of English royal saints. Ideological features can also be clearly traced in Old English poetry of the time: such features are discussed below with reference to The Battle ofBrunanburh and The Battle of Maldon. Ideology could exploit the value-system of aristocratic hall culture. If it succeeded in this it is because hall culture was not a fiction but a reality which Anglo-Saxons would have experienced both in idealized form in traditional literature and in the social institution of their own day. Hall life throughout the Anglo-Saxon period was the expression and symbol of communal relationships based on lordship. The kind of textual community we can postulate for Old English poetry in the period of the copying of the major codices, therefore, is one living a monastic life within the highly developed ecclesiastical structures of the later Anglo-Saxon period but also familiar with the traditions of vernacular literature and brought up in a society organized around rule by lords in their halls. This textual community is one which has embraced detachment from the world, but it is also one for which the 'city of God' on earth is evidently not confined to the monastery: in this textual community we see an urgent concern with the spiritual and moral well-being of society at large. On tenth-century kingship as 'theocracy' and 'pastoral kingship', see Stafford, Unification and Conquest, pp. 137-8; P. Wormald, 'iEthelred the Lawmaker', in Etbelred the Unready, ed. D. Hill, BAR Brit. ser. 59 (Oxford, 1978), 47-80. On the relationship of the monarchy to the Benedictine reform and related topics, see E. John, Orbis Britanniae and Other Studies (Leicester, 1966), pp. 154-80; W. A. Chaney, The Cult of Kingship in Anglo-Saxon England (Manchester, 1970); D. Bethurum, 'Regnum and Sacerdotium in the Early Eleventh Century', in England before the Conquest: Studies Presented to Dorothy Whitelock, ed. P. Clemoes and K. Hughes (Cambridge, 1971), pp. 129—45; M. Godden, '^lfric and Anglo-Saxon Kingship', English Historical Review 102 (1987), 911-15; T. E. Powell, 'The "Three Orders" of Society in Anglo-Saxon England', ASE 23 (1994), 103-32. Regularis Concordia, ed. T. Symons (Edinburgh, 1953); on the saints, see S. J. Ridyard, The Royal Saints of Anglo-Saxon England: a Study of West Saxon and East Anglian Cults

(Cambridge, 1988).

14


How typical the kind of audience/readership of Old English poetry postulated here is we do not know, but this audience/readership has a more convincing reality than other audiences imagined by critics, the hall thegn listening to Beowulf, for example, or the chieftain being flattered by Widsith: we can only speculate about the composition and original audiences of these poems. Our textual community will understand Old English poetry in terms of an interpretative construct, the product of experience and outlook. In the following pages we will not labour the authority of this community to the exclusion of other interpretative possibilities. In taking account, however, of ideas which this community might bring to the literature, we may use the possibility of such an audience/readership to historicize our criticism of the poetry, guiding us in our interpretations of Old English poems as artefacts of the AngloSaxon age. ANXIETIES ABOUT COMMUNITY: TREATMENTS OF TREACHERY AND BETRAYAL IN ANGLO-SAXON TEXTS Treachery and betrayal: the wider literary context

Episodes of treachery and betrayal occur in texts from throughout the Anglo-Saxon era, both secular and religious, both in Old English and in Latin. Poems as diverse as, for example, Deor and Christ and Satan deal with treacherous behaviour and its effects. Deor begins with a reference to the treacherous hamstringing of the mythical Germanic hero Weland by Nithhad, while Christ and Satan treats the Fall of the Angels in terms of betrayal of the personal bond between lord and retainer. 5 Treachery represents the reverse of the great Anglo-Saxon ideal of loyalty. That this literary interest in the theme of treachery reflects the interests of the real world is indicated by the existence of legislation against treachery in the law codes and by the documentary character of some of the literary sources. King Alfred leads the way for later legislators in declaring that treachery to one's lord is the only crime which cannot be compensated for: the bishops and wise people of the past established, says Alfred, 44

45

This section is reprinted, with minor revisions, from my article, 'Treatments of Treachery and Betrayal in Anglo-Saxon Texts'. Deor, lines 5-6; Christ and Satan, lines 81-8.

15

Images of community in Old English poetry aet maestra hwelcre misdaede J>aette 6a weoruldhlafordas moston mid hiora leafan buton synne aet {>am forman gylte {>aerefiohboteonfon, £>e hie 5a gesettan; buton aet hlafordsearwe hie nane mildheortnesse ne dorston gecwedan, for{>am 5e God aelmihtig J>am nane ne gedemde l>e hine oferhogdon, ne Crist Godes sunu {>am nane ne gedemde J>e hine to deade sealde, 7 he bebead J)one hlaford lufian swa hine.46 In his concern for the principle of loyalty to a lord, and in particular, of course, for that of his own people to himself, Alfred here goes so far as daringly to appropriate Christ's injunction, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, to support his specifically political theme. In Alfred's code we see the beginning of legal underpinnings to an ideology of kingship. It would be misleading to suggest, however, that Alfred is overly preoccupied by fears about treachery, either in his laws or elsewhere in his writings. His emphasis is rather, as a recent commentator has declared, on developing a view of the king as the centre of authority and the source of wisdom. The possibility of treachery is acknowledged and the seriousness of the offence is asserted, as also in the laws of Êthelstan,49 but Alfred gives the impression of writing from a position of internal security and of confidence with respect to external threat. The most notable figure of treachery in Alfred's writings is a remote one, Theodoric the Goth, in the Old English version of Boethius's De consolatione Philosophiae. Theodoric is a tyrant and a heretic. He promised the Romans his friendship, 'Ac he \>& gehat swi5e yfele gelaeste', says Alfred: 'Paet waes to eacan oSrum unarimedum yflum {)aet he Iohannes {>one papan het ofslean.' In his account of Boethius and Theodoric, Alfred goes on to describe the philosopher's secret — and treasonous — 46

47 48 49 50

The Laws of Alfred, Introduction, 4 9 7 (ed. Liebermann I, 44-6): 'that secular lords might with their permission receive without sin compensation in money for almost every misdeed at the first offence, which compensation they then fixed; only for treachery to a lord they dared not declare any mercy, because Almighty God adjudged none for those who scorned him, nor did Christ, the Son of God, adjudge any for him who gave him over to death; and he charged [everyone] to love his lord as himself (trans. Whitelock, English Historical Documents, p. 408). Matth. XXII.39. A. J. Frantzen, King Alfred, Twayne's English Authors Series 425 (Boston, 1986), 20. II Athelstan, 4 (ed. Liebermann 1,152). King Alfred's Old English Version of Boethius, ed. Sedgefield, p. 3, lines 8 - 1 1 : 'but he fulfilled that promise very evilly: besides other innumerable crimes, he ordered Pope John to be put to death'.

16


involvement in resistance against the rule of Theodoric.51 The illegitimacy and tyranny of this rule absolves Boethius from any suggestion of wrongdoing, however. For Alfred, Theodoric is the figure of treachery, not Boethius. Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica and the earlier part of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle also testify to the reality of the possibility of treachery in AngloSaxon life, telling, as they do, of acts of betrayal and faithlessness. Such acts are few and far between, however, in these texts, and it is evident that in Bede and the early Chronicle, although the theme of treachery provides a notable area for consideration, it is seen generally as an unproblematic matter, which does not deeply threaten Anglo-Saxon society. In Bede, treachery and betrayal are associated, comfortingly, not with the Christian English, who are presented as God's chosen people, but with their enemies, the cowardly Britons and the obdurate Anglo-Saxon pagans. That these enemies resort to treachery is an indication that they deserve to be overcome. Bede relates that Eadfrith, son of King Edwin of Northumbria, was put to death by the heathen Penda in breach of a solemn promise, and he describes how Eanfrith, the Bernician king, having come with a small troop to negotiate with the Briton Cadwalla, was suddenly surrounded and killed. A treacherous attempt on Edwin's own life is described,54 and later King Redwald of the East Angles, still a pagan, is tempted to betray Edwin while offering him hospitality. Redwald relents, however, and determines to keep faith with Edwin, persuaded by the appeals of his queen to his better nature. The queen had counselled that 'nulla ratione conueniat tanto regi amicum suum optimum in necessitate positum auro uendere, immo fidem suam, quae omnibus ornamentis pretiosior est, amore pecuniae perdere'.5 It is a measure of Edwin's own high-mindedness that he has taken no steps to protect himself against the possibility of betrayal by Redwald. On being warned about the plot on his life and advised to strike first, he declares, Non tamen hoc facere possum quod suggeris, ut pactum quod cum tanto rege inii 51 54 5

52 53 Ibid., lines 17-23. HE 11.20 (p. 202). HE III. 1 (pp. 214-5). 55 HE II.9 (p. 164). HE 11.12 (pp. 176-80). HE 11.12 (p. 180): 'it was in no way fitting for so great a king to sell his best friend for gold when he was in such trouble, still less to sacrifice his own honour, which is more precious than any ornament, for the love of money' (trans, p. 181).

17


ipse primus irritum faciam, cum ille mihi nil mali fecerit, nil adhuc inimicitiarum intulerit. Quin potius, si moriturus sum, ille me magis quam ignobilior quisque morti tradat. The worthiness of Bede's Edwin shines through, even before his conversion to Christianity. He is presented as a virtuous pagan for whom treachery would be a crime against honour. The Anglo-Saxons in Bede are an honourable people worthy of God's favour, who generally carry on their affairs without deceit or treachery. Nor is treachery an insistent anxiety in the 'original' Chronicle (i.e. down to AD 891), which is anyway, for the most part, extremely terse in its expression and does not normally pause to express directly the point of view of the narrator. The theme appears, however, in the treatment of Edwin of Northumbria (annal for 626), following Bede, and is suggested in the account of Cynewulf and Cyneheard (annal for 757) and in the reference to the overthrow of King Osred of Northumbria (annal for 790). 58 Other expulsions and killings of kings are passed over without comment, although it is said that a heavenly light appeared on the spot where King Êlfwold of Northumbria was killed by Sicga (annal for 789). 59 Ideas about treachery and betrayal have been inherited in Anglo-Saxon literature from the Germanic past. The high-mindedness of Bede's Edwin recalls aspects of Germanic custom as described by Tacitus, and similar patterns of honourable behaviour are reflected in other strands of Germanic literature. It is to the Bible and Christian literature that we must look, however, as the source for the figures who became bywords for betrayal to the Anglo-Saxons, as they did throughout the Christian world: Cain, Judas and Satan. Cain is the archetypal betrayer of kin, and Judas the archetypal betrayer of lord. In exegetical tradition, both of them are followers of the universal betrayer Satan. 57

HE 11.12 (pp. 1 7 6 - 8 ) : 1 cannot do what you say, as I should have to be the first to break the compact which I have made with this great king; he has done m e no wrong nor shown any enmity towards m e so far. If I am to die, let m e rather die by his hand than at the hands of some meaner person' (trans, p p . 177—9). 58 See Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel, ed. Plummer I, 25, 4 6 - 9 and 55. 59 Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel, ed. Plummer I, 55. According to Wulfstan, Cain kills his brother '|nirh deofles lare' {The Homilies of Wulfstan, ed. Bethurum, no. VI, line 54 (p. 145)); in Catholic Homilies /, M\£nc tells how Judas sins 't>urh deofles tyhttinge' (ed. Thorpe I, 26) (cf. John XIII.2). See also the

18


Most Old English references to these three biblical betrayers are brief and unreflective, dismissing them with a stock epithet or two characterizing their blatant evil. Old English writers stress the obviousness rather than the insidiousness of this evil, which is outside normal human experience. Cain, Judas and Satan appear as proverbial epitomes of betrayal, dangerous but external. There are also, however, some more extended treatments of these traitorous figures in the vernacular tradition. There are passages on Cain in Maxims I and Genesis A. Maxims I emphasizes the aspect of violence rather than betrayal in Cain's act, presenting Cain as the instigator of all human violence: Naes t>aet andaege ni6, of f>am wrohtdropan wide gesprungon, micel mon aeldum, monegum J)eodum bealoblonden niS.61 Genesis A is more preoccupied by the horror of Cain's betrayal. His sin of brother-slaying cannot be expiated, as Genesis A shows Cain himself as appreciating. The Genesis A account of Cain presents a powerful evocation of the despair of the betrayer who recognizes the enormity of his crime and who is resigned to living as a cursed outcast. Echoes of the despair of Cain are heard in other treatments of the outcast in Old English poetry, the hanged man of The Fortunes of Men, the lone dweller of Maxims I,65 but in Genesis A, uniquely in Anglo-Saxon literature, Cain himself is given a voice. Cain cannot expiate his crime of betrayal; nor can Judas, as King Alfred maintains in a passage referred to above. Alfred alludes to Judas in support of the idea that betrayal of a lord cannot be compensated for: Christ did not adjudge any mercy, Alfred declares, for the one who betrayed him to death: '{)am nane ne gedemde Ipe hine to dea5e sealde'. The episode of Judas taking his own life in an agony of remorse, found in

61

62 63

homily 'In Cena Domini', ed. Assmann, Angelsdchsische Homilien und Heiligenleben, pp. 1 5 1 - 6 3 , lines 4 4 - 6 , 5 2 - 3 and 66. Lines 193-6: 'That was not a one-day strife: from it the drops of enmity spread widely, great evil among men and pernicious strife among many peoples.' See Genesis, lines 1 0 2 3 - 3 5 . See The Fortunes of Men, lines 3 3 - 4 2 , and Maxims /, lines 146-7. 3 See above, p . 16 Ed. Liebermann I, 46.

19


Matthew XXVII.3-10, 66 becomes a source of fascination in Christian tradition, a tradition shared by the Anglo-Saxons. The death of Judas is notably discussed by Êlfric,67 but the episode receives its most vivid early medieval vernacular treatment in a poem not Old English itself, but closely related to the Anglo-Saxon poetic tradition, the Old Saxon gospel paraphrase, the Heliand. The Heliand shows Judas, the treulogo, 'trothbreaker',69 calculating, im so treulos, huan er uur5i imu thiu tid kuman, that he ina mahti faruuisien uureSaro thiodo. Christ foretells his hopeless remorse after the deed: be that he thea uurdi farsihit endi he thes arbedies endi scauuot, than uuet he that te uuaran, that imu uuari uu66iera thing, betera mikilu, that he gio giboran ni uurSi libbiendi te thesumu liohte, than he that Ion nimid, ubil arbedi inuuidrado. l The Heliand tells how, an sorgun, 'troubled', and an forhtun, 'frightened', 73 Judas hangs himself, 'huand he er umbi is drohtin suek'.74 Nor, of course, can Satan expiate his crime. Satan must suffer eternally, though, unlike the human betrayers Cain and Judas, he shows no remorse or guilt as a result. Unlike those of Cain and Judas, Satan's spirit is not destroyed by his sin. Genesis B is the Old English text which shows the obduracy of Satan's rebelliousness most emphatically. In this poem Satan displays an undaunted resolution to continue his strife against God. Indeed, he even convinces himself that God has acted wrongly in ejecting him and his followers from heaven: 66 67 68 70

71

72 74

Note also the different account in Acts 1.18—19Catholic Homilies //, ed. Godden, no. XIV, p p . 136-49: see lines 153-66. 69 Ed. Behaghel. Line 4620. Lines 4 4 9 2 - 3 : 'with such disloyalty how soon the time would come when he would be able to betray Christ' (trans. Murphy, p . 148). Lines 4 5 8 1 - 6 : 'When he sees his fate, and catches a glimpse of where his dreary task ends up, then he will know full well, that it would have been a more pleasant thing for him, much better by far never to have been born alive in this light rather than to receive the reward for his evil task and malicious advice' (trans. Murphy, p . 151). Cf. Matth. XXVI.24. 73 Line 5161 Line 5163. Line 5170: 'because he had been unfaithful to his Chieftain' (trans. Murphy, p . 170).

20

Ideas of community and an audience/readership NaefS he J>eah riht gedon J)aet he us haef6 befaelled fyre to botme, helle J)aere hatan, heofonrice benumen.75 The fascination of Cain for the Genesis A-poet, on the other hand, lies in his very humanity, as does that of Judas for the poet of the Heliand. These vernacular poets present human betrayers annihilated by guilt. The Bible provided the early medieval world's central images of archbetrayers, figures who carry the act of betrayal to the worst extent conceivable. The Bible also provided a central concept which is antithetical to ideas of betrayal, that of the covenant. The concept of the covenant is particularly taken up in the Old English biblical poems Genesis A and ExodusJ6 In the latter poem, the Egyptians treacherously turn against the Israelites: 'Waere ne gymdon.' 77 Exodus shows the fulfilment of God's covenant with his people, referring back to the faithfulness of Noah and Abraham,7 and it shows graphically the destruction of the faithless Egyptians. Their leader Pharaoh is referred to in Exodus as Godes andsacaf 'God's enemy', an epithet which identifies him with the great betrayer Satan. The poem's emphasis on the covenant reinforces its sense of the troth-breaking wickedness of those who would frustrate the progress of God's people. The faithlessness of the Hebrews themselves is touched on in Genesis A and Daniel, which show them falling into sin and earning the punishment of the Lord, but this is not a theme widely treated in extant Anglo-Saxon texts. The more common impression is of the righteousness of those who follow the Lord and the perfidy of those who, whether in the Bible itself or (as in Bede) in Anglo-Saxon England, oppose them. Characteristically, in Anglo-Saxon literature figures of treachery are associated with 'the other side', representing the possibility of external rather than internal threat. Treachery can be mentioned as an attribute of an enemy, even when this enemy is not particularly engaging in treacherous behaviour. Penda is the rex perfiduSy 'treacherous king', in Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica, even when Genesis, lines 360—2: 'He has not done right, however, that he has toppled us into the depth of fire, into hot hell, deprived of the kingdom of heaven.' For the theme of the covenant in these poems, see P. J. Lucas, 'Loyalty and Obedience in the Old English Genesis and the Interpolation of Genesis B into Genesis Neophilologus 7 6 ( 1 9 9 2 ) , 1 2 1 - 3 5 , at 1 2 3 - 4 ; and Lucas, Exodus, pp. 6 1 - 3 . 77

Exodus, line 140: 'They did not keep their pledge.'

78

See Exodus, lines 3 6 6 and 4 2 6 .

79

Line 15.

21

A\


acting openly; the poet of The Battle of Maldon accuses the Vikings of 'cheating' (lytegian) in asking to be allowed to cross the strategic causeway. Treachery is not lightly to be associated with those whose perspective the audience shares. This is especially the case given the particular enormity of treachery in a world whose secular institutions are based so firmly on personal ties and whose idea of society is focused so centrally on values of mutual obligation. As Milton Gatch has written of Anglo-Saxon England, 'Society — whether in the world or in Christ's kingdom — is a matter of corporate relationships; and the individual defines, understands, identifies himself in terms of his obligations to a lord.' The prescriptions of Germanic and Christian belief combine in Anglo-Saxon England to render the thought of betrayal peculiarly unspeakable and horrendous. Maxims I, among its other references to treachery, observes that God will not watch over the venomous-minded and faithless man: aetrenmod ond ungetreow, t>aes ne gymeS god. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the suggestion of good characters being in any way tainted by the possibility of treachery causes unease among Anglo-Saxon writers. In the Old English verse narratives of Judith and Juliana, the aspect of duplicity on the part of the female heroes, as reflected in the sources of the Anglo-Saxon texts, is carefully played down. Judith does not lead Holofernes on in sexual temptation in Judith in the way that she does in the biblical original, and Juliana is less misleading in her response to Eleusius's marriage suit in Cynewulf's poem than in the Ada S. lulianae. In the Acta she has no intention of marrying Eleusius but attempts to cloud the issue by declaring, 'Nisi dignitatem praefecturae administraveris, nullo modo tibi possum conjungi.'85 This detail is entirely omitted in Juliana. 80

81 HE 111.24 (p. 290). The Battle of Maldon, line 86. M. McC. Gatch, Loyalties and Traditions: Man and his World in Old English Literature

(New York, 1971), p. 144. For a recent study of the theme of loyalty in Old English 83

84 85

poetry, see Clemoes, Interactions of Thought and Language, pp. 4 0 9 - 3 7 . Lines 1 6 2 - 3 : 'the venomous and faithless man, whom God does not watch over'. See also lines 3 7 , 70 and 147. Cf. Judith XII. 18-20. Ed. Bollandus and Henschenius, p . 87 5C: 'Unless you attain the rank of prefect, there is no way I can marry you' (trans. Calder and Allen, p . 123).

22

Ideas of community and an audience!readership

It is this horror of betrayal which gives the speech of the cross in The Dream of the Roods, vital part of its emotional intensity and urgency. In The Dream of the Rood the speech of the cross is remarkable for its highly personal tone and for its fixation on the relationship between the speaker and his lord. The speaker is the follower of a lord and he must obey his wishes, even though these forbid him from acting according to the normal code of loyalty by defending his lord. The cross expresses confusion at the seemingly contradictory obligations laid upon him by the lord: he must show loyalty by standing by while his lord is killed. Unable to comprehend the sublime significance of the events in which he is taking part, he exclaims, with the outlook of an earthly retainer, Paer ic f>a ne dorste bugan 06 6e berstan.

ofer dryhtnes word

He wishes to fight for his lord against those who oppress him, but is not allowed to do so: Ealle ic mihte feondas gefyllan,

hwaeSere ic faeste stod.

Not only is the cross unable to defend or avenge his lord, because he dare not contravene his command, but he is appalled to discover that he has been cast as the betrayer and slayer of this lord, picked out from all creation, indeed, to fulfil this role. As several commentators have pointed out, the word banan in the half line 'beornas on banan gesyhfte', can refer only to the cross, the 'killer' of Christ. That Christ is, as well as being an earthly lord, the 'powerful King' and 'Lord of the heavens' elevates the cross's wretched act onto a transcendental level: ahof ic ricne cyning, heofona hlaford; hyldan me ne dorste.90 The Dream of the Rood goes on to celebrate the triumph which follows 8

The Dream of the Rood, lines 3 5 - 6 : 'There I did not dare against m y lord's word bend or break.'

87 88

89 90

Lines 3 7 - 8 : 'I could have felled all t h e enemies, b u t I stood fast.' E.g. M . Swanton, The Dream of the Rood (Manchester, 1970), p p . 1 2 3 - 4 ; R. H a m e r , A

Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse (London, 1970), p. 164. Line 66: 'the men in the sight of his slayer'. Lines 4 4 - 5 : 'I raised up the powerful King, the Lord of the heavens; I did not dare to bow.'

23


from this ignominy, a triumph resulting from the fact that the cross is instrumental not only in the death of Christ but also, therefore, in the redemption of the world. The apparently unlikely basis of the triumph is the uncomprehending distress of the cross in the first part of the poem at being obliged to be the slayer of Christ. The nature of this distress is penetratingly explored in the poem, and is shown to stem in an important way from the contemplation of concepts of loyalty and its opposite, betrayal. In The Dream of the Rood a 'good* speaker is made to experience the sense of alienation and guilt which is the burden of the betrayer. Treachery and betrayal in later Anglo-Saxon texts

The above discussion has illustrated something of the range of interest in themes of treachery and betrayal in Anglo-Saxon literature generally. It will be noticed that I have omitted Beowulf from consideration so far. This is because I intend to consider the treatment of treachery and betrayal in Beowulf separately, in ch. 3. I now wish to proceed to focus on one group of texts in which the interest in treachery and betrayal becomes an urgent preoccupation and in which treachery is seen not primarily as something to be associated with 'other people' but is perceived as infecting AngloSaxon society and institutions. It is in texts produced in the later part of the tenth century and in the eleventh century that writers express an order of anxiety concerning treachery and betrayal different from what we have seen in the examples mentioned so far in this discussion. Some of the texts mentioned above may have been produced in late Anglo-Saxon England themselves {The Battle of Maldon certainly was), but so far we have discussed only aspects of them which may be considered typical of AngloSaxon literature as a whole. The preoccupation with treachery and betrayal in later Anglo-Saxon England is most evident in the works of the great moralist and legislator Archbishop Wulfstan, but it is by no means confined to Wulfstan's writings. The best-known references to treachery in later Anglo-Saxon literature are those in Wulfstan's passionate tirade, his Sermo Lupi ad Anglos, addressed to the English 'quando Dani maxime persecuti sunt eos'.91 Echoing Christ's warning to his disciples that persecution will bring 91

Sermo Lupi ad Anglos, ed. Whitelock, lines 1-2: 'when the Danes persecuted them most'.

24


betrayal, even by friends and family,

Wulfstan observes in the Sermo

Lupi, Ne bearh nu foroft gesib gesibban {>e ma {>e fremdan, ne faeder his bearne, ne hwilum beam his agenum faeder, ne bro{)or oj)rum; ne ure aenig his lif fadode swa swa he scolde, ne gehadode regollice, ne laewede lahlice. Ac worhtan lust us to lage ealles to gelome, 7 na{>or ne heoldan ne lare ne lage Godes ne manna swa swa we scoldan. Ne aenig wiS oj)erne getrywlice J)ohte swa rihte swa he scolde, ac maest aelc swicode 7 ofcrum derede wordes 7 daede; 7 huru unrihtlice maest aelc ot>erne aeftan heawej) mid sceandlican onscytan, do mare, gif he maege. The Sermo Lupi is Wulfstan's most famous homiletic piece, but its concerns are also reflected throughout his other writings. In the Sermo Lupi, as elsewhere, Wulfstan reserves his severest comments for the crime of treachery: Her syn on lande ungetrywf>a micle for Gode 7 for worolde, 7 eac her syn on earde on mistlice wisan hlafordswican manege. 7 ealra maest hlafordswice se bi5 on worolde J>aet man his hlafordes saule beswice; 7 ful micel hlafordswice eac bi6 on worolde f>aet man his hlaford of life forraede, 06Son of lande lifiende drife; 7 aegfcer is geworden on {)ysan earde. Most of the wrongs in the catalogue of vices of which he accuses his people have to do with severings of the bonds of society:

92 93

9

Matth. X . 2 1 - 2 . Sermo Lupi, ed. Whitelock, lines 6 2 - 7 1 : 'Now too often a kinsman does not protect a kinsman any more than a stranger, neither a father his son, nor sometimes even a son his own father, nor one brother another; nor has any one of us ordered his life as he should, neither ecclesiastics according to the rule nor laymen according to the law. But we have made desire a law unto us all too often, and have kept neither the precepts nor laws of God as we should. Nor has anyone had loyal intentions towards another as justly as he should, but almost everyone has deceived and injured another by word or deed; and in particular almost everyone wrongly stabs another in the back with shameful attack — let him do more if he can' (trans. Whitelock, English Historical Documents, p. 931). Sermo Lupi, ed. Whitelock, lines 72-8: 'Here in this country there are many who are traitors in various ways. And it is the greatest of all treachery in the world that a man betray his lord's soul; and a full great treachery is it also in the world that a man should betray his lord to death, or drive him in his lifetime from the land; and both have happened in this country' (trans. Whitelock, English Historical Documents, p. 931). Wulfstan goes on to specify the killing of Edward and the expulsion of ^thelred (lines 78-80).

25


WearS {>es J)eodscipe, swa hit J)incan maeg, swy{)e forsyngod t>urh maenigfealde synna 7 jmrh fela misdaeda; [>urh morddaeda 7 J)urh mandaeda, fcurh gitsunga 7 }>urh gifernessa, {mrh stala 7 J>urh strudunga, fmrh mannsylena 7 t>urh hae{)ene unsida, JDurh swicdomas 7 })urh searacraeftas, £>urh lahbrycas 7 {mrh aeswicas, J)urh maegraessas 7 J)urh manslyhtas, f>urh hadbrycas 7 {)urh aebrycas, {mrh siblegeru 7 Jrnrh mistlice forligru. 7 eac syndan wide, swa we aer cwaedan, Jmrh aSbricas 7 Jmrh wedbrycas 7 ]mrh mistlice leasunga forloren 7 forslogen ma J)onne scolde. The sermon expresses Wulfstan's perception of the disintegration of the traditional social values and his conviction of the necessity of their reestablishment. He ends by comparing the English with the Britons castigated by Gildas, and by warning his audience that the same catastrophic fate awaits them as the Britons, if they do not change their ways.9 His closing plea with regard to the behaviour of the English is, 'Utan . . . a5 7 wed waerlice healdan, 7 sume getrywSa habban us betweonan butan uncraeftan.' Wulfstan paints an alarming picture, no doubt heightening it for rhetorical effect, but other writers share his preoccupation with treachery and betrayal. The emotive accounts of the treachery of Ealdorman Êlfric in the 'E' version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle^ and of some of the followers of Byrhthnoth in The Battle ofMaldon" provide specific instances of the kind of behaviour condemned by Wulfstan. Wulfstan himself refers in the Sermo Lupi to the murder (in 978) of Edward the Martyr, 100 which 93

96

98

99 100

Sermo Lupi, ed. Whitelock, lines 136-45: 'This people, as it may seem, has become very corrupt through manifold sins and many misdeeds: through murders and crimes, through avarice and through greed, through theft and robbery, through the selling of men and through heathen vices, through betrayals and frauds, through breaches of law and through deceit, through attacks on kinsmen and through slayings, through injury of men in holy orders and through adultery, through incest and various fornications. And also far and wide, as we have said before, more than should be are lost and perjured through the breaking of oaths and of pledges and through various falsehoods' (trans. Whitelock, English Historical Documents', p. 932). Sermo Lupi, ed. Whitelock, lines 184-99; trans. Whitelock, English Historical Documents, p. 934. Sermo Lupi, ed. Whitelock, lines 205—7: 'Let us keep carefully oath and pledge, and have some loyalty between us without deceit' (trans. Whitelock, English Historical Documents, p . 934). Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel, ed. Plummer: see annals for 992, 993 and 1103 (I, 127 and 135). See Stafford, Unification and Conquest, pp. 15 and 68. The Battle ofMaldon, lines 185-201. Sermo Lupi, ed. Whitelock, lines 78-9.

26


is also related in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The 'E' version narrator pauses to observe that the young king's earthly kinsmen would not avenge him: 'Hine nolden his eorSlican magas wrecan.' The murder is treated at length in Byrhtferth's Vita S. Oswaldi. The killing of Edward, 'the Lord's anointed' (christum Domini), as Byrhtferth pointedly refers to him, is compared in the Vita S. Oswaldi to the betrayal of Christ by Judas, as the motif of the kiss of betrayal is introduced: 'Milites ergo tenentes eum, unus ad dexteram ipsum trahebat ad se quasi osculum illi dare vellet, alter vero sinistram ejus duriter accepit, qui et vulneravit.'1 This narrative also incorporates an allusion to the Cain story. Treacherous episodes appear also in some of the texts chosen for translation into English in the late Anglo-Saxon period. Examples range from hagiographical works, such as the version of the legend of St Margaret, in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 303, and the anonymous Legend of the Seven Sleepers, preserved in the ^lfric Lives of Saints manuscript, to the romance Apollonius of Tyre. The Apollonius story tells of the treacherous planning of King Antiochus to have the hero murdered 'mid isene 06Se mid attre', going back on his word to give his daughter's hand in marriage to the man who solves his riddle. The St Margaret text introduces an emphasis on the deceptions and betrayals of the devil, unparalleled in the analogues. 106 The Legend of the Seven Sleepers considers several aspects of the theme of loyalty. In particular, it greatly expands the concern with treachery among the persecuted Christians of Ephesus which it inherits from its Latin source, taking its lead in this respect from its allusion to Christ's warnings about betrayal in Matthew X.21—2.107 This gospel passage is also, as we have seen, alluded to in Wulfstan's Sermo Lupi.1 8 Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel, ed. Plummer I, 123. 102

Vita Sancti Oswaldi, in Historians of the Church of York, ed. Raine I, 4 4 9 . Cf. Acts IV.26. O n the authorship of this work, see Byrhtferth's

Enchiridion,

ed. P. S. Baker and M.

Lapidge, EETS ss 15 (London, 1995), xxv-xxxiv. Vita Sancti Oswaldi, ed. Raine I, 4 5 0 : 'The thegns then holding h i m , one drew him on the right towards him as if he wished to give h i m a kiss, b u t another seized roughly his left hand and also wounded him' (trans. Whitelock, English Historical

Documents,

p . 915). 104

Vita Sancti Oswaldi, ibid. I, 4 5 1 ; trans. Whitelock, ibid, p. 916.

105

The Old English Apollonius of Tyre, ed. Goolden, p . 8, line 8: 'with steel or with poison'.

106

See The Old English Lives ofSt Margaret, ed. Clayton and Magennis, p p . 6 8 - 9 -

107 De Septem Dormientibus, in Mlfric's Lives of Saints, ed. and trans. Skeat I, 4 8 8 - 5 4 1 : see

lines 59-68.

108

See above, pp. 24-5. 4-5. 27


The later Anglo-Saxon law codes, in the framing of which, of course, Wulfstan was directly involved, are far more explicitly concerned with the crime of treachery than the Alfred and y^thelstan codes mentioned earlier. Êthelred's code of 1008 ('V ^thelred') specifies the death penalty for anyone who deserts from an army which the king himself is with, and gives a similar penalty for anyone who plots against the king's life. The laws of Cnut (1020-3) actually begin with a decree that Cnut should be loved 'mid rihtan getrywj>an\ I Cnut is the first code specifically to make loyalty to the king a legal requirement. This code goes on to identify the people's loyalty to Cnut, as their lord, with the wish of God: 'ForJ>am eal J)aet we aefre for rihthlafordhelde do5, eall we hit do5 us sylfum to micelre J)earfe; forjDam J)am by5 witodlice God hold, J)e byS his hlaforde rihtlice hold.' 112 This statement is also drawn upon in 'Wulfstanian' homiletic writings. The particular attention to questions of loyalty in these codes is in part, perhaps, a reflection of the greater inclusiveness of the later laws and of the greater ideological sophistication of Wulfstan and his associates. This attention also suggests, however, that such questions were seen as more of a problem than in previous generations, a suggestion also borne out by consideration of the other contemporary sources mentioned above. It is easy to oversimplify from the comparatively limited amount of surviving literature, but it is evident that the late Anglo-Saxon period was portrayed in contemporary writings concerned with politics and morality as a time of crisis and disintegration, in a way that earlier periods were not. To what extent treachery was in fact more prevalent in later Anglo-Saxon England than before is a different question, and one beyond the scope of this discussion, but contemporary authors catalogue and lament the breakdown of traditional loyalties and commitments. They cultivate the themes of order and authority, emphasizing continuity between secular and spiritual life. According to a recent study of the corpus of homilies of the period, authors of late Old English homilies 109

V yEthelred, 2 8 (ed. Liebermann I, 244) ( t h o u g h found in one manuscript only, and

110

V yEthelred, 3 0 (ed. Liebermann I, 244); V I Êthelred, 37 (ed. Liebermann I, 256).

111

I C n u t , 1 (ed. Liebermann I, 278): 'with due loyalty'.

112

I C n u t , 2 0 (ed. Liebermann I, 300): 'For all that we ever do out of just loyalty to our

not in V I Êthelred, 35 (ed. Liebermann I, 256)).

lord, we do it all to our own great benefit, for assuredly G o d will be gracious to h i m w h o is duly loyal to his lord' (trans. W h i t e l o c k , English Historical Documents, p . 4 5 5 ) .

28

Ideas of community and an audience/readership perceived themselves as preaching to a declining society where human behaviour had reached a decadence which contrasted dramatically with the moral fibre of early Christian times. They preached a return to social morality, thus assuming a consensus in their audience that lying, murder and theft were wrong, and admonishing their audience to address these evils before it was too late.113 In homiletic writings the perception of disregard for social morality is often expressed in the language of loyalty and treachery, and the crime of hlafordswicelhlafordswicung, 'betrayal of one's lord', is severely condemned. Hlafordswice is treated, with particular insistence, by Wulfstan, but also by other homilists, 11 including, not least, Êlfric. account of Absolom and Achitophel, which is appended to his life of St Alban in Lives of Saints}1 is a sermon on deception, robbery and treachery, ^lfric insists that betrayers of their lords will perish in the end, as books show us: Eac swylce hlaford-swican losiaS on ende swa swa us bee secgaS soSlice gehwaer.116 This observation leads him into a summary of the story of the treachery of Absolom and Achitophel against King David. 117 Absolom's violent end recalls for Êlfric that of Judas: Swa geendode se faeder-swica mid his feore his unraed. Eall swa eac iudas 5e waelhreowlice belaewde urne haelend crist. acwealde hine sylfne hangiende on grine . godes wiSer-saca ecelice for-demed swas swa drihtnes belaewa.118 113

K. Greenfield, 'Changing Emphases in English Vernacular Homiletic Literature, 960-1225' Journal ofMedieval History 7 (1981), 283-97, at 288.

11

Cf., e.g., Wulfstan: Sammlung der ihm zugeschriebenen Homilien nebst Untersucbungen uber

115 11

117 118

ihre Echtheit, ed. A. Napier (Berlin, 1883), p. 225, line 28 (no. XLIV); p. 266, line 24 (no. L); and p. 298, line 13 (no. LVII) (these homilies are now regarded as not by Wulfstan himself); The Vercelli Homilies, ed. Scragg, no. XX, line 24. Ed. and trans. Skeat I, 424-31. Lines 194-5: 'So likewise will traitors perish, in the end, even as books verily tell us everywhere' (trans. Skeat I, 427). Cf. II Kings XV-XVIII. Lines 224-8: 'So the traitor to his father ended his evil counsel with his life. So likewise Judas, who cruelly betrayed our Saviour Christ, killed himself by hanging in a noose, an apostate from God, everlastingly damned as the Lord's betrayer' (trans. Skeat I, 429).

29


Êlfric finishes his discussion of the Absolom and Achitophel story by repeating the point about lord-betrayers perishing in the end: and hlaford-swican losiaS on ende . mid t>am getreowleasan deofle J)e hi tihte to t>am swicdome.119 ^lfric is also notable in that he reveals unease concerning acts of deceit practised by good characters. We have identified a similar unease, above, with reference to the Old English poems Judith and Juliana. ^lfric, however, is more explicit and more categorical in discussing this topic, again perhaps reflecting the particular anxiety concerning the theme of treachery in his own day. He goes out of his way in his Homily on the Book ofJudith to absolve Judith from any censure in breaking her word to Holofernes when she promised that she would lead him into the city of Bethulia. ^lfric's claim that in effect she did lead him into the city, when she brought home his head, is hardly convincing, but it shows his determination to confront an unsettling aspect of the Judith story. Similarly, in treating the Passion narrative, Êlfric pauses to comment on the faithlessness of Peter in denying Christ three times, a gospel episode which is carefully considered by the Old Saxon poet of the Heliand l but not discussed elsewhere in Old English, though the bare story itself is related in accounts of the Passion.1 For Êlfric, the essential purpose of the episode of the treachery of Peter is to teach Peter, the future leader of the church, the lesson of mercy towards others: 119

Lines 231-2: 'and traitors shall perish in the end with the perfidious devil who incited them to treachery' (trans. Skeat I, 429). On Êlfric's treatment of betrayal in the Absolom and Achitophel exemplum, with reference to contemporary circumstances, see also M. Clayton, 'Of Mice and Men: Êlfric's Second Homily for the Feast of a Confessor, Leeds Studies in English ns 24 (1993), 1-26, at 22. Homily on the Book of Judith,

in Angelsdchsische Homilien und Heiligenleben, ed. Assmann,

pp. 102-16; see lines 418-22:

121 122

Iudith behet aerest t>am welhreowum ealdormen, l>aet heo wolde hine gebringan binnan to hire folce. Ac hit nass na ealles leas, {>at t>aet heo him behet, J>a t>a heo baer his heafod binnan |)am weallum and |)am folce aeteowde, hu hire fylste god. See the Heliand, lines 4950-5038; trans. Murphy, pp. 164-6. See The Vercelli Homilies, ed. Scragg, no. I, lines 2 2 - 5 6 ; 'Palm Sunday H o m i l y ' , from Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 3 4 0 , Dictionary

60-136.

30

of Old English

transcript, lines


Ac se mildheorta crist. wolde him aeteowian. on his agenum gylte. hu he oSrum sceolde. mannum gemiltsian. on mislicum gyltum. nu he eallunga haefS. heofonan rices caege. £>aet he naere to sti8. unstrangum mannum. ac gemiltsode o6rum. swa swa se ^lmihtiga him.123 ^lfric's emphasis on God's good purpose in the episode has the effect of drawing attention away from the aspect of personal responsibility in Peter's denial. A similar dwelling on God's providential purpose in allowing Peter's act of betrayal is evident in the Heliand (in the Heliand God's purpose is to teach Peter the feebleness of human strength without grace and to appreciate people's need for forgiveness),12 but it is accompanied in the Heliand by a powerful speech by Peter, added by the Saxon poet, expressing the apostle's sense of guilt and misery at the men, 'criminal things', 126 he has said in his denial. Mlinc is not interested in exploring this personal dimension and says simply that Peter 'mid biterum wope. his wiSersaec behreowsode',127 following Matth. XXVI.75, 'wept bitterly'. Êlfric is not the most insistent late Old English writer in treating the themes of treachery and betrayal — Wulfstan is. When Mlinc writes about Cain and Abel, for example, it is the typological significance of the episode that interests him, rather than its illustration of the crime of betrayal: 'Abeles siege soSlice tacnode ure Haelendes siege.' Nonetheless, the themes of treachery and betrayal receive careful attention in writings and are treated with his customary precision and subtlety. IMAGES OF COMMUNITY IN OLD ENGLISH POETRY

This book considers images of community in Old English poetic texts and the significance of such images to a historicized understanding of the 123

Catholic Homilies II, ed. G o d d e n , no. X I V , lines 1 4 2 - 7 : ' B u t the merciful Christ would show h i m , in his o w n sin, h o w he should be merciful t o other m e n for divers sins, now that he fully possesses the key of heaven's k i n g d o m ; that he should not be too rigorous towards weak m e n , b u t should be merciful to others, as the A l m i g h t y was to h i m (trans. T h o r p e II, 2 5 1 ) .

124

See t h e Heliand, lines 5 0 3 1 - 8 ; trans. M u r p h y , p . 1 6 6 .

125

T h e Heliand, lines 5 0 1 1 - 2 0 ; trans. M u r p h y , p . 1 6 5 .

127

E d . G o d d e n , no. X I V , line 1 3 9 : 'with bitter wail repented his denial' (trans. T h o r p e

128

Êlfric, Letter to Sigeweard (On the Old and New Testament), ed. Crawford, The Old English

126

Line 5 0 2 0 .

II, 249). Version of the Heptateuch, pp. 15-75, lines 175-6: 'The slaying of Abel truly signified the slaying of our Saviour.'

31


poetry. The images themselves are by no means uniform throughout surviving texts: their use reveals discontinuities and transformations as well as elements of a shared tradition. Despite the poetry's evident attachment to ideas of community, for example, we also read in this literature of voluntary exile {The Seafarer), of solitary withdrawal to the desert (Guthlac) and of rejection of the blandishments of society (Juliana). Paradoxically, the very poems in which such renunciatory themes occur themselves exploit imagery of community to give expression to these themes. And even in the secular tradition (the above-mentioned poems being explicitly religious) there are some poems which, as shown below, appear to embrace private values of love in contradiction to the social values of a wider community. In the context of our late Old English monastic interpretation, however, there is considerable coherence in the pattern of significance which can be discerned in the range of such imagery. The insistence on community in Old English poetry is such that in many poems it appears that the life of the individual has no meaning away from community: 'Wyn eal gedreas', laments the speaker in The Wanderer, considering his loss of a place in society. Even Satan, in Genesis and Christ and Satan, can eloquently voice the theme of loss of community. The speaker in The Ruin imagines the communal life of an age in the distant past: Beorht waeron burgraeced, burnsele monige, heah horngestreon, heresweg micel, meodoheall monig mondreama full.131 The buildings which were the scenes of such revelry have now become 'westen sta{)olas'132 and no consolation is apparent in the fact of their passing. The picture in The Ruin of 'many a meadhall filled with the joys of men* presents a powerful evocation of communal prosperity, in which the society of ancient Romans (as the people imagined would have been) is 129

Line 3 6 : 'joy has all come to n o t h i n g ' . See Klinck, The Old English Elegies, p . 2 2 5 .

130

Genesis, lines 3 5 6 - 4 4 1 ; Christ and Satan, lines 3 6 - 5 0 .

131

The Ruin,

lines 2 1 - 3 : 'Bright were the buildings in the stronghold, m a n y a b a t h -

house, an a b u n d a n c e of h i g h gables, m u c h martial sound, m a n y a mead-hall w i t h t h e joys of m e n . ' 132

Ibid, line 2 7 : 'waste places'.

32

filled


conceived in terms of traditional Germanic aristocratic life. However, the picture is also removed from the actuality of Germanic practice, since a Germanic chieftain's stronghold would have one meadhall, not meodoheall monig, 'many a meadhall'. The description in The Ruin is recognizably other: it is of an imagined Utopian city, outside the experience of the poem's narrator, and reader, and suggesting Christian-Latin images of the civitas, 'city', as well as 'Germanic' ones of the burh, 'stronghold'. The Ruin fuses the imagery of the burh with the notion of civitas, as The Dream of The Rood fuses the associations of the feast in secular literature with those of the Christian-Latin convivium. Anglo-Saxon readers find in the dynamic complex of imagery of community in Old English poetry a language capable of expressing creatively the harmony but also the conflicts and tensions of people living together on earth, and this imagery can also illuminate the theme of the relationship of people on earth to God. The following chapters examine traditions of imagery of community found in Old English poetic texts and varying ways in which this imagery might function for a particular audience/readership. At the core of the imagery is the concept of the hall in the stronghold and of the feasting and communal life which are enacted there. This is a concept much alluded to in Old English criticism but seldom analysed in any detail. Our study will provide a detailed discussion of the complex of hall imagery and of the significance (for a particular type of reading) of the scenes of feasting found in the poetry. Imagery of the hall interrelates in our poetic texts with that of the civitas: biblical and patristic concepts of the city are reflected in our complex of imagery, giving depth to its possible interpretations. We begin with hall and feasting as cherished images of good life in the secular tradition of Old English poetry and in the related Old Norse tradition. This material provides the subject of ch. 2, which also examines attitudes to drinking and drunkenness in the literature. The third chapter focuses in particular on the highly suggestive and challenging quality of imagery of community as it appears in Beowulf in this context, ch. 3 also returns to the theme of treachery and betrayal. Then follow two chapters looking at texts in which the imagery of hall society has a problematic significance. As described in ch. 4, transformations and alternative perspectives are evident in ironic images of hall life in secular poetry, but the imagery of community functions in a more complex way in those poems in which its significance appears altered or inverted. In ch. 5, the opposition between communal and personal values is explored, a theme not normally 33


associated with Old English poetry but strikingly illustrated in two poems with female speakers, Wulf and Eadwacer and The Wife's Lament. The 'mythic' world of Beowulf is described in ch. 6, with the hall at its centre, surrounded by the threat of the wilderness. The other definitive feature of this mythic world is the sea, a symbol on the one hand of the unknown, on the other of both separation and communication. In this chapter it is argued that aspects of the use of landscape in Beowulf'strongly recall the Aeneid and it is also suggested that the concept of the locus amoenus, 'lovely place', as found elsewhere in Old English, as well as Latin, literature, can be read as present in the poem in inverted form. Chs. 7 and 8 examine aspects of the treatment of community in two types of Christian narrative poetry, biblical poetry and hagiography. The chapter on biblical poetry pays particular attention to Genesis, Judith and Daniel, to bring out the theme of the association of place and community with the relationship between God and his people on earth (a theme inherited from the biblical texts). The chapter on saints' lives shows an emphasis on setting and community in some Old English poems which is not apparent in the antecedent Latin prose tradition. This chapter focuses on Juliana (which is more like Latin works in this respect), Andreas and, especially, Guthlac. The closing chapter briefly draws together some of the themes of the study and discusses late Old English texts, particularly The Battle of Brunanburh and The Battle of Maldon, in the light of these themes. Issues concerning the relationship between community and power emerge from the writing of the period, finding expression in language which emphasizes a claim to continuity with the past. This chapter, in demonstrating the preoccupation with ideas of community and power in literature of the tenth to eleventh centuries, also broadens our reception context for the undated poems. It becomes possible to see the compilation of the great poetry manuscripts themselves as reflecting interests related to those revealed in The Battle of Brunanburh and The Battle of Maldon. Though individual poems defy reductionism, the conscious cultivation of vernacular poetry in the period can be viewed as revealing an interest in appealing to and asserting traditional Anglo-Saxon values and in endorsing ideals of ordered authority. 133 Images of community may be understood as giving expression to such values and ideals. 133

Cf. Irvine, 'Medieval Textuality', p. 208. 34

Hall and city, feasting and drinking: images of communal life

The dominant feature of the poetic landscape which surviving Old English verse as a whole presents to its readers is the hall in which the life of society is carried on. In the aristocratic world portrayed in most Old English poetry the hall dominates the landscape in a literal sense: it stands, to quote a phrase from Beowulf, 'heah ond horngeap'.1 More significantly, it dominates the landscape in a metaphorical sense, for the hall appears in Old English poetic texts as the focus and centre of people's communal being. Other types of building are mentioned (comparatively rarely) in Old English poetry — temples, churches, hermit cells, and so on — but, apart from individual Riddles, there is hardly a poem in Old English literature in which the concept of the hall and of life in the hall is not at least alluded to; and in many poems hall activities remain consistently in the foreground. The hall appears in riddles, maxims and poems of religious exhortation, as well as in narrative and lyric texts. As is well known, exotic social structures, such as those found in the Bible, are at least partly recast in Old English poetry in terms of hall culture. The concept of the city is preserved in the adaptation of biblical and hagiographical works, but appears superimposed on, or fused with, the communal image of the hall, as in the image from The Ruin discussed above. THE HALL AS IMAGE OF COMMUNITY

Ch. 1 illustrated how hall life in the 'real world' persisted to the end of the Anglo-Saxon period, so that the world of the poetry continued to bear some relation to the world of the reader or listener. However, the poetry Beowulf, line 82: 'lofty and wide-gabled'. 35

See above, pp. 32—3-


presents a highly abstracted and idealized image of Anglo-Saxon social life. There was an increasing variety and complexity in Anglo-Saxon society with the passage of time. The growth of towns and boroughs and the development of social networks associated with the church were a vital part of the reality of Anglo-Saxon life. Despite the persistence of hall life throughout the period, most people did not live in halls but in individual households: hall life was confined to royalty and the nobility. There is little sign of the existence of social complexity, however, in Old English poetry, at least on the surface, nor is there much evidence for interest in the kinds of life lived outside the refined limits of aristocratic society. The communal life depicted in the poetry is overwhelmingly aristocratic — even its Christian heroes are nobly born (Guthlac, Juliana, Elene). People from lower in the social scale mostly have only walk-on parts in the poetry. The unnamed slave of Beowulf is possibly an editorial figment.5 Dunnere in The Battle of Maldon is known to Anglo-Saxonists as the only known ceorl to feature in heroic poetry. And, as well as being aristocratic, the communal life portrayed in the poetry is overwhelmingly patriarchal, the role and function of women being defined by reference to the male goals of warriorship and kingship. The relationship of a wife to her husband is expressed in the poetry in terms of that of a retainer to a lord, with emphasis on service and loyalty.7 Little Old English poetry has survived, of course, but even in what has survived we can see hints of alternative social perspectives, based on interests other than those of lordship and the hall. Some riddles, charms and maxims shift the focus away from concepts of community centred on

4

7

See Stafford, Unification and Conquest, pp. 211—16. The most systematic account of the development of towns is Anglo-Saxon Towns in Southern England, ed. J. Haslam (Chichester, 1984). An example of the hall life of the lesser Anglo-Saxon nobility is revealed in the excavations at Goltho: see G. Beresford, 'Goltho Manor, Lines.: the Buildings and Their Surrounding Defences', Anglo-Norman Studies 4 (1981), 13-36. Beowulf, line 2223. Only the p of the word in question is clearly legible in the manuscript, and it is possible that the correct reading is peof, not peow. The reading pegn, adopted by some editors, is not justified, since there is no trace of a g in the manuscript. The Battle of Maldon, lines 255—6. On Dunnere, see M. A. L. Locherbie-Cameron, 'The Men Named in the Poem', in The Battle of Maldon AD 99 L ed. D. Scragg (Oxford and Cambridge, MA, 199D, pp. 238-49, at 243-4. See The Wife's Lament, lines 6, 8, 9 etc.

36

Images of communal life

the hall, and we shall see in a later chapter that some poems which portray hall culture show awareness of an oppressive side to its social life, as the demands of communal and private values come into conflict. This conflict is shown as particularly apparent in the situation of women, as in The Wife's Lament and Wulf and Eadwacer. But the evidence of the range of surviving texts shows these other perspectives not to be the main interest of the Anglo-Saxon textual community we have identified. This textual community itself gives us a selective view of Old English literature. Access to 'oral communities' would doubtless present a different picture, emphasizing aspects only hinted at in the literature of the textual community. For example, love and sex are not major themes in Old English poetry, though we can hardly believe that they were not of interest to AngloSaxon people. There is evidence of a love interest in Old English poetry: it is apparent in the lyrics mentioned above, would probably have been expressed in the complete Waldere and is alluded to in the Maethhild stanza in Deor. Generally, however, love and, certainly, sex are played down in the poetry. Some of the Exeter Book Riddles show that AngloSaxon monks had a taste for ribald jokes and sexual innuendo, but sex is largely confined to this fairly unproblematic level. The drives of love and sex pose potential conflict and threat to communal values and they represent an uneasy area of experience for an outlook which seeks to endorse such values. In the Old English biblical poem Judith the theme of sexual seduction, palpably present in the Latin Vulgate, is excised in the translation into Old English verse. In our textual community the ideal of marital love, which is the only context in which sex is to be contemplated, 8

Deor, lines 14-17. In this textually ambiguous passage the name Maethhild is conjectural, and we cannot be certain about the exact nature of the story alluded to, but the story is definitely one of love involving sorrow or distress (sorglufu, line 16) of some kind. For a summary of possible interpretations, see Hill, Old English Minor Heroic Poems, p. 76. Richard North suggests a non-serious treatment of love on the part of the poet in this episode: see 'Jeux d'esprit in "Deor"', Amsterdamer Beitrdge zur dlteren Germanistik 27 (1988), 11-24. The Riddles in which commentators have found the most obvious sexual meanings are nos. 25, 37, 42, 44, 45, 54, 61 and 62. The riddles with sexual double entendre are discussed by R. Gleissner, Die 'zweideutigeri ae. Rdtsel des Exeter Book in ibrem zeitgenbssischen Kontext (Frankfurt and New York, 1984). See also J. W. Tanke, 'Wonfaxe wale: Ideology and Figuration in the Sexual Riddles of the Exeter Book', in Class and Gender in Early English Literature, ed. Harwood and Overing, pp. 21-42.

37


is one of chastity and restraint.10 If the celibacy of St Êthelthryth and her two husbands and of SS Chrysanthus and Daria (to mention examples celebrated in y^lfric's Lives of Saints) is too extreme, the familial virtue of St Eustace and his wife might provide an ideal for Anglo-Saxon readers. Marital virtue is also vindicated in Apollonius of Tyre. This romance was translated into Old English in the late Anglo-Saxon period, in an adaptation which maintains the original's concern with the theme of ordered community and family but which strongly de-emphasizes the sexual interest. 11 Sexual passion is not unknown in Old English literature but we see glimpses of it in our textual community rather than developed treatment, and the whole subject is handled gingerly. 12 We shall see below that our textual community also has problems with the whole area of drinking and drunkenness. Even within the perspective of the Germanic value-system presented in Old English poetry there are contradictions and strains. It is hall society that the hero inhabits and defends. Hall society is the social focus of the heroic world, but the primary heroic goal is personal, not communal, glory; and the heroic moment of truth is a moment of truth for an individual. In heroic poetry the individual is shown ideally as engaged in a communal enterprise, but individualism itself can bring community into danger (just as can unrestrained sexual passion): Beowulf is engaged in a communal enterprise in righting the dragon, as in righting Grendel and Grendel's mother. He goes to fight the dragon alone, as he did the other monsters. If he fights alone needlessly, he is exposing his community to 10

11

12

13

See Stafford, Unification and Conquest, pp. 169-70. The institution of marriage and the anxieties of the Anglo-Saxon church about the sexuality of women are discussed by M. A. Meyer, 'Early Anglo-Saxon Penitentials and the Position of Women'. See also my own article, ' "No Sex Please, We're Anglo-Saxons"? Attitudes to Sexuality in Old English Literature', Leeds Studies in English ns 26 (1995), 1-27. The most recent commentator on the Old English version writes, 'It seems that the romantic episodes, few as they are, may have been considered of little interest, or perhaps in bad taste' (E. Archibald, Apollonius of Tyre: Medieval and Renaissance Themes and Variations (Cambridge, 1991), p. 184). On the treatment of sexuality in Old English, see further M. Donner, 'Prudery in Old English Fiction', Comitatus 3 (1973), 91-6; A. R. Riedinger, 'The Englishing of Arcestrate: Woman in Apollonius ofTyre\ in New Readings on Women in Old English Literature, ed. Damico and Hennessey Olsen, pp. 292-306. See my article, 'Occurrences of Nuptial Imagery in Old English Hagiographical Texts', ELN (forthcoming). See below, pp. 51-9.

38


even greater danger; if he fights alone because his warriors will not support him, this in itself could be taken as a mark against his leadership. In what have been referred to as the 'boar and badger' models of heroic action, the fearlessness of the 'boar', though it may lead to personal glory, may also lead to communal catastrophe.1 The hall, as it appears in Old English poetry, in being an image of community is also essentially an image of public social relations. It does not accommodate the private emotional world or the intimacies of family life. Hall companions are often kinsfolk, of course, but they act here on a public plane. Such themes as, for example, the anxious fears of parents for their children making their way out into the world appear in Old English poetry but are not expressed in the language of the hall, nor can this language describe the domestic lives of loving husbands and wives. In its image of the Frisian wife welcoming back her seafaring husband, Maxims I combines domesticity and intimacy: ond heo hine in Ia5a{), waesceS his warig hraegl ond him sylej) waede niwe, lif) him on londe £>aes his lufu baede5. In contrast to this is the same poem's picture of the queen in her social role at the centre of hall life. This lady must be meodorsedenne for gesiSmaegen symle aeghwaer eodor ae{)elinga aerest gegretan, forman fulle to frean hond ricene geraecan, ond him raed witan boldagendum baem aetsomne.

15

17

The reference is to T. A. Shippey, 'Boar and Badger: an Old English Heroic Antithesis?', Leeds Studies in English ns 16 (1985), 220-39- Shippey speaks of the 'single-mindedness' of the boar and the 'shrewdness' of the badger, seeing in the actions of some Old English heroes 'a tactical necessity opposed by an emotional drive' (p. 225). See Solomon and Saturn, lines 372-86; The Fortunes of Men, lines 1-14. Maxims I, lines 97—9- 'and she invites him in, washes his dirty garments and gives him fresh clothes, renders to him on land what his love demands'. Maxims I, lines 87-92: 'gracious with mead, in the troop of companions she must always and everywhere greet first the chieftain of noblemen, quickly offer the cup first to her lord's hand, and know what advice she should give him, since they both rule the hall together'.

39


The emphasis here is on the individual's partaking in a communal life endorsed by the poet. HALL AND CITY

The figure of the hall merges in Old English poetry with that of the city. The city provides an evocative symbol of community and security which Anglo-Saxon verse shares with the wider tradition of Christian literature. In Christian tradition the city is an image both of the world from which Christians must detach themselves (the 'earthly city') and also of the perfect community to which they aspire. Heaven itself is the city in which God's people will find eternal community. The initial harmony of heaven was subverted by the arrogant rebellion of Lucifer and his followers, who as a result had to live in hopeless exile. The Junius Manuscript poem Christ and Satan contrasts the desolation of Satan's hell with the perfection of heaven. Heaven is a splendid city — 'bryhtne burhstyde' — set in a wide and pleasant kingdom. It is surrounded by bright walls {beorhte burhweallas),20 suggesting both splendour and security. It is described as heahgetimbrad, 'high-built'. 21 Such a picture is the basis of Satan's longing in the poem for a more promising home of cities and halls — 'burga ne bolda'. 22 In another Junius Manuscript text, Genesis (in the part referred to by scholars as Genesis B), the serpent tells Eve that he knows the high roofs of heaven — 'heah heofona gehlidu' — and Satan is reminded of the splendour of the city that the fallen angels have lost: and {)urh t>in micle mod monig forleton on heofonrice heahgetimbro, godlice geardas. 18

19 22 24

This theme finds its great expression in Augustine's De civitate Dei, ed. Dombart and Kalb, CCSL 4 7 - 8 ; trans. Bettenson, Augustine: Concerning the City of God against the Pagans. The theme is conveniently discussed, with reference to iElfric, in Grundy, Books and Grace, pp. 169-75. For a discussion of the theme of the two cities, particularly in i^lfric, see P. E. Szarmach, 'Visio Pads: Jerusalem and its Meanings', in Typology and English Medieval Literature, ed. H. T. Keenan (New York, 1992), pp. 71-87. The theme is applied to Beowulf by B. F. Huppe, The Hero in the Earthly City, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies 33 (Binghamton, NY, 1984), esp. 24-40. 20 21 Christ and Satan, line 362. Ibid, line 294. Ibid, line 2923 Ibid, line 138. Genesis, line 584. Ibid., lines 738-40: 'and through your great pride many have forfeited in the heavenly kingdom tall buildings, pleasant enclosures'.

40


Earthly cities may reflect the goodness of this heavenly city, like Bethulia in Judith, or they may be inversions of it, like Mermedonia in Andreas. Mermedonia is hell-like, but (unlike Satan's hell) is redeemable. The first part of Guthlac, Guthlac A, ends with an image of the heavenly Jerusalem to which the saint goes after his eremitic life on earth. On earth Guthlac had sought the solitude of the wilderness, which is the antithesis of life in society; after his death he goes to the holy city — 'in J)a halgan burg' — which lasts forever. Paradoxically, however, Guthlac A also employs the image of the city in connection with Guthlac's fenland retreat. The city of God is for Christian writers an extension of the spirit of heaven into the world. The 'city of God' on earth is the church as a whole, though the image is associated in particular with monastic communities. In his seminal biography of the saint who retreats from the world, the Life of St Antony, Athanasius exclaims at the number of people who followed Antony's example and withdrew into the desert: 'And so, from then on, there were monasteries in the mountains and the desert was made a city by monks, who left their own people and registered themselves for the citizenship in the heavens.'27 As explained below, Guthlac A develops this paradoxical idea of a city in the desert, extending it by the poem's insistence on the solitariness of Guthlac's existence in the wilderness. Guthlac's dwelling place becomes a reflection of the heavenly glory on which the saint's mind is fixed. For Augustine and other Christian teachers the idea of heaven as a city is essentially a spiritual image expressing splendour and community under God. There is also, however, in Christian tradition a literal aspect to this imagery, as is illustrated vividly in Bede's account of the vision of Dryhthelm in his Historia Ecclesiastica. This vision presents an 'eyewitness' account not of heaven itself but of 'a kind of ante-chamber to heaven in which the souls of the not-quite-perfect reside while they await the last judgement'. 29 Bede relates that beyond a great enclosing wall Dryhthelm saw a broad and pleasant plain - 'Et ecce ibi campus erat 25

O n M e r m e d o n i a as hell, see Hieatt, 'The H a r r o w i n g of Mermedonia'; see also H e r m a n n , Allegories of War, p p . 1 2 0 - 2 .

26

28

Guthlac, line 8 1 2 .

Trans. R. C. Gregg, Athanasius: the Life of Antony and the Letter to Marcellinus (New York and London, 1980), pp. 4 2 - 3 . For Latin text in the translation by Evagrius, see PL 73, 134D. 29 HE V. 12 (pp. 488-99). Grundy, Books and Grace, p. 231.

41


latissimus ac laetissimus' — containing the 'abodes' (mansiones) of the blessed spirits. ° In Êlfric's translation of this passage the city image is expressed more explicitly: Se engel me laedde J)aerrihte to eastdaele on miccles leohtes smyltnysse into anre byrig. {>aerbinnan waes swySe smeSe feld and brad.31 Essential features of ^lfric's description recall depictions of heaven in Old English poetry (as seen above, for example) and elsewhere in Christian literature. In their use of images of the city, however, which derive ultimately from the Bible and from the traditions of biblical commentary, Old English poetic texts characteristically provide a distinctively Germanic transformation. The imagery of the city coalesces with that of the hall. The word burh itself contributes significantly to the fusing of traditions. It routinely translates Vulgate and late Latin civitas, but also brings with it associations of the Germanic stronghold surrounding the hall. The association of the burh with the hall is brought out particularly in the description of the good city as a medoburh, 'mead-stronghold', in Judith and as a winburh, 'wine-stronghold', in Andreas?2 In these compounds the social connotations of the hall, as expressed in the drinking images, are extended to the stronghold/city as a whole. FEASTING IN OLD ENGLISH POETRY

The mention of medo and win in these compounds brings us to the key representation of life in the hall in Old English, the feast. Feasting is a 30 31

32

HEV.12(p.492). Catholic Homilies 77, no. XXI, ed. Godden, lines 57-59: 'The angel straightways led me to the east, in the serenity of a great light, into a city, wherein was a very smooth and broad field' (trans. Thorpe II, 353). Judith,

line 1 6 7 ; Andreas, line 1 6 3 7 .

Feasting and d r i n k i n g are discussed in E. B u d d e , Die Bedeutung der Trinksitten

in der

Kultur der Angelsachsen (Duisburg, 1906). They are m u c h mentioned by O l d English scholars b u t there has been no general study since B u d d e . O n Germanic feasting, see P. Bauschatz, ' T h e Germanic Ritual Feast', in The Nordic Languages and

Modern

Linguistics.

General

3> Proceedings of the Third International

Conference of Nordic and

Linguistics, ed. J. Weinstock (Austin, TX, 1978), pp. 289-95; and W. Janssen, 'Essen und Trinken im friihen und hohen Mittelalter aus archaologischer Sicht', in Liber

42


central activity in itself and it also encompasses other activities as well, such as the giving and receiving of gifts, music, and - above all — drinking. Feasting expresses metonymically the theme of life in the hall and in doing so it provides one of the most familiar and suggestive bodies of imagery in the Anglo-Saxon poetic tradition. The remainder of the present chapter will briefly survey images of hall and feasting in secular Old English poetry in general and in the related Old Norse tradition. Attention will also be paid to attitudes to drinking and drunkenness in our textual community. Detailed discussion of Beowulf will be kept until the next chapter, and a further chapter (ch. 4) will consider the transformations and adaptations of this imagery which can be seen particularly in religious poetry. The imagery with which we are concerned is suggestively illustrated by the line from The Ruin quoted earlier, in which the life lived by splendid warriors in the past is evoked: these warriors had 'meoduheall monig mondreama full*. The image is of the hall as the place of feasting, the place of drinking together and of the joys of society, connoting warmth, brightness and fellowship. The hall also represents the people's sense of themselves, symbolizing their security and independence. Thus, to recall a striking image from the beginning of Beowulf, for Scyld to deprive the surrounding tribes of the mead benches at which they would sit in the hall — 'meodusetla ofteah'35 — is for him to take from them that very security and independence. The Danes themselves Castellorum. 40 variates op het tbema kasteel, ed. T. M. Hoekstra (Zutphen, 1981), pp. 324—37. Among discussions of aspects of feasting in Old English poetry, see especially J. L. Rosier, 'The Uses of Association: Hands and Feasts in Beowulf, PMLA 78 (1963), 8—14; E. B. Irving, Jr., 'Ealuscerwen: Wild Party at Heorot', Tennessee Studies in Literature 11 (1966), 161—8; R. W. Hanning, 'Sharing, Dividing, Depriving — the Verbal Ironies of Beowulf's Last Visit to Heorot', Texas Studies in Literature and Language 15 (1973_4), 199-213; H. de Roo, 'Two Old English Fatal Feast Metaphors: Ealuscerwen and Meoduscerwen , English Studies in Canada 5 (1979), 249—61; J. de L. Foley, 'Feasts and Anti-Feasts in Beowulf and the Odyssey', in Oral Traditional Literature: a Festschrift for Albert Bates Lord (Columbia, O H , 1981), p p . 2 3 5 - 6 1 ; E n r i g h t , 'Lady w i t h a M e a d - C u p ' , p p . 1 7 1 - 8 3 ; and H i l l , The Cultural World in Beowulf

pp. 87-107

(with particular emphasis on gift-giving). O n the more inclusive topic of the hall, see K. H u m e , 'The Concept of the H a l l in O l d English Poetry', ASE 3 (1974), 6 3 - 7 4 ; and Earl, Thinking

About Beowulf

p p . 1 0 0 - 3 6 . T h e Christian aspect of hall imagery in

Beowulf"is discussed by Lee in The Guest-Hall

of Eden, p p . 1 7 1 - 2 2 3 .

34

The Ruin, line 2 3 : 'many a mead-hall filled w i t h the joys of men'. See above, p p . 3 2 - 3 .

35

Beowulf

line 5: 'he deprived t h e m of their mead benches'.

43


build the great medocern^ 'mead-hall', Heorot as their power and prosperity reach their zenith. Different strands of the poetic tradition exploit this imagery in different ways, and Old English poems are not all equally approving of the feasting scenes which they describe. Hall imagery is in the first place an imagery of Germanic secular tradition, and some Christian poems present it as a sign of godlessness and wickedness. Even these poems find the traditional imagery useful, however, and hall and feasting remain as ubiquitous symbols of a way of life. In Juliana drunken feasting is presided over by the devil.3 Other Christian poems, however, can exploit the imagecomplex more positively. We have already seen The Dream of the Rood speaking of the people of the Lord in heaven 'geseted to symle'. 7 Even in a single poem contrasting views on feasting and the hall may occasionally be expressed. As explained below,38 Genesis A speaks with evident approval of the feasting of Abraham and Ismael — 'halig on hige' 39 — but in another context in the same poem feasting and its results are seen as having lured the Hebrews away from righteousness: Hie f>aes wlenco onwod and wingedrync {>aet hie firendaeda to frece wurdon. In Christian and secular poetry alike it is the symbolic function of hall and feasting which is emphasized. Old English poets are not interested in telling their audiences specifically what a hall was like or what feasting was like in the imagined poetic world which they portray, and so we learn very little, except incidentally, about hall architecture, for example, or about feasting procedures as they are conceived in the poetry. Emphasis is on the typical, and the audience is assumed to know enough about the essential features of the hall and hall life without the poet needing to labour over description or explanation. Descriptions of halls and hall life are emotively evocative rather than specific. References are focused on the same recurrent ideas, while some aspects are ignored altogether. Earl Anderson has recently discussed the 'uncarpentered world' of Old English poetry, noting the complete absence of a concern with the actuality of 36 37 38 0

Juliana, lines 4 8 3 - 9 0 . The Dream of the Rood, line 141: 'seated at the feast'. See above, p . 3. 39 See p p . 9 1 - 3 . Genesis, lines 2 7 8 1 : 'holy in mind'. Genesis, lines 2 5 8 1 - 2 : 'Pride seized them for that, and the drinking of wine, so that they became too bold in wicked deeds.'

44


construction, with right angles and straight lines. l The 'uncarpentered' approach of Beowulf contrasts, for example, with that of the Icelandic prose text Grettis saga, which, in an episode closely analogous to that of Beowulf's struggle with Grendel in the hall, pays remarkably detailed attention to the construction of the building in which the fight takes place.42 Hall layout is seldom discussed in Old English beyond mention of benches and such (hardly precise) images as that oionfagneflor\ 3 the order and nature of courses served at a feast, and how the food was served, are of no interest to Old English poets. Food, indeed, is never so much as mentioned in feasting images in Old English poetry. And with drinking, which is presented as being of great symbolic importance, there is an apparent indifference as to whether wine, or ale, or beer, or mead is drunk. Naturally, there is a hierarchy of drinks in Anglo-Saxon England as elsewhere, but in Old English poetry one drink may be mentioned in preference to another simply in accordance with the requirements of alliteration. Sometimes too we find various drinks being combined in description in what appears to be a very loose manner: in Beowulf for example, we hear of mead being poured out 'aet J)aere beorj)ege'.45 Particularly disconcerting is the image in The Fortunes of Men,

41

Anderson, 'The Uncarpentered World of Old English Poetry'. Grettis saga Asmundarsonar, trans. Fox and Palsson, ch. 35, pp. 76-80. Beowulf, line 725: 'on the patterned (?) floor'. In a letter written in England to one of his disciples in Francia, Alcuin complains playfully that his supply of wine has run out. 'There is death in the pot!' he exclaims. As a result he has to make do with 'bitter beer' while in England. He urges his disciple to think of his unfortunate state, to drink one for him, as it were, and to 'pass a happy day': 'Vae, vae, mors in ulla, O homo Dei; quia vinum deficit in sitharchiis nostris et celia acerba furit in ventriculis nostris. Et quia nos non habemus, tu bibe pro nostro nomine et letum due diem; nos tristem quia non habemus quod letificat et vix est qui confirmed (Ep. viii, ed. Diimmler, MGH Epist. IV, 33, lines 28-31). Asked what he drinks, the pupil in vElfric's Colloquy replies that he drinks ale when he has it, but otherwise water. He cannot afford to drink wine: 'Non sum tarn dives ut possum emere mihi vinum' (JElfric's Colloquy, ed. Garmonsway, line 301). Beowulf, lines 617—24: 'at the receiving of beer'. C. Fell insists that in Old English poetry medu has an emotive aspect not shared by ealu and beor: 'It is unthinkable that the men at Maldon should have been urged on to their duty by a reference to what they said over the ale-cups rather than what they cet meodo sprcecon (line 212)' ('Old English Beor, Leeds Studies in English ns 8 (1975), 76-95, at 80). It is evident, however, that the

45

Images of community in Old English poetry Sum sceal on beore meodugal maecga.

{mrh byreles hond

Unless he is experimenting with Germanic mixed cocktails, this warrior seems to become drunk with mead while drinking beer. Among secular Old English poems, extended descriptions of feasting and of life in the hall are confined to Beowulf, the only large-scale narrative composition to survive. Beowulf also abounds in brief allusions to the complex of hall imagery. But although the shorter poems lack extended descriptions they, like Beowulf, find their social focus in the world of the hall. The Exeter Book poem Widsith is worthy of particular mention in this respect, as this poem can be seen as a celebration of Germanic heritage and values and an appeal that they continue to be cherished. 7 Widsith, in part at least, may date back several centuries before the compilation of the Exeter Book, but the tenth-century text demonstrates a powerful attachment to the Germanic past in the late Anglo-Saxon textual community. In Widsith Germanic values are presented as centring on the hall, the obvious — and only — setting for Widsith's song: For{)on ic maeg singan ond secgan spell, maenan fore mengo in meoduhealle hu me cynegode cystum dohten.50 In these lines the association of the hall with good social intercourse is unobtrusive, but it is just such conventional terms and collocations which quietly contain and confirm the values of the traditional poetry. Feasting and life in the hall are symbols of the idealized world of Germanic culture in which Widsith has his existence (and to which, like the Romans in The Ruin, non-Germanic people in the poem are also assimilated: Caesar rules

7

48 49

other drinks are not excluded from the associations of loyalty and heroism suggested by the activity of drinking. The Fortunes of Men, lines 5 1 - 2 : 'One shall at his beer, through the steward's ministering hand, become drunk with mead.' Widsith has 'travelled through the oral traditions of the Germanic folk': R. P. Creed, 'Widsith's Journey Through Germanic Tradition', in Anglo-Saxon Poetry: Essays in Appreciation forJohn C. McGalliard, ed. Nicholson and Frese, pp. 376-87, at 380. See Hill, Old English Minor Heroic Poems, pp. 7-8. See also J. Hill, 'WidsiS and the Tenth Century', NM 85 (1984), 3 0 5 - 1 5 . Widsith, 54—6: 'Therefore I can sing and tell a tale, mention before the company in the mead-hall how noble men have generously been kind to me.'

46


his ivinbyrig, 'wine-strongholds').51 They take their place as an integral part of the culture which the poem vividly presents. Other secular poems too include images expressing the relationships which centre on the hall. The Fight at Finnsburh has the heroic motif of warriors repaying — 'forgyldan' — by brave deeds in battle the mead which their lord has given them, an image of the mutual loyalty and obligations of lord and retainer as they feast in the hall. 2 The Battle of Maldon has the related idea of warriors boasting at their mead-drinking - 'aet meodo' - of the great deeds which they will accomplish in battle. 53 In The Husband's Message the drinking of mead is used to convey a sense of the joys of the past, as the speaker recalls the vows which the husband and wife of the poem once made: })enden git moston eard weardigan.

on meoduburgum

Here, in a variant of the winbyrig of Widsith, we see the extension of the desirable associations of feasting to the burh as a whole. We have already noted the appearance of the terms medoburh and winburh in Judith and Andreas?** The Fight at Finnsburh is also of interest in that it presents a scene not of feasting but of violence in the hall. The hall setting gives an added excitement as the audience observes violent action in a confined area — 'buruh6elu dynede' 56 - but the hall setting has a deeper significance too, for the fact that the fight in this poem is an attack on a hall, which should be a place of security and of harmonious social interaction (as in Widsith), gives an added dimension of gravity to the conflict. The jarring association of violence and the hall is epitomized in the oxymoronic line, 'Da waes on healle waelslihta gehlyn.' 57 Though not explicitly developed in the poem, these ideas concerning the hall contribute to the great intensity of The Fight at Finnsburh. In a manner similar to that of Beowulf in its account 51 53 54

35 56 57

52 Widsith, line 77. The Fight at Finnsburh, line 39The Battle of Maldon, line 212; see also lines 1 9 8 - 2 0 1 ; Beowulf, lines 4 8 0 - 5 and 6 0 4 . The Husband's Message, lines 1 7 - 1 8 : 'when you t w o could occupy a dwelling-place in the mead-strongholds'. Lines 167 and 1637, respectively; see above, p . 4 2 . The Fight at Finnsburh, line 30: 'the floor of the stronghold resounded'. The Fight at Finnsburh, line 2 8 : 'Then there was the din of murderous slaughter in the hall.'

47


of the attacks of Grendel on Heorot, The Fight at Finnsburh draws upon and then inverts the underlying Germanic concept of the hall as the cherished focus of social life. FEASTING IN OLD NORSE POETRY

Before turning to Beowulf itself in the next chapter, it is relevant to fill in something of the Germanic background of the complex of imagery under consideration. Secular Old English poetry, setting itself, as it does, in the Germanic world, shares key features of that world with the other major body of early Germanic poetry which has come down to us, Old Norse. In particular, ideas associated with the hall and feasting which appear in Old English are strikingly echoed in some of the earliest extant Old Norse heroic verse, which is generally thought to date from the ninth or tenth century. 58 Comparison of the Old Norse and Old English poetic traditions runs the danger, of course, of implying too easy an identification of what are different bodies of literature, but at the same time an awareness of ideas and attitudes shared with Old Norse sheds valuable light on aspects of the Old English tradition. In some of the Old Norse poems, concerns related to the hall and feasting which are merely hinted at or alluded to in Old English are powerfully foregrounded, thus enabling their significance to be appreciated more directly than is often the case in Old English. So important, indeed, is the activity of feasting in the Old Norse heroic world that in some poems we find that the narrative action pivots on feasts: in these poems not only does the feast appear as a concept by which the social dimension of the poetic world is defined, but the events of a particular feast become the subject of the poem. There are examples of this in Old English poetry too: in Judith Holofernes's banquet brings about his own death, and the Old English poet relishes the opportunity to develop the biblical material in Germanic terms; and in the Ingeld-Freawaru story in Beowulf the climactic events take place at a feast: in this story tension at 58

39

See Dronke, The Poetic Edda, pp. 42-5 (Atlakvida) and 214-17 (Hamdismal). The general question of the dating of eddic poetry is discussed by J. Harris, 'Eddie Poetry', in Old Norse-Icelandic Literature: a Critical Guide, ed. C. J. Clover and J. Lindow (Ithaca, NY, and London, 1985), pp. 68-156, at 93-106; and J. Kristjansson, Eddas and Sagas: Iceland's Medieval Literature, trans. P. Foote (Reykjavik, 1992), pp. 26-30. See R. North, Pagan Words and Christian Meanings, Costerus ns 18 (Amsterdam and Atlanta, GA, 199D, 10-13.

48


a feast becomes so great that through the taunts of an old man violence suddenly erupts between former enemies. It is the kind of violent action seen in this story, rather than the detailed feast descriptions of Beowulf'as a whole, that resembles what we find in Old Norse. Indeed, there existed in Old Norse a version of this very Ingeld-Freawaru story, a Lay of Ingeld, although it survives only in the form in which Saxo Grammaticus recounts it in Latin verse.60 In this Lay oflngeld the Danish prince Ingeld kills his Saxon brothers-in-law at a feast, urged on by the old hero StarkaSr. In the heroic poetry of Old Norse, by admitting a former enemy to the hall benches - or, worse still, a present enemy under truce - to drink there and share the hearth in fellowship, the group is dangerously exposing itself. Hostility may now break out, not in the no man's land of the battlefield, but in the place which the tribe recognizes as the centre of its joy and security. The kind of cultural sacredness associated with feasting and with the acting-out of the relationship between lord and retainer in the hall in the Scandinavian tradition is reflected in Saxo Grammaticus's reference to the feast in the hall as sacra mense, 'the sacred things of the table'. l In some poems, however, this acceptance of shared values is merely feigned by certain characters and is exploited to duplicitous ends. Unferth's behaviour towards Beowulf in the hall is presented as offensive, but it is open and it offers no real problems to those present at the scene, though they may find it discourteous. More threatening is the case in Atlakvida [The Lay of At It], when hostile messengers arrive at the court of the Burgundians, or in the Lay of Ingeld, where former feuders drink suspiciously together. And more terrible again than the situation in which a guest is suspected is that in which there is an enemy within, who seems to join in the celebrations but all the time is plotting some act of revenge or malice. Something of this kind is perhaps hinted at in the position of Hrothulf in Beowulf but, if so, it is not developed there. Where it is developed, and indeed becomes a central feature of the plot, is in the Old Norse Atli poems, where we see Gudnin, wife to Atli, waiting for her

60

61 62

Gesta Danorum, ed. Holder, pp. 201-15. For English translation, see Fisher, Saxo Grammaticus: the History of the Danes I, 187-95. Gesta Danorum, ed. Holder, p. 213; Fisher translates 'the table-ceremonies' (I, 194). See Beowulf, lines 4 9 9 - 5 2 6 . For a discussion of this passage as formalized guest-host contesting, see Clover, 'The Germanic Context of the Unfer£> Episode', and Parks, Verbal Dueling in Heroic Narrative, pp. 7 2 - 7 .

49


chance to avenge on him the deaths of her kinsmen, and finally bringing about his death in a gruesome perversion of the joys of feasting. Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian audiences would have agreed that duplicity at a feast heightens the enormity of a crime, striking at the very centre of accepted order and civilization. Where such treachery is reported in Anglo-Saxon historical documents the tone is of the severest condemnation. Duplicity at the feast is portrayed vividly in the Old Norse Atlakvida. A full analysis of Atlakvida would show in detail the complexity with which the idea of feasting in the hall is employed in this poem, through irony and inversion of the ideal. Here it is relevant to outline only the major points which emerge from such an analysis. At the beginning of Atlakvida, instead of the ideal feast of welcome, of the kind seen in Beowulf, for example, there is the suspenseful receiving of Atli's messenger at the Burgundian court: it is suspenseful because the audience knows what the ideal feast should be like: its features should not include, as they do here, 'thoughts hooded in silence' — 'enn dyliendr J)QgSo\ Similarly, although Atli is drinking in his hall as the second stage of the poem commences, there is no feast of welcome for the Burgundian visitors: instead, the treacherous seizing of the guests is described. Then the final feasting scene is a perversion of the whole idea of the good feast — debilitating excess on Atli's part and monstrous savagery on Gu5run's. An essential part of the effect of Atlakvida derives from the presence in it of norms which are supplied by the tradition of heroic poetry in which it works. In Atlakvida the hall, the material realization of the social values of heroic civilization, and the feast, at which are acted out the relationships which bind society together, become the setting for violence and treachery 3

64 65

66

Abhorrence at treachery masquerading as hospitality among the Anglo-Saxon nobility is reflected as late as William of Malmesbury. In his Gesta regum Anglorum, William reports that the killing of the royal saint Edward took place at a scene of conviviality (ed. Stubbs I, 162): 'while he was eagerly drinking from the cup which had been presented, the dagger of an attendant pierced him through' (trans. Stephenson, William of Malmesbury, p . 143). See also William's account of the murders of Sigeferd and Morcard (ed. Stubbs I, 179; trans. Stephenson, p . 165). O n treachery, see further, above, p p . 1 5 - 3 1 , and below, p p . 7 5 - 8 1 . See Beowulf, lines 4 9 1 - 6 5 1 . Atlakvida, stanza 2, line 2 (trans. Dronke, The Poetic Edda, p . 3). Unless otherwise specified, references to Old Norse heroic poems are to the edition of Neckel-Kuhn. 67 Stanza 14. Stanzas 3 4 - 9 .

50


of the most grotesque kind. It is the traditional norms which indicate the measure of this treachery and grotesqueness. In no other surviving Old Norse poem, with the exception of Atlamdl in Grcenlenzko {The Greenland Lay of Atli\ (which is itself based in part on Atlakvida), do the hall and the feast play so central a part. They remain, however, as essential elements contributing to the definition of the heroic world, and several other Old Norse heroic compositions make significant use of the complex of imagery associated with them. 68 It is notable that key episodes in the saga of the Vglsungs, the larger heroic cycle to which Atlakvida belongs, end with the destruction of a hall: halls are destroyed in the Signy-Sigmundr story (as it survives in the prose retelling in Vplsungasaga), in the Gu5run-Atli story, and in the Igrmunrekkr story. In applying this pattern of the catastrophic destruction of a hall to Old English material, we could say that the saga of the Scyldings, as alluded to in Beowulf presents another variation on the same theme. DRINKING AND DRUNKENNESS

The complex of hall-feasting imagery functions in Old Norse in a cultural rather than a moral dimension. As in the secular Old English poems mentioned earlier, drunkenness is not a preoccupation, except in so far as it may leave a man open to danger. There is no moral objection to drunkenness in Old Norse heroic poetry, although at the same time, for reasons of their pride in themselves and their self-control, the great heroes of Old Norse poetry are never shown as overcome by drink. C. M. Bowra points out that 'a delight in drinking and intoxication was often regarded as proper for a hero', 70 but in the Old Norse tradition it is only the contemptible Atli and the imprudent Igrmunrekkr (in Ham&ismdl {The Lay of HamdirJ) who lack proper restraint. The necessity for self-control in drinking, as in other aspects of life, is a concern frequently stressed in Old Norse gnomic poetry, 71 and this idea is borne out in the behaviour of the

68

69

70

See also Hamdismal, VglundarkviSa and Brot afSigurdarkviSu, Gu5runarhvot\ also The Lay of Hlod and Angantyr (ed. F. Jonsson, Den norsk-islandske Skjaldedigtning (Copenhagen and Christiania [Oslo], 1912-14) II B, 270-6). See Vplsungasaga, chs. 8, 4 0 and 4 4 (ed. and trans. Finch, The Saga of the Volsungs, pp. 10-14, 7 2 - 4 and 77-8). 71 Bowra, Heroic Poetry, p . 199. See Hdvamdl, stanzas 11, 19, 31-2 and 131.

51


most admired figures in the heroic tradition — both in Old Norse and in Old English. 72 Drunkenness is a concern, however, for our late Anglo-Saxon monastic textual community. It may be useful, therefore, to end the present chapter by suggesting something of the possible conflict of attitude that secular imagery of drinking might present for members of this community. Even if this community wishes to value the Germanic heritage, it will not automatically wish to condone the emphasis on drinking which that heritage seems to entail. On the other hand, there appears to have been considerable breadth of opinion in Anglo-Saxon England on the subject of drinking, and those who, like Êlfric, are concerned about its dangers seem to have had their work cut out in convincing their contemporaries. It is also notable that, although religious poems use drinking in the hall as an index of wickedness, the surviving secular Old English poems mostly endorse moderation and restraint in drinking. Some Old English poetry, particularly, perhaps, Beowulf, gives a filtered view of Germanic culture, in which drinking (as well as other aspects of cultural and religious life) is presented in a way which will not alienate a Christian audience. The people in Beowulf ait noble and virtuous, heroes from an imagined golden age, with very little that is unsavoury about their social behaviour. Drinking is liberal in Beowulf and other Old English poems, but not riotous, and a picture of the Germanic past is constructed which a late Anglo-Saxon reader can find admirable. The 'besetting weakness' of intemperance, which Tacitus had identified as a fault of the Germanic peoples, is not in evidence,7 nor are there any of the wild binges reported in Old Norse prose sagas.7 Old English secular poetry, though unsettling elements remain, is not inconsistent with the taste of a Christian readership. 72

75

In the Scandinavian tradition, Saxo Grammaticus goes so far as to report that the great heroes StarkaSr and Bemon abstained entirely from alcoholic drink (Holder, p. 185; trans. Fisher I, 172), though such abstinence would be eccentric indeed in the heroic world. See Germaniay ch. 23 (ed. and trans. Hutton, pp. 166—7). See, for example, Egils saga Skalla-Grtmssonar, chs. 44 and 71 (trans. H. Palsson and P. Edwards, Egil's Saga (Harmondsworth, 1976), pp. 100-2 and 188); Grettis saga Asmundarsonar, ch. 19 (trans. Fox and Palsson, pp. 41-2); Orvar-Odds saga, ch. 27 (trans. H. Palsson and P. Edwards, Seven Viking Romances (Harmondsworth, 1985), pp. 101—9). See, for example, Wealhtheow's approving reference, in Beowulf (line 1231), to her 'druncne dryhtguman'. T. A. Shippey notes the 'nervousness' which breaks out among

52


Anglo-Saxon Christian teaching with regard to alcohol accepts the place of drinking in communal life but condemns excess. King Alfred laments the excesses of eating and drinking 'ure tida'. iElfric insists that excess of both eating and drinking is the deadly sin of gluttony, which is destructive to soul and body alike: it brings sickness and even death to the body and perverts the soul to sin, so that people do not know how they are behaving. Êlfric preaches continence and moderation in food and 7 drink, and frequently warns against gluttony and the other sins it engenders. Drunkenness especially is to be avoided, as it is 'cwylmbaere 5ing, and galnesse antimber'. Catholic Homilies II begins with an 'Admonitio' against drunkenness, quoting some of the classic scriptural texts on the subject. The homiletic directness of Êlfric's Letter to Wulfgeat of Ylmandun finds in drunkenness, with its attendant vices, an object of central concern. His Letter to Wulfsige condemns excessive drinking in priests, a theme echoed in other Old English canonical writings. And again in his Letter to Sigeweard [On the Old and New Testament] Êlfric warns

urgently against the dangers of drunkenness. He has to express himself here delicately, however, as his lay correspondent Sigeweard seems to have

76

78 79

80

81

8

translators when they come to this phrase, 'with druncne rendered "carousing", or "cheered with ale", or "wine-glad", or even more circuitous paraphrase' {Beowulf, p. 90). The phrase is discussed further in my article, 'The Beowulf Poet and his druncne dryhtguman, NM 86 (1985), 159-64. King Alfred's Old English Version ofBoethiusy ed. Sedgefield, p. 34, line 6: 'in our time'. In this whole passage (see Sedgefield, pp. 3 3 ^ ) , however, Alfred is following Boethius in contrasting the present with the Golden Age. De Memoria Sanctorum, in JElfric's hives of Saints, ed. and trans. Skeat I, 336—63, lines 2 6 8 - 7 5 ; see also Catholic Homilies II, no. XII, ed. Godden, lines 4 9 5 - 5 0 0 . Catholic Homilies I, no. XXV, ed. Thorpe I, 360. See, for example, Catholic Homilies II, no. I, ed. Godden, lines 2 8 8 - 9 1 ; no. XII, lines 4 9 3 - 8 ; De Memoria Sanctorum, ed. Skeat, lines 3 1 5 - 2 0 . Catholic Homilies I, no. XXXIX, ed. Thorpe I, 604: 'a death-bearing thing, and the material of libidinousness' (trans. Thorpe, p . 605). Catholic Homilies II, Preface, ed. Godden, lines 5 0 - 6 8 . Angelsdchsische Homilien, ed. Assmann, pp. 1—12. Die Hirtenbriefe JElfrics in altenglischer und lateinischer Fassung, ed. B. Fehr, Bibliothek der angelsachsischen Prosa 9, repr. with a supplementary introduction by P. A. M. Clemoes (Darmstadt, 1966), pp. 1-34. See also the Old English Capitula Theodulfi, ed. H. Sauer, Theodulfi Capitula in England, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Englischen Philologie 8 (Munich, 1978), 319; also in B. Thorpe, Ancient Laws and Institutes of England (London, 1840), pp. 469-88, esp. 4 7 3 - 4 ; and Laws of the Northumbrian Priests, ed. Thorpe, ibid, p. 418.

53


been oblivious to any possible harm in drunkenness. Indeed, ^lfric is disconcerted that when he visited Sigeweard the latter expected him, a monk, to drink to excess: Bu woldest me ladian, f>a J>a ic waes mid l>e, {?aet ic swiSor drunce swilce for blisse ofer minum gewunan: ac wite {m, leof man, j)aet se J)e oSerne neadaS ofer his mihte to drincenne, f>aet se mot aberan heora begra gilt, gif him aenig hearm of J)am drence becymS. Vre Haelend Crist on his halgan godspelle forbead j>one oferdrenc eallum gelyfedum mannum: healde se 5e wille his gesetnysse. 7 J)a halgan lareowas aefter f>am Haelende aledon J)one un£>eaw Jmrh heora lareowdom 7 taehton l>aet man drince swa swa him ne derede, for San \>e se oferdrenc fordeS untwilice fcaes mannes sawle 7 his gesundfullnysse, 7 unhael becymS of t>am drence.85 Evidently, Sigeweard would not have found it unusual for a devout monk to drink liberally. In preaching against drunkenness JElfric takes up a theme of earlier Anglo-Saxon religious writers. Bede cries out against the evils of drunkenness, associating it with lechery and other kinds of depravity. Aldhelm condemns both gluttony and drunkenness, though he particularly emphasizes the latter. Boniface tells Archbishop Cuthbert of Canterbury that drunkenness is a vice peculiar to the English and the heathens: 'Hoc nee Franci, nee Galli, nee Langobardi, nee Romani, nee Graeci faciunt.' The opinion expressed here does not prevent the same writer from complaining elsewhere about the drunkenness of the Franks. 89 However, Boniface's Êlfric, Letter to Sigeweard {On the Old and New Testament), ed. Crawford, The Old English Version of the Heptateuch, p p . 15—75, lines

1262—71: ' W h e n I was w i t h you, you wished

to persuade m e that I should drink, as t h o u g h for enjoyment, rather above m y custom: b u t k n o w , dear friend, that whoever forces another person to drink more than he is able, m u s t bear the sin of b o t h of t h e m , if any harm comes from the d r i n k i n g . O u r Saviour Christ in his holy gospel forbade drunkenness to all believers: let h i m w h o wishes keep his law. A n d the holy teachers after the Saviour have condemned that vice t h r o u g h their teaching, and have t a u g h t that people should drink so as not to harm themselves, for overdrinking certainly destroys their souls and health, and illness comes from d r i n k i n g . ' 86

Super Parabolas Salomonis allegorica expositio 11.23 (PL 9 1 , 1 0 0 7 - 8 ) .

87

Carmen de virginitate,

ed. Ehwald, p p . 3 2 7 - 4 7 1 (lines 2 4 8 2 - 5 4 3 ) ; trans. Lapidge and

Rosier, in Aldhelm: the Poetic Works, p p . 9 5 - 1 6 7 , at 1 5 7 - 9 . 88

Ep. lxxviii, ed. D i i m m l e r , M G H Epist. I l l , 3 5 5 : 'This neither the Franks, nor the Gauls, nor the Langobards, nor the R o m a n s , nor the Greeks practise.'

89

Ep. 1, ed. D u m m l e r , M G H Epist. Ill, 3 0 0 .

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condemnation of the vice of drunkenness among the English is supported by the canons of the Synod of Clovesho, held in the same year as the letter to Cuthbert (747). Clovesho set out to improve many of the practices of the English secular clergy and monks, and it paid special attention to 'de fugiendo ebrietatis malum'. In the later period the reputation of Northumbrians for heavy drinking is noted in the two versions of the life of St ^thelwold. 9 1 Among Anglo-Saxon writers, Alcuin is especially exercised by the question of drunkenness and related vices. For him drunkenness is a poison; it is like the pit of hell. He contrasts it with the virtue of sobrietas, and indeed many of his references to drunkenness take the form of verbal figures which balance sobriusi'sobrietas against ebriuslebrietas. And yet even Alcuin writes of his enjoyment of wine, and laments the lack of it at York. 95 Boniface too, in a letter on the immorality of certain Frankish priests, concludes by telling Archbishop Ecgberht of York that he is sending him some wine as a present, urging him to pass a happy day with the brethren. D. A. Bullough comments that the capitula of Alcuin's contemporaries reveal a concern with their rural priests drinking in the wrong circumstances or to excess, 'yet m doing so they are prepared to acknowledge the basic drive — not so much a physiological one (although this is not to be ignored) as the social one of friendly drinking with vicini [neighbours]'. Îfric normally preaches moderation but can still write of inebriation without censure. In his Vita S. JEthelwoldi, a condensed reworking of the

See Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, ed. H a d d a n and Stubbs III, 362—76: 'De fugiendo ebrietatis m a l u m ' {Canon 2 1 : 'on avoiding the evil of drunkenness'}. See also Canons 9 and 2 0 . 91

See below, p . 5 6 , n. 1 0 1 . Ep. xliii, ed. D i i m m l e r , M G H Epist. IV, 8 8 , line 7. This 'poison' image derives from the O l d T e s t a m e n t (see D e u t . X X X I I . 3 2 , Prov. X X I I I . 3 1 and Sir. X X X I . 3 9 ) and from patristic tradition. See also n. 107 in this chapter.

93

A frequent simile in Alcuin's letters: see Ep. xxxviii (ed. Diimmler, M G H Epist. IV,

94

See Ep. xl, ed. D u m m l e r , M G H Epist. IV, 8 3 , lines 2 2 - 4 ; lxxiv, p . 1 1 7 , lines 2 - 3 ;

95

See above, n. 4 4 . See further, Bullough, Friends, Neighbours and Fellow-drinkers, p . 5.

96

Ep. xci, ed. D u m m l e r , M G H Epist. I l l , 3 7 7 .

97

Bullough, Friends, Neighbours and Fellow-drinkers, p. 10.

8 1 , lines 1 1 - 1 2 ) and cxxiv (p. 1 8 3 , lines 1 3 - 4 ) . lxxxviii, p . 1 3 2 , line 2 9 ; and cxiv, p . 168, lines 2 9 - 3 0 .

55


original by Wulfstan of Winchester, 98 he relates the miracle of the saint's providing of an inexhaustible supply of mead at a drinking-party at Abingdon," just as Bede had related a miracle of St Cuthbert turning water into wine in one of the monasteries of his diocese.100 Êlfric seems not unduly perturbed about the ensuing intoxication of the Northumbrian thegns, who were guests at the monastery. Êthelwold's supplying of inexhaustible mead could be taken as an example of tempting people to drink more than they should, which Êlfric had rebuked in his Letter to Sigeweard, but the Northumbrian thegns hardly seem to have been forced to drink beyond their custom, ofer gewunan. The anecdote implies, indeed, that for them to drink ofer gewunan would take some doing. Such episodes imitate Christ's miracle at the wedding feast at Cana and their appropriateness in hagiography is also underpinned by the generally favourable attitude towards alcohol in the Bible. In the Old Testament wine often denotes the good things rightly enjoyed by God's people. Particularly when mentioned in association with corn, it is a mark of God's favour.103 The abuse of wine is condemned in the Old Testament, but the mirth which it brings is praised: both God and humankind rejoice in wine. And in the New Testament too wine is seen primarily as a benefit, not a curse. Christ himself partakes of it, and he sanctions its enjoyment in his first miracle, at

99 100 101

102 103

104

See Lapidge and Winterbottom, Wulfstan of Winchester, pp. cxlvi—civ. A useful brief account of ^lfric's version is given by Wilcox, JElfric's Prefaces, pp. 5 2 - 3 . See above p . 12. Two Lives ofSt Cuthbert, ed. Colgrave, pp. 2 6 4 - 6 . 'Inebriatis Northanhymbris suatim ac uesperi recedentibus' (ed. Lapidge and Winterbottom, Wulfstan of Winchester, p . 73); 'when the Northumbrians, having become drunk as usual, left in the evening', ^lfric does, however, omit the phrase cum laetitia, 'joyfully', which occurs before recedentibus in Wulfstan of Winchester's version of the life {ibid., p . 24). John II. 1-11. In the Old Testament, wine can represent all that is pleasant in life: Job 1.8; Cant. I.I; IV.10; Zach. X.7 etc. Privation of wine can symbolize humankind's suffering and God's punishment of his people: Deut. XXVIII.39; Amos V . l l ; Mich. VI.15; Soph. 1.13 etc. Abundance of wine often expresses the happiness which God promises to his faithful ones, as in the prophets' consolation oracles: Isaias XXV.6; Jeremias XXXI. 12; Osee 11.22; Joel 11.19; Zach. IX.17. 105 See Sirach XXXI.35 and Judges IX.13. Luke VII.34.

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Cana. Drunkenness is a vice, but the moderate use of wine is perfectly acceptable.106 Severe strains of ascetic renunciation appear in some patristic writers with regard to drinking, 107 but the general emphasis in Christian tradition, deriving from the Bible and influenced too by classical thinking, 108 is on moderation. Christian writers insist on the sinfulness of drunkenness, but the enjoyment of alcohol, even for religious, is unexceptionable. Within the monastery alcohol was allowed throughout the Anglo-Saxon period. To enforce abstinence, even if deemed desirable, would probably have proved difficult, given the normal customs of life and the fact that 106

108

See Matth. XXIV.48-51; Luke XXI.34; I Thess. V.7-8; Romans XIII. 13; I Peter IV.3; I Tim. III.8, 11; I Tim. V.23; and Titus II.3. Among the western Fathers, Jerome is particularly severe in this respect. He is not content to urge his readers to enjoy wine in moderation. He would have them flee it altogether. It is a poison: 'Vinum fiigiat pro veneno' (Ep. xxii.8.1, ed. Hilberg, CSEL 54, 154). In another letter he writes, 'Quicquid seminarium voluptatum est venenum puta' (Ep. liv.10.5, ed. Hilberg, CSEL 54, 477). See also In Esaiam, V . l l - 1 2 , ed. M. Adriaen, 2 vols., CCSL 73-73A (Turnhout, 1963) I, 71-2. This idea of wine as a poison becomes a commonplace in sententious literature (see also above, n. 92). Isidore refers to the passage in Jerome's Ep. xxii referred to above: 'Hieronymus in libro quern de virginitate conservanda scripsit, adolescentulas dixit ita vinum debere fugere, ut venenum, ne pro aetatis calore ferventi bibant, et pereant' (Etymologiae XX.3; PL 82, 711C). See also Defensor, Liber Scintillarum, xxviii.19, ed. H. M. Rochais, CCSL 117 (Turnhout, 1957), 115. Jerome traces the course of the effect of wine (alluding to Ephes. V.I8): I n vino luxuria, in luxuria voluptas, in voluptate impudicia est' (Ep. lxix.9.1, ed. Hilberg, CSEL 54, 696). On the patristic reaction to drunkenness, see I. W. Raymond, The Teaching of the Early Church on the Use of Wine and Strong Drink (New York, 1927). Classical moral writers, particularly the Stoics, express many of the notions about loss of reason and control of the mind which appear in later Christian sources. Seneca, for example, sees drunkenness as a state of self-induced insanity (Epistulae Morales lxxxiii.18, ed. Reynolds I, 282). It enflames and lays bare every vice (ibid 19). Pliny deplores the licentiousness caused by too much wine (Historia Naturalis XIV.xxviii.l40 and 142, ed. Rackham IV, 278 and 280); it leads to indiscretion and violence (ibid. 141, ed. Rackham IV, 278), and its physical effects are wretched (ibid. 142, ed. Rackham IV, 278-80). Pliny also says that excessive drinking produces madness: 'hominis mentem mutet ac furorem gignat' (ibid. 137, ed. Rackham IV, 276). Even Horace, who writes so much in praise of wine, insists that it should not be abused: self-control must be preserved, and reason must not be usurped. Ode I.xviii, for example, is in praise of wine, but Horace cautions at line 7, 'ne quis modici transiliat munera Liberi' (ed. and trans. C. E. Bennett, Horace: the Odes and Epodes (London and Cambridge, MA, 1952), p. 36).

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wine and other drinks were not seen as harmful in themselves. Guthlac's abstinence provoked hostility at first at Repton;1 and the Regula S. Benedicti itself, in recommending one hemina (about half a pint) of wine per day for each of the brothers, adds that since monks cannot be persuaded to do without wine altogether at least they must agree to use it sparingly. In Anglo-Saxon monasteries the usual drink would have been beer rather than wine, the latter being the everyday drink of the Mediterranean but a luxury in northern climates.1 l The penalties stipulated for abuse of alcohol in Anglo-Saxon penitentials are such as to suggest that it is a failing reprehensible but by no means unknown. The usual penalty of thirty days' penance for the monk who makes himself sick through drunkenness is much more than the three days required from one who vomits from gluttony, but is mild in comparison with the years of penance demanded in the case of the most serious offences. If we are looking for a principle that is reflected in the treatment of drinking in most secular as well as religious Anglo-Saxon literature, it must be that of moderation. The virtue of moderation is espoused in the versions of Germanic life endorsed in Old English poetry and is insisted upon by Christian commentators. Alongside the ideals of the textual community, however, and intruding into it, we see evidence of contrary impulses which cannot comfortably be accommodated and which have nothing to do with moderation. Moderation in drinking is not universally practised in late Anglo-Saxon England, though churchmen may regret this. Even someone like Êlfric's correspondent Sigeweard cannot see 109 110 111

112

113

See Felix's Life ofSt Guthlac, ed. Colgrave, p. 85. The Rule ofSt Benedict, ch. 40, ed. and trans. J. McCann (London, 1952), p. 96. On the beverages drunk in Anglo-Saxon monasteries, see D . Knowles, The Monastic Order in England: a History of its Development from the Times of St Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council, 943-1216, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, 1963), pp. 464-5 and 717. See Penitential of Theodore, in Councils, ed. Haddan and Stubbs III, 117; Penitential of Bede, ibid, p. 331; Penitential of Egbert, ibid, p. 426. Cf. also D. A. Bullough's discussion of feasting in the early Carolingian period, Friends, Neighbours and Fellow-drinkers, pp. 11—15. Bullough comments (p. 12), 'Even without the hints (and suppressions) of Einhard as biographer and idealizer, it would hardly be doubted that all three [feasts, drinking-rituals and the consequences of overindulgence] figured largely in the life of Charlemagne's court — whether in the period in which his typical companions were hard-living young men close to him in age, or in the later decades when he enjoyed (we are led to believe) the company of mature scholars and other clerics.'

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the problem about drunkenness. In the poetry, also, intractable references to drunkenness reveal the persistence of an outlook alternative to Christian moral teaching and to the ordered ideology reflected in our textual community. 11 The contradictions in views about drinking in late AngloSaxon England are epitomized by the fact that Êlfric himself on the one hand omits in Catholic Homilies II the Cuthbert wine—water miracle recounted by Bede, but on the other hand preserves in his reworking of the Vita S. JEthelwoldi a miracle which results in intoxication within the walls of a monastery of the Benedictine Reform. In the treatment of drinking, as of hall and feasting in general, there is considerable consistency in our monastic textual community, but this consistency has been abstracted from a background which includes incongruity and contradiction. 114

Reticence on the part of Old English writers in dealing with imagery of drinking and inebriation is noted in my article, 'The Exegesis of Inebriation: Treading Carefully in Old English', ELN 23 (1986), 3-6.

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3 Hall and feasting in Beowulf

In all of Germanic literature the poem that makes the most extensive use of hall and feasting imagery is Beowulf. This poem draws upon the traditional ideas about the hall and feasting that we have seen in other works and finds in them a means of expressing central thematic preoccupations. Beowulf concerns itself profoundly with ideas to do with community and order. John D. Niles has argued, indeed, that the poem's 'controlling theme' is community, 'its nature, its occasional breakdown and the qualities that are necessary to maintain it'. 1 The poem contemplates human achievement and civilization in the face of a world of threat and hostility. The hall and life in the hall serve as the central images in the representation of this achievement and civilization. Through these images the poem also explores the limitations of a heroic society, for Beowulfshows threats to community to come from within as well as from without. Hall and feasting images are particularly developed in the first (Danish) part of Beowulf They contribute crucially to the emphasis on brightness and splendour that characterizes this part. In the second (Geatish) part of 1 2

Niles, Beowulf p. 226. A recent important study of the 'arch-image* of the hall in Beowulf is provided by E. B. Irving, Jr., Rereading Beowulf (Philadelphia, PA, 1989), pp. 133-67. Irving discusses the term 'arch-image', pp. 133-4. On the hall in Beowulf see also Clemoes, Interactions of Thought and Language, pp. 6-8. On threats to social order in Beowulf see also K. Hume, 'The Theme and Structure of Beowulf', Studies in Philology 72 (1975), 1-27. The concept of the hall in Beowulf"is approached from a psychoanalytic anthropological perspective by Earl in Thinking About Beowulf pp. 100—36. Earl writes of the hall as 'ritual space' (p. 102) and observes that 'the whole poem takes place in a world denned by the hall' (p. 115). Also anthropological in approach is Hill, The Cultural World in Beowulf see especially Hill's discussion of'house societies', at p. 159, n. 6.

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Hall and feasting in Beowulf the poem there is less use of this imagery, and what there is occurs typically in elegiac contexts, most notably in the last survivor' passage, and in Beowulf's reprise of his adventures in Denmark. The hall of the Geats is splendid — 'Bold waes betlic' — but the joys of the hall fade out of view as the poem approaches its end. There are eight descriptions of feasts in Beowulf. Three of these descriptions occur after Beowulf's return to Geatland, although before the space of fifty years which separates the poem's two sets of adventures. Two of these three descriptions are accounts by Beowulf of feasts at Heorot, the third being the only description of a feast which does not take place at Heorot. However, this one Geatish feast, in celebration of the hero's return from Denmark, is the briefest and most undeveloped such description in the poem. The image of the hall is less insistently in the foreground in the latter part of Beowulf which is more sombre and reflective than the first. Heorot is the great representation of the hall image in Beowulf It is first built by the Danes as their success in the world increases, and when it is completed Hrothgar fulfils his vow to distribute in it gifts at the feast: He beot ne aleh, sine set symle.

beagas daelde,

When Beowulf and his men arrive in Denmark they see the great hall standing in its splendour: hy sael timbred, geatolic ond goldfah, ongyton mihton; J)aet waes foremaerost foldbuendum receda under roderum, on J>aem se rica bad; lixte se leoma ofer landa fela.7 All of the main action of the first part of the poem takes place in Heorot or in its ironic counterpart, the nidsele, 'hostile hall', of Grendel and his mother. The first part of Beowulf shows the communal life of the Danes 3 5

7

8

Lines 2247-66. Line 1925: 'the building was excellent.' Lines 1980-3. Lines 80-1: 'He did not go back on his vow: he distributed rings, treasure at the feast.' Lines 307-11: 'they could see the timber-built hall, stately and gold-adorned; that was the most famous to men of all hall-buildings under the skies, in which the mighty one dwelt; its brightness shone out over many lands'. Line 1513.

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threatened, as their hall-joys become the object of Grendel's predations. Grendel is angered by the hall-joys of Heorot: Da se ellengaest earfo3lice t>rage ge{>olode, se \>e in Jjystrum bad, J)aet he dogora gehwam dream gehyrde hludne in healle.9 In response to his attacks Danish warriors move out of the cherished hall, leaving it to its new bealftegn, 'hall-thegn'. 11 Grendel himself is the antithesis of everything which the hall represents; hall imagery is associated with him ironically (as healdegn), and his own and his mother's dwelling-place is appropriately presented as a kind of anti-hall. THE FEAST SCENES

In exploiting the imagery of the hall, Beowulf focuses most insistently on the elements of feasting and drinking. Feasting is the definitive occasion of social interaction for the warrior society of heroic poetry. In Beowulf where feasting is treated more fully and elaborately than elsewhere in Old English, it is possible indeed, through formal analysis, to establish an inventory of the motifs which make up the poem's concept of the ideal feast. These motifs occur in other poems also, and this shows a broad community of tradition with Beowulf but it is more difficult to infer a total 'shape' of the concept from these less discursive poems. Not all the motifs need occur in every feast description in Beowulf a selection of them is enough to show that a particular feast belongs to the ideal pattern, and of course some descriptions are more elaborate than others. The most elaborate single description of a feast in Beowulf contains all ten of the identifiable constituent motifs. The ten features that are mentioned in feast descriptions in Beowulfare: drinking, the hall setting, the dignity and nobility of the participants, the attendance of serving stewards, music, the giving of gifts, the presence of women, the physical splendour of the scene, rejoicing and speeches. Some of these recurring motifs are more

10

12

Lines 86—9- 'Then the powerful demon endured that time with difficulty, he who dwelt in darkness, that every day he heard the sound of joy loud in the hall.' Lines 138-42. Line 142. On the possible reading hel&egnes in this line, see below, p. 83, n. 3. Lines 1159-1250.

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Hall and feasting in Beowulf central to the concept of the feast than others: drinking is manifestly the most important of them all in Beowulf to the extent of being an obligatory feature of feast descriptions: the one exception to this general rule is the special case13 of Beowulf's summary of a feast which has already been described in detail. The first description of a feast in Beowulf is of that which welcomes the hero to Denmark. It is only eight lines long and yet this short passage mentions most of the features which can be seen as defining the ideal feast in Beowulf: Pa waes Geatmaecgum geador aetsomne on beorsele benc gerymed; {)aer swi5ferhj)e sittan eodon, J)ry5um dealle. Pegn nytte beheold, se f>e on handa baer hroden ealowaege, scencte scir wered. Scop hwilum sang hador on Heorote. Paer waes haeleSa dream, duguS unlytel Dena ond Wedera. The hall setting of the feast is referred to twice, in the term beorsele, 'beerhall', 1 and in the specific mention of Heorot.1 The compound beorsele also links the hall with the drinking of beer, thus representing a second motif of the feast, drinking. Drinking is emphasized again in the reference to the pouring out of ale,17 and the favourable connotations of drinking are evoked in the description of ale as scir wered, 'bright sweet drink'. The third of our features mentioned in this description is the dignity and nobility of the participants. Their stature is expressed by the epithet swidferhpe, 'resolute-minded',19 and by the use of proper names:20 the resonance of proper names is exploited throughout the poem. Other features too play their part in building up the ideal picture. There is (fourthly) the physical splendour of the scene, suggested by the hroden ealowcege, 'decorated ale-cup'; (fifthly) the attendance of the 13

15 19

Lines 2101—14; on this, see below, p. 69Lines 491-8: 'Then for the men of the Geats all together a bench was cleared in the mead-hall; there the resolute-minded ones went to sit, proud in their might. The thegn performed his duty, he who bore in his hand the decorated ale-cup, poured out the bright sweet drink. At times the scop sang, clear-voiced in Heorot. There was joy among the heroes there; it was no small troop of Danes and Weders.' 16 17 18 Line 492. Line 497. Lines 495-6. Line 497. 20 21 Line 493. Lines 491 and 498. Line 495.

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serving-steward;22 (sixthly) the song of the scop.25 And the mention of dream, 'joy', in the closing lines24 is not just insignificant padding but is another (in this case the seventh) part of the definition of the feast. This dream is found in most of the feast scenes in Beowulf, it does not conjure up any particular concrete image (though laughter is sometimes mentioned) but suggests the general contentment and unity of spirit of the participants. Hrothgar had initiated this first scene with his courteous invitation to Beowulf, 'Site nu to symle'.25 The description that follows is a formal spelling-out of the meaning of symle. The smooth progress of the feast is interrupted now by the altercation between Beowulf and Unferth. Speeches themselves are recurring motifs in feast descriptions, and the speeches which take place between Beowulf and Unferth can be regarded as constituting the final motif of this opening feast scene.26 The conventional nature of this description is indicated by the fact that there are no features of it that are not found in other feast descriptions. In later descriptions of feasts in Beowulf"we find, indeed, that there are only two motifs not included in this first scene, the giving of gifts and the presence of women. The second feast description in the poem is in fact a continuation of the feast already discussed, but the description is presented as a unit in itself, and once again a large selection of characterizing motifs is present. The one feature here that did not appear in the earlier description is the presence of women, in the person of Wealhtheow. Wealhtheow's presence is highlighted by the delay in introducing her. Her most obvious function in this description replaces that of the serving steward, as she ministers to the warriors with care and courtesy: 'ond Ipa. freolic wif ful gesealde'.28 Wealhtheow does much more than this, however, embodying indeed the order of the court. Appropriate epithets indicate her position and quality: she is 'cwen HroSgares', 'goldhroden', 'beaghroden cwen, | mode

22

Line 4 9 3 - 5 .

25

Line 4 8 9 : 'Sit now to the feast.'

23

24

26

O n the altercation between Beowulf and Unferth as a formal verbal exchange, see

Line 4 9 6 - 7 .

Line 4 9 7 .

Clover, 'The Germanic Context of the UnferJ) Episode'; Enright, 'Lady with a MeadCup', p p . 1 8 2 - 4 ; and Parks, Verbal Dueling in Heroic Narrative, pp. 4 4 and 7 2 - 7 . 27

Lines 6 1 1 - 3 0 .

29

Line 6 1 3 : 'Hrothgar's queen'.

28

Line 6 1 5 : 'and then the noble woman gave the cup'. 30

Line 614:'gold-adorned'.

64

Hall and feasting in Beowulf gelningen',31 and she is 'wisfaest wordum'. 32 In such epithets Wealhtheow is defined by reference to her lord and to her supportive role in hall society. She is the ideal queen and dutifully she acts out her part in the scene, her courteous presence dominating the poem's presentation of this description. Like the queen described in a passage in Maxims I referred to above,33 she serves her husband first and then passes to the other warriors.3 Other features too, however, contribute to the courtesy of this scene. Most of the motifs present in the first feast description are explicitly mentioned again: only the serving steward and the performance of music are not included. In particular, drinking words are used repeatedly: 'ful gesealde',3 'set {)aere beorj?ege',37 'seleful',38 'sincfato sealde',39 'medoful aetbaer', ° 'he J>aet ful gefceah'.41 The poem's other major feast, that celebrating Beowulf's victory over Grendel, is treated by means of two main descriptions, separated by an interlude which elaborates on the motifs of gift-giving and music. The 31 32 33 34

35

42

Lines 623—4: a queen ring-adorned and excellent in mind'. Line 626: 'wise in speech'. Maxims /, lines 8 1 - 9 2 : on this passage, see above, p p . 3 9 - 4 0 . Lines 6 1 5 - 1 6 and 6 2 0 - 2 . O n Wealhtheow, see further B. W . Kliman, 'Women in Early English Literature', p p . 3 3 - 4 ; H . Damico, Beowulf's Wealhtheow and the Valkyrie Tradition (Madison, W I , 1984); T. D . Hill, ' "Wealhtheow" as a Foreign Slave: some Continental Analogues', Philological Quarterly 69 (1990), 1 0 6 - 1 2 ; Overing, Language, Sign, and Gender in Beowulf, p p . 88—101; and Enright, 'Lady with a Mead-Cup'. Enright, taking issue with 'the prevailing view [of the Germanic comitatus] in which reciprocity is deemed more important than hierarchy and in which the lord's wife, when she is mentioned at all, figures primarily as a cup-bearer to the retainers or as a decorative presence at the welcoming of guests' {ibid., p . 201), stresses the importance of the queen's role within the institution of the hall. Referring particularly to Wealhtheow, Enright argues that 'the royal consort normally played a significant if subordinate role in the establishment of order and hierarchy among the members of the warband' {ibid, p . 171). Specifically, in the present scene we have: (1) the presence of women in the person of Wealhtheow; (2) drinking (see nn. 36-41); (3) the hall setting - 'guman on healle' (line 614); (4) the dignity and nobility of the participants, as in 'sigerof kyning' (line 619), 'ides Helminga' (line 620); (5) the physical splendour of the scene, as in 'goldhroden' (line 6 l 4 ) , 'sincfato' (line 622); (6) joy in the hall - 'haele})a hleahtor . . .' (lines 6 1 1 - 1 2 ) . Line 615: 'she gave the cup'. Line 617: 'at the receiving of beer'. Line 619: 'hall-cup'. Line 622: 'she gave the precious cup'. Line 624: 'she bore the mead-cup'. Line 628: 'he received the cup'. Lines 1 0 1 0 - 1 9 and 1 1 5 9 - 6 8 .

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interlude comprises an extended account of the giving of splendid gifts to Beowulf and his men, and the telling of the Finnsburh lay. This lay is introduced by a third very brief feast description. 3 The first of these descriptions, at lines 1010-19 of the poem, is a mosaic of typical feast-motifs, including mention of the hall setting, giving of gifts, drinking, rejoicing among the warriors 7 and the dignity and nobility of the participants. 8 This last point, and in particular the mention of Hrothgar and Hrothulf drinking together,49 leads the poet to strike a darker chord: Heorot innan waes freondum afylled; nalles facenstafas Peodscyldingas j)enden fremedon. In these lines the audience is distanced from the harmony and undiluted joy of the feast and prompted to anticipate a time when the Danes will be involved in facenstafas, 'treachery'. In the second of these two feast descriptions, the passage beginning at line 1159, most of the features we have seen as characterizing the ideal feast in Beowulf axe represented in a very few lines: Leo5 waes asungen, gleomannes gyd. Gamen eft astah, beorhtode bencsweg; byrelas sealdon win of wunderfatum. Pa cwom Wealh{)eo for5 gan under gyldnum beage, f)aer {)a godan twegen saeton suhtergefaederan; {)a gyt waes hiera sib aetgaedere, aeghwylc oSrum trywe. This is the ideal feast with its typical motifs,5 but once again the carefree joy of the company is undermined for the audience by the suggestion of an 43 46

49 30

52

Lines 1063-7. Line 1015.

47

44 45 Lines 1016 and 1017. Line 1012. 48 Line 1014. Lines 1011 and 1016-17.

Line 1017. Lines 1017-19: 'Heorot within was filled with friends; not at all did the race of the Scyldings as yet practise treachery.' Lines 1159—65: 'The lay was sung, the song of the minstrel. Mirth arose again, noises resounded from the benches; the stewards dispensed wine from wondrous vessels. Then Wealhtheow came forth, wearing a golden crown, to where those able men sat, uncle and nephew; as yet there was friendship between them, each one true to the other.' Music (lines 1159, 1160 and 1161); joy (line 1160); stewards (line 1161); drinking (line 1162); women (line 1162); splendour (lines 1162 and 1163); nobility of the participants (lines 1163 and 1166); speeches (in the sentences immediately following).

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Hall and feasting in Beowulf ironic perspective: pa gyt at the end of this passage, like penden in the passage quoted just above, stimulates the audience to consider that such sib, 'friendship', will not always be the case among the Danes. The feasters themselves have no knowledge of the future events hinted at here. For them it is a time of happiness. The extent of their relief and their gratitude to Beowulf is reflected in the fact that this is the most magnificent feast in the poem. This whole central feast, including the giving of gifts, the performance of the lay, and the gracious speeches which follow the quoted passage, covers over 200 lines.53 The splendour and dignity of the introductory description is continued in the speeches of Wealhtheow, which themselves contain a number of feast-motifs. The ironic perspective is maintained in these as well, however: the audience is aware of the disparity between the order which the queen perceives, and indeed represents, and the fact of future strife. Irony is also employed in a more obviously immediate way in the present scene. The feasters drink happily, thinking that Beowulf has finally cleansed Heorot. They are unaware of the intentions of Grendel's mother and the further dangers in store for them: Paer waes symbla cyst; druncon win weras. Wyrd ne cuj)on .. .5 In these lines the mention of feasting is immediately followed by the sinister anticipation, not this time of distant strife in the future, but of the imminent coming of Grendel's mother. The force of the ironic anticipation is emphasized by its striking juxtaposition to the drinking motif, with its associations of harmony and relaxation. Thus this most magnificent of feasts - the largest in scale in extant Germanic poetry — is insistently seen from an ironic perspective. Indeed the feast concept itself contributes significantly to the force of the irony, 53 54

55

Lines 1 0 1 0 - 1 2 3 7 . Lines 1 1 6 9 - 8 7 and 1 2 1 6 - 3 1 . Wealhtheow mentions drinking (line 1169), giving of gifts (lines 1171 and 1173) and rejoicing (line 1170). See lines 1 1 8 0 - 7 a n d 1 2 2 8 - 3 1 . O n Wealhtheow's role, as queen, as 'the living symbol of continuity a n d t h e channel t o legitimacy', see Enright, 'Lady with a M e a d - C u p ' , p . 2 0 3 - For contrasting interpretations of t h e presentation of W e a l h t h e o w in this scene, see Clark, Beowulf, pp. 85-90, and Hill, The Cultural World in Beowulf pp. 100-4. Lines 1232—3: 'There was the most excellent of feasts; the men drank their wine. They did not know the fate . . . '

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since the image of the feast represents the most powerful expression of communal joy available to the poet. This joy is presented, however, in the context of strife to come among the Danes in the future, and of the looming presence of Grendel's mother: 'Wyrd ne cuj)on ...' The remaining three feast descriptions in Beowulf come after the hero's return to Geatland. In the first of them Beowulf is welcomed back with due rejoicing and ceremony by Hygelac and his queen. The description of this feast is brief, but enough of the conventional motifs are present for us to recognize its conformity to type. The other two descriptions occur in Beowulf's relation of his adventures in Denmark. It is notable that these two descriptions are not concerned to recall with particular accuracy the details of these scenes as they had been described in the earlier narrative. Beowulf does not give factual reports but descriptions in terms of the ideal feast. Thus he can include details that were not mentioned at all in the original narration, as he does, for example, when he refers to the giving of gifts in the first scene. This feature comes not from recollection of the feast as it was described earlier but from the inventory of feast-motifs available from the underlying concept. In his account of the feast of welcome given to him by the Danes, 61 Beowulf refers to the joy of the occasion,62 the drinking, 63 the giving of gifts, the hall setting, 5 the splendour of the scene and the dignity and nobility of the participants. 7 He especially concentrates on the presence of the two women, Wealhtheow and Freawaru. 8 Mention of Freawaru, who did not feature at all in the earlier description of this scene, forms the starting point of the Ingeld 'digression', and it is an important part of Freawaru's function to introduce this, as well as to contribute to the graciousness of the scene. 57

59

60 63 65 67

One other feast in Denmark is mentioned (lines 1787-9). This celebrates Beowulf's victory over Grendel and his mother, but is not developed in full description, perhaps because it occurs so soon after the previous description. The tone and splendour of the feast are indicated, however: 'ellenrofiim' (line 1787), 'fletsittendum' (line 1788), 58 'fegere' (line 1788). Lines 1977-86. Drinking (lines 1980 and 1982); hall setting (line 1981); dignity and nobility of the participants (lines 1 9 8 1 , 1983, 1986 and 1987); women (lines 1981-2); speeches (lines 1980 and 1985). 6l 62 Lines 2 0 1 8 - 1 9 . Lines 2 0 1 4 - 2 4 . Lines 2014 and 2016. 64 Lines 2016 and 2 0 2 1 . Lines 2019 and 2024. 66 Lines 2015, 2017 and 2022. Lines 2018 and 2023. 68 Lines 2016, 2018 and 2020. Lines 2016 and 2 0 2 0 - 1 .

68

Hall and feasting in Beowulf In this same long speech of Beowulf, which is a summary in effect of the whole first part of the poem, there is one other feast description.69 This is Beowulf's own account of the banquet to celebrate his victory over Grendel. Although other feast-motifs are mentioned, 70 the overwhelming stress in this description is on music, and in particular on the songs sung by Hrothgar himself. In the original description of this scene Hrothgar's scop had sung the Finnsburh lay, but nothing was said about Hrothgar himself singing. In Beowulf's account, however, it is reported that Hrothgar performed many different kinds of song, drawing on his memory and experience: hre6er inne weoll, £>onne he wintrum frod worn gemunde.71 Broadly speaking, the three feast descriptions which occur after Beowulf's return to Geatland contrast in scope with those in the first part of the poem. They are not different in kind, being made up of a selection of the same motifs as found in the other scenes, although the selection is smaller. But since this middle part of the poem is itself largely a summary of the first part, it is perhaps natural that the descriptions should be shorter. The final part of Beowulf contains no feast descriptions at all. Only the remains of former revelry can be seen in the dragon's barrow. As suggested above, the brightness and splendour of hall life in Beowulf are overwhelmingly the brightness and splendour of Heorot, and as the poem approaches its end, with references to the impending death of the hero and to unhappy wars, the scenes of joy in the hall seem a long way off. Feastmotifs contribute to the atmosphere of elegy in this part of the poem, but feasting no longer plays a part in the foreground events. IMAGES OF FEASTING: CONTRAST AND PARALLEL

The symbolism of the hall is exploited throughout Old English poetry in contexts of elegy as well as of celebration. Hall images provide a 69 70

Lines 2101-14. Rejoicing (lines 2107 and 2216), gifts (lines 2101-3), dignity and nobility of the participants, especially Hrothgar (lines 2101, 2105 etc.), splendour (lines 2102 and 2103). Lines 2113—14: 'his heart surged within him, when he, wise in winters, remembered a multitude of things'.

69


powerfully emotive framework for Christian narrative poets and for the poets of the Exeter Book lyrics, who find in seledreamas, 'hall-joys', an eloquent expression of lost happiness. In Beowulf, despite the absence of formal feast descriptions in the final part of the poem, there is considerable cultivation of the imagery of hall life. It is notable that references to the objects of hall life (outside the context of formal feast description) are largely confined to this part of the poem. The tone of this part of Beowulf is set by the magnificent speech of the 'last survivor', in which the adorned drinking vessel — 'faeted waege' — is set alongside other symbols of prosperity once enjoyed by this man's tribe. The speech of the last survivor contemplates the former life in the hall in terms of its symbols, which are now useless, but which conjure up vividly the splendour and glory of that life. Similarly, at the very end of the poem, with Beowulf and the dragon now dead, the rich objects lie by the dragon: Him big stodan bunan ond orcas discas lagon ond dyre swyrd.7 In this part of the poem Beowulf remembers the 'sine ond symbel'76 he enjoyed in King Hrethel's time; an old man observes 'winsele westne' — silence after the revelry. These images, whether of drinking or music or some other feature from the complex of hall motifs, achieve their effect (as, for example, in The Ruin and The Wanderer) through contrast between their ideal proper setting and the cold reality. The same contrast is developed in Wiglaf's long speech to the Geats after Beowulf's death: nu se herewisa hleahtor alegde, gamen ond gleodream. ForSon sceall gar wesan monig, morgenceald mundum bewunden, haefen on handa, nalles hearpan sweg wigend weccean, ac se wonna hrefn fus ofer faegum fela reordian... 72

See Exodus, line 3 6 ; The Wanderer, line 9 3 .

74

Line 2 2 5 3 .

73

75

Lines 3 0 4 7 - 8 : 'By h i m there were cups and goblets, dishes lay there and precious

Lines 2 2 4 7 - 6 6 .

swords.' 7

Line 2 4 3 1 : 'treasure and feasting'.

78

Lines 3 0 2 0 - 5 : 'now the war-leader has laid aside laughter, joy and m i r t h . Therefore

77

70

Line 2 4 5 6 : 'a deserted wine-hall'.

Hall and feasting in Beowulf In this passage the laughter and joy associated with the feast are juxtaposed with the reality of Beowulf's death, and as the sombre contrast is developed, the joy of the hall is set beside the violence of battle. Both elements in the antithesis are conveyed through essential symbols: on the one hand are weapons and birds of battle, on the other the motifs of hall life. The context of elegy, in which the present is contrasted with the joyful past, provides one of the poem's characteristic settings for the use of hall imagery. Another context is that of reversal and disruption, in which the joyful present is contrasted with the future or is interrupted by sudden catastrophe. The cultivation of such antithesis is a feature of other Old English poems as well, but reversal and disruption are particularly highlighted in Beowulf, a poem in which they can be seen to constitute a central thematic preoccupation. Even the account of the building of Heorot is immediately followed by a reference to its destruction,80 and we have observed how the description of the feast in celebration of Beowulf's victory over Grendel is ironically undercut by the unexpected mention of the coming of Grendel's mother: 'Wyrd ne cujxm.'81 Such startling juxtapositions and contradictions are typical of the contrastive style of Beowulf. They are also reflections of the extent to which the symbolism of the hall is woven into the poem's fabric. A striking indication of the integration of hall imagery into the larger structural and thematic features of the poem can be observed in the treatment of the first attacks of Grendel and the dragon. In these a structural parallel is developed, making use of images of life in the hall to emphasize the anticommunal nature of both invaders. As well as setting up this parallelism, however, the poem also suggests a revealing contradiction between the two attacks, thus adding an unsettling complication to the simple pattern. The parallelism between the attacks is already suggested by the use of the same contrastive phrase oftficet an ongan, 'until one (creature) began', to introduce both episodes. The pattern of correspondence is continued as m a n y a spear shall come, cold in the m o r n i n g , grasped in the hand, raised in the g r i p ; in no way will it be the sound of the harp which wakes the warriors, b u t the dark raven, eager over the doomed, will speak m a n y things.' 79

See Shippey, Old English Verse, p p . 3 8 - 4 3 .

81

Line 2 3 3 ; see above, p p . 6 7 - 8 .

82

Lines 1 0 0 b and 2 2 1 0 b . O n 'the p a t t e r n of until,

pp. 31-42.

71

80

Lines 8 3 - 5 . see Irving, A Reading of Beowulf,


the first mention of each monster 83 is followed by a more discursive explanation of why it has come. 84 It is made clear that Grendel is incited to attack Heorot in the first place because of his hostility to the civilization which it represents and epitomizes. In particular, the song of the scop, mentioned in the context of joy in the hall, enrages him: he finds it hard to bear t>aet he dogora gehwam dream gehyrde hludne in healle; J>aer waes hearpan sweg, i

85

swutol sang scopes.

Hall-joy, the communal, civilized life of humankind, is what angers Grendel. And the song which he hears and which suggests this communal life combines the connotations of Germanic society with a distinctly biblical-sounding content. The scop sings, Caedmon-like, of God's creation of the world: God made the plain of the earth and the sea which surrounds it, he made the sun and the moon for the benefit of humankind, and he created all living things. 8 This song, as well as signifying the joy of the Danes, represents an awareness and acceptance on their part of the goodness of God. Thus in the song of the scop, sung in praise of and in harmony with the goodness of God, there is a fusion of spiritual and communal values, which in his profound evil Grendel cannot tolerate. The religious content of the song intensifies the sense of good associated with Heorot and reinforces the symbolic importance of hall and feasting imagery in the poem. At the beginning of the second part of Beowulf, the dragon too is enraged by humankind. What triggers off its hostility is, like the music of the first part, a component of the cherished life of the hall, for Beowulf's man rouses the dragon by stealing from its treasure-hoard a single goldplated drinking-cup. Beowulf's man himself seeks reinstatement into society by means of this hall object. No doubt the dragon would have been angered by the loss of anything from its hoard, but it is nonetheless highly 83 85

86 87

88

84 Lines 86 and 2 2 1 0 - 1 1 . Lines 8 6 - 9 0 and 2 2 1 4 - 2 0 . Lines 8 8 - 9 0 : 'that every day he heard joy loud in the hall; there was the sound of the harp, the clear song of the scop'. Lines 9 0 - 8 . O n this passage, see M. Andrew, 'Grendel in Hell', English Studies 62 (1981), 4 0 1 - 1 0 , at 406. Lines 2231 and 2282.

72

Hall and feasting in Beowulf fitting in the symbolic scheme of the poem, with its foregrounding of the values of the hall and the objects of hall life, that it should be a drinking vessel that is taken. The drinking-vessel, a physical component of feasting, signifies again the communal life of humankind, which is endangered by the coming of the dragon. As in the first part of Beowulf a specific element of hall life, associated with feasting and joy, becomes the stimulus to the invader. The dragon cannot allow humankind to possess the cup. As Irving writes of the dragon, 'his hatred for mankind and his destructiveness are plain and unambiguous', and this hatred and destructiveness are manifested in the ferocity with which the dragon reacts to the loss of a single object which comes from the good human world. CONTRADICTION IN BEOWULF

As I hinted earlier, the parallel between the two invasions of the human world is not an unproblematic one. In the first part of Beowulf the Danes are the entirely blameless victims of Grendel, offensive to him only because of his own evil. The second part of the poem, however, begins with a human invasion of the dragon's barrow, to which the dragon ruthlessly responds. Here Beowulf complicates the simple moral scheme of good versus evil. It is not least the presence of such telling complication in Beowulf that militates against reductionist readings of the poem. If we return to the context of our late Anglo-Saxon audience/readership, contradictory interpretations of the poem are possible, but the more dogmatic they are the more selective they have to be. Beowulf resists being convincingly appropriated to any kind of all-embracing consistent interpretation. It remains ultimately elusive. Beowulf can be read as fitting into the pattern of the cultivation of the Germanic past that has been identified as one of the impulses of the later period. 90 Thus, an uncritical audience can admire in Beowulf the Germanic world with its certainties and its virtues. The splendour of the poem's great feasting scenes can be seen as epitomizing the attraction of this noble world, giving images of social cohesion and community to an age of uncertainty and instability. In Beowulf courage and nobility are vindicated in the face of threat. In a tenth-century context Beowulf could be seen too by members of our 89

A Reading of Beowulf, p. 214.

90

See Irvine, 'Medieval Textuality', p. 208. 73


textual community as of particular relevance, since it deals with the theme of external threat. As has been suggested of Judith,91 Beowulf, which appears with Judith in the British Library manuscript Cotton Vitellius A. xv, could be read as having exemplary relevance to the situation of the English, threatened by Danish attack. The people in the poem do not succeed on their own, however, against external attack — hardly a comforting message for a tenth-century English audience. But a more obvious problem with this reading is that in Beowulf it is Danes (invaders of Anglo-Saxon England) who are presented as themselves the victims of such attack. Indeed, Beowulf has even been regarded as a product of Danish England, 'an aesthetic aftermath of the Danish conquest', 2 celebrating the Danish past in the language of the people they now rule in the English present. Beowulf probably was read in these ways by members of the late AngloSaxon textual community, the Germanic past presenting an image of individual fortitude and communal cohesion. This kind of appreciation of the poem may even be why it was copied and preserved. And yet Beowulf is too unsettling to be taken simply as a celebration of Germanic heroic life, and indeed even the claim that courage and nobility are vindicated in the poem in the face of threat is a very questionable one. The Danes collapse under the threat of Grendel, the warriors even moving out of their cherished hall; and Beowulf's courage at the end of the poem has the result of imposing a bleak future on his people, with community jeopardized rather than strengthened. Despite the emphasis on virtue and nobility in Beowulf the poem is also insistent in its reference to treachery and strife, as discussed in detail in the next section of this chapter. And Beowulf reveals a concern with the casualties of heroism, most notably Hildeburh. In the case of Hildeburh, as elsewhere in the poem, an impression is created of the 91 92 93 94

See Pringle, 'Judith: the Homily and the Poem'. Kiernan, 'The Eleventh-Century Origin ofBeowulf'and the Beowulf Manuscript', p. 20. Lines 1 3 8 - 4 2 . On Hildeburh, see further below, pp. 108-10. Note that a view of the Hildeburh story and of feud settlement in general different from that of most recent commentators is taken by Hill, The Cultural World in Beowulf, p p . 2 5 - 3 7 . Arguing from an anthropological perspective, Hill insists that the Hildeburh story 'emphasizes Hildeburh's sorrow but not as something wrong in the system of revenge' (p. 26), and that 'all ends up in a just settlement, if not altogether happily' {ibid.).

1A

Hall and feasting in Beowulf hopelessness of feuding. Moreover, is Beowulf himself not open to criticism in fighting the dragon alone? If not, why not? Beowulf presents a pattern of good versus evil, but this pattern is disturbingly confused by such questions. It is confused too by what can be taken as the honourable vengeance of Grendel's mother when she bravely makes her way to Heorot. And it is confused by the fact that the dragon is in the first place attacked by humankind, not the other way round. Thus, our structural parallel reinforces the theme of community by its exploitation of hall symbolism, but also implies that threats to society are internal as well as external. Beowulf resists, then, the audience's identification with the outlook of its people. On the other hand, the kind of unworldly 'Alcuinian' reading which W. F. Bolton has illuminatingly applied to this poem, 95 and which would have been possible in the tenth and eleventh centuries as well as in the eighth, also requires a selective approach on the part of the reader. And it is difficult to see why an Alcuinian reader should be interested enough in such benighted people as to persevere with the 3182 lines of Beowulf

Resolution can be imposed on Beowulf but the poem ultimately presents its readers with contradiction rather than resolution. The feeling of unease engendered by the element of complication at the beginning of the dragon episode is the result of such contradiction. In this episode, the poem's urgent concern with the theme of external threat intersects with a concern with human strife and flaws within society. In the expression of both concerns the imagery of hall and feasting has a central place. Beowulf exploits and develops this imagery, inherited from Germanic tradition, in a critical and thoughtful way, promoting an appreciation of the preciousness of civilization but also of contradiction within society. TREACHERY AND BETRAYAL IN

BEOWULF

The nobility of the hero and of other leading figures in Beowulf is glowingly celebrated in the poem, earning the approval both of the narrator and of other choric voices. Beowulf's unflinching resoluteness, his wisdom and his loyalty, first to his lord and then to his followers, 95

W. F. Bolton, Alcuin and Beowulf: an Eighth-Century View (London, 1979). This section is reprinted, with minor revisions, from my article, 'Treatments of Treachery and Betrayal in Anglo-Saxon Texts'.

75


identify him as a model of heroic conduct. The closing lines of the poem, mentioning his quality of generosity 98 as well as eagerness for praise," testify to the esteem in which this hero is held in his world. Like Bede's Edwin, he shuns all that is mean-minded. A passage in praise of Beowulf after his triumphant return from Denmark to Geatland, emphasizes his lack of savagery — 'naes him hreoh sefa'100 — and comments especially on his honourable conduct towards his own companions. Never did he slay them when they had been drinking: nealles druncne slog heorSgeneatas.101 A few lines earlier the poet had contrasted Beowulf with those who plot the death of a comrade: Swa sceal maeg don, nealles inwitnet o5rum bregdon dyrnum craefte, dea5 renian hondgesteallan. Such views of the greatness of Beowulf are amply justified by his actions in the poem. There is, however, a certain disquieting aspect to some of this praise. That Beowulf was not savage-minded and never turned violently on his companions or plotted the death of a kinsman hardly seems much of a point in his favour for the poet to choose to highlight. What sort of warrior would do such things anyway? In a context in which honourable behaviour rather than treachery was expected, these instances of Beowulf's nobility would sound like faint praise, anticlimactic and unremarkable. But this suggestion of a climate of treachery is precisely what is borne out by an examination of the world of Beowulf as a whole. The poem presents great acts of virtue, but in a context of predominant weakness and failure, epitomized particularly by failures of loyalty and trust. In Beowulf O n Beowulf as role model, see E. B. Irving, Jr., 'Heroic Role Models: Beowulf and O t h e r s ' , in Heroic Poetry in Anglo-Saxon England, ed. D a m i c o and Leyerle, p p . 3 4 7 - 7 2 . 98

'Manna m i l d u s t ' , line 3 1 8 1 . O n this phrase, see Clark, Beowulf, p . 1 4 0 , and H i l l , The Cultural World in Beowulf pp. 1 4 1 - 2 .

99

'Lofgeornost', line 3 1 8 2 .

100

Line 2 1 8 0 : 'his m i n d was not savage'.

101

Lines 2 1 7 9 - 8 0 : ' N o t at all did he slay his hearth-companions w h e n they were d r u n k . '

102

Lines 2 1 6 6 - 9 : 'So m u s t a k i n s m a n act, not at all weave a net of malice for another by secret c u n n i n g , prepare the death of a close companion.'

76

Hall and feasting in Beowulf it may be Grendel who is described as fame befongen, 'encompassed with treachery', but it is the human characters, rather than the monsters, who are shown as acting with deceit and treachery. The pervasive presence of treachery and deceit contributes decisively to the the sense of pessimism which characterizes the poem's presentation of pre-Christian Germanic society. Beowulf centres on noble characters and praiseworthy actions, but throughout the poem these characters and actions are encompassed and constricted by the kinds of inwitnet, 'nets of malice', alluded to in the above quotation. Most people in Beowulf are not like Beowulf and the handful of other admirable characters. Treachery between tribes is perhaps implied already in the reference, in the first fitt, to the eventual destruction of Heorot, the result of the enmity of father-in-law and son-in-law in the suppressed feud between the Danes and Heathobards.10 Beowulf himself foresees oaths being broken between the two sides and he expresses his doubts about the trustworthiness of the Heathobards. The idea of treachery within tribes is strikingly evident among the Danes and is shown as afflicting them in the past and future, as well as being symbolically tolerated in the poem's present in the person of the brother-killer Unferth. Unferth has been seen by some critics as a figure of disorder at Heorot, but his great crime is that of treachery.108 Disturbingly, however, Unferth's treachery appears to be accepted by society. This brother-killer has an honoured place in the hall, sitting at the feet of Hrothgar, 1 and his crime, though no secret, is mentioned only by Beowulf, as a result of taunting provocation from Unferth himself: 103 107 108

109 110

104 105 106 Line 2009. Line 2 1 6 7 . Lines 8 3 - 5 . Lines 2 0 6 3 - 4 . Lines 2 0 6 7 - 9 . O n Unferth as representing disorder, see especially M. Bloomfield, 'Beowulf and Christian Allegory: an Interpretation of Unferth', Traditio 7 ( 1 9 4 9 - 5 1 ) , 4 1 0 - 1 5 ; repr. in An Anthology of Beowulf Criticism, ed. Nicholson, pp. 155—64, and in The Beowulf Poet: a Collection of Critical Essays, ed. D. K. Fry (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1968), pp. 6 8 - 7 5 . On Unferth as a figure of treachery, see J. L. Rosier, 'Design for Treachery: the Unferth Episode', PMLA 77 (1962), 1-7; also Brodeur, The Art of Beowulf pp. 142-57. Lines 1165-6. Cf. lines 1167-8: t>eah J>e he his maegum naere arfaest aet ecga gelacum.

77

Images of community in Old English poetry 5u £>inum broSrum to banan wurde, heafodmaegum; {>aes {)u in helle scealt werhSo dreogan, t>eah J)in wit duge. The enormity of Unferth's crime is fully acknowledged in the eternal punishment to which Beowulf here appeals, but it is ignored among the Danes. Indeed, Beowulf himself appears disconcertingly well-disposed towards Unferth outside the one scene of their altercation. With regard to Unferth, as to others in the poem, Beowulf accepts the fact of treachery in society with considerable equanimity, as though, despite his own high standards, he does not have high expectations for the conduct of others. Beowulf's essential concern throughout is with his own conduct rather than with the imperfection of other people. It is because of the faithlessness of his own men that he will face the dragon alone at the end of the poem. Wiglaf rebukes the other warriors, but Beowulf himself does not dwell on their disloyalty, being preoccupied instead by how he himself has acted. Treachery among the Danes in the past is evident in the reference to the the murderous savagery of Heremod, a former king. Heremod, unlike Beowulf, did turn on his close companions — 'breat bolgenmod beodgeneatas'. Heremod forfeited the loyalty of his people and was 'betrayed into the power of his enemies' — 'on feonda geweald for5 forlacen'.113 Treachery among the Danes in the future is also emphasized in the poem, undercutting the scenes of revelry in celebration of the defeats of Grendel and Grendel's mother. The narrator refers to the facenstafas, 'treacherous arts', 11 which Hrothulf will practise in future days, and comments that at the time of the foreground events of the poem there is 'as yet' 11 trust between Hrothgar and Hrothulf. The sentence immediately following this observation refers pointedly to the presence of Unferth in the company of the Scyldings and to the trust that they have in his spirit. 11 Wealhtheow perceives only loyalty among the Danes 117 and looks forward in sanguine fashion to Hrothulf's protection of her own children if he should outlive Hrothgar:

111

113 116

Lines 587-9: 'You became the killer of your brothers, your closest kinsmen; for that you must suffer damnation in hell, though your cleverness avails you.' Line 1713: 'in his anger he destroyed his table-companions'. n4 113 Line903. Line 1018. 'l>a gyt\ line 1164. 117 Lines 1165-8. Lines 1228-9.

78

Hall and feasting in Beowulf Ic minne can glaedne Hrojmlf, f>aet he £>a geogo5e wile arum healdan, gyf f)u aer J)onne he, wine Scildinga, worold oflaetest; wene ic J>aet he mid gode gyldan wille uncran eaferan, gif he f>aet eal gemon, hwaet wit to willan ond to wor5myndum umbonvesendum aer arna gefremedon.l18 The poem makes it clear that such optimism will not be borne out by events. The faithlessness of Beowulf's own warriors in the closing part of the poem is not dwelt on by the hero himself, but the seriousness of their transgression of the code of loyalty is fully apparent, and is particularly castigated by Wiglaf, the faithful follower. At the end of the poem a bleak time to come is forecast for the Geats, who have failed their lord in his fight — on their behalf— against the dragon. For the Geats to have deserted Beowulf at his time of need may be regarded as the equivalent to their having fled from an army led by the king, which we have seen to be a grave crime in late Anglo-Saxon law. There is no need, however, to appeal to particular laws to appreciate the fault of the Geats, since the Germanic revulsion against disloyalty to a lord, recorded as early as Tacitus, is keenly felt by the warriors themselves. They themselves are scamiende, 'ashamed',121 as they endure the rebuke of Wiglaf, who reminds them that 'for any warrior death is better than a life of disgrace': Dea5 biS sella eorla gehwylcum

f>onne edwitlif!122

The poet refers to the faint-hearted Geatish warriors explicitly as treowlogan, 'troth-breakers'. 123

119 120

121

Lines 1180—7: 'I know that my Hrothulf is gracious, that he will treat these youths with honour, if you, lord of the Scyldings, should leave the world before him; I expect that he will repay our sons with generosity, if he remembers all the favours that the two of us have formerly done for him for his pleasure and honour, while he was a child.' See above, p . 28. In the Germania, Tacitus says that for warriors to leave a battle after their lord has fallen means lifelong disgrace: see ch. 14 (ed. and trans. Hutton, pp. 152-3); and he tells of men having survived battle hanging themselves in shame: ch. 6 {ibid., pp. 138-9). 122 123 Line 2850. Lines 2 8 9 0 - 1 . Line 2847.

79


The future that Wiglaf predicts for the Geats is one of alienation and desolation, in which they will wander about without right to land: londrihtes mot J>aere maegburge monna aeghwylc idel hweorfan.124 The image has overtones of the punishment of the betrayer Cain, who is directly referred to several times in the poem: Grendel is associated with the dwelling-places of the kindred of Cain; Cain had been banished by the Lord far from humankind after his crime of brother-killing; as a result of his crime, he was outlawed, marked with murder and had to settle in the wilderness; the race of giants descended from him had been destroyed in the Flood;129 the poem also says that Grendel was descended from Cain. 130 The legend of Cain is thus familiarly alluded to in Beowulf, but the idea of the Cain figure is also insistently drawn upon outside such references, in the poem's treatment of acts of treachery and betrayal. It is there in the words of Wiglaf just quoted, and in the account of Heremod, who after he destroyed his table-companions turned away alone from the joys of men: ojjâet he ana hwearf, maere t>eoden, mondreamum from. Haethcyn's tragic killing of his brother Herebald, though apparently an accident, bears a Cain-like weight of unatonable guilt. It is described as a crime, 'sinfully committed, wearying to the heart': fyrenum gesyngad, hreSre hygemeSe.132 Unferth, the poem's other brother-killer, may have escaped the fate of Cain in the present life, but Beowulf is confident that this Cain figure will receive his punishment in the next. 133 For other betrayers, as Wiglaf perceives with regard to the disgraced Geats, their sin brings its own 12

Lines 2 8 8 6 - 8 : 'Each man of the tribe must wander, destitute of his land-right.'

125

Lines 1 0 4 - 6 .

Lines 1 0 7 - 1 0 .

127

Lines 1 2 6 3 - 5 .

128

See lines 1 1 1 - 1 3 ; cf. also lines 1 2 6 5 - 6 .

129

Lines 1 6 8 8 - 9 3 .

130

Line 1 2 6 6 .

131

Lines 1 7 1 4 - 1 5 : 'until he turned away alone, the famous chiefain, from the joys of

132

Lines 2 4 4 1 - 2 .

126

men'. 133

See lines 5 8 8 - 9 .

80

Hall and feasting in Beowulf punishment in this world, a punishment whose physical hardship may be seen as, like that of Cain, reflecting a spiritual alienation and annihilation. The message of Beowulf concerning treachery and betrayal is that they are evils destructive to society and to self. And yet the reality of the poem's world is that treachery and betrayal are the rule rather than the exception. In Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica treachery is associated with external enemies; in Beowulf it is within. Unferth retains his place at the heart of society. The frequency of acts of deceit and betrayal in Beowulf militates against the view of the poem as a nostalgic evocation of a glamorous Germanic past. The poem shows admiration for the noble aspirations of the preChristian Germanic world, but sets these aspirations beside a perceived reality of predominant weakness and failure. Beowulf shows acute awareness of the discrepancy between ideal and reality in an imperfect world, and it encourages its audience to consider the significance of this discrepancy. At the end of the poem the audience is led to identify not with the superhuman Beowulf but with the mourning Geats who honour him and contemplate a future without him. The preoccupation with treachery and betrayal in Beowulf tells us nothing about the date of the poem's composition. We have seen that treachery and betrayal were topics of particular interest in late AngloSaxon England, but they also figure importantly in the ninth-century Old Saxon poem the Heliand, for example, and in other poems, such as Genesis A, not generally considered to be late. Themes of treachery and betrayal are part of the basic material of Germanic literature. On the other hand, the special concern with these themes in Beowulf fits appropriately into the reception context of the poem in the late Anglo-Saxon period, the period of the unique manuscript of Beowulf Whether Beowulf itself was composed in this period, its concerns, not least (but, of course, not only) those of treachery and betrayal, are particularly relevant to this reception context. The text of Beowulf may be seen as providing for a late Anglo-Saxon audience an imaginative consideration of questions of urgent currency, to do with the values and obligations of society. With regard to treachery and betrayal, as in other aspects of its concern with ideas of community, Beowulf presents the most complex and unsettling treatment in surviving Anglo-Saxon literature.

81

4 Hall and feasting: transformations and alternative perspectives

Two types of transformation of the hall imagery outlined in the previous chapters are widely found in Old English poetry. These may be seen broadly as: (i) transformations which exploit discrepancy and irony while endorsing the underlying values of hall culture, and (ii) those in which the connotations of hall imagery are brought into question and indeed inverted by Christian poets unsympathetic to the heroic world. There is also evidence in Old English poetry of a third response to the values of hall life, though this response is not widely exemplified in the surviving manuscripts from the late Anglo-Saxon textual community. In this response, which is associated in existing poems particularly with the perspective of women, the social values of the outer world are shown in conflict with the demands of personal emotion. The present chapter concentrates on the first two types of transformation. We shall return to the third response in ch. 5. DISCREPANCY AND IRONY IN FEASTING IMAGERY

The first type of transformation is well understood by students of Old English poetry and does not require exhaustive attention here.1 This type of transformation has its basis in irony. It is the irony we observed in the Old English poetic techniques involving irony and discrepancy have particularly been discussed with reference to Beowulf and Judith; see esp. Brodeur, The Art of Beowulf pp. 220—46; R. N. Ringler, 'Him seo wen geleah: the Design for Irony in Grendel's Last Visit to Heorot', Speculum 41 (1966), 49-67; repr. in Interpretations of Beowulf ed. R. D. Fulk (Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN, 1991), pp. 127-45; F. J. Heinemann, Judith: a Mock-Heroic Approach-to-Battle Type Scene', NM 69 (1970), 83-96; Shippey, Old English Verse, pp. 30-43.

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Transformations and alternative perspectives

preceding chapter in the reference in Beowulf to the dwelling-place of Grendel and his mother as a nidsele, 'hall of evil', and to Grendel as a healdegn, 'hall-thegn', in Heorot. Such irony is characteristic of the highly imaginative use of hall imagery in Beowulf It is seen too, for example, in the description of Grendel coming to Heorot with 'expectation of feasting' — 'wistfylle wen' — and in the hero's account of how in killing the underwater monsters he 'served' them at the banquet — 'J>enode' — when they intended to feast on him: 'symbel ymbsaeton saegrunde neah'. Among other such instances in Beowulf is the much-discussed term ealuscerwen. Commentators disagree as to whether ealuscerwen means 'sharing out of ale' or 'deprivation of ale', but in either case it is clear that the word depends for its effect on an inversion of the image of drinking ale in the hall.7 Ironic and transformed images of hall life are also widely exploited in the Exeter Book lyrics, where they contribute to the themes of exile and alienation. From the image of the eordsele, 'earth hall', of The Wife's Lament to that in The Seafarer of the song of the swan as 'hall entertainment' — 'to gomene' — these poems are rich in suggestive extensions of the symbolism of the hall. Some of the lyrics, of course, incorporate criticism of the values of the hall, but throughout the lyrics the hall appears as the bright symbol of a yearning for society. Instead of the companionship of the hall, the speaker of The Wanderer has 'sorg to geferan'.11 In Old English religious verse ironic images of the hall are frequently 2 3

4

7

9 11

Beowulf, line 1513. Line 142. The reading heldegnes, which some editors prefer in this line to healSegnes, also implies an appropriation of comitatus ideas. 3 Line 734. See above, pp. 61-2. Line 560. Line 564: 'they sat down to the feast near the bottom of the sea'. Line 769- On ealuscerwen, see further my article 'The Cup as Symbol and Metaphor in Old English Literature'. On these themes, see esp. S. B. Greenfield, 'The Formulaic Expression of the Theme of "Exile" in Anglo-Saxon Poetry', Speculum 30 (1955), 200-6; repr. in Essential Articles for the Study of Old English Poetry, ed. J. B. Bessinger, Jr and S. J. Kahrl (Hamden, CT, 1968), pp. 352-62; for more recent discussion of exile as exclusion from society, see Klinck, The Old English Elegies, pp. 225-6; and Bennett, 'Exile and the Semiosis of Gender in the Old English Elegies', esp. pp. 4 5 - 7 . 10 The Wife's Lament, line 29. The Seafarer, line 20. The Wanderer, line 30: 'sorrow as a companion'.

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applied in depictions of hell. In Christ and Satan the vast hall — 'on {jyssum sidan sele' — and windy hall — '{>es windiga sele' — of hell is contrasted to the joys of the thrones in heaven — 'hehselda wyn\ Hell is no 'winehall of proud warriors' — 'wloncra winsele'. In Christ 111 hell is the 'dea5sele deofles'. Ironic images such as mordres brytta and synna brytta present startling reversals of the expectations suggested by the image of the lord as beneficent giver (brytta) of treasure. The religious poem which makes the most sustained use of this ironic imagery is the, probably late, biblical paraphrase Judith. This poem combines the criterion of Christian moral teaching on drunkenness with that of the ideal of the good Germanic feast to provide a comprehensive condemnation of Holofernes and his men. Feasting is not itself presented as an index of the wicked heathenism of the Assyrians, but rather the poem takes up the idea of the Germanic feast as an expression of admirable social order and cohesion and presents in its description of the feasting of the Assyrians an ironic perversion of such order and cohesion. The extent of the poem's 'Germanicization' of the feast from the Book of Judith can be highlighted by comparing the treatment of the scene in Judith with ^lfric's treatment of the same feast in his Homily on the Book of Judith and also with his treatment of the feast from the Book of Esther21 in his Old English paraphrase of the latter book.22 Êlfric gives a brief summary of the Judith feast,23 in which he highlights the lust and drunkenness of Holofernes on the strong wine which he consumes 'ofer his gewunan'. JEiinc here translates the Vulgate 'bibitque vinum multum 1 16

20 22

23 24

Christ and Satan, line 130: 'in this wide hall.' Line 135: 'this windy hall.' 15 Line 43:'the joy of the high seats'. Christ and Satan, line 93. Christ, line 1536: 'hall of death of the devil'. Andreas, line 1170; Judith, line 90: 'distributor of torment'. Elene, line 957: 'distributor of sins'. On feasting in Judith, see further my article, 'Adaptation of Biblical Detail in the Old English Judith: the Feast Scene', NM 84 (1983), 331-7; M. Godden, 'Biblical Literature: the Old Testament', in The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature, ed. Godden and Lapidge, pp. 206—26, at 220—2; and Lochrie, 'Gender, Sexual Violence, and the Politics of War in the Old English Judith', p p . 5 - 8 . 21 Judith XII. 1 0 - 2 0 . Esther 1.3-13. For the ^ l f r i c paraphrases, see Angelsachsische Homilien und Heiligenleben, ed. Assmann, pp. 9 2 - 1 0 1 {Homily on Esther) and 1 0 2 - 1 6 {Homily on Judith). Homily on Judith, lines 2 8 2 - 9 7 . Homily on Judith, line 295: 'more than was his custom'. Note Êlfric's use of the phrase ofer gewunan in his Letter to Sigeweard: see above, pp. 54 and 56.

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nimis, quantum nunquam biberat in vita sua', a detail which the Judith account, in emphasizing the inherent disorder of Holofernes, chooses to ignore. In the Esther feast, Êlfric imports into his version the golden couches and the silks and purple materials which he finds in his biblical original and he takes over the insistence on the excellent quality of the wine offered at the banquet. 7 There are no such exotic elements in the Judith feast, which instead recasts its original in distinctively Germanic terms. Many of the constituent features of the feast scene as we have observed it in Beowulf are present in one form or another in the feast description in Judith. Drinking, of course, is stressed repeatedly, but with no sense of moderation or order. The warriors become so drunk that it is 'as though they had been slain in death' — 'swylce hie waeron dea5e geslegene*. They are 'agotene goda gehwyIces'.30 The hall setting, another basic feature of the Germanic feast as we have seen it in Beowulf is referred to in the compound fletsittendum, 'people sitting in the hall', 31 even though we know that the whole episode takes place not in a hall but in a military camp. The serving stewards are there, and, as in Beowulf the participants are presented (ironically) as men of stature — 'wlance' and 'rofe'. The giving of gifts is alluded to in the references to Holofernes as goldwine and sinces brytta. There is significantly no explicit mention of dream among the warriors. Holofernes himself is 'on gytesalum', but it is riot and not rejoicing that characterizes the scene. The formal speech acts reflecting the sense of order and courtesy essential to the Beowulf scenes are quite lacking in Judith. A recent critic, noting the absence of ordered speeches in the Judith scene, refers to the inarticulate and violent sounds of Holofernes's drunkenness as leading to 'a collapse of language in a performance of masculine riot.' That riotous behaviour occurs at all is 25

Judith XII.20: 'and drank exceedingly much wine, so much he had never drunk in his

26

See Homily on Esther, lines 1 6 - 1 8 .

life'. 28 30 33 36

38

27

29

Homily on Esther, line 2 2 .

Judith, lines 7-34. Line 31. 31 32 Line 32:'drained of all goodness'. Line 19. Lines 17-18. 34 35 Line 16: 'proud'. Line 20: 'brave'. Line 22: 'gold-friend'. Line 30: 'distributor of treasure'. Cf. 'morSres bryttan' (line 90). Line 22: 'in joys at the wine-pouring'. Lochrie, 'Gender, Sexual Violence, and the Politics of War in the Old English Judith'', p. 6. In her analysis of the feast scene in Judith {ibid., pp. 5—8), Lochrie draws John P. Hermann's idea of 'hypertrophied masculinity' (see Hermann, Allegories of War,

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bad enough, but that it is carried on by the chieftain and encouraged by him is a severe indictment of him and his society. HALL AND FEASTING AS NEGATIVE IMAGES:

JULIANA

A different perspective entirely is introduced in those religious poems which see the Germanic heroic world itself as an image of godlessness. Such poems bring to Old English literature a body of ideas about feasting and drinking quite at odds with those of the secular tradition. These ideas are inherited from patristic literature but find a particularly congenial home in Old English, with its developed imagery of life in the hall. The outstanding example of such a poem is the Exeter Book saint's life, Juliana, by Cynewulf. In this poem the hall and feasting of Germanic tradition are transformed into symbols of the wickedness of the enemies of God. In Juliana, Cynewulf quite consciously inverts the good associations that the heroic life has in secular poetry and makes it instead a reflection of sin, wickedness and heathenism. Feasting and drinking are widely used as symbols of sinfulness both in Old English poetry and elsewhere, but in Juliana they fit more fully than in other Old English poems into a developed repudiation of the standards of heroic life. Juliana is written from the perspective of Christian renunciation and will have no truck with the self-assertive worldliness of this heroic life. Juliana herself is the antithesis of the traditional hero, while the heathens are seen as Germanic chiefs and retainers, egged on by the devil. Thus, although the poem exploits the language of Germanic heroism with its feasting and its pride in itself, it does so in order to denounce it and to urge another way on its audience. A major difficulty of Cynewulf's approach, however, arises from the fact p. 187), interpreting Holofernes as 'a parody of the masculine ideals of governance, loyalty, fealty, and power, as well as the language that insures these ideals' (p. 6). See C. Schneider, 'Cynewulf's Devaluation of Heroic Tradition in Juliana, ASE 7 (1978), 107—18. In a critique of Schneider's article, E. R. Anderson interestingly argues that Cynewulf does not really reject the heroic in the poem, suggesting instead that Juliana might be read as a display of conflict between the values of a pagan 'shame' culture and those of the Christian 'guilt' culture: 'Juliana is publicly abused, as a villain would be in the shame culture; yet she maintains, resolutely (not to insist "heroically"), and the poet with her, the moral and religious Tightness of her conduct' {Cynewulf, p. 91). Anderson does not consider, however, the pagan social world, which Juliana steadfastly opposes (as well as opposing the conduct of the pagans).

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that he himself is still in some senses working within the framework provided by the secular tradition. This leads to a tension between the overt repudiation of heroic values and the implicit feeling for such values which inheres in the medium itself. As T. A. Shippey points out, despite Cynewulf 's condemnation of the old motives of honour in Juliana, 'The sense of resolution and triumph associated with them still permeates the poem to the exclusion of all else, preserved in its distinctive vocabulary, poetic technique and habit of mind'. 40 These things are, as it were, working against the conscious thrust of the poem's condemnation: the ideals of Germanic heroism, portrayed as violent and destructive, are deliberately and overwhelmingly associated with the devil's party, with Eleusius and the other heathens — but not entirely so, for God's people are still metaphorically godes cempan and SS Peter and Paul are Cristes pegnas.42 There are many such heroic phrases and formulas in the poem, and they show that this kind of heroic extension comes as easily to Cynewulf here as it does in the other signed poems. Violence is certainly an important theme in the poem, as critics have explained, 3 but it is not one which is exclusively applied to the heathen characters. The warrior society in Juliana, however, with its rich treasures, its feasting and its giving of gold in the hall, is the world of the enemies of God and his saints. The evil of the heathens appears in their actions, but it is also suggested in the poem's treatment of their symbols and values. Juliana is not attracted to the treasure which Eleusius is able to offer her: 'Heo J)aet eall forseah.' 4 We are told that fear of God is greater in her heart than 'ma^Jmmgesteald'. 5 In contrast to this, the futility of the heathens' attachment to 'feohgesteald' is stressed at the end of the poem. 46 In a long speech in which the devil elaborates on the wicked works which he perpetrates in the world he makes special mention of feasting in the wine-hall:

40 42 43

44

1 Shippey, Old English Verse, p. 173. Juliana, line 17: 'God's warriors'. Line 303: 'thegns of Christ'. See Calder, Cynewulf, p. 156; and Hermann, Allegories of War, pp. 161-71. Hermann argues that the motifs of spiritual warfare that arrest Cynewulf's attention 'also index a type of metaphysical violence necessary to maintain the acts of exclusion in the poem's originary oppositions' (p. 162). 45 Juliana, line 44: 'she despised all that'. Line 36: 'rich treasure'. Line 685: 'possession of riches'.

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Sume ic larum geteah, to geflite fremede, £>aet hy faeringa ealde aefyoncan edniwedan, beore druncne. Ic him byrlade wroht of wege, J)aet hi in winsele Jmrh sweordgripe sawle forletan of flaeschoman faege scyndan, sarum gesohte.47 The familiar elements of feasting imagery are here associated not with community but with violence and death. The juxtaposition of winsele and sweordgripe is arresting, and there is a whole series of terms of strife. In secular poetry, old grudges — ealde cefponcan — can be renewed under the stimulus of drunkenness, 8 but in the Juliana passage the hall is seen primarily as a place of strife and discord. Nor is there any interest in whether the ealde cefponcan might be justified: the code of heroic vengeance and retribution is automatically rejected as sinful and destructive to soul as well as body. The figure of the devil presides over the whole scene: the sins of hall life are his works. In a vivid image he is shown as dispensing destruction to the revellers. In this picture the idea of the poculum mortis, 'cup of death', of Christian tradition 9 is powerfully fused with the hall imagery of Germanic poetry. The drink in the winsele becomes an actual poculum mortis by which the devil destroys humankind: the devil claims feasting as his tool. Thus the great symbol of the good life in Germanic poetry can hold no attractions for God's people in Juliana. It is the heathens in this poem who pursue their illusory joys 'winburgum in'. Sin and death are the

48

Lines 483—90: 'I have drawn out some through my teachings, brought them to strife, so that they have suddenly renewed old grudges, drunk with beer. I have poured out for them destruction from the drinking-cup, so that in the wine-hall through swordattack they sent forth their souls from their bodies, drove them off doomed, when they were afflicted with wounds.' Cf. Beowulf, line 2041-6. On this image, see C. Brown, 'Poculum Mortis in Old English', Speculum 15 (1940), 389—99; Magennis, 'The Cup as Symbol and Metaphor in Old English Literature', pp. 522—6; and G. Russom, 'The Drink of Death in Old English and Germanic Literature', in Germania:

50

Comparative

Studies in the Old Germanic Languages

and

Literatures, ed. D. G. Calder and T. C. Christy (Woodbridge and Wolfboro, N H , 1988), pp. 175-89. Juliana, line 83: 'in wine-strongholds'.

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poisonous drink that the devil provides for them: they drink it in the wine that they recklessly consume in the hall. And they are led to damnation. The devil makes this clear in his speech, and it is a point which is stressed again in unequivocal terms at the end of the poem. After the glorious death of Juliana, Eleusius and his men are helplessly drowned at sea, and the poet in an ironic addition to his source contrasts the transitory joys which they have experienced in life with the darkness of hell which they must now endure: hyhta lease helle sohton. Ne {>orftan J)a {)egnas in {>am Systran ham, seo geneatscolu in f>am Systran scraefe, to j)am frumgare feohgestealda witedra wenan, J>aet hy in winsele ofer beorsetle beagas t>egon, aepplede gold. Ungelice waes laeded lofsongum lie haligre ... The relish with which the men have taken part in the significant acts of hall life is sharply undercut by the audience's awareness of its futility. The motifs of drinking, hall, splendour and receiving of gifts are present here, but they are juxtaposed to the fact that the pegnas who once embraced them are 'without hope' — 'hyhta leas'. The brilliance of hall life is evoked in the insistent employment of feasting imagery and the reference to the comitatus. There is not the same emphasis here on violence and riot as we noted in the earlier Juliana passage, but the ungodliness of this life is suggested: the warriors are seekers of hell. There is grim irony in the poet's account of the fate of the heathens - it is stated that 'they had no cause to expect treasures' ('Ne J)orftan') and hell is presented as home ('ham') — and there is satisfaction at their overthrow. In contrast, Juliana, having rejected worldly things, goes to her just reward in heaven. Paradoxically, in her rejection of the paraphernalia 51

Lines 488-90.

52

Lines 6 8 2 - 9 : ' w i t h o u t hope they m a d e their way to hell. T h e thegns in that dark cave, the band of comrades, had no cause in that dark home to expect from their lord appointed treasures, that they should receive in the wine-hall arm-rings on the beerbenches, embossed gold. In a different manner was the body of the saint led w i t h songs of p r a i s e . . . '

53

Line 6 8 2 .

55

Line 6 8 3 .

54

Line 6 8 3 .

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of Germanic heroic life she is herself heroic ('domeadig') in the view of the poet: she is led to heaven with songs of praise ('lofsongum'). 7 The paraphernalia of Germanic heroic life, including the central element of feasting, express the vicious and hopeless pride of the heathen. All the good associations that feasting in the hall can have in Germanic tradition are inverted in this poem, which uses the language of secular heroism to condemn that heroism. As suggested above, Cynewulf's success in his response to the ideals of secular Germanic poetry is lessened by the fact that he is himself so steeped in heroic diction that the feel of the poetry at times seems to work against this deliberate purpose. Juliana is not without its internal tensions and contradictions. Even the passage quoted above evoking the former joys of Eleusius and his men threatens to cause the hostility that the audience should feel for these wicked people to turn towards elegiac sympathy. The general denunciatory stance of the poet is clear, however, and there is little doubt as to how the reader of the Exeter Book is encouraged to interpret the hall and feasting imagery in the poem. In contrast to its effect in endorsing Germanic communal values in Judith, this imagery contributes in Juliana to the expression of moral hostility with which Cynewulf views the values of the secular world. OTHER CHRISTIAN NARRATIVE POEMS

A similar inversion of the significance of hall imagery is apparent in other religious poems, although it is not employed in as systematic a manner as in Juliana. In some religious poems, indeed, hall imagery functions without any sense of adverse criticism, very much as in the secular tradition. We have seen this to be the case in Judith, in which the ideal feast offers a measure by which evil characters can be judged. Andreas also employs hall imagery in an approving way, presenting the converted city of Mermedonia as a winburg, 'wine-city', and a goldburg, 'gold-city', and paralleling Beowulf in its ironic use of feasting images. In Exodus the image of the drinking of beer in the hall even provides a vivid evocation of life in the promised land: Moses addresses the people, 56

Line 2 8 8 : glorious'.

58

57

Andreas, lines 1637 and 1 6 5 5 , respectively.

59

N o t e , for example, the term meoduscerwen (line 1526), discussed in the articles referred

Line 6 8 9 .

to above, n. 4 9 .

90

Transformations and alternative perspectives gesittaS sigerice beorselas beorna.

be saem tweonum,

Genesis A includes both approving depictions of hall life and unsympathetic ones. The feast images in this poem are mostly stimulated by passages in the Latin Genesis and take over the negative connotations found there. In Genesis A, however, we also find a developed image which combines the idea of goodness and holiness with drinking in the hall with the retainers. This is based on Genesis XXI.8: 'fecitque Abraham grande convivium in die ablactationis eius'. 61 The Old English, stimulated by the 'great feast* of the original, develops this to 5aer hie set swaesendum saeton bu tu halig on hige and heora hi wan eall, druncon and drymdon. The specification of drinking, central to the concept of the feast in the Germanic tradition, does not appear in the original. Genesis A is able to elaborate the biblical reference in terms of the Germanic theme of the feast, suggesting thereby the stable tribal life of Abraham's 'hall'. Drinking and joy are bound together formulaically in the phrase druncon and drymdon. The resources of traditional poetry are employed to produce a scene of admirable communal revelry, presided over by lord and lady, and there is no suggestion of moral disapproval at the joy of drinking. Elsewhere in Genesis A, however, drinking and its results are seen in quite different terms. Noah becomes intoxicated and thus allows his sons to see him naked: Da {)aet geeode, {>aet se eadiga wer on his wicum wearS wine druncen,

60

61 62

64

Exodus, lines 5 6 3 - 4 : ' y ° u will occupy a victorious kingdom between the seas, the beerhalls of warriors'. 'And Abraham made a great feast on the day of his [Isaac's] weaning.' Genesis, lines 2 7 8 0 - 2 : 'there they both sat at the feast, holy in mind, and all their retinue; they drank and rejoiced'. Cf. 'drincendra dream' {The Fortunes of Men, line 79). This reading assumes that bu tu refers to Abraham and Sarra. The alternative possibility (indicated by the comma after eall in the ASPR punctuation), that bu tu refers to Isaac and Ismael, is less satisfactory, as there is no direct reference to Isaac in the sentence at all.

91

Images of community in Old English poetry swaef symbelwerig, reafoflice.65

and him selfa sceaf

The emphasis here is a moral one. Genesis A shares with many Old English religious poems a preoccupation with the moral aspect of drinking, emphasizing the sinfiilness of drunkenness.66 We have already seen that the issue of drunkenness was an urgent one for some members of the late AngloSaxon textual community. 7 Genesis A embraces moderation and repudiates excess in a way that would receive the whole-hearted approval of such readers. Drunkenness is not at all a moral concern in the secular tradition, but for religious poets and for their readers in the late Anglo-Saxon textual community, inheritors of the teachings of the Christian Fathers, drunkenness is to be condemned. Even those religious poems which use feasting in the hall as an image of admirable social harmony do not normally see intoxication as an appropriate mark of the good feast.68 The Noah episode in Genesis A shows that even the good man — 'se eadiga wer' 9 — can be led astray by indulging in excessive drinking. Later we hear of Noah's 'dizziness' — 'heafodswima'7 — and that in his sleep his mind becomes constricted — 'sefa nearwode' — so that he is powerless to cover himself.7 5

67 68

69

Genesis, lines 1 5 6 2 - 5 : 'Then that happened that the blessed man became drunk with wine in his dwelling-place, slept weary after the feast, and himself threw the covering from his body.' See particularly discussion of Daniel and Vainglory later in the present chapter. See above, p p . 5 2 - 5 . Intoxication appears, however, in a 'good' feast in the Old Saxon poem the Heliand: see my article, 'The Treatment of Feasting in the Heliand, Neophilologus 68 (1985), 126—3370 71 Genesis, line 1562. Line 1568. Line 1570. Cf. Gen. I X . 2 1 . Exegetical commentators see this episode in Genesis as referring typologically to the Passion of Christ. This reading appears first in Cyprian (Ep. lxiii.2-4 (PL 4 , 3 7 4 - 6 ) ; quoted by Augustine in De doctrina Christiana, IV. 1 2 5 - 6 , ed. W . M. Green, CSEL 8 0 (Vienna, 1963), 154) and is spelled out by Augustine {De civitate Dei, XVI.2, ed. Dombart and Kalb, CCSL 4 8 , 4 9 9 - 5 0 0 ; trans. Bettenson, p p . 651—2). This interpretation firmly connects the story of Noah's drunkenness to the metaphor of drinking employed by Christ as his Passion approached (Matth. X X . 2 2 ; XXVI.39; Mark XIV.36; Luke XXII.42; John XVIII. 11), and sees Christ's Passion as fulfilling the earlier event. In discussing this passage, Bede follows Augustine: Noah became drunk, and so did Christ when he suffered for humankind until he arrived at the extremity of death: ' "Bibensque vinum inebriatus est": bibit vinum Dominus cum calicem passionis accepit. "Inebriatus est bibendo", cum patiendo pro nobis usque in mortis extrema pervenit' {In Librum Genesis, IX. 1, ed. C. W . Jones, CCSL 118A (Turnhout, 1967), 136).

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Other relevant passages are equally unambiguous in their moral thrust. The destruction of Sodom comes about because God perceives synningra cyrm swi6e hludne, ealogalra gylp, yfele spraece werod under weallum habban. The biblical account is less concrete, mentioning only unspecified grievous sin. In the Old English, drinking and other feast images sum up the unruly evil of the sinners. In this morally oriented view there is nothing admirable about the hall life presented here. And again later, in another passage added to the original, Genesis A associates drinking with pride, saying that these things lured the people away from righteousness: Hie t>aes wlenco onwod and wingedrync Jjaet hie firendaeda to frece wurdon.75 Here, in sharp contrast to the first passage from Genesis A quoted above, drinking epitomizes the worldliness of wicked people. The Germanic world thus forms no consistent image of godlessness in Genesis A. The people of God are presented in essentially Germanic terms in this poem, but Genesis A is not systematic in its employment of hall images, and in some contexts they help to enliven the presentation of immorality which is taken over from the Book of Genesis. The perspective in another Junius manuscript poem, Daniel, is consistently one which sees the images of hall life as representing wickedness. Through them Daniel gives expression to the themes of worldly pride and sinfulness. It associates feasting first with the Hebrews when they have returned from Egypt. At this time the Hebrews enjoyed great success, o5{>aet hie wlenco anwod set winjjege deofoldaedum, druncne geSohtas.76 In this passage, which is part of an introductory addition to the biblical account, the poet finds in feasting imagery an excellent representation of 73

Genesis, lines 2 4 0 9 - 1 1 : 'the very loud uproar of the sinful, the boasting of those d r u n k w i t h ale, the troop carrying on evil speech u n d e r the shelter of the wall'.

74

Gen. XVIII.20.

75

Genesis, lines 2 5 8 1 - 2 : 'Pride overtook t h e m then and the d r i n k i n g of wine, so t h a t

76

Daniel, lines 1 7 - 1 8 : ' u n t i l pride overtook t h e m w i t h devilish deeds at the receiving of

they became too d a r i n g in their wicked deeds.' wine, d r u n k e n t h o u g h t s ' .

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the ungodliness which has overcome the people. Feasting is associated with pride — 'wlenco' — and drunkenness — 'druncne ge5ohtas' — and is accompanied by devilish deeds — 'deofoldaedum'. A similar reference to the drunken feasting of the Hebrews occurs in Daniel's speech at the end of the poem, in which he mentions their 'gylp' and 'windruncen gewit'. In the present passage, the first line presents a close formulaic variant of a line from Genesis A quoted above: 'Hie {>aes wlenco onwod and wingedrync. Like the Genesis A line, the image from Daniel gives a distinctly negative picture of feasting in the hall. The unfavourable connotations of drinking are also apparent in Daniel in the description of Nebuchadnezzar waking from his wine-flushed sleep: Pa onwoc wulfheort, Babilone weard.

se aer wingal swaef,

Again the mention of drinking is the Old English poet's addition to the biblical source.81 Daniel contrasts the ferociousness of Nebuchadnezzar when he awakens with his earlier heedless and insensate relaxation — 'wingal swaef. Later in the poem the variant term medugal, 'drunk with mead', occurs, in the description of Belshazzar's feast, where it expresses the same sense of heedlessness: Gesaet f>a to symble si 5 estan daege Caldea cyning mid cneomagum, J)aer medugal wearS maegenes wisa. Belshazzar acts out the part of the earthly chieftain, sitting at the feast in his hall, blinded by his own pride and drunkenness. The passage, which the poet has elaborated from Daniel V . l l and following, is developed in the language of the Germanic feast with its associations of security and harmony. But these associations are deceiving and are undercut here by the poem's moral attitude to drinking and by the ironic perspective apparent in 'siSestan daege', 'that final day'. The image of the feast, which 79

Line 751: 'boasting'.

Line 752: 'wine-drunk thinking'.

Genesis, line 2581: 'Pride overtook them then and the drinking of wine.' Daniel, lines 116—17: 'Then t h e wolf-hearted one awoke, w h o h a d slept flushed w i t h wine, t h e ruler of Babylon.'

81

Daniel II. 1 - 9 .

82

Daniel, lines 7 0 0 - 2 : ' T h e k i n g of the Chaldeans t h e n sat to t h e feast on that final day w i t h his k i n s m e n , where t h e leader in his m i g h t became d r u n k w i t h mead.'

94


is characterized in this poem by drunkenness and proud boasting, represents in the present scene and throughout Daniel a wilfulness which is punished by God's anger. The hall-joys of heroic poetry appear to the reader of this Junius Manuscript poem as vices to be shunned. HALL AND FEASTING IMAGERY IN SOME DIDACTIC POEMS The application of hall imagery is more complex and more subtle in the Exeter Book poems, The Wanderer, The Seafarer and Vainglory than in these biblical narratives. In The Wanderer the Germanic hall is no place of uproar or wickedness, but a yearned-for image of community and security. There are allusions to drinking and feasting in The Wanderer, but not to drunkenness. The poem describes the situation of one who has lost this security and lives a life of sorrow and solitude. This homiletic poem goes on to show that no earthly wine-hall can truly offer the security for which the speaker yearns. The ruins of former halls are contemplated, the revelry once enjoyed in them seen now in the perspective of the transitoriness of all earthly things: WoriaS J)a winsalo, dreame bidrorene, wlonc bi wealle.

waldend licgaS duguj) eal gecrong,

In the second half of The Wanderer the things desired in the first half are considered with detachment — 'gesaet him sundor set rune' 8 — and with contemplative wisdom. The voice of this part is no longer devoted to earthly ties and earthly joys. The poem's ubi sunt passage focuses on the objects of communal life in the hall: Hwaer cwom symbla gesetu? Eala beorht bune ...

Hwaer sindon seledreamas?

The language of the Germanic hall with its feasting and communal joys is used in The Wanderer to give vividness and conviction to the poem's didactic message, which is the recognition that true comfort and security 83

85

The Wanderer, lines 78-80: 'The wine-halls crumble, their owners lie dead, deprived of joy; the company has all fallen, proud by the wall.' Line 111: 'he sat apart in thought'. Lines 93-4: 'Where have gone the dwelling-places of feasts? Where are the joys of the hall? Alas, the bright cup . . . '

95


'frofor' and 'faestnung'86 - are to be found not on earth but in heaven. The whole impetus of the poem and the foundation of its symbolism come from the tradition of Christian homiletic literature. The ubi sunt motif is perhaps the most striking figure from this tradition among those that the poem exploits. Feasting has a well-defined meaning in this homiletic tradition, symbolizing the vanity of the world and its transient allurements. 88 In The Wanderer the language of the Germanic hall clothes this homiletic theme. The Wanderer is able to develop what in the ChristianLatin tradition is a simple verbal emblem into a convincing and compelling poetic image which expresses a sense of the attractions of the world as well as its limitations. The Seafarer contrasts the difficulty of life at sea with the ease which the 'sefteadig secg'89 enjoys in society on land. The poem employs images from hall life to suggest the pleasures of society which the person whose mind is on his scefor, 'sea journey', must forgo: 'Ne bij) him to hearpan hyge ne to hringj>ege ...' From the outset the speaker of The Seafarer rejects the thought of attachment to the values of the world. The speaker of The Wanderer shows an initial attachment to the life of the hall, but that of The Seafarer is contemptuous of the seductions of 'l)is deade lif'.92 However, The Seafarer also expresses, despite the speaker's evident resoluteness, a poignant awareness of how attractive are the communal pleasures enjoyed on land. The speaker may find little that is good to say about the life of the sefteadig secg, but nonetheless there is a note of regret in the way he evokes the joys of the hall as he is surrounded by the loneliness of nature. He lingers on images of hall life: recalling his life at sea, he

86

Line 1 1 5 .

87

O n this motif, see J . E. Cross, ' " U b i S u n t " Passages in O l d English - Sources and

88

T h e exemplum of the self-indulgent feasting of Dives (Luke X V I . 1 9 - 3 1 ) is especially

Relationships', Vetenskaps-Societetens i Lund, Arsbok (1956), pp. 2 5 - 4 4 . instructive to homiletic writers, both as a warning of the dangers of feasting in particular and — by extension — as an illustration of the vanity of the world in general: see Gregory the Great, Homilia

.xl. in evangelia, II.xl.5 (PL 7 6 , 1307A). See also

H a y m o , Homilia de tempore, 110 (PL 1 1 8 , 595A). The Seafarer, line 5 6 : 'the m a n blessed w i t h comfort'. T h e reading quoted here departs from ASPR {esteadig secg: MS eft eadig secg). 90

Line 4 2 .

91

Line 4 4 : 'His m i n d is not on the harp nor on the receiving of rings

92

Line 6 5 : ' t h i s dead life'.

96


exclaims, in lines which balance ironically the themes of desolation and pleasure, Hwilum ylfete song dyde ic me to gomene, ganetes hleoôr ond huilpan sweg fore hleahtor wera, maew singende fore medodrince.93 The music, laughter and drinking of the hall-feast present a powerful contrast to the isolation which the seafarer has endured. These things exemplify the alluring pleasures of the world and the poem is ultimately unambiguous in its renunciation of them, but it does not disguise their attraction. The Seafarer makes less insistent use of the imagery of the Germanic hall than does The Wanderer, but it still finds in the hall an eloquent image of earthly life. A Christian didactic poem which makes sustained use of feasting and drinking imagery is Vainglory. Vainglory presents the most vivid portrayal in Old English literature of the evil of pride as realized in the sinner. The poem contrasts the proud man, led on by his 'immoderate spirit' — 'ungemedemad mod' — and full of monstrous sins, with another kind of man, described in terms which recall the Beatitudes of Christ's Sermon on the Mount, 'se \>e her on eorj)an ea5mod leofaS'.95 The sinner depicted in the poem is virtually a personification of sin. He is the 'child of the devil encased in flesh' — 'fondes beam | flaesce bifongen'9 — and is heading for eternal torment in hell. He is shown in all his excess and moral ugliness seated at the feast: SiteQ symbelwlonc, searwum laeteS wine gewseged word ut faran, frraefte Jjringan J>rymme gebyrmed, aefestum onaeled, oferhygda fill, niSum nearowrencum.97

94 95 96 97

Lines 19—22: 'Sometimes I took the song of the swan for my entertainment, the sound of the gannet instead of the laughter of men, the gull singing instead of the drink of mead.' Vainglory, line 25. Line 68: 'he who here on earth lives humbly'. Cf. Matth. V.4. Lines 4 7 - 8 . Lines 4 0 - 4 : 'He sits proud at the feast; overcome with wine he lets his words go forth deceitfully and rush to quarrelling, violently swollen up, burning with spitefiilness, full of pride, with malicious tricks.'

97


These charged lines, which constitute the second of two descriptions of feasting in Vainglory, express the full extent of the poem's revulsion at the gross behaviour of the sinner. An analysis of the feasting and drinking imagery of Vainglory brings us to the heart of the poem's concerns and highlights the distinctiveness of its approach. Images of feasting are frequently used in Old English homiletic and didactic poetry as emblems of worldliness and carnal appetite. In Soul and Body I the soul complains that the body had been 'wiste wlanc ond wines saed', while the soul had thirsted for the spiritual drink of Christ's body; in Judgement Day I blind worldliness is condemned in an image of feasting: 'site5 him symbelgal, sij) ne bemurneS'; and in The Seafarer in his heedlessness the landsman' is portrayed as 'wlonc ond wingal'. 100 This tradition of feasting imagery is inherited from Christian tradition but, as we have seen in our examination of The Seafarer, is particularly heightened in Old English through the exploitation of elements from the Germanic language of feasting, as seen also in secular poetry. In Vainglory, despite this poem's emphasis on Christian teaching, the interpretation of feasting as symbolizing worldliness and carnal appetite presents the reader with apparent inconsistencies in the way the imagery is developed. Religious truth, it is stated in the opening sequence of Vainglory, can be grasped by anyone who is not perverted in this transitory life by 98 99

Soul and Body I, line 96: 'proud at the feast and sated with wine'. Judgement Day /, line 79: 'he sits wanton with feasting, does not worry about his journey'. The Seafarer, line 29: 'proud and flushed with wine'. This view of feasting and drinking is summed up in the pseudo-Augustinian Sermones ad fratres in eremo, which provide analogues to renunciatory passages both in Old English verse and in Old English prose. Sermo xlix insists that feasting and drinking lead the body to all manner of evil: 'Caro autem cum satiatur affluentissimis cibis et potibus et delectationibus, hortatur omnia mala facere' (PL 40, 1333). A later homily in the same series, no. lviii, speaks of a rich man who enjoyed feasting and drinking: 'Epularum divitias excolens, saltationes et jocos in ebrietatibus exhibebat' (col. 1341). Bede's De die iudicii lists feasting among the world's injurious pleasures which will end in eternal torment: 'Ebrietas, epulae, risus, petulantia, iocus . . . ' (ed. D. Hurst, CCSL 122 (Turnhout, 1955), 4 3 9 - 4 4 , line 118) - compare the Old English paraphrase Judgement Day II, lines 2 3 4 - 5 . Such ideas are also widely taken up in Old English prose homilies, notably in Vercelli Homily VII (ed. Scragg, The Vercelli Homilies, pp. 136-7); and in Homilies V and VIII of The Blickling Homilies (ed. Morris, pp. 59 and 99).

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wantonness of mind — 'modes gaelsan'.102 Wantonness of mind is immediately associated in the poem with drunkenness, 103 and the mention of drunkenness leads in turn to an image of feasting, which is elaborated in the terms of Germanic warrior society: t>onne monige beo5 wlonce wigsmi{)as

maeêlhegendra, winburgum in.

Thus feasting is for the poet of Vainglory the setting for the sins of drunkenness and wantonness. This association of feasting with sin being the case, it seems at first sight strange that the earlier description of feasting in the poem appears generally uncritical and lacks the monitory force which this context of concern with drunkenness and wantonness might lead the reader to expect. Instead of wickedness, the poem presents a lively picture of warriors enjoying themselves at the feast: Sittaj) aet symble, so5gied wrecaS, wordum wrixlaS, witan fundiaj) hwylc aescstede inne in raecede mid werum wunige, Jxmne win hweteS beornas breostsefan. Breahtem stige5, cirm on cor{)re, cwide scralletaj) missenlice.105 The warriors relate sodgied, and eagerly debate about which battles they remember best. This image of feasting had started out as providing a setting for sinful behaviour which man allows to disturb his mind — 'amyrran his gemyndum' — but the scene becomes one of harmless joy and harmony. As T. A. Shippey declares, 'The description of the winehall, sage and minstrel of lines 10 to 23, though it begins with criticism and ends with more, seems intentionally elegiac, even frustrated, rather than wicked.' 107 102 104

105

103 Vainglory, line 1 1 . Line 12. Lines 1 3 - 1 4 : 'when many people are deliberating, proud warriors in the winestrongholds'. Lines 1 5 - 2 1 : 'They sit at the feast, recite true poems, exchange words, try to discover which battlefield remains in men's minds within the hall, when wine excites men in their hearts. Noise rises u p , clamour in the company, speeches resound loudly all around.' Line 1 1 . Poems of Wisdom and Learning, p. 10.

99


There may be adverse connotations in the reference to the warriors as wlonce wigsmipas, 'proud war-smiths', especially as the sinner is later described as symbelwlonc, 'proud at the feast'.108 Even the phrase wlonce wigsmipas, however, can also be taken in a more favourable sense and must be regarded as at least morally ambivalent. The same phrase is used in an approving way in The Battle of Brunanburh,109 and wlonc often has favourable connotations in a heroic context.11 In The Seafarer and The Ruin the phrase wlonc and wingal appears to have elegiac as well as the monitory overtones suggested above. B. F. Huppe translates wlonce wigsmipas in Vainglory as 'the warlike idolaters' (wigsmipas = wihsmipas), but this ignores the analogue in The Battle of Brunanburh, the supporting references to battle in the Vainglory passage, and the normal primary meaning of wig. The sense of active sin so strong elsewhere in the poem forms a striking contrast with the present scene's lack of discord or obvious excess in the hall. It is as if the poet is saying that, for the man who is not careful, feasting can lead to sin, to oferhygd, 'pride', but not inevitably so. Feasting can also be a time of legitimate social joy. If this interpretation of the tone of the first feasting description is correct, it means that we have in this part of the poem an application of feasting imagery rather different from that seen in the other didactic poems mentioned above, and different too from that in the later passage in Vainglory. B. F. Huppe argues that there is in fact no real dichotomy here: the first passage is as hostile in tone as the second. Inspired by the methods of early medieval biblical exegesis, Huppe takes the description at lines 10 to 23 as an attack on the life of the wlonce wigsmipas. He argues, for example, that the phrase winburgum in11 designates 'the worldly city of false delights, doomed to destruction through its own folly'. He compares other occurrences of the compound winburh11 and suggests that 108

111

112 114 116

109 Vainglory, line 40. The Battle of Brunanburh•, line 72. Wlonc is used in a favourable sense, for example, in Beowulf (lines 331, 341 etc.); Judith (line 325); and The Battle of Maldon (line 205). For extended discussion of this adjective, see H. Schabram, Superbia. Studien zum angelsdchsische Wortschatz (Munich, 1965). The Seafarer, line 29; The Ruin, line 34. In her edition of The Seafarer, I. L. Gordon comments that the phrase 'was evidently an alliterative formula and need not imply any disapprobation' (p. 37). U3 Huppe, The Web of Words, pp. 12-13. Vainglory, line 23. 115 Line 14. The Web of Words, pp. 13-14. Daniel, line 622; Juliana, line 83; Widsith, line 77; and Andreas, line 1636.

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it always has this sense of wickedness. But if we look at these contexts we find that this is not the case at all: for example, in Andreas the city of Mermedonia is referred to as winburh only after it has been converted, when it is no longer a wicked city. Huppe also leaves out of account the analogous term medoburh, which, as we have seen, is used in Old English poetry with manifestly favourable connotations.117 In Vainglory, winburgum in does not automatically signify wickedness, but suggests unreflective joy and prosperity. If the poem is critical of these things it cannot rely on the sheer force of the phrase itself, as Huppe claims, but must develop its criticism in the context in which it employs the phrase. Such criticism is not at all apparent in the passage in question. An approach which perceives the passage as part of the poem's larger pattern of development provides a more satisfactory response to its application of feasting imagery. Vainglory as a whole presents a fearsome picture of pride, showing it in its fullest evil. The audience is urged to learn from this — 'wite \>e be J)issum'118 — and to live humbly and virtuously in the world. The person who lives humbly and virtuously will rise to glory 'on engla eard'. 119 The climax of the description of the evil man is the image of his excesses at the feast, in the passage quoted at the beginning of our discussion of the poem. This feast presents a striking picture of perverted community, of malice and violence, as the drunkard is shown weighed down by wine, spiteful and evil. There are no sodgied on his part, no energetic discussions of past battles, as there were in the earlier passage in the poem. There, warriors were whetted by wine — 'win hweteS' 121 - but this feaster is 'gebyrmed', 122 perhaps in the general sense of being 'swollen' with pride, perhaps too in the narrower sense of being blown up, as it were, with brewer's yeast (barm) from the drink which he consumes so copiously. Obviously, the message of the poem is not aimed at such a monster. The poet asks the audience to be like 'J)am oj)rum', 'the other man', who lives on good terms with his family and with people in the world in general,125 who loves his enemy despite his bad treatment of him, 12 and 117 118 119 120

124

See The Husband's Message, line 17, and Judith, line 167. See above, pp. 42 and 47. Vainglory, line 4 6 . Line 74: 'into the dwelling-place of angels'. 121 122 Lines 4 0 - 4 . Line 18. Line 4 2 . See Shippey, Poems of Wisdom and Learning, p. 9125 126 Vainglory, line 67. Line 70. Lines 71-2.

101


who gets on constructively with his life in the community. This humble man is not a contemplative, but one who lives 'on j)isse worulde' 127 as sensibly and virtuously as he can. A life in the world will be one in which feasting and social activity occur, but this man will not let himself be led astray on such occasions, but will act with reason and moderation. This man is a welcome guest. 128 A similar contrast between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour at the feast is made in another Exeter Book poem which observes the fates and actions of different kinds of people living in the world, The Fortunes of Men (separated from Vainglory in the manuscript only by Widsith). The Fortunes of Men describes the bloody end of the drinker who in his anger speaks too freely at the mead-bench: Sumum meces ecg yrrum ealowosan were winsadum;

on meodubence ealdor o{){)ringe5, bi5 aer his worda to hraed.129

Later in The Fortunes of Men, however, there is a description of the joys of the feast and of drinking which is entirely sympathetic: Sum sceal on heape blissian set beore f>aer bi{) drincendra

haelejmm cweman, bencsittendum; dream se micla.

Moderate and convivial conduct at the feast is here referred to in a context of the talents of music and entertainment which the Lord allots to people in the world. Vainglory is not a poem of renunciation in the sense that The Wanderer and The Seafarer could be said to be. Like The Fortunes of Men, it observes the secular world and speaks to people who have their existence there. The lesson of Vainglory, as the poem itself states, can be grasped by anyone — 'aeghwylc mon' l — who is not overcome by wantonness of mind and drunkenness when people are gathered at a feast. The audience is not 127

Line 7 2 : ' i n this world'.

1

The Fortunes of Men, lines 48—50: 'From one the edge of the sword drives out life on the

128

Lines 7 and 8 0 .

mead-bench, an angry ale-bibber, a m a n sated w i t h wine; he was too quick in his words beforehand.' See also lines 5 1 - 7 . 130

Lines 7 7 - 9 : ' O n e shall entertain m e n in the company, gladden the people on the benches d r i n k i n g beer.'

131

Vainglory, line 9.

102


urged to avoid such feasts, but when they are at them to act with virtue and humility. Coming back, therefore, to the first feast description in Vainglory, which was not insistently hostile in its attitude, we see that while feasting can be the setting for the kind of gross behaviour typified in the vainglorious man, this does not mean that all feasting is itself an image of sinfiilness. Feasting in the distinctive application of its imagery in Vainglory can be seen as representing in heightened form the moral dangers which people must be on their guard against in the world, but it is not thereby to be dismissed out of hand (as it is in other didactic poems), any more than society as a whole is to be condemned. Feasting operates in the poem as a figure of life in the world in general. Life in society has its moral dangers — and the repulsiveness of moral evil is vividly described in the poem in terms of drunkenness and pride — but the good person who copes with these dangers will earn eternal reward. The vocabulary of feasting provides Vainglory both with its central image of moral evil and with its image of the worldly dangers with which the good person has to contend: feasting can be enjoyed harmlessly, but it can also easily lead to sin. How one acts at the feast, and how one lives generally, depends on the mind of the individual: 'sindon dryhtguman | ungelice'. 132

Lines 22-3: 'men are unalike'.

103

Personal in conflict with communal

Christian poems may transcend or repudiate the ideals of the hall and of Germanic warrior society, but secular poetry is usually thought of as presenting an uncomplicated social world whose values, centred on the hall, are accepted without question by those who inhabit it. Broadly speaking, this assessment is correct and has been borne out by our examination so far. Even those outside the society are portrayed (in some of the elegies, for example) as yearning for a place within it. Their very exclusion indeed reinforces the social values according to which they are excluded. The heroic world has its casualties — exiles and outlaws, as well as the casualties of battle — but these are not generally presented as questioning the society to which they have belonged. An outcast in Beowulf, having offended his lord, seeks reinstatement into society through the fitting gesture of gift-giving: mandryhtne baer faeted waege, frioSowaere baed hlaford sinne.

2

See R. E. Bjork, 'Sundor JEt Rune: the Voluntary Exile of the Wanderer', Neophilologus 73 (1989), 119-21; and Bennett, 'Exile and the Semiosis of Gender in Old English Elegies'. As Bennett puts it, T h e very possibility of a warrior's exclusion from society helps define that society's structure' (p. 45). A recent discussion of the supportive social structures available to the Icelandic outlaw may also be relevant to Anglo-Saxon England: see F. Amory, 'The Medieval Icelandic Outlaw: Life-Style, Saga, and Legend', in From Sagas to Society, ed. Palsson, pp. 189-203. Amory points out, 'The outlaw retained his niche in the kinship structure of Icelandic society, plus whatever personal friendships he had contracted in society that might still be accessible to him' (p. 198). Beowulfy lines 2281-3: 'he brought to his chieftain a gold-plated drinking-cup, asked his lord for a pledge of peace'.

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People do not always live up to the demands which this society lays upon its members, of course, but when they fall short their transgression is easily recognized and receives the due censure of the observer. In Beowulf, for example, Queen Thryth' is contrasted with the wise and accomplished Hygd and condemned for her imperious and vindictive behaviour: Ne bi5 swylc J)eaw idese to efnanne, f>eah 5e hio aenlicu sy.3 Such censure has a gnomic quality to it, inviting universal assent from all right-thinking people. The poet does not have to explain the nature of such shortcomings but the audience's familiarity with heroic tradition provides the behavioural framework within which characters are to be judged. The heroic world is presented as a world of immutable certitude in which one's place is defined and one's obligations are clear. The society is presented as firm and cohesive, and it is this society which gives the individual his or her significance in the world. A message of many of the poems preserved in the great poetry codices of late AngloSaxon England is that life outside the ordered society has neither attraction nor meaning. As suggested in an earlier chapter, this is a message which members of the textual community at this time would have found congenial and pertinent. Beowulf ultimately resists unproblematic interpretation, but the people in Beowulf are presented as normally uncritical of the values of heroic society. Even Hildeburh, the poem's most pathetic victim, is not shown as repudiating these values. She does not depart from the role of dutiful noblewoman, represented also by Wealhtheow and Freawaru. Not all women in Old English poetry, however, remain so compliantly in this dutiful role. Even within Beowulf there is the unsettling figure of Thryth, alluded to above. In her earlier days, Thryth had shockingly contradicted 3

Beowulf, lines 1940-1: 'Such is not for a lady to practise, even though she may be peerless.' In my discussion of this queen, below, I adopt the name Thryth for convenience, without going into the fraught question of what the correct reading of line 1931b (MS mod prypo wag) should be. On this half-line, see Wrenn and Bolton, Beowulf, p. 168. On the figure of Thryth, see N. E. Eliason, 'The "Thryth-Offa Digression" in Beowulf', in Franciplegius: Medieval and Linguistic Studies in Honor of Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr., ed. J. B. Bessinger and R. P. Creed (New York, 1965), pp. 124—36 (Eliason argues that the name is a figment and that 'Thryth' is really the same person as Hygd); Chance, Woman as Hero in Old English Literature, pp. 105-6; and, esp., Overing, Language, Sign, and Gender in Beowulf pp. 101-7.

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the accepted codes of female behaviour. Apparently, she had taken it as an insult for any man to dare to look at her and would have such a man put to death. 4 Her imperious behaviour is presented as an example of terrible wickedness — 'firen ondrysne'5 — in a woman, but the narrator recounts in her favour that she eventually settled down obediently, reintegrated into patriarchal society, living virtuously as the queen of the great hero Offa.6 Gillian Overing writes that in the prevailing symbolic order of Beowulf Thryth 'causes a temporary shudder of discomfort, followed by a generalized sigh of relief that the disorder she threatens has been contained and that things are once more under the masculine economy'.7 Thryth is also a particularly threatening figure in that (unlike even Grendel's mother) she cannot be rationalized as a female acting out of a familial motivation. As Overing puts it again, 'Her display of violence and her use of power are self-generated.' In the patriarchal heroic world it is in the attitudes and actions of women, like the young Thryth and others, that the values of the hall lose the position of all-embracing supremacy which we have seen them as having in most of the poems mentioned so far. Few such responses have survived in Old English poetry, but what few there are provide evidence of values alternative to and indeed in direct conflict with those of the hall. PRESENTATIONS OF WOMEN AND COMMUNITY

It is in the presentation of women that complication most noticeably enters the social framework of secular Old English poetry. While no rival system of values is elaborated in secular poetry, we can nonetheless observe women living lives which consciously diverge from that of the 'prescribed model' of hall society in a way which does not happen with men: among men only cowards and traitors are commonly seen as going against the prescribed model in secular poetry. Exiles long for reintegration. The 'Wulf' figure in Wulf and Eadwacer may be an exception in this respect, but the thoughts of this figure are not explored in the poem, in contrast to those of the female speaker: we see Wulf from the outside and have no reason to assume that he rejects the values of heroic society. For certain women in Old English poetry, however, the guiding principles of their 4

See Beowulf, lines 1931-43.

5

Line 1932.

Overing, Language, Sign, and Gender in Beowulf, p. 103. 106

6

Lines 1944-62. Ibid., p. 105.


lives are something quite different from those of heroic society. Some female figures in Old English poetry are portrayed as impelled by love rather than by the requirements of society.9 Women who conform to the prescribed model are given an honoured place in the community and can act as major influences upon it. Wealhtheow, Hrothgar's queen in Beowulf, is the great example of the ideal queen in Old English poetry, fulfilling the role epitomized in the prescriptive lines of Maxims I. In Beowulf, too, Hygd, the 'reformed' Thryth and Freawaru are women dutifully carrying out their allotted roles, as indeed is Hildeburh, though her reward for this is grief and desolation. In Widsith, Ealhhild, 'goldhrodene cwen',11 resembles Wealhtheow in her power, in that she is shown independently dispensing gifts.12 It is said that praise for Ealhhild 'extended through many lands': 'hyre lof lengde geond londa fela'. Even for women as esteemed as Wealhtheow and Ealhhild, however, and for Hygelac's splendid queen, Hygd, the social reality is one of subservience to male leadership. The extent of the sphere of power of the noblewoman in the heroic world is excellently summed up by Joyce Hill: 'Women act or are acted upon within their blood or marriage family, and while this domestic focus is in no way demeaning, since family, dynasty, and rule are not separable, they are undeniably limited in their sphere of activity, operating through and 9

10

11 13

With the possible exception of the unemotional-sounding The Husband's Message, Old English literature does not present examples of love poetry from the point of view of male speakers. In a carefully worded invitation, the speaker in The Husband's Message presents the woman addressee with the possibility of reintegration into society, by his side. It is in Old Norse literature that we find Germanic love poems uttered by male speakers. It has been pointed out, however, that these love poems, mansongar, are typically about female slaves and that liaisons between men and female slaves were not seen as threatening to social order, being of very common occurrence. See J. Jochens, 'From Libel to Lament: Male Manifestations of Love in Old Norse', in From Sagas to Society, ed. Palsson, pp. 247-64; and R. M. Karras, 'Servitude and Sexuality in Medieval Iceland', ibid., pp. 289-304. Maxims I, lines 88-92. This passage, quoted above (p. 39), refers to the lady as greeting her lord and offering him the cup and as giving him advice, since they both rule the hall together. On Wealhtheow, see the references above, p. 65, n. 34. The role of women in hall society is also discussed by L. M. Sklute, ' "FreoSuwebbe" in Old English Poetry', NM 71 (1970), 534-41, and P. Belanoff, 'The Fall(?) of the Old English Female Poetic Image', PMLA 104 (1989), 822-31. 12 Widsith, line 102: 'gold-adorned queen'. Widsith, lines 97 and 102. Widsith, line 99-

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on behalf of the royal men, whose power is initially won and then sustained on the battlefield'.14 As Hill points out, even Wealhtheow, Hygd and Ealhhild are made vulnerable through marriage agreements and 'are thus drawn into the stereotypical pattern as potential victims'. Such is the situation with regard to women which is endorsed by heroic tradition and reflected in the female characters which populate the poetry. The perspective of this poetry is essentially a male one, although it can show great sympathy and understanding of the woman's situation — without, however, being able to suggest a remedy to her sorrows. There appears to be a kind of inevitability to the suffering of women in the secular tradition. Although women appear in secular poetry in three main representations — as ides geomoru, 'sad lady', as gracious noblewoman and as mother — all three representations have the potential of merging into that of the ides geomoru, of being drawn into 'the stereotypical pattern' as described by Joyce Hill. Hildeburh in Beowulf embodies all three types; so, in a startlingly inverted manner, does Grendel's mother. Hildeburh, the female figure in the Finnsburh lay in Beowulf is presented entirely 'from the outside'. Her words are not heard nor are her emotions directly described. Her only actions are the public gestural actions of the grieving woman: Het 5a Hildeburh aet Hnaefes ade hire selfre sunu sweoloSe befaestan, banfatu baernan ond on bael don eame on eaxle. Ides gnornode, geomrode giddum.16 In her marriage to Finn in the first place Hildeburh had been an instrument of diplomacy and she is a bystander at the catastrophic events which shatter her life in the climax of the Finnsburh story. She has no part in the talks between the two feuding sides outlined in the lay, and the subsequent action of the story is entirely the action of the male warriors, particularly of Hengest. Similarly, the private thoughts which are portrayed are those of Hengest, brooding and resentful at the ignominy inflicted on the Danes. 14 16

15 Hill, ' "Paet waes geomoru ides!" ', p. 240. Ibid., p. 242. Beowulf, lines 1114-18: 'Then Hildeburh commanded her own son to be committed to the flames on Hnaef's pyre, the body to be burned and placed on the fire shoulder to shoulder with his uncle. The woman mourned, chanted a dirge.' On Hildeburh, see Overing, Language, Sign, and Gender in Beowulf, pp. 81-8.

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And yet it is the silent figure of Hildeburh that dominates the narrative of the episode and decisively colours the impression it makes upon the audience. The Finnsburh story within the heroic framework is a story celebrating Danish glory and pride, an appropriate tale to tell at the time of victory over Grendel. But, as several critics have observed, the sense of triumph must have for the audience a certain hollowness and unease about it. 7 This hollowness and unease is caused by the figure of Hildeburh, who is caught between both sides in the feud. Hildeburh is mentioned at the very beginning of the lay, where it is stated that 'guiltless' — 'unsynnum' 18 — she was deprived of her son and her brother in the feud with her husband's tribe. Before her very eyes there takes place the slaughter of these dear kinsmen: 5a heo under swegle mor{)orbealo maga, worolde wynne.19

geseon meahte J)aer heo aer maeste heold

Hildeburh is mentioned again at the mid-point of the lay, where the account of her overseeing of the cremation of her dead kinsmen, quoted above, brings the focus back from the inter-tribal truce negotiations to the stark grief of bereavement. And it is with an image of Hildeburh, carried back in triumph to her own people after the the killing of her husband, that the lay ends: Hie on saelade drihtlice wif to Denum feredon, laeddon to leodum.

18 19

20 21

Note, for example, the accounts of the episode by Irving, A Reading of Beowulf, pp. 133—7 and 169—75; and Shippey, Old English Verse, pp. 21—4. For a different view, see Hill, The Cultural World in Beowulf pp. 26—7. Hill argues that Hildeburh is more active in seeking revenge for her son and brother than critics have allowed; while not disagreeing with the view of Hildeburh as a sorrowing woman (see p. 26), he declares that at the end of the story 'she may now feel some relief as her consanguineal affections and legal worth remain with her father's family' {ibid.). Beowulf line 1072. Beowulf lines 1078-80: 'She could see beneath the heavens the violent slaughter of kinsmen, where earlier she possessed the greatest of earthly joy.' Lines 1114-18. Lines 1157-9: 'With a sea-voyage they carried the noble woman away to the Danes, led her to her people.'

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Here Hildeburh is presented as a trophy and symbol rather than as a person, as is highlighted by the fact that her personal name is not used. In all of this, however, there is no sense of questioning of principles by the people in the story. The lay's final image of Hildeburh is a disturbing one, but reference to her feelings is studiously avoided. She continues to be passive and decorous, representing sorrow but not resentment. It is notable too that Wealhtheow, who is mentioned immediately after the lay, shows no sign of being perturbed by Hildeburh's tragedy but remains completely identified with the role of the ideal queen, the role which Hildeburh also filled. The only explanation offered in the lay in response to Hildeburh's tragic experience is that it is due to the decree of fate — 'meotodsceaft'.2 The syntax of the relevant clause suggests that this is the view of the lay-narrator and of Hildeburh alike: Nalles holinga Hoces dohtor meotodsceaft bemearn. The Beowulf-poet's handling of the whole episode in its larger context, however, and particularly of Hildeburh, is such as to bring out the enormity of the sufferings of the casualties of the heroic code. Although Hengest has received the major emphasis in most critical discussions of the Finnsburh episode, it is surely the image of Hildeburh which remains foremost in the mind when the passage is considered. In the treatment of Grendel's mother, Beowulf richly exploits another type of representation of women, that of the woman as mother. There is no need to prolong discussion of Grendel's mother as mother, since this topic has recently been excellently examined by Jane Chance. It is worth noting, however, that the theme of motherhood is one which is widely treated in Germanic literature and that Beowulf draws upon traditional associations of this theme. Some of the most affective lines in Old English poetry are on the tribulations of motherhood. The Fortunes of Men

23

See also 'ond seo cwen numen' (line 1153), 'and the queen captured'. On 'nameless' women in Beowulf, see Overing, Language, Sign, and Gender in Beowulf, p. 7324 Lines 1162-3. Line 1077. Lines 1076—7: 'Not without cause did the daughter of Hoc lament the decree of fate.' J. Chance, 'The Structural Unity of Beowulf the Problem of Grendel's Mother', in New Readings on Women in Old English Literature, ed. Damico and Hennessey Olsen, pp. 248— 61; see also Chance, Woman as Hero in Old English Literature, pp. 95-108.

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comments on the sorrow of a mother at the loss of her son but observes that no one has control over such things: hinsif) {)onne moder bimurneQ. Ne bi5 swylc monnes geweald!27 The poem as a whole, however, goes on to focus on what happens to men in life and does not return to the mother, who can only act as spectator. A longer passage in Solomon and Saturn develops a similar 'fortunes of men' theme but interestingly maintains the maternal perspective throughout. The message of this longer passage is not that people have no control over what the world has in store for them but that a mother has no control over what the world has in store for her child, a decisive change of emphasis from that of The Fortunes of Men. In its reply to Saturn's question about the differing fortunes that even twins experience in life, this passage, spoken by Solomon, goes off at something of a tangent in highlighting the feelings of a mother. In doing so, however, the passage adds a poignant emotional aspect to the familiar Old English theme of the fortunes of men. Solomon's account of the anxieties of the mother, who is, as in The Fortunes of Men, a spectator, passive and powerless, is worth quoting in full: Modor ne raedeS, 5onne heo magan cenneS, hu him weorSe geond woruld widsi8 sceapen. Oft heo to bealwe beam afede5, seolfre to sorge, si55an dreogeS his earfo5u orlegstunde. Heo 6aes afran sceall oft and gelome grimme greotan, Sonne he geong faereS, hafaS wilde mod, werige heortan, sefan sorgfullne, slideS geneahhe, werig, wilna leas, wuldres bedaeled, hwilum higegeomor healle weardaS, Ieofa5 leodum feor; Ioca6 geneahhe fram 8am unlaedan agen hlaford. ForSan nah seo modor geweald, 5onne heo magan cenneS, bearnes blaedes, ac sceall on gebyrd faran an aefter anum; 5aet is eald gesceaft. 27

The Fortunes of Men, lines 13-14: 'Then his mother will mourn his going hence. Such t h i n g s are not a man's to control.'

28

Solomon and Saturn, lines 3 7 2 - 8 7 : ' W h e n she bears a son, a m o t h e r has no control over how his long journey t h r o u g h the world may have been destined. She will often b r i n g

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Solomon and Saturn sets out to express transcendental rather than secular wisdom, but the world portrayed in this passage is clearly based on that of the secular poetic tradition with its ideals and its demands. As well as ideals and demands, however, we find here a keen perception of the anxieties and personal unhappinesses which real people might have in subscribing to such social principles: the passage does not limit itself to a description of the idealized world of heroic poetry with its behavioural absolutes, but it expresses also an awareness of personal failure and insecurity in society. The awareness which the passage expresses is ultimately that of 'Solomon' but the more immediate perspective, highlighted by the repeated phrase donne heo magan cenned,29 is that of the mother watching her child's progress in the world. Solomon's perspective encompasses that of the mother as well and allows the detached wisdom with which the passage ends: 'that is the old way of the world' — '5set is eald gesceaft'. As in The Fortunes of Men, the sorrow of a mother is seen with gnomic resignation as part of the nature of things. This also recalls the sense of acceptance with which the sufferings of Hildeburh, brought about by the meotodsceaft, 'decree of fate', are related by the lay-narrator in Beowulf

The ides geomoru, though a familiar and distressing figure of the Germanic heroic world, does not necessarily complicate or challenge this world's view of itself, at least as long as the woman maintains the kind of accepting and passive disposition that is apparent in Hildeburh's response to personal tragedy. Some women in Old English literature are not so accepting, however, though as a consequence they must abandon the circumscribed role which society grants them. We have seen that women fulfil a supportive function in heroic society — providing wise advice, serving the lord and his retainers at the feast, engaging in the giving of gifts — but in order to act on an individual or personal level, as they are

29

up her child to disaster, and, to her own sorrow, will then have to bear his hardships and his fatal hour. Time and again she will have to weep bitterly for her son, when he is going round as a young man, with a wild spirit, a wicked heart, and a sad mind. Often he goes astray, he is wretched, has nothing as he wants it. Sometimes depressed he keeps to his house, lives far away from other people; his only lord often turns his face away from this miserable man. So, when she bears a son, the mother has no control over her child's prosperity, but one thing must follow another in order; that is the old way of the world' (trans. Shippey, Poems of Wisdom and Learning in Old English, p. 97). Solomon and Saturn, lines 372 and 385: 'when she bears a child'.

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sometimes impelled to do particularly in matters of love, women are forced to go outside the prescribed social code and to endure the burden of secrecy or of castigation. It has been said that Arcestrate in Apollonius of Tyre (translated into Old English in the eleventh century) is 'the first woman in Old English literature to fall in love'.30 But the theme of love is not lacking in Old English poetry. Maxims II presents a woman who pursues her own ends in love by secret means — 'dyrne craefte' — wishing to counteract what society has ordained for her: Ides sceal dyrne craefte faemne hire freond gesecean gif heo nelle on folce gej)eon {>aet hi man beagum gebicge.32 Audrey Meaney offers two alternative interpretations of this tantalizing passage: 'A lady, a young woman, must seek out for herself a lover by means of magic, so that she may be married, if she is not of good reputation among the people', and 'A lady, a young woman, must seek out for herself a lover by secret means, if she does not wish to bring it about among the people that she should be married.' 33 Other translations have been proposed as well. In either of Meaney's translations or in other possible alternatives, however, we observe this woman acting outside the accepted bounds of the dominant society. The Maxims //-poet's inclusion of this passage indicates that such behaviour would not have been 30

31 33

3

A. R. Riedinger, 'The Englishing of Arcestrate: W o m a n in Apollonius of Tyre, in New Readings on Women in Old English Literature, ed. Damico and Hennessey Olsen, pp. 292— 306. 32 Maxims 11, line 43. Lines 4 3 - 5 . Meaney, 'The Ides of the Cotton Gnomic Poem', pp. 30-1 (New Readings on Women in Old English Literature, ed. Damico and Hennessey Olsen, p. 165). E. V. K. Dobbie's note in ASPR VI covers a range of suggested interpretations: Dobbie writes, 'Perhaps the intention is: "A woman must conduct secret intrigues if she does not wish to be sought in marriage", with reference to marriage by purchase, and intended ironically, "A woman will not be married if she has had secret intrigues with a lover." Crawford (MLR 19 [1924], 107) follows this interpretation. Williams [ed., Gnomic Poetry in Anglo-Saxon (New York, 1914)], p. 150, suggests wille for nelle, "The woman shall by secret craft seek her friend, if she would . . . be bought with rings", evidently taking dyrne cr&fte as meaning "by sorcery". Mawer's suggestion (quoted by Crawford), "A woman will find a lover by sorcery, if she does not succeed in getting married", does too much violence to the text, especially to the verb nelle (p. 176).

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unknown to an Anglo-Saxon audience, but the probable critical overtones of dyrne crcefte express this poet's disapproval of it. The poet of the Exeter Book poem Maxims I is exercised by the subject of the reputation of women. Women, it is asserted, are often defamed — 'oft hy mon wommum bilih5' — and the poet implies that they must be above suspicion. While some women remain faithful to their husbands, others are fyrwetgeornra — 'more inquisitive, more daring' (?) — and turn to strange men when their husbands are away. Maxims I shows a high regard for women in their proper place, which is symbolized by their embroidery 8 and by other appropriate activities, but it also evinces an element of unease concerning the degree to which some women accept their proper place. The poem is particularly concerned about chastity in women, and as such it treats a theme which not only was of great importance to Christian moralists but was also a major buttress of early Germanic society. As early as Tacitus, the high value which the Germanic tribes afforded to wifely chastity was commented upon. ° In violations of chastity the stability and structure of tribal society are put in doubt. The poet of Maxims I suggests an element of unease at the anti-social aspect of dyrne crceft. Such unease might also find confirmation in the reading of other poems in the Exeter Book. WULF AND EADWACER AND THE WIFE'S LAMENT

In Wulf and Eadwacer the voice of a woman is heard directly, a rarity in Old English poetry. In this poem we find a female speaker whose guiding values are not identified with those of the woman's accepted role in society. This speaker is one whose whole existence appears to be dominated by the feelings of love which she has for an absent man. The mode of expression of Wulf and Eadwacer is so allusive and cryptic that the poem defies precise interpretation but the overwhelming emotion of this poem is powerfully evident. Wulf and Eadwacer illustrates strikingly the conflict between prescribed social norms and the impulsion of personal emotion, a 35

36 39 40

See Meaney, ' T h e Ides of the Cotton G n o m i c Poem', p p . 2 7 - 8 (New Readings on Women in Old English Literature, ed. Damico and Hennessey Olsen, p p . 1 6 2 - 4 ) . 37 38 Maxims /, lines 6 4 and 100. Line 1 0 1 . Line 6 3 . See lines 84-92 and 9 8 - 9 . Meaney, 'The Ides of the Cotton Gnomic Poem', pp. 34-5 (New Readings on Women in Old English Literature, ed. Damico and Hennessey Olsen, pp. 168—9).

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recurrent theme throughout literature, though one not generally associated with Old English. Wulf evidently has his existence outside society (as noted above, what his thoughts are concerning his situation we do not know), and the speaker in her longing for Wulf also sets herself apart from society, which appears in this poem as threatening: 'Sindon waelreowe weras {)aer on ige.' l The conflicting relationships of Wulf and Eadwacer are highlighted by the application of the possessive adjective min, 'my', to the speaker's people in the opening line and, as the poem approaches its climax, to the absent Wulf. 2 Wulf can visit the woman only infrequently and secretly. The relationship with Wulf may or may not be adulterous but it is certainly one carried on at odds with the expectations of society. Here is a woman who does not unquestioningly accept her proper place. The poets of Maxims I and Maxims II, as indeed many of their readers in the late Anglo-Saxon textual community, would be unlikely to have approved. The relationship which Wulf and Eadwacer seems to portray is one which can be carried on only through secrecy, just as the woman in Maxims II was obliged to use secrecy — dyrne crcefte — for her personal purposes. In the heroic world secrecy and duplicity are normally viewed with the greatest disapprobation. They are the methods of the traitor. The hero is open and ingenuous, sometimes to the point of foolhardiness, and the Germanic heroic ideal has little tolerance for deception. Significantly, the deception perpetrated by St Juliana in the Latin version of her life is eliminated in the version in Old English poetry.43 But, generally speaking, women can act outside their prescribed roles in the heroic world only by practising a degree of deception, and this is not always disapproved of by the dominant culture. The Old Testament Judith was a character whom the Anglo-Saxons found attractive and interesting, and yet the story of Judith is paradoxically a celebration of a central act of deception. Judith is a woman who deceives in a good cause and in a sense a special dispensation can be made. Êlfric is among those exercised by the question of Judith's 41 42 43

Wulf and Eadwacer, line 6: 'There are cruel men there on the island.' Lines 9 (transferred epithet) and 13. A. Hennessey Olsen, 'Cynewulf 's Autonomous Women: a Reconsideration of Elene and Juliana', in New Readings on Women in Old English Literature, ed. Damico and Hennessey

Olsen, pp. 222-32, at 228. Onjuliana, see further below, pp. 170-3. 115


deception. The transvestite saints Eugenia and Euphrosyne practise another kind of deception in a good cause. 5 In the related Old Norse poetic tradition, GuSnin is stimulated by high principles of familial motivation in her duplicitous destruction of her husband Atli, though in the case of Gu5nin and other Old Norse female figures46 duplicity is carried to the point of monstrosity. These powerful women are ruthless, implacable and clever, and are sometimes assisted by magic. Women's subordination to men is bitterly recognized by GuSrun in Atlamdl: 'Kostom drepr kvenna karla ofriki.' 7 At the end of GuxSrunarhvqt {The Incitement of Gudrun], the heroine universalizes her own tragic experience in a recognition of the sorrow of women in the heroic world: 'snotom Qllom sorg at minni'. The ideal scene which GuSrun looks back on at the culmination of her grief is not one of communal fulfilment but of her and SigurSr together in bed: '{)a er vit a be5 bae3i satom'. 49 Like the speaker in the Old English The Wife's Lament, Gu5run here embraces the private sphere, even though this formidable woman appears to be impelled throughout the Atli poems by the social principle of kin vengeance. Underlying her kin role, however, is the tragedy of Gu5run's yElfric, Homily on Judith,

ed. Assmann, Angelsdchsische Homilien und Heiligenleben, pp.

102-16. /Elfric manages to argue that in carrying the head of Holofernes back to Bethulia Judith strictly fulfilled her promise to him that she would bring him inside the city: Iudith behet aerest t>am welhreowum ealdormen, t>aet heo wolde hine gebringan binnan to hire folce. Ac hit naes na ealles leas, t>aet {)ast heo him behet, J)a \>a. heo baer his heafod binnan J)aem weallum and |)am folce aeteowde, hu hire fylste god. 45 46

47

(lines 418-22)

/Elfric's Lives of Saints, ed. and trans. Skeat I, 2 4 - 5 1 (Eugenia); II, 334-55 (Euphrosyne). In the Volsung cycle, note also the stories of Signy (chs. 6-8) and Brynhildr (chs. 31-2); in The Saga of the Volsungs, ed. and trans. Finch, pp. 8 - 1 4 and 5 3 - 6 0 . Atlamdl, stanza 70, lines 1-2 (ed. Neckel-Kuhn): 'Women's choice is killed by the greater power of men' (trans. Dronke, The Poetic Edda, p . 91). Judith Jesch's recent analysis of the presentation of women in eddic poetry shows them as living under male dominance. 'On the other hand', writes Jesch, 'they could exercise power if they had wisdom or strength of character, and there was an admiration for women who could behave like men' (Women in the Viking Age, p . 148). Gu&runarhvQt, stanza 22, lines 3—4 (ed. Neckel—Kuhn): 'for all women may their sorrow be less' (trans. Dronke, The Poetic Edda, p. 150). Gu6runarhvQt, stanza 20, lines 3-4: 'when in bed we lay together' (trans. Dronke, The Poetic Edda, p . 150).

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loss of Sigur5r. It is her experience of this in the first place which moves her beyond society. In surviving Old English secular poetry the only females who act openly outside the traditional female role are Grendel's mother and Thryth. Other women adopt less direct means. In their practice of secrecy and deception women run counter to the 'official' tenets of the society but they are enabled to carry out personal aims and acts which would not otherwise be possible. In poetic texts preserved in late AngloSaxon England, the otherness of women is seen as having the capacity to save society, as in the case of Judith, or to threaten it, as in the case of secret lovers.50 The only other Old English poem with a woman as speaker is The Wife's Lament, a poem which shows a woman completely alienated from the heroic world. The speaker in The Wife's Lament is no longer a participant in the heroic world: in her misery she is like Hildeburh, but without the resignation and decorum. The desired image which the speaker in The Wife's Lament puts forward in her loneliness is not one of integration into society but of private love between two people. In The Husband's Message the ideal state envisaged by the 'husband' is a social one, of lord and lady acting together in the hall: [f>aet git] aetsomne secgum ond gesijmm naeglede beagas.

si{>l>an motan s[inc brytnian],

Instead of this social scene, the woman in The Wife's Lament imagines lovers lying together in bed: Frynd sind on eorj)an, leofe lifgende leger weardiaS. The Wife's Lament is full of the language of the comitatus and of the 50

For discussion of such attitudes in Anglo-Saxon England, see Meyer, 'Early A n g l o Saxon Penitentials a n d t h e Position of W o m e n ' . J u d i t h Jesch notes a similar unease concerning w o m e n in t h e O l d Norse tradition. W r i t i n g of Norse mythology a n d eddic poetry, she observes t h a t 'female figures could also be feared for their sexuality' {Women in the Viking Age, p. 148).

51

The Husband's Message, lines 3 3 - 5 (text from Leslie, Three Old English Elegies, p. 50):

32

The Wife's Lament, lines 33-4: 'There are lovers on earth, dear ones living who occupy

'that you two afterwards might distribute treasure to warriors, studded rings'. their beds.'

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heroic world. The husband is referred to in terms of lordship,33 and marriage, it appears, in terms of the service of a retainer; the speaker presents herself as the archetypal exile in a friendless land, and in the closing lines of the poem she imagines the man too as alone in the harshness of nature: both are cut off from society. The wife, however, looks to no salvation through heroic society and the poem ends in bleakness and indeed bitterness: Wa bi5 t>am Ipe sceal oflangoê leofes abidan. The absence of feminine grammatical gender here suggests that the sentiment is seen as applying to the man as well, and indeed to be of general gnomic application. Though this closing statement has gnomic overtones, however, there is no sense of resignation in it. The concluding section of the poem is introduced by a formal gnomic passage: A scyle geong mon wesan geomormod, heard heortan gef>oht, swylce habban sceal blif>e gebaero, eac Ipon breostceare, sinsorgna gedreag. This passage and the syntactically unclear lines which immediately follow it have been much discussed and there is no unanimous view among critics as to how they fit into the poem overall.57 The quoted passage, however, 'outlining conduct which a man should display',58 strikingly recalls the speaker's description of her own man earlier in the poem. In particular, he too had been hygegeomorne, 'sober-minded',59 and blipe gebcero, 'of cheerful disposition',60 and the other facets of his personality can be seen as corresponding to the breostceare, 'breast-care', referred to in the gnomic passage. The wife in her vulnerability appears to have known little of what was going on in the man's mind — 'mod 53

57 58 60

54 Lines 6, 15 etc. 'Folgaft secan', line 9: 'to seek service'. Lines 52—3: ' W o e it is to the one w h o must in longing wait for a loved one.' Lines 42—5: 'A young m a n must always be sober-minded, steadfast the thought of his heart; likewise he must have a cheerful disposition, as well as sorrow in his breast, a m u l t i t u d e of cares.' See Klinck, The Old English Elegies, p p . 1 8 5 - 6 . 59 Leslie, Three Old English Elegies, p. 57. The Wife's Lament, line 19. Line 21.

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mit>endne' — but this too is in accordance with the stoic selfcontainment which a geong mon is encouraged to possess. The wife's lord' — 'hlaford' — can be seen in his conduct as an exemplary Germanic nobleman, fulfilling the trials laid upon him by the heroic world with its feuding and enmity. As a result, however, the wife becomes another casualty of this world (as indeed she perceives the husband too to have become). Thus an ironic hopelessness can be discerned in the speaker's recitation of the axioms of manly conduct. This very code has brought her to her present misery. The Wife's Lament, though it exploits the language of the heroic tradition, speaks from a perspective antithetical to that tradition. It presents a woman speaker who is not a stereotype existing in the patriarchal world of the hall but who represents a different scale of values co-existing with those of heroism and based on the life of personal emotions rather than on the ideal of the ordered society. In Old English poetry the significance of the hall is transformed, therefore, not only in the religious poems discussed in the previous chapter but also, in a different way, in these poems which embrace a personal rather than a communal ideal. Reference to a one- (or two-) 63 line riddle in the Exeter Book may serve to round off our discussion in the present chapter, and also to inject another possible element of contradiction into this discussion. The riddle can be read as presenting the traditional picture of the sorrowing woman, the ides geomoru: 'Ic ane geseah idese sittan.' It is likely, however, that this is not the only way it was understood by readers of the Exeter Book. Just above this riddle in the manuscript someone has written in runes 'HLND'. Polite scholars have read this as Hcelend, 'Saviour', thus producing a devotional image; but it is also perfectly possible (especially given the indelicate humour evident elsewhere in the Riddles) to read it as 61

Line 2 0 : 'concealing his m i n d ' .

62

H e l e n B e n n e t t c o m m e n t s , w i t h reference to Wulf and Eadwacer and The Wife's

Lament,

that ' t h e speakers portray a history of ambivalent relations w i t h their societies a n d their mates, expressed in personal, emotional terms, transcending social ritual' ('Exile a n d t h e Semiosis of G e n d e r in O l d English Elegies', p . 4 5 ) . See also P . A. Belanoff, ' W o m e n ' s Songs, Women's Language: Wulf and Eadwacer and The Wife's Lament', in New Readings on Women in Old English Literature, ed. Damico and Hennessey Olsen, pp. 193-203. See B. Muir, The Exeter Anthology of Old English Poetry: an Edition of Exeter Dean and Chapter MS 3501, 2 vols. (Exeter, 1994) II, 669-70. Riddle 76: 'I saw a lady sitting alone.'

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hland, 'urine'. 65 This interpretation immediately contradicts any sense of dignity that the image may have. Such an interpretation may indicate that the English comic tradition of vulgarity is very old indeed; it may also indicate another aspect of the unease about women we have discerned in some poetic texts known in the late Anglo-Saxon textual community. 65

See C. Williamson, The Old English Riddles of the Exeter Book (Chapel Hill, NC, 1977), pp. 352-5. Another suggested 'low' solution for this riddle is hen (W. S. Mackie, The Exeter Book. Part II: Poems IX-XXXII, EETS os 194 (London, 1934), 242).

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The mythic landscape of Beowulf, sea, stronghold and wilderness

As with the treatment of the hall in particular, that of place and setting in general in Beowulf has enough in common with what we find elsewhere in Old English poetry for us to regard the poem as working within a shared tradition, though extending this tradition in a purposeful way and also bringing other influences to bear. Beowulf shares with other Old English poems, notably the Exeter Book lyrics, an approach to place and setting which exploits their affective and expressionistic significance. No other Old English poem, however, develops the awareness of setting to the degree that is apparent in Beowulf The present chapter will examine the presentation of the types of place and setting which are of major importance in Beowulf — sea, stronghold and wilderness — and will consider the poem's treatment of these in the context of an awareness of the function of place and setting in the wider tradition of early Germanic literature. Such a context serves to suggest on the one hand the community of tradition in which Beowulf has its existence, but on the other the evident distinctiveness of this poem. It is clear that the general approach to setting in Beowulf is highly selfconscious and considered. There is even evidence of the influence of classical models in some aspects of the poem's treatment of landscape. PLACE AND SETTING IN GERMANIC TRADITION

Apart from Beowulf extant Old English secular narrative poetry shows little concern with place and setting. The existing corpus of Old English secular narrative poetry is very small, of course, and had a greater number of poems survived, or fuller texts of the fragments which do survive, we would have a more reliable context for assessing the particular achievement 121


ofBeowulf in the respect of landscape and setting as in other respects. We do not know to what extent Waldere, for example (of which just over sixty lines survive), described the natural location of the hero's defence against Guthhere and his men; we do not know whether The Fight at Finnsburh (of which less than fifty lines survive) had anything to say about the journey of the Danes or about the setting of Finn's hall. Christian narrative poems like Andreas and Exodus show evidence of the inheritance of traditional landscape and seascape themes, and such themes are reflected in non-narrative poetry as well: The Husbands Message is similar to Beowulf in presenting the sea as an essential means of communication and travel, offering the hope of liberation as well as the pain of separation; and traditional ideas about moors, forests and fens are expressed in Maxims II. As mentioned above, Old English poets typically exploit setting to express mood. Such ideas happen not to be emphasized in the heroic poems themselves, however, whether in the poems set in the heroic age, The Fight at Finnsburh, Waldere and Widsith, or in the late battle poems, The Battle of Brunanburh and The Battle of Maldon. In the secular narrative tradition it is clear that the hall stands at the centre of the heroic world and is the key symbol for the social ideals of this world, but the wider landscape of the heroic world is not brought into focus in them in the same way that the hall itself is. The Battle of Brunanburh has nothing about location: there is not even a clue in the poem as to where the site of the real battle celebrated in it might have been. A few place-names are mentioned — Difelin, 'Dublin', Iralandy Ireland' etc. 1 — but the main references to the physical world in The Battle of Brunanburh consist of purely formulaic expressions for the sea over which the enemies of the West Saxons have to flee. In The Battle of Maldon the starkness of the presentation of setting is one of the most striking features of the poem. Although, unlike the Brunanburhpoet, the Maldon-poet gives a close and detailed account of the fight, the interest in location in this poem is never more than incidental: it is evident from the narrative that there is a river flowing into the sea at the site and that there is a strategic causeway. But description of the scene is confined to two highly emotive phrases, ofer scir water* and ofer cald 1 2

3

The Battle of Brunanburh, lines 55 and 56. See lines 26, 35-6, 55 and 71; cf. the catalogue of formulas for the sea in The Death of Edgar, lines 25-8. The Battle of Maldon, line 98: 'over the shining water'.

122

The mythic landscape of Beowulf water, which have no peculiar relevance to this stretch of coast.5 In presenting the conflict commemorated in the poem as a classic heroic battle it is not to the poet's purpose to describe the particular setting at Maldon: the presentation of the battle is essentially traditional and bases itself upon a concept of the Germanic heroic background shared between poet and audience. This background is also reflected in the Old Norse tradition, though here there is even less explicit evocation of it than in a poem like The Battle of Maldon. In the highly charged world of Old Norse heroic poetry, interest is firmly centred in the foreground and on the dramatic moment, with action being expressed through dialogue and elliptic narrative. As in the Old English tradition, the focus of the Old Norse heroic world is the hall. The physical world outside the hall makes no appearance at all in the majority of Old Norse heroic poems. This is in marked contrast to what we find in the Icelandic sagas, in which landscape and setting are often minutely observed. Old Norse heroic poetry sometimes includes affective natural details, 7 but on the rare occasions on which the outside world figures in this poetry it is typically in the context of travel from the hall of one tribe to that of another. Travellers may have to row across the sea or make their way through the great forest of Mirkwood. There are vigorous descriptions of rowing over the sea in Helgakvida Hundingsbana in fyrri [The First Lay of Helgi]8 and in Atlamdl? Mirkwood has suggestions in Atlakvida of being a 4

7

9

Line 91: 'over the cold water'. On the Maldon phrases, see Fletcher, 'Cald water, Scir water', a Note on Lines 91 and 98 of The Battle of Maldon . Writing of the 'Sagas of Icelanders', Hermann Palsson notes, 'Place names and other topographical details abound, and the genuineness of the setting contributes to the illusion that the story itself must deal with real events' {Hrafnkel's Saga and Other Stories (Harmondsworth, 1971), p. 9)- In contrast to the poems discussed in the present chapter, 'Nature description for the purpose of creating a mood is almost completely lacking in the Sagas of Icelanders. Natural phenomena are usually mentioned only to the extent that they have significance for the action: the state of the weather or of the paths or roads, the moonlight which lights up the darkness of the night, and things of that sort' (P. Hallberg, The Icelandic Saga, trans. P. Schach (Lincoln, NE, 1962), p. 71). See also P. Schach, 'The Anticipatory Literary Setting in the Old Icelandic Sagas', Scandinavian Studies 27 (1955), 1-13. See Bowra, Heroic Poetry, pp. 132-8. Stanza 27 (Old Norse poems ed. Neckel-Kuhn, unless otherwise indicated). Stanza 35.

123


place of danger and trial — 'MyrcviS inn okunna' — but even in these occurrences the primary associations of Mirkwood seem to be with its impressive breadth, suggesting the great scale of the heroic world. In Atlakvida Mirkwood is referred to as 'hris {>at it maera, er me5r MyrcviS kalla'. The variant line 'hris {>at i5 maera, es Myrkvi5r heitr' occurs in the Lay ofHlod} and Mirkwood also appears in Vglundarkvffia [The Lay of Volund] without any sense of the sinister or of danger. As well as the broad tract of Mirkwood, Atlakvida also mentions the heroes riding over Vgl algrcena' and Vgll . . . vi5rar Gnitahei6r', an image which again suggests the scale of the heroic world. In Helgakvida Hundingsbana infyrri warriors travel through 'dala dgggotta, d0cqvar hli5ir'. The heroic world of Old Norse poetry is a world of sea and land journeys over great distances. But the sea does not have the dominant significance here that is evident in the Old English tradition, particularly in Beowulf In Old Norse descriptions of sea journeys the focus of attention is on the ship and the rowing, and the sea itself is normally referred to only incidentally. THE SEA IN BEOWULF

In Beowulf however, the sea is an ever-present feature of the setting, mentioned in the opening lines, in the reference to the neighbours of the Danes living over the whale's way — 'ofer hronrade' 18 — and alluded to again at the very end, where it is stated that Beowulf's mound on the headland will be visible to sea-voyagers — 'waegliSendum' — travelling on their way. The sea exists in Beowulf as a fact of communication and of separation, and as a symbol of the unknown. It is from the sea that Scyld mysteriously comes in the first place alone over the waves — 'aenne ofer y5e' 20 — and it is to the sea that his body is committed again after his 10

12

15 1

17 18

Atlakvida, stanza 3, line 4, and stanza 13, line 4: 'the untracked Mirkwood'. Stanza 5, lines 7—8: 'that famous wood which men call Mirkwood'. Stanza 28: 'that famous wood which is called Mirkwood'. Text quoted from Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ed. G. Vigfusson and F. York Powell, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1883) I, 35. VglundarkvitSa, stanza 1, line 2, and stanza 3, line 8. Atlakvida, stanza 13, line 8: 'the green-covered plain'. Stanza 5, lines 1-2: 'the plain of broad Gnita-heath'. In contrast to earlier Old Norse heroic poems, the later Atlamdl is set on a small scale, reminiscent of Icelandic family sagas, with travel between farms. Helgakvida infyrri, stanza 47, lines 5-6: 'dew-covered valleys and dark woods'. 19 Beowulf, line 10. Line 3158.

124

The mythic landscape of Beowulf

death, as he has asked: laden with treasures his funeral-ship is cast off, 'on flodes aeht feor gewitan'. l The warriors let the sea carry him away: 'leton holm beran, | geafon on garsecg'.22 In a, perhaps parodic, repetition of this action, the body of the dragon is pushed over a cliff into the sea at the end of the poem: 'leton weg niman'. 23 Beowulf ventures into the unknown dangers of sea in his impulsive contest with Breca, battling with strange and hostile monsters there.2 But the sea in Beowulf is also the way from one land to another. It provides the means of all significant travel throughout the poem: the action of the poem takes place on the rim, as it were, of a sea which is constantly being traversed. Denmark itself stands, in the formulaic phrase, be seem tweonumy 'between the seas', its neighbouring tribes dwelling ofer hronrade. The expression be seem tweonum suggests universality, in the inclusive sense of 'in the world': in saying that ^schere was Hrothgar's dearest retainer 'be saem tweonum', 26 the poet means that he was his dearest retainer of all. But this phrase also presupposes the idea of the sea as a uniting element, 'between the seas'. It is by sea that people come and go between Denmark and Geatland in the poem and between other places: it is by sea that Hildeburh is brought back to Denmark from Finnsburh: Hie on saelade drihtlice wif to Denum feredon, laeddon to leodum. Hygelac travels to Frisia with his flotherge;28 the Geats who attack the Swedes are warriors from the sea - 'saemannum',29 'headoli5endum'.30 As noted above, the great mound erected in memory of Beowulf is on a headland looking out to sea, where it will be seen by sea-travellers going on their way:

22

Lines 4 8 - 9 : 'they let the sea bear h i m , gave h i m to the ocean'.

23

Line 3 1 3 2 : ' t h e y let the wave receive it'.

25

Lines 8 5 8 , 1 2 9 7 , 1685 and 1 9 5 6 . T h e same phrase occurs in Exodus, lines 4 4 3 and

26

Line 1 2 9 7 .

24

Lines 5 5 3 - 7 9 .

5 6 3 ; and Guthlac, lines 2 6 6 and 1 3 5 9 . Lines 1157—9: In a sea-voyage they b r o u g h t the noble w o m a n back to the Danes, carried her to her people.' Line 2 9 1 5 : ' s e a - b o r n e army'. 30

29

Line 2 9 5 4 : ' s e a - m e n ' .

Line 2 9 5 5 : 'seafaring warriors'.

125

Images of community in Old English poetry se waes heah ond brad, waegliSendum wide gesyne.31 The sea also offers protection and security, presenting a barrier to an attacking force. Beowulf's initial arrival in Denmark is carefully monitored by the coastguard. It is the duty of this guard to prevent attack from the sea: he is endesaeta, aegweard heold, j>e on land Dena ladra naenig mid scipherge sce5J>an ne meahte.32 All sea journeys can be hazardous, and Beowulf and his warriors give thanks to God that their voyage to Denmark has turned out to have been easy: gode {>ancedon J)aes {>e him y{)lade eaSe wurdon.33 The poem describes the journey of the Geats as a pleasant one on this occasion,34 but the sea is also a place of death and of fierce weather (as brought out in the description of the menacing sea ventured upon by Beowulf and Breca).35 In winter, travel is impossible because of the harshness of the sea. Thus Hengest is trapped at Finnsburh, unable to put to sea: ... ne meahte hringedstefnan; won wi5 winde, isgebinde.

on mere drifan holm storme weol, winter yf>e beleac

For the people of Beowulf'the sea is a vital highway, but it has no attraction for its own sake, and the object of the traveller is always to get to the desired place of community on land at the end of the voyage. 31

32

33 34

Lines 3 1 5 7 - 8 : 'it was high and broad, widely visible to sea-voyagers'. O n the symbolic significance of the vocabulary of sea crossing in Beowulf, see Clemoes, Interactions of Thought and Language, p p . 1 3 5 - 4 2 and 148-50. Lines 2 4 1 - 3 : 'a guardian of the frontier, who has kept watch on the shore, so that no enemies could do harm against the land of the Danes with a ship-borne force'. Lines 2 2 7 - 8 : 'they thanked God that the sea-crossing had been easy for them'. 35 Lines 2 1 7 - 2 0 . Lines 5 2 5 - 6 and 5 4 6 - 8 . Lines 1130—3: 'he could not p u t his ring-prowed ship out to sea; the sea surged in a storm, contended with the wind; winter locked the waves in bonds of ice'.

126


The theme of the sea and of the danger of the sea is taken up by other Old English poets as well. It is powerfully present in the elegies, of course, and it is reflected in the descriptions of storms at sea in Andreas and, to a lesser extent, in Juliana. The most vivid sustained account of a storm at sea in Old English poetry comes in forceful passage in Riddle 3 describing waves crashing against a cliff, while seafarers on board ship cry out at the danger: Paer bi5 hlud wudu, brimgiesta bearhtm, bida6 stille stealc stanhleofm streamgewinnes, hopgehnastes, J)onne heah gearing on cleofu crydej). ° The kind of preoccupation with the sea reflected in such passages can also be seen as underpinning the non-literal applications of sea imagery which appear in religious poetry in Old English. The idea of life as a sea journey to a desired port is a familiar one in patristic tradition, but in the light of the concern with the sea which is apparent in Beowulf and throughout Old English poetry it is understandable that this figure should be developed with particular urgency in the Anglo-Saxon vernacular tradition. The sea has no allegorical dimension in Beowulf but the world of Beowulf provides a highly relevant context for the reading of Old English religious poems in which the sea has a spiritual significance — the most notable of such poems being, perhaps, The Seafarer, Resignation and Exodus.

LANDSCAPES PLEASANT AND UNPLEASANT

Pleasant landscapes in Beowulf zit landscapes inhabited by humankind, or friendly to the purposes of humankind. The world which God fashioned in 37 38

40

41

42

Andreas, lines 3 6 9 - 8 1 and 4 3 3 - 4 5 . 39 Juliana, lines 6 7 1 - 7 . £«&/* 3 , lines 1 7 - 3 5 . Ibid., lines 2 4 - 8 : 'There the ship is loud with the shouting of the sailors, while quietly the steep crags await the strife of the water, the smashing of the waves, when their high onslaught drives against the cliffs.' Note esp. Resignation, lines 9 6 - 1 0 4 . On 'voyaging on the sea' in Old English elegies, see Gordon, The Seafarer, pp. 2 1 - 2 . Exodus combines the narrative of a literal journey over land with the imagery of a voyage by sea: see Lucas, Exodus, pp. 46—7.

127


the beginning is described in the song of creation of the scop as a 'wlitebeorhtne wang'; 43 God has adorned it with the growth of plants: ... gefraetwade foldan sceatas leomum ond leafum.44 Brightness is associated with all that is good in Beowulf and as the Geats first approach the coast of Denmark the brightness of the land (as well as the security offered by its coast) is highlighted: ... 5a liSende land gesawon, brimclifu blican, beorgas steape, side saenaessas.45 Landscape as symbolic of human prosperity and happiness, however, does not figure largely in the poem. Most landscapes described in Beowulf are hostile and threatening: humankind is surrounded by desolate moors and fens, and the symbol of its life of civilization is not 'domesticated' landscape but the hall building in the stronghold, withstanding both human enemies and the menace of the wilderness. There are none of the descriptions of wide and fertile lands seen, for example, in Genesis A (which also has the theme of the good life of agriculture in a prosperous land): 46 the Lord tells Abraham, ]?aet land gesec l>e ic aelgrene ywan wille, brad foldan.47 Brightness is associated primarily with the hall in Beowulf rather than with countryside. Heorot, the seat of the hall-joys of the Danes, stands as emblem of humankind's power and achievement in a hostile world. It shines out across the world: 'lixte se leoma ofer landa fela'. It is torht, 'bright', 49 the manifestation of civilization and of community. In the 43 44 45

46 47

8

Beowulf line 93: 'a plain beautiful to look at'. Lines 9 6 - 7 : 'he adorned the surfaces of the earth with branches and leaves'. Lines 2 2 1 - 3 : 'the sea-voyagers saw the land, the shining cliffs, the steep hills, the broad headlands'. Cf. the approach of Abraham to the cities of Egypt in Genesis A (lines 1820-2): Abraham sees the cities 'beorhte blican' (line 1822), 'shining brightly'. Genesis, lines 1559-61. Genesis, lines 1750-2: 'seek the land which I will reveal to you in its greenness, a broad region'. 9 Beowulf, line 311: 'its radiance shone out over many lands'. Line 313.

128

The mythic landscape of Beowulf compounds medostigge, 'mead-path', 50 and meodowongas, 'mead-plains',51 we see the extension of the cherished associations of the hall out into the surrounding country: the desirable qualities of this country are denned in terms of the communal life at its centre. Beyond this, in the mythic landscape of Beowulf, lies the threat of the unknown into which the hero has to venture. This idea of the threat of the natural world surrounding the brightness of the civilization and community of the hall is also notably represented in Bede's famous simile, in his Historia Ecclesiastica 11.13, of the sparrow flying through the hall. 52 The Historia Ecclesiastica begins with idealized descriptions of Britain and Ireland as places of natural abundance.53 Calvin B. Kendall has shown that in these descriptions Bede is comparing Britain and Ireland in their natural state, 'outside time', to the paradisal land of copia, 'abundance', of the pre-lapsarian world of Genesis I. In the narrative of the Historia Ecclesiastica, however, Bede shows little interest in the world of nature, in setting, topography or weather. Storms and other natural phenomena show the hand of God in the world, and references to place are necessary to the plot, but, like the hagiographical writings discussed below,55 the Historia Ecclesiastica focuses on the action of the narrative, not on setting: particular places provide 'the bare platforms on which the human drama takes place'.5 Nature is not treated atmospherically, and, as Kendall points out, 'spatial connections between places are lacking'. In the sparrow simile, Bede, exceptionally, foregrounds the contrast between nature and human society, drawing upon the associations of Germanic hall imagery. In this simile, as Kendall explains, 'the threatening image [i.e. storm and snow} is drawn from the natural world; the comforting image [i.e. warmth and brightness] from the social'. The sparrow simile accords perfectly with the imagery of the world of Beowulf and significantly the contrast between nature and human society is presented by Bede as arising from the perspective of people in the narrative 50

Line 924.

52

Ed. and trans. Colgrave and Mynors, p p . 1 8 2 - 5 .

53

HE I.I (ed. and trans. Colgrave and Mynors, p p . 1 4 - 1 7 and 1 8 - 2 1 ) .

55

See below, p p . 1 6 8 - 7 8 .

57

Ibid.

51

Line 1643-

Kendall, 'Imitation and Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica , p . 180. Kendall, 'Imitation and Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica', p . 178. 5S

Ibid, p.

179.

129


rather than as his own idea. Bede presents awareness of this contrast as a deep concern of the pre-Christian Germanic world (the kind of world also portrayed in Beowulf): the contrast is expressed in a speech by a representative of this world. In Beowulf Grendel and his mother are associated with the wilderness, the unknown and threatening world beyond the stronghold and its environs: 'wolde on heolster fleon'.59 The wilderness is a dimly made-out place of threat and of exile: ° it was to the wilderness that Cain was consigned — 'westen warode' — and the dragon which afflicts Beowulf's people lives 'on {>aere westenne*. The wilderness is conceived of in Beowulf both as fenland and as mountainous moors, these being landscapes hostile to humankind. Forests and woods, on the other hand, feature in the symbolic landscape of the poem primarily as places of escape and retreat.63 As is the case generally in Old English poetry, forests and woods do not normally have ominous overtones: the 'hrinde bearwas' and 'wynleasne wudu' 5 of Beowulf are exceptional in this respect, representing (as explained below) inversions of pleasant images. 59

Beowulf, line 7 5 5 : 'he wished to flee to the darkness'.

6o

Line 1 3 5 2 .

Line 1 2 6 5 : 'he dwelt in t h e wasteland'. Line 2 2 9 8 : 'in t h e wasteland'. O t h e r O l d English poets also draw u p o n t h e suggestion of t h e danger of t h e u n k n o w n wilderness: see, for example, Exodus', lines 56—61, a n d Elene, lines 6 1 1 - 1 2 . In the former instance the biblical account is imaginatively extended, a n d in t h e latter the references to the westen, 'wasteland', a n d morland, 'moorland', appear to be t h e O l d English poet's addition t o t h e Latin source: cf. Acta Quiriari,

ch. 7 (Acta Sanctorum, Maius,

Tom. I (Antwerp, 1680), 4 4 5 - 8 ) , which has

instead of the desert image an image of confinement. 63

Beowulf

65

Line 1 4 1 6 : 'joyless wood'.

66

64

lines 1 3 6 9 , 1 3 9 3 a n d 2 5 9 8 .

Line 1 3 6 3 : 'groves covered w i t h frost'.

Forests a n d woods d o not feature largely in O l d English poetry. T h e late composition Durham is notable as having one of the few descriptions of woods. T h e forest around D u r h a m w i t h its t e e m i n g life is praised: And 5aer gewexen is wudafaestern micel; wuniad in Sem wycum wilda deor monige, in deope dalum deora ungerim.

(lines 6-8)

In this encomiastic context a sense of the forest as a place of dread or danger would be inappropriate, but the idea of the forest as threatening is not a feature of Old English poetry anyway. Maxims II has wudu sceal on foldan blaedum blowan.

130

(lines 33-4)


Grendel is is mentioned first as a mearcstapa, 'a wanderer in the waste borderlands'. He travels the boundary between civilization and the wilderness, and his habitual haunts are moors, fens and fastnesses: Waes se grimma gaest maere mearcstapa, fen ond faesten.

Grendel haten, se {)e moras heold,

For the symbolic purposes of the poet, fens and moors are one type of environment, variants on the theme of desolation. The term fenhleodu,68 'fenland slopes' (?), indeed seems to combine features of contrasting kinds of landscape. Hrothgar tells Beowulf of Grendel and Grendel's mother, micle mearcstapan ellorgaestas.

moras healdan,

The moors which Grendel inhabits are 'mistige': he comes 'of more under misthleofcum'71 and travels 'ofer myrcan mor'. 72 The mist represents danger to humankind but shelter to Grendel, and its associations of undefined danger attach symbolically to Grendel himself: Grendel emerges from the darkness and is himself a 'deorc deaj)scua'.7 In such references to Grendel and his haunts images of the wilderness are often suggestively juxtaposed with images of the good life of the hall: In Genesis B Adam and Eve go into the forest after their fall: Uton gan on J)ysne weald innan, on [>isses holtes hleo.

7

68 9

70

(lines 839-40)

They go into the forest in Genesis B not to escape from God but for shelter because of their nakedness. Indeed in the woods they await the dispensation of the Lord (lines 842-3) and they pray that God will not forget them (lines 848-9). There is a sense in Genesis B of Adam and Eve going into the forest to begin a new life, but the forest is not seen as a place of danger and is described with the approving adjective 'green' (on this adjective, see further below, pp. 147-8) - 'on J>one grenan weald' (line 841). On the Beowulf images brinde bearwas and ivynleasne wudu, see below, pp. 140-1. Beowulf, lines 102-4: 'The grim demon was called Grendel, an infamous wanderer in the waste borderlands, who held sway over the moors, the fen and the fastness.' Line 820. Lines 1348-9: 'great wanderers of the waste borderlands, who rule the moors, alien spirits'. Line 162: 'misty'. Line 710: 'from the moor, under the misty slopes'. Line 1405: 'over the misty moor'. Line 160: 'dark death-shadow'.

131


Grendel, the mearcstapa, comes 'of more' 74 to the place of festivity and of civilization: Wod under woken goldsele gumena,

to {>aes l>e he winreced, gearwost wisse.

Fenland, like moorland, suggests both danger and, for the fugitive, protection. It is thus ironic that it is in his fen 'refuge' that Grendel finally dies: 'in fenfreo6o feorh alegde'. 76 The fen, with its associations of impenetrability and of unsuitability for human subsistence, is the dismal retreat of Grendel and his mother. It represents nature at its most hostile: Beowulf agrees with Maxims II, which declares it as accepted truth that the fens are the dwelling-place of monsters: P»yrs sceal on fenne gewunian, ana innan]lande. 77

Interestingly, both parts of Guthlac exclude all reference to fens in their accounts of the saint's eremitic retreat, even though the fenland setting figures largely in Felix's Latin vita: in neither part of the Exeter Book text is Guthlac's dwelling-place presented as having a sinister aspect. This hostile environment is the setting into which the hero makes his way. In stark contrast to Heorot and its environs, Grendel's mere deep in the fenland wilderness is the inner place of danger in the first part of the poem. The water surges with blood and is the dwelling-place of strange monsters.7 The cave of Grendel and his mother is itself in a kind of stronghold, protected by this mere. It is referred to as a hrofsele, 'roofed hall', in which Beowulf is a selegyst, 'hall-guest'.81 THE APPROACH TO GRENDEL S MERE

One famous passage in particular in Beowulf goes beyond the kind of suggestive and disturbing references to the wilderness which we have seen 7

Line 7 1 0 : 'from the moor'.

75

Lines 7 1 4 - 1 5 : ' H e advanced under the clouds to where he could very clearly m a k e out

7

Line 8 5 1 : 'in his fenland refuge he gave u p his life'.

77

Maxims / / , lines 4 2 - 3 : 'The monster shall live in the fen, alone in the land.'

78

See separate discussion of the G u t h l a c poems below, p p . 1 7 8 - 8 8 .

the w i n e - b u i l d i n g , the gold-hall.'

79

Beowulf, lines 1 4 2 2 - 3 0 .

80

Line 1 5 1 5 .

81

Line 1 5 4 5 .

132

The mythic landscape of Beowulf so far. In Hrothgar's account of the approaches to Grendel's lair the poet presents a sustained and detailed description of a sinister landscape: Hie dygel lond warigeaS, wulfhleot>u, windige naessas, frecne fengelad, 6 aer fyrgenstream under naessa genipu ni{)er gewiteS, flod under foldan. Nis J>aet feor heonon milgemearces t>aet se mere standeS; ofer t>aem hongia5 hrinde bearwas, wudu wyrtum faest waeter oferhelmaS. Paer maeg nihta gehwaem niSwundor seon, fyr on flode. No J)aes frod leofaS gumena bearna, J)aet {)one grunde wite; 5eah \>e haeSstapa hundum geswenced, heorot hornum trum, holtwudu sece, feorran geflymed, aer he feorh seled, aldor on ofre, aer he in wille hafelan hydan. Nis t>aet heoru stow! Ponon y5geblond up astigeS won to wolcnum, J)onne wind styrej), Ia6 gewidru, o6}>aet lyft drysma}), roderas reotaS. This passage is a remarkable and unique tour de force. Only here does the poet interrupt the narrative to give a formal set-piece description of the scene. In depicting landscape atmospherically the passage follows the practice of the poem as a whole, though nowhere else in Beowulf is setting laden with such a charge of dread and foreboding as it has here. The description of the approaches to Grendel's lair has attracted much attention from commentators. Of these, some have pointed out parallels 82

Lines 1357-76: 'They have their dwelling-place in a secret land of wolf-inhabited slopes, windy crags, dangerous tracks through the fens, where a mountain stream flows down under the darkness of the crags, a river under the ground. It is not far from here in miles that the lake is situated; over it there hang frost-covered groves, and trees firm in their roots overshadow the water. There every night a terrible wonder can be seen, fire on the water. There is no one alive of the sons of men so wise that he knows where the bottom is. Even a stag, strong in its antlers, a stalker of the heath, though it is making for the woods, hard pressed by dogs and pursued from afar, will give up its ghost, its life there on the bank, before it will plunge in and hide its head. That is no pleasant place! From there surging waters rise up, dark to the clouds, hateful storms, until the sky becomes gloomy and the heavens weep.'

133


between the Beowulf description and certain passages in Vergil's Aeneid, but the majority of commentators have emphasized the similarity of specific features of the description to details in St Paul's vision of hell, particularly as described in homily no. XVI of the Old English Blickling Homilies.^ The Blickling Homilies account of hell transmits into Old English details derived from the Latin Visio S. Pauli. It has long been contended that the Beowulf-poet was influenced by a version of the Visio S. Pauli in composing the description of the mere and its approaches (it has even been suggested that the Blickling XVI adaptation itself might have been a source for the Beowulf passage).8 The presentation of Grendel's lair as a type of hell would accord well with the poet's general depiction of Grendel as 'devilish', and aspects of the description of the mere strongly recall features associated with hell in the early Middle Ages. Not all critics have been persuaded about the possibility of influence of Ed. and trans. Morris, The Blickling Homilies, pp. 208—11. Morris numbers this homily XVII, having counted as XVI a passage that belongs elsewhere. As noted by Wright {The Irish Tradition in Old English Literature, p. 117, n. 53), 'Morris had numbered as

8

Homily XVI a fragment which properly belongs with Homily IV. See further R. Willard, The Blickling Homilies, EEMF 10 (Copenhagen, I960), 38-40. The striking analogue to the Beowulf passage in Grettis saga (chs. 64—5, trans. Fox and Palsson, pp. 135-8) has received less attention in recent scholarship but was particularly noted by earlier critics: see especially W. W. Lawrence, 'The Haunted Mere in Beowulf, PMLA 27 (1912), 208-45. A recent discussion of Grettis saga as presenting an analogue to the Grendel story is provided by M. Lapidge, 'Beowulf and the Psychology of Terror', in Heroic Poetry in Anglo-Saxon England, ed. Damico and Leyerle, pp. 373-402, at 375-8. See R. L. Collins, 'Blickling Homily XVI and the Dating of Beowulf, in Medieval Studies Conference Aachen 1983, ed. W.-D. Bald and H. Weinstock (Frankrurt, 1984), pp. 61—9- For most critics, the late date of the homily (tenth century) has militated against the possibility of its influence on Beowulf The case for Beowulf as a late Old English composition has been argued most forcefully by K. S. Kiernan, Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript (New Brunswick, NJ, 1981), and 'The Eleventh-Century Origin of Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript'. For other views on the date of the poem, see Chase, The Dating of Beowulf.

85 86

See especially lines 1 2 7 3 - 4 . See A. Cabaniss, 'Beowulf and the Liturgy', JEGP

54 (1955), 1 9 5 - 2 0 1 ; repr. in An

Anthology of Beowulf Criticism, ed. Nicholson, p p . 2 2 3 - 3 2 ; K. Malone, 'Grendel and his Abode', in Studia Philologica et Litteraria in Honorem L. Spitzer, ed. A. G. Hatcher and

K.-L. Selig (Bern, 1958), pp. 297-308; H. L. C. Tristram, 'Stock Descriptions of Heaven and Hell in Old English Literature', NM 79 (1978), 102-13; Wright, The Irish Tradition in Old English Literature, pp. 1 3 2 - 3 .

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the Visio S. Pauli on Beowulf. Antonette diPaolo Healey, the editor of the Old English version of the Visio, concluded, I t seems that we cannot state with any certainty that the Beowulf-poet knew the Vision and drew upon it.' 87 The similarities between Beowulf and Blickling XVI might as easily be due to the influence of the poem on the homily.88 But Charles Wright, basing his discussion on an analysis of the complex history of variants of the Visio in insular tradition, has recently argued that the close verbal and conceptual similarities between the Beowulf and Blickling XVI passages may derive from a lost Old English version of the Visio, from which both writers borrowed.8 Wright notes that the Beowulf passage preserves, in strikingly similar language, some of features which distinguish the homily from the surviving Latin texts of the Visio: 'the trees are frosty, not [as in surviving texts of the Visio] fiery, and grow from a bar stan, just as in the homily; and both texts mention the dark mists below the cliff... These similarities could well be accounted for by assuming that the common source from which both Anglo-Saxon writers borrowed was not a Latin but a vernacular version of the Visio.'90 Wright also refers to other conceptual details in the poem which could reflect independent knowledge of the same source as used in the Blickling homily. The Beowulf-poet thus may well have been drawing upon the Visio S. Pauli tradition in the inclusion of specific details of the description of the approach to the mere. However, the literary pedigree for the kind of setpiece natural description in a narrative poem exemplified in Beowulf would be represented most familiarly for educated early medieval readers by the epic verse of Vergil. Even the associations with hell discernible in the account of Beowulf's visit to Grendel's cave, may also indicate a direct Vergilian influence, for of the Aeneid it is especially bk VI, describing Aeneas's journey to the Underworld, that is recalled in the Beowulf-poet's treatment of the lake and its approaches. In my discussion of the Beowulf passage, I wish to emphasize the element of classical influence instead of, or as well as, that of the Visio S. Pauli tradition.

89 90

A. diPaolo Healey, The Old English Vision of St Paul, Speculum Anniversary Monographs 2 (Cambridge, MA, 1978), 52. Arguments for this view - and against the the idea that Beowulf"was influenced by the Visio S. Pauli - are put by C. Brown, 'Beowulf and the Blickling Homilies and Some Textual Notes', PMLA 53 (1938), 905-16. Wright, The Irish Tradition in Old English Literature, pp. 133-4. 91 Ibid, p . 133. Ibid, p . 134.

135


Vergil seems to have been known throughout the Anglo-Saxon period and a number of critics have argued that the Aeneid exerted a significant influence on the composition of Beowulf. The present passage is among those cited most enthusiastically by proponents of the argument in favour of Vergilian influence. The argument has not been decided one way or the other, however, and is perhaps incapable of resolution, although as J. D. Niles points out in a useful summary of the question, 'classical Latin epic poetry is still generally thought to have provided the chief literary model for Beowulf. In its breadth and scale and in the self-consciousness of its literary effects Beowulf has no known peers in Germanic secular literature. Theodore M. Andersson speaks persuasively of a Vergilian 'scenic fullness' in the Beowulf-poet's treatment of the march to Grendel's mere, and he points out as one of the principles of Vergil's spatial design in the Aeneid 'the outlining of a scene before it is narrated', a principle which Vergil has not inherited from Homer and which is not reflected in the Germanic poems mentioned at the beginning of the present chapter. There may be specific echoes of Vergilian phraseology and detail in the description of the approaches to Grendel's mere, as perhaps elsewhere in the poem as well. The 'densis . . . frondibus',98 'latus nemoris' 99 and the 'sonitum . . . torrens' 100 of the Valley of Ampsanctus in Aeneid bk VII, provide notable parallels to details in the Beowulf description.101 The 'lacu nigro' 102 and 'nemorum tenebris' 103 of Avernus at the entrance to the Underworld, as described in Aeneid bk VI, have also been seen as providing correspondences to the Beowulf description. The detail of the trapped stag1 appears to be original to Beowulf, but it may have been suggested See Haber, A Comparative Study of Beowulf and the Aeneid, p p . 5—18. 93

They p o i n t to particular similarities to Aeneid V I . 1 3 1 - 2 and 2 3 7 - 4 2 , VII. 5 6 3 - 7 1 and X I . 5 2 4 - 9 . References to the Aeneid in the present study are to the edition P. Vergilii Maronis Opera, ed. R. A. B. Mynors (Oxford, 1969).

94

Niles, Beowulf p . 7 4 . Andersson, Early Epic Scenery, p . 156.

Ibid., p . 7 5 .

97

See Haber, A Comparative Study of Beowulf and the Aeneid, p p . 9 3 - 6 for a list of parallels.

98

Aeneid V I I . 5 6 5 : 'dense foliage'.

"

Ibid., V I I . 5 6 6 : 'side of the wood'.

100

Ibid., V I I . 5 6 7 : 'crashing torrent'.

101

O n Vergilian parallels, see F. Klaeber, 'Aeneis u n d B e o w u l f , Archiv

126 (1911),

40-8. 102

Aeneid V I . 2 3 8 : 'black lake'.

10

Haber, A Comparative Study of Beowulf and the Aeneid, p p . 9 4 - 6 .

103

105

Beowulf, lines 1 3 6 8 - 7 2 .

Ibid., V I . 2 3 8 : 'darkness of the woods'.

136


by the references to wounded deer found in the Aeneid, one of them immediately after a descriptio loci.1 The epic image of the trapped stag, developed over four and a half lines, also accords with the Vergilian tone of the passage: one might compare the birds which cannot without harm fly over the lake at Avernus. The parallels with the Aeneid are striking but not decisive. It could be argued that the classical influence which one detects in the Beowulf-pott's treatment of this passage derives not directly from the Aeneid itself but might be the result of a more general acquaintance on the part of the poet with elements of classical Latin verse, perhaps combined with borrowing from the Visio S. Pauli. In any case, the Beowulf-poet is no slavish imitator but a highly creative manipulator of inherited materials. Certainly, the remarkable image in the phrase roderas reotad109 at the end of our passage is not taken directly from Vergil: though it is to Latin literature that we are inclined to look for analogues to this kind of personification of the inanimate, Haber's suggested parallel to the Old English phrase in the Aeneid, rorantia vidimus astra, is hardly an exact one. The related theme of nature weeping, however, is widely found in Latin literature and makes its way into the Old English poem The Dream of the Rood, 'weop eal gesceaft'.113 Although the evidence of phrasal borrowing from Vergil is inconclusive, 106

Aeneid 1.184. See Haber, A Comparative Study of Beowulf and the Aeneid, p p . 9 2 - 3 .

107

Aeneid' V'1.237'-42. For a comparison of the Beowulf passage w i t h this description of the lake at Avernus at the b e g i n n i n g of Aeneas's visit to the Underworld, see A. Renoir, 'The Terror of the D a r k W a t e r s : a N o t e on Virgilian and Beowulfian Techniques', in

108

The Learned and the hewed: Studies in Chaucer and Medieval Literature, ed. L. D. Benson, Harvard English Studies 5 (Cambridge, MA, 1974), 147-60. Cf., for example, Lucan, De hello civili III.399-425 (ed. and trans. J. D. Duff, Lucan: the Civil War (Pharsalia) (Cambridge, MA, and London, 1927), pp. 142-5). Beowulf, line 1376: 'the skies weep'. Aeneid 111.567: 'we saw the stars dropping dew'. Haber, A Comparative Study of Beowulf and the Aeneid, p. 96. On sympathetic emotion of nature, see Curtius, European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, pp. 9 2 - 4 . The Dream of the Rood, line 55: 'all creation wept'. In his edition of The Dream of the Rood (Oxford, 1905), A. S. Cook compares the story of Orpheus in classical elegy, at whose death all created things were said to have wept (note on line 55). This classical theme of nature weeping is illuminatingly discussed, with reference to The Dream of the Rood, by J. L. Baird, 'Natura Plangens, the Ruthwell Cross and The Dream of the Rood', Studies in Iconography 10 (1984-6), 3 7 - 5 1 .

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Vergilian influence can surely be discerned in the overall formal disposition of the description (and, of course, the presence of this more general influence might itself be thought to provide evidence in support of more specific borrowings). In Vergil's depictions of natural scenes the poet characteristically pauses in his narrative to present a formal description sustained over a passage of several lines. Only in the present description does the Beowulf-poet attempt something similar: elsewhere in Beowulf description is incorporated into narrative or is presented as through the eyes of the characters as they observe the scene (Andersson diagnoses these strategies too as Vergilian11 but he does not mention that they also frequently occur in other Old English poems): ... 5a liftende land gesawon, brimclifu blican, beorgas steape, side saenaessas; J)a waes sund liden, eoletes set ende.115 In the description of the approach to Grendel's mere, however, the narrator (here Hrothgar) steps outside the narrative and presents a description which is not tied to or defined by a particular time. He does so by means of a structural unit similar to those found in the Vergil passages. Even the Vergilian introductory formula in such passages, employing the verb 'to be' in the third person singular present indicative ('Est in secessu longo locus .. .'), 1 1 6 is reflected in the treatment of our scene in Beowulf 'Nis J>aet feor heonon.'

AN INVERTED LOCUS

AMOENUS

As well as revealing the influence of the approach to natural scenery found in the Aeneid, the description of the environs of Grendel's mere might also have been seen by members of the late Anglo-Saxon textual community as incorporating overtones of another Latin landscape theme, that of the locus amoenus, lovely place', whose conventional features were formalized in the

115

11 117

Andersson, Early Epic Scenery, pp. 148—53. Beowulf, lines 221-4: 'the sea-voyagers saw the land, the shining coastal cliffs, the steep hills, the broad headlands; the sea had been crossed; their voyage was at an end'. Aeneid 1.159: 'There is a place in a long inlet...' Beowulf, line 1361: 'It is not far from here.' Cf. also Aeneid VII.563 and XI.522.

138


late Latin period. 118 The locus amoenus is a stock variant of the ideal landscape deriving from classical tradition. The ghastly landscape presented by the Beowulf-poet constitutes an inversion of the ideal represented by the locus amoenus. Even if the poet is primarily following a Vergilian model in this scene, the choice of details coincides strikingly with those specified in locus amoenus descriptions. The locus amoenus is, in Curtius's classic formulation, 'a beautiful, shaded natural site. Its minimum ingredients comprise a tree (or several trees), a meadow and a spring or brook... The most elaborate examples also add a breeze.'119 The locus amoenus is exemplified in Old English in its typical form in Judgement Day II, the vernacular paraphrase of Bede's De die iudicii. Judgement Day II begins with one of the most extended natural descriptions in Old English poetry. The poet elaborates the three lines of description of Bede's De die iudicii into a passage of nine lines giving the setting of the speech which forms the substance of the poem. Bede has the following (leading up to the introduction of the speaker in the fourth line): Interflorigerasfecundi cespitis herbas, Flamine ventorum resonantibus undique ramis, Arboris umbriferae maestus sub tegmine solus Dum sedi, subito planctu turbatus amaro... The locus amoenus features of shady trees, flowery grasses and boughs echoing in the wind provide the framework for Bede's description. The sudden discontent which comes upon the speaker is all the more affecting in contrast to the pleasant and fertile scene. The Old English poet picks up each of these details and adds to them other conventional features of the locus amoenus'. this poet introduces a reference to a stream flowing through the landscape with a melodious sound and emphasizes the presence of a meadow more than does the Latin. The Old English reads,

120

On the locus amoenus, see Curtius, European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, pp. 195—200; Pearsall and Salter, Landscapes and Seasons in the Medieval World, pp. 9— 12 and 2 0 - 1 . Curtius, European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, p. 195. Bede, De die iudicii, lines 1-4 (ed. D. Hurst, CCSL 112 (Turnhout, 1955), 439-44): 'While I sat sorrowful and alone under the covering of a shade-giving tree, among the flowery grasses of the fertile sward, with the boughs everywhere resounding to the blowing of the wind, suddenly overcome by a bitter lament . . . '

139

Images of community in Old English poetry Hwaet! Ic ana saet innan bearwe, mid helme bet>eht, holte tomiddes, j)aer J>a waeterburnan swegdon and urnon on middan gehaege, eal swa ic secge. Eac })aer wynwyrta weoxon and bleowon innon J)am gemonge on aenlicum wonge, and J)a wudubeamas wagedon ond swegdon Jmrh wind gryre; woken waes gehrered, and min earme mod eal waes gedrefed. Pa. ic faerunga ... The Old English starts with the elegiac-sounding Ic ana saet', but the poet quickly establishes and indeed heightens the emphasis on pleasantness as it appears in Bede (though the tone of the description changes when we come to the subject of the speaker's troubled mind). 122 In Beowulf each of these constituents of the locus amoenus is grotesquely inverted. The trees which overhang the water form a grove, but this is no pleasant grove which brings delight. Its hostile aspect is indicated by the frost with which it is overlain (though there is no suggestion, of course, that Beowulf's expedition takes place in winter): these are 'hrinde bearwas'. 123 The meadow of the locus amoenus becomes 'wulfhleojm';12 the mountain stream flows down to the lake 'under naessa genipu'. 12 Instead of a refreshing breeze, there is reference to the 'windige naessas'1 and to the storm which darkens the sky. In recounting the arrival of Beowulf and his followers at the mere, some

122

124

126

Judgement Day II, lines 1—10: 'Behold! I sat alone within a grove, sheltered by a canopy in the midst of the wood, where the streams of water murmured and flowed amid the meadow, just as I say. Also, pleasant plants grew and blossomed there abundantly in that excellent meadow, and the trees of the wood swayed and resounded at the fierceness of the wind; the sky was stirred up, and my wretched mind was troubled. Then I suddenly See lines 7-8, where it suddenly turns out that the wind which is blowing is a fierce one and that the sky is tempestuous. This perhaps accords with the agitation which suddenly comes into the speaker's mind and may be seen as presenting a pathetic fallacy. The poet's concern with the agitation of the speaker appears to prompt extension to the agitition to the setting. Beowulf, lines 1363: 'frost-covered groves'. Lines 1358: 'slopes inhabited by wolves'. Line 1360: 'under the darkness of crags'. lz/ Lii 1374-5. Lines 1358: windy crags'. Lines

140


thirty-five lines after Hrothgar's set-piece description, the poet provides another brief description of this scene, presented this time not as a set piece but through the eyes of Beowulf: ot>{>aet he faeringa fyrgenbeamas ofer harne stan hleonian funde, wynleasne wudu; waeter under stod dreorig ond gedrefed.128 This account again focuses on the locus amoenus features of the shaded natural site ('wynleasne wudu'), the trees ('fyrgenbeamas'), the meadow, transformed here to a grey rock ('ofer harne stan') and water ('waeter'). The recurrence of these details suggests that the inverted locus amoenus provides a 'type' of the dismal landscape, which can be introduced to lend atmosphere to the narration of plot. Some of the features of this landscape are also reflected in the homiletic tradition of descriptions of hell, as seen in the Visio S. Pauli, but the locus amoenus detail of wind, mentioned by the Beowulf-poet, does not appear in the accounts of hell which have been adduced as analogues to the £tee straete'. There is no hint of a sinister aspect to the scene. And yet, when Beowulf is on his way to the ordeal of righting Grendel's mother, the same road is described in terms of extreme danger and difficulty: Ofereode })a steap stanhliSo, enge anpaSas, neowle naessas,

aej>elinga beam stige nearwe, uncu5 gelad, nicorhusa fela.13

Andersson, like earlier commentators, is impressed by the Vergilian quality of this latter passage.1 7 What emerges most strikingly, however, from a consideration of this and other descriptions of the same locale, is the completeness of the poem's subjection of physical reality to the expression of mood. The landscape described in this passage is hardly a 133

135 13

137

Lines 473-90. Lines 864—7: 'Sometimes warriors famed in battle let their bay horses gallop, go off in races, where the paths seemed fair to them, known for their excellent qualities.' Line 1634:'familiar road'. Lines 1408-11: 'The son of noblemen passed then over steep stony cliffs, narrow paths, small tracks wide enough for only one person, unknown passages, precipitous crags, many an abode of water-monsters.' Andersson, Early Epic Scenery, pp. 153-6.

142


landscape suitable for carefree horse-racing. Here nature is unaccommodated to humankind and offers hostility and threat. In accordance with the mood of the scene, this landscape is not, as it is in the other references to it, an extension of the stronghold and of the world of human society, but instead it has been appropriated by the wilderness.

143

7 The dwelling-places of God's people: place and setting in biblical poetry

Following the lead of their scriptural sources, the Old Testament poems composed in Anglo-Saxon England concern themselves most insistently with two types of place and setting, the good landscape and the city. The lead is that of the Bible but the imagery of the good landscape and of the city is considerably extended and developed in the responses of the Old English poets. Since ideas about land and settlement are less important in the New Testament than in the Old, it is perhaps understandable that the Old Saxon gospel poem the Heliand, which may be seen as sharing a common tradition with the Old English biblical poems, is largely lacking in description of landscape or cities. G. Ronald Murphy has recently shown how the poet of the Heliand 'saxonizes' aspects of the setting of the gospel narrative in terms of weather and land/sea-scape, but the theme of place is not emphasized in the poem.1 There is also comparatively little interest in place or setting in the Old English Christ and Satan, which concerns itself with New Testament rather than Old Testament themes. Good landscape receives particular attention in the Genesis text in the Junius Manuscript, especially in Genesis A, where it appears as an image of harmony and prosperity within God's creation. The enjoyment of good landscape is a reflection of the favour of God bestowed on his people. In Genesis A the imagery of the good landscape is even extended to heaven, 1

2

G. R. Murphy, The Saxon Saviour: the Germanic Transformation of the Gospel in the Ninth Century Heliand (Oxford, 1990). The major description of place in the Heliand is that of the symbolically significant city of Jerusalem, in § XLV (ed. Behaghel, lines 3671-87). Heaven is presented in Old English poetry as a hall, a city and a homeland/home, but Genesis A also draws on the idea of it as a broad kingdom: heaven was established 'wide and side' (line 10) by the command of God; it is 'sid and swegletorht' (line 28); Satan and the rebellious angels are cut off from the 'wuldorgestealdas' (line 64); compare also

144

Place and setting in biblical poetry

but as elsewhere in Old English, it is used primarily as an expression of the relationship between God and people on earth. PARADISE: IMAGE AND A N T I T H E S I S

The archetype of the good landscape is the paradise of Adam and Eve, a particular focus of interest in Genesis. Paradise is the culmination of God's creation of the physical world, fashioned by him to give humankind a life without anxiety or want. It is a place of gentle scenery and of temperate and congenial climate, above all, a place without extremes. Genesis A describes it as follows: Neorxnawong stod god and gastlic, gifena gefylled fremum forSweardum. Faegere leohte t>aet Ii5e land lago yrnende, wyllebume. Nalles wolcnu 6a giet ofer rumne grund regnas baeron, wan mid winde, hwaeSre waestmum stod folde gefraetwod. Nature is as yet unthreatening: running water irrigates the producebearing ground but there are no dark storms of rain to disturb the pleasant scene. The corresponding passage in Genesis itself mentions the flowing water but not the dark storms of rain: the Vulgate reads, 'Plantaverat autem Dominus Deus paradisum voluptatis a principio, in quo posuit hominem quern formaverit. Produxitque Dominus Deus de humo omne lignum pulchrum visu, et ad vescendum suave . . . Et fluvius egrediebatur de loco voluptatis ad irrigandum paradisum.'

3

4

the Heliand, which speaks of the 'plains of heaven' - 'hebanuuanga' (lines 411, 414 etc.) - and of heaven as a 'wide-spreading realm' - 'uuidbreda uuelan' (line 1840). That such depictions were not necessarily seen as purely metaphorical is illustrated by Bede's account of the vision of Dryhthelm (HE V.I2), with its description of a 'very broad and pleasant plain' - 'campus . . . latissimus ac laetissimus' (ed. Colgrave and Mynors, p. 492); on this, see above, pp. 41-2. Genesisy lines 208-15: 'Paradise stood good and inviting, filled with gifts, enduring benefits. Running water, a spring welling up, flowed pleasantly over that gentle land. Not at all did clouds, dark with wind bear rain as yet over the broad ground, but the land stood adorned with crops.' Gen. II.8-10: 'And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning: wherein he placed man whom he had formed. And the Lord God brought

145


In the Old English passage the biblical source has been supplemented by knowledge of other ideas concerning the ideal landscape. The emphasis on negativity — the absence of rain and wind — and on moderation points to the influence of the Latin tradition of the paradisal landscape, as seen notably in Lactantius, Avitus and other Late Latin Christian poets. This Latin tradition builds on the classical concept of the 'Golden Age' to produce a conventional image of the desirable place. In this tradition the closest parallel to the Genesis A account is provided by the description of paradise in Avitus's poem De mundi initio, written in the early sixth century. Concerning the climate of paradise Avitus writes, Hie ver adsiduum caeli dementia servat; Turbidus auster abest semperque sub aere sudo Nubila diffugiunt iugi cessura sereno.7 There is no significant evidence that the Genesis A poet had read Avitus, but the Old English description is evidently indebted to the Latin topos. Similar features appear also in the description of the earthly paradise in the Old English poem The Phoenix, which bases its account of paradise on that which appears in its source, the Carmen de ave phoenice of Lactantius (pb. c. 320). 8 The Old English poet of The Phoenix follows Lactantius in emphasizing the lack of extremes in paradise. Particularly notable, in the context of the Genesis A reference to the absence of rain and wind, quoted above, is the statement in The Phoenix, forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of... And a river went out of the place of pleasure to water paradise.' A number of descriptions of paradise in Late Latin Christian poetry is cited and discussed by M. Roberts, Biblical Epic and Rhetorical Paraphrase in Late Antiquity (Liverpool, 1985), pp. 209-12. As exemplified most famously in Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.101-12 (ed. and trans. D. E. Hill, Ovid: Metamorphosis I-IV (Warminster and Oak Park, IL, 1985)). For a discussion of this idea, see H. C. Baldry, 'Who Invented the Golden Age?', Classical Quarterly ns 2 (1952), 83-92. De mundi initio, ed. Peiper, lines 222-4: 'Here the mildness of the sky maintains perpetual spring; there is no rough south wind, and always in the rainless air the lingering clouds drift away in tranquil order.' Ed. Blake, The Phoenix, pp. 88—92. On paradise, see Pearsall and Salter, Landscapes and Seasons of the Medieval World, pp. 56—75; Blake, The Phoenix, pp. 13—16. See also above, n. 5.

146

Place and setting in biblical poetry Paer ne haegl ne hrim hreosaS to foldan, ne windig wolcen, ne J)aer waeter feallef), lyfte gebysgad, ac J)aer lagustreamas, wundrum wraetlice, wyllan onspringaS faegrum flodwylmum. The Old English here extends the account found in Lactantius: Non ibi tempestas nee vis furit horrida venti Nee gelido terram rore pruina tegit, Nulla super campos tendit sua vellera nubes, Nee cadit ex alto turbidus umor aquae.10 In later passages in Genesis A the adjective 'green' is particularly associated with paradisal landscapes. This notion of the ideal landscape being green indeed occurs with formulaic regularity in Old English religious poetry. The idea of greenness associated with paradise is also found in Lactantius and Avitus. Lactantius speaks of the grove 'perpetuae frondis honore virens', while Avitus has, Terpetuo viret omne solum'.1 The fertility and greenness of paradise is a topic of interest to exegetical writers. Ambrose interprets this in spiritual terms: 'Est ergo paradisus terra quaedam fertilis, hoc est anima fecunda, in Edem plantata, hoc est in uoluptate quadam uel exercitata terra, in qua animae sit delectatio.' According to Ambrose, the green woods of paradise represent merits 'ligna semper florentia uiriditate meritorum'. 1 Genesis A shows no desire 9

10

12 13

1

The Phoenix, lines 60-4: 'There neither hail nor frost falls to the ground, nor windy cloud, nor does water fall down, agitated by the sky, but flowing rivers, wondrously rare, and wells gush forth there in pleasant springs.' Carmen de ave phoenice, ed. Blake, lines 21-4: 'The tempest and the dreadful force of the wind do not rage there, nor does frost touch the ground with icy dew; no cloud extends its covering over the fields, and the agitated moisture of water does not fall there from above. But there is a spring in the middle, which they call by the name "living".' Compare the Old English Prose Phoenix (ed. Blake, The Phoenix, pp. 94-6): 'Ne t>aere ne by5 ne forst ne snaw ne hagel ne reign; ac |>aer is fons uite, t>aet is lifes welle' (p. 94). Carmen de ave phoenice, ed. Blake, line 10: 'green with the beauty of perpetual foliage'. De mundi initio, ed. Peiper, line 227: 'Perpetually the whole ground is green.' De paradiso iii.12 (ed. C. Schenkel, CSEL 32.1 (Vienna, 1896), 272): 'Paradise is, therefore, a certain fertile land, that is a fecund soul; planted in Eden, that is, in a certain delightful and well-tilled land, in which there may be pleasure for the soul.' Ibid, i.3 (p. 266): 'woods always flourishing with the greenness of merits'. On the exegetical significance of green, as reflected in Old English poetry, see Keenan, 'Exodus 312: "The Green Street of Paradise" '; A. N. Doane, ' "The Green Street of Paradise" ',

147


to pursue non-literal interpretations of paradise,15 but makes use of the traditional ideas about paradise current in the wider Christian tradition. The development of these details in Genesis A, however, can also be seen as in accordance with ideas about splendid landscapes inherited from Germanic tradition. The Genesis A-poet's favoured adjective celgrene, 'allgreen', 16 is paralleled in Old Norse tradition: in the immediately preceding chapter we have seen the cognate word algroen applied to the great plain of GnitaheiSr, and that the same plain is also celebrated as vi&r, 'broad'. 17 As we have observed, there is little description of prosperous landscape in secular Germanic poetry, but the evidence of such parallels suggests that the expansions in Genesis A of references to landscape in the Bible are in terms which the vernacular audience could readily appreciate through their experience of the Germanic secular tradition. 18 Genesis A later describes the life of Adam and Eve when they have to turn away from paradise in exile — 'on wraec hweorfan'. Following their sin they settle in a land fraught with care, lacking the benefits of their former home: Gesaeton {)a aefter synne sorgfulre land, eard and e6yl unspedigran fremena gehwilcre Jjonne se frumstol waes f>a hie aefter daede of adrifen wurdon. The land in which they settle is a clear figure of the post-lapsarian world as a whole. The Genesis B section of the Junius Manuscript text 21 also treats the

15

16 18

19 20

NM 74 (1973), 456-65; also K. Sajavaara, 'The Withered Footprints on the Green Street of Paradise', NM 76 (1975), 34-8. Typologically, paradise represents the church: see, for example, Isidore, Quaestiones in Vetus Testamantum 1.2 (PL 83, 216B). 17 Genesis, lines 197, 1517, 1751 and 1787. See above, p. 124. In Old English poetry grene appears widely in the Riddles, particularly in collocation with wong (in the Riddles it refers normally to the fairness of the world), also occurring frequently in The Vhoenix, but most commonly of all in Genesis A. Genesis, line 928. Genesis, lines 9 6 1 - 4 : 'They settled after their sin in a more sorrowful land, a country and a homeland less prosperous in every benefit than their first seat was, when they were driven out because of their deed.' Based on an Old Saxon original: for surviving Old Saxon text, see The Saxon Genesis: an Edition of the West Saxon Genesis B and the Old Saxon Vatican Genesis, ed. A. N . Doane (Madison, WI, 1991).

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banishment of Adam and Eve from paradise, concentrating on the aspect of climate. Adam perceives that in the world outside paradise nature will no longer be mild and unthreatening. In a passage unparalleled in the Book of Genesis but which recalls aspects of the description of paradise in Avitus, Lactantius and other Late Latin poets, referred to above, Adam expresses his fear that wind and dark cloud will come, hailstorm and frost, and there will be extremes of heat and cold: Hu sculon wit nu libban o55e on {>ys lande wesan, gif her wind cym6, westan o56e eastan, su6an o55e nor5an? Gesweorc up faereS, cymeS haegles scur hefone getenge, faereS forst on gemang, se by5 fyrnum ceald. Hwilum of heofnum hate scine5, blic5 [>eos beorhte sunne, and wit her baru standa5, unwered waedo. Nys unc wuht beforan to scursceade, ne sceattes wiht to mete gemearcod, ac unc is mihtig god, waldend wra6mod.

There are attractive, good, landscapes outside paradise, of course, some of these indeed being glowingly described in Genesis itself, but the narratives of the Old English biblical poems all concern themselves in some way with the theme of dislocation, which finds its archetypal form in the banishment of Adam and Eve from paradise at the beginning of human history. Journey, wandering and exile are key concerns evident not only in Genesis but also in Exodus, Daniel and — in the theme of humanity's imprisonment in hell before being released by Christ — Christ and Satan. Only in the frumstol, 'original seat', of Adam and Eve is there no anxiety about a desired home or promised land. Only here is there absence of threat, with nature truly in harmony with the needs and desires of humankind.

23

Genesisy lines 805—15: 'How are we two to live or exist in this land, if wind comes here from west or east, from south or north? Darkness will loom up, a hailstorm will come oppressive from the sky; frost will come as well, which is fearsomely cold. Sometimes this bright sun will shine hotly and dazzle from the skies, and we two stand here naked, unprotected by clothing. There is no protection against the storm at all for us, nor any money for the provision of food, but mighty God, the Lord, is wrathful against the two of us.' Cf. Old Saxon Genesis, lines 14-24. Genesis, line 963.

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In Genesis A the opposite extreme from the culmination of creation represented by paradise is the chaotic formlessness of the void before the creation: Ne waes her {)a giet nymj>e heolstersceado wiht geworden, ac J>es wida grund stod deop and dim, drihtne fremde, idel and unnyt. On J)one eagum wlat stiSfrihJ) cining, and J>a stowe beheold, dreama leas, geseah deorc gesweorc semian sinnihte sweart under roderum, wonn and weste. This passage employs repetition, variation and poetic vocabulary to explore the momentous simplicity of Genesis 1.2, 'Terra autem erat inanis et vacua, et tenebrae erant super faciem abyssi.' The emphasis in Genesis A is on the darkness and joylessness of eternal night, on the absence of God — 'drihtne fremde' — and on uselessness — 'idel and unnyt'. The verbs of perception introduced in the Old English show the void coming into the consideration of the Creator and suggest the divine antipathy to such emptiness. The emphasis on God's perception is continued into the account of creation itself: geseah deorc sceado sweart swiSrian geond sidne grund.29 The account of the creation in the Old English Genesis is truncated due to a lacuna in the manuscript (it breaks off in the description of the third day) but the extant narrative describes powerfully the diminishing of chaos 2

Lines 1 0 3 - 1 0 : 'Nothing had yet come into existence here except concealing darkness, but this wide abyss stood deep and dim, alien from the Lord, empty and useless. Upon this the determined king cast his eyes and he beheld the place in its joylessness; he saw the dark obscurity lowering in endless night, black under the skies, gloomy and desolate.'

25

'And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep*. For an allegorical interpretation of this, see Isidore, Quaestiones in Vetus Testamantum 1.2 (PL 8 3 , 116B); see also Augustine, De Genesis ad litteram liber imperfectus iv.12 (PL 34, 224).

2

Genesisy line 105: 'alien from the Lord'.

28

27

Lines 106, 107 and 108.

29

Lines 133-^4: 'he saw the dark shadow disappear in its blackness across the wide ground'.

150

Line 106: 'empty and useless'.


and, like the song of creation in Beowulf^0 and the Exeter Book riddle on the creation,31 stresses the breadth of the created world.32 In Genesis B even the devil can deceitfully praise the beauty of the created world: Brade synd on worulde grene geardas, and god sited on f>am hehstan heofna rice, ufan alwalda. God is presented here as presiding over the broad extent of his creation. The good landscapes described in Genesis A after the fall of Adam and Eve share the qualities of the landscape of paradise. In their fairness they are like paradise. This point is explicitly made in the account of the fertile land near the Jordan where Lot settles: Him {?a Loth gewat land sceawigan be Iordane, grene eor6an. Seo waes waetrum weaht and wasstmum J?eaht, lagostreamum leoht, and gelic godes 34

neorxnawange. This is an ideal landscape, having water, growth and greenness in abundance. The idyllic picture will be immediately undermined by the anticipatory reference to the coming destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha which are situated there,35 but the description itself is of a place oicopia which fulfils all the needs of the people of God. The essential ideas in the Old English passage on the land by the Jordan are already present in Genesis, although the Old English develops the description somewhat. The Vulgate Genesis has, 'Elevatis itaque Lot oculis, vidit omnem circa regionem Iordanis, quae universa irrigabatur 30 31

Beowulf, lines 92-8. Riddle 40 (after Aldhelm). Note especially the repeated lines, Ic eorjjan eom ond widgielra

32 33

aeghhwaer bradre, Jionne J>es wong grena.

(lines 50-1 and 82-3)

See lines 1 5 6 , 162, 165 and 167. Genesis, lines 5 1 0 - 1 3 : 'There are broad and green regions in the world, and G o d , the A l m i g h t y , sits above in the highest k i n g d o m of heaven.'

3

Lines 1 9 2 0 - 4 : 'Lot w e n t then to survey the land, a green country by the Jordan. It was refreshed w i t h waters and covered w i t h crops, irrigated by rivers, and it was like God's paradise.'

35

Lines 1 9 2 4 - 6 ; note also lines 1 9 3 3 - 4 .

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antequam subverteret Dominus Sodomam et Gomorrham, sicut paradisi Domini, et sicut Aegyptus venientibus in Segor.' The Old English omits the reference to Egypt, but underlines the comparison with paradise by mention of the flowing rivers and the flourishing crops. 7 Other descriptions of good landscapes in Genesis A present variations on the pattern reflected in the account of the land by the Jordan. One such variation is seen in the description of the land of Shinar: Gesaeton J)a Sennar sidne and widne leoda raeswan; leofum mannum heora geardagum grene wongas, faegre foldan, him forSwearde on J>aere daegtide dugude waeron, wilna gehwilces weaxende sped.38 There is no corresponding description in Genesis39 but the Old English takes the opportunity to portray a landscape of fertility, breadth and greenness. Later in the poem God promises Abraham the land of Canaan, a green and expansive country: Paet land gesec t>e ic f>e aelgrene ywan wille, brade foldan. Another passage describes Canaan in similar terms: Pis is seo eorde {>e ic aelgrene tudre {>inum torhte wille waestmum gewlo on geweald don, rume rice. 36

37

39

1

Gen. XIII. 10: 'And Lot, lifting u p his eyes, saw all the country about the Jordan, which was watered throughout, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, as the paradise of the Lord, and like Egypt as one comes to Segor.' Cf. lines 210 and 214. Lines 1655—60: 'The leaders of the people settled then in broad and expansive Shinar; from then on there were green plains and fair lands for the dear men in those days of yore, for the people at that time, growing fulfilment of every desire.' Cf. Gen. XI.2. Genesis, lines 1750—2: 'Seek that land which in its greenness I will reveal to you, a broad country.' Lines 1 7 8 7 - 9 0 : 'This is the green country adorned with crops which I wish to give in its brightness into the power of your offspring, a broad kingdom.'

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The first of these descriptions is quite without parallel in the biblical Genesis: at the corresponding point in Genesis the Lord tells Abraham to leave his country but does not at this stage mention where his people are to settle. In the passage in Genesis corresponding to the second description, the Lord promises Abraham that his descendants will dwell in the land of Canaan, but there is no description of it. 43 The Old English adaptation in Genesis A again fills out the picture by reference to the fertility, greenness and breadth of this excellent country. In the treatment in Genesis A of the episode in which Noah plants a vineyard, this type of landscape is associated with the good life of agriculture: won and worhte, wingeard sette, seow saeda fela, sohte georne J)a him wlitebeorhte waestmas brohte, geartorhte gife, grene folde.44 Noah exemplifies humankind working in harmony with nature and bringing it under its sway, thereby fulfilling God's instruction to Adam and Eve that they should use the seas and the land for their sustenance when they have left paradise. In Genesis itself and in the standard patristic interpretations of this episode there is less emphasis than in the Old English on the life of agriculture. Genesis tells how Noah becomes a farmer, plants a vineyard and then on a later occasion becomes drunk as a result of drinking the wine from it: 'Coepitque Noe vir agricola exercere terram, et plantavit vineam. Bibensque vinum inebriatus est.' In Genesis the account of the planting of the vineyard leads straight on to the story of Noah's drunkenness, which the exegetes interpret in spiritual terms, seeing it as a figure of Christ's acceptance of the cup of his Passion, but the Old English paraphrase pauses to present an approving picture of Noah tilling the good land and gives no hint of a typological interpretation. 42 44

45 46

7

43 Cf. Gen. XII. 1. Cf. Gen. XII.7. Genesis, lines 1 5 5 8 - 6 1 : 'he strove and worked, set a vineyard, sowed many seeds; he sought zealously so that the green earth in its splendour brought forth crops for him, perennially bright gifts'. Cf. lines 9 5 8 - 6 0 . Gen. I X . 2 0 - 1 : 'And Noe, a husbandman, began to till the ground, and planted a vineyard, and drinking of the wine was made drunk.' On exegetical interpretations of this episode, isode, see above, p. 92, n. 72.

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THE CITY IN THE GOOD LANDSCAPE Among the biblical poems, descriptions of good landscapes are largely confined to Genesis A, although Exodus also draws on the idea. At the end of Exodus there is a reference to the promised land: HafaS us on Cananea cyn gelyfed burh and beagas, brade rice. The force of the image is heightened by the context of the difficult journey across the wilderness which the poem has described. In the Exodus passage, however, the broad kingdom is associated with life in society, rather than operating as an image of prosperity on its own. This evocation of prosperity is one which has its focus in the city, conceived here in terms of the Germanic stronghold, and in the hall, where the giving of rings — 'beagas' — is carried on. A few lines later Exodus refers to the life of the Israelites in the 'beorselas beorna'. In Genesis A too the good landscape and the city combine as an image of the communal prosperity of the people and of the divine favour which they enjoy. When in the story of Sodom the inhabitants forfeit this favour, God destroys both their city and their countryside: Hlynn wearS on ceastrum, cirm arleasra cwealmes on ore, laSan cynnes. Lig eall fornam t>aet he grenes fond goldburgum in, swylce t>aer ymbutan unlytel dael sidre foldan geondsended waes bryne and brogan. Bearwas wurdon to axan and to yslan, eorSan waestma, efne swa wide swa 5a witelac re5e geraehton rum land wera. Exodus, lines 556—7: 'He has granted to us in Canaan the people, their strongholds and rings, a broad kingdom.' Line 564: 'the beer-halls of men'. Genesis, lines 2548—57: 'There was uproar in the fortresses, the tumult of the wicked, the hostile people, in the face of death. Fire consumed all that it found green in the cities of gold, and likewise too no little part of the broad surrounding countryside was overspread with burning and terror. The groves and the crops of the earth were reduced to ashes and embers, for just as far as the punishments cruelly extended over the spacious land of the men.'

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The familiarly reiterated features of the good landscape are here presented as destroyed by the avenging power of God — 'eall J)aet god spilde' — and are combined with a picture of splendour brought low - 'goldburgum in'. Genesis itself has a much briefer account of this destruction: 'et subvertit civitates has, et omnem circa regionem, universos habitatores urbium, at cuncta terrae virentia'. The Vulgate cuncta terrae virentia provides the lead for the Old English text's urgent account of the destruction of land and crops. The Old English goes on, in a passage of commentary added to the biblical account, to insist that it was the excess and worldliness of the people that brought them to this destruction. It was God who gave them prosperity and wealth in cities — 'blaed on burgum' 5 — just as he promises to Abraham that his descendants will have lofty cities of stone, 'steape stanbyrig'. In their preoccupation, however, with pride and drinking — 'wlenco . . . and wingedrync' — the people of Sodom forgot truth and the commandments of God, and perverted their communal life: Hie J)aes wlenco onwod and wingedrync l>aet hie firendaeda to frece wurdon, synna f>riste, so5 ofergeaton, drihtnes domas, and hwa him duge5a forgeaf, blaed on burgum. The behaviour of the people is marked by sin, and they undergo God's just punishment. Things good in themselves - city and countryside - are destroyed as part of this punishment. At the beginning of the account of the destruction of Sodom the contrast had already been carefully stated in the Old English poem between the fairness of the dwelling-places and the sinfulness of the people:

51

Line 2 5 6 1 : 'God destroyed all that.'

52

Line 2 5 5 1 : 'in gold-strongholds'.

G e n . X I X . 2 5 : ' A n d he destroyed these cities, and all the country about: all the inhabitants of the cities, and all t h i n g s that spring from the earth.' 54

Genesis, line 2 5 8 5 .

55

Line 2 2 1 4 . There is no corresponding image in G e n . X V .

5

Line 2 5 8 1 .

Lines 2581—5: 'Pride obsessed t h e m and the d r i n k i n g of wine, so that they became too daring in their wickedness, rash in their sins; they forgot t r u t h , the laws of the Lord, and w h o it was w h o granted t h e m prosperity, wealth in cities.'

155


Paer folcstede men arlease,

faegre waeron, metode Ia5e.58

Genesis mentions the wickedness of Sodom but not its fine appearance. The splendid appearance of this city is referred to again in Genesis A, as God announces to Abraham its coming destruction in the punishment of its people: octyaet hie on Sodoman, weallsteape burg, wlitan meahton. Gesawon ofer since salo hlifian, reced ofer readum golde. Cities appear primarily in Old English biblical poetry as strongholds of the people and as images of society and of success and achievement: bleed on burgum. The idea of Sodom as a secure stronghold — 'weallsteape burg' — is not without irony in the face of God's retributive destruction of it. As images of society and success cities can represent either good or evil, depending on the character of their inhabitants. The concept of society as commendable in itself is taken over and indeed highlighted in the Old English poems, but society can also become corrupt or vicious. Its success can lead the way to pride, which, as in the story of Babel, may be epitomized in the building of the city itself. The description of the abundant land of Shinar leads on immediately in Genesis A to the account of the building of the city and tower of Babel. The poem speaks of the people's arrogance and rashness — 'for wlence and for wonhygdum' — with which they began to build a wall, 'ofer monna gemet'. 63 Afterwards the unfinished tower and the lofty city remain as symbols of humankind's futile pride: Him on laste bu stiSlic stantorr and seo steape burn samod samworht on Sennar stod. 58

59 60

61 63 64

Lines 1933-4: 'There the dwelling-places of the people were fair, but the men were impious, hostile to the Lord.' Gen. XIII. 13. Genesis, lines 2 4 0 3 - 6 : 'until they could gaze upon Sodom, the steep-walled city. They saw walls towering over treasure, buildings over red gold.' 62 Line 2404: 'the steep-walled city'. Line 1673. Line 1677; 'above the measure of men'. Lines 1 6 9 9 - 1 7 0 1 : 'The two of them remained behind them, the strong tower and the high city, both unfinished, on the plain of Shinar.'

156


There is no general association in the Old English poems, however, either in Genesis A or in the other biblical compositions, of the cities of earth with evil, even though influential strands of patristic exegesis might encourage this kind of interpretation of the biblical references. Community may become perverted, and people may become overweening and heedless of God in their worldly success, as do the people of Sodom, but it is God who grants them their success in the first place. 66 The first city was built by Cain after the birth of his son, Enoch: Si 5 5 an faesten ongon mid J>am cneomagum ceastre timbran; J)aet waes under wolcnum weallfaestenna aerest ealra f)ara £>e ae6elingas, sweordberende, settan heton.67 On this the Vulgate Genesis has no more than 'et aedificavit civitatem', with no further description. The origin of cities with the race of Cain, and the appearance of other sinful cities later in the narrative (Babel, Sodom and Gomorrha), could have given the Old English poet room to develop the city as a symbol of wickedness: for Augustine it is significant that Cain, representing the animal element in humanity, founded a city, but Abel, representing the spiritual element, did not: Scriptum est itaque de Cain, quod condiderit ciuitatem; Abel autem tamquam peregrinus non condidit. Superna est enim sanctorum ciuitas, quamuis hie pariet ciues, in quibus peregrinatur, donee regni eius tempus adueniat. 5

66 7

8 69

In exegetical commentaries the type of the evil city is Babylon. See H. T. Keenan, The Ruin as Babylon', Tennessee Studies in Literature 11 (1966), 109-17. Cf. Genesis, line 2584. Lines 1056-60: 'Afterwards he began with his kinsmen to build a stronghold, a town; that was the first walled stronghold in the world of all those which noblemen, swordwarriors, ordered to be set up.' Gen. IV. 17: 'and he built a city'. De civitate Dei XV. 1 (ed. Dombart and Kalb I, 454, lines 54-8): 'Scripture tells us that Cain founded a city, whereas Abel, as a pilgrim did not found one. For the city of the saints is up above, although it produces citizens here below, and in their persons the city is on pilgrimage until the time of its kingdom comes' (trans. Bettenson, p. 596). See also Bede, In Genesim iv.17 (ed. C. W. Jones, CCSL 118A (Turnhout, 1957), 85), quoting Hosea XI.9 'et non ingrediar ciuitatem'; Isidore, Allegoriae quaedam sacrae Scripturae 3 (PL 83, 100A), Quaestiones in Vetus Testamentum vi.20 (PL 83, 227A-B).

157


Nothing of this idea is apparent in the treatment of the first city in Genesis A: in the Genesis A account indeed the notion of cities as strongholds of heroic warriors, cedelingas and sweordberende,70 suggests approval for the impulse to build cities. At a later stage in the poem's narrative, Abraham looks upon the lofty cities of Egypt (there is nothing corresponding to these lines in the biblical account):71 geseah Egypta hornsele hwite and hea byrig beorhte blican.7 With the emotive emphasis on brightness, the sight is a splendid one, and it is not undermined by Abraham's reference to the 'wlance monige' 73 who live in the cities. As noted in an earlier chapter,7 the adjective wlanc often has connotations of sinfulness in Old English (as it can have even in Genesis A) but it can also have connotations of the heroic life. It is not used critically by Abraham, any more than by the poet of Judith in the portrayal of the victorious citizens of Bethulia, who are 'wlanc, wundenlocc'.76 Indeed the tone and expression of the description of the cities of Egypt in Genesis A recall overall that of the shining city of Bethulia in Judith, seen by Judith and her maidservant as they return from the Assyrian camp: f>aet hie sweotollice l>aere wlitegan byrig Bethuliam.77

geseon mihten weallas blican,

Abraham fears that the Egyptians will desire his wife but he still describes them as 'aeSelinga eorlas' and he does not see them as wicked. The narrator goes on to speak of the Egyptians in similar terms: the phrase wlonce monige is used again and the Egyptians are described as 'dugu5um 70

73 75 7 77

78

71 Genesis, lines 1059 and 1060. Cf. Gen. X I I . l l . Genesis, lines 1820—2: 'he saw the white horn-gabled halls of Egypt and the lofty cities shining brightly'. 7 Line 1825: 'many proud ones'. See above, p . 100. a. Genesis, line 2 4 2 1 . Judith, line 3 2 5 ; 'proud, with braided locks'. Judith, lines 1 3 6 - 8 : 'that they could clearly see the walls of the radiant city of Bethulia shining'. 79 Genesis, line 1826: 'noblemen of princes'. Line 1848.

158


dealle'. 80 It turns out that the Pharaoh acts towards Abraham with honour and generosity. In the adaptation of this episode in Genesis A the Egyptians are presented in heroic terms, worthy to live in the high-gabled strongholds in which the Old English poem pictures them as dwelling. It is clear overall that the Genesis A-poet was greatly attracted to the imagery of the city but is flexible in exploiting it. The use of the imagery of the city in Genesis A is essentially symbolic in nature, but it is not guided by a predetermined allegorical or tropological approach, any more than is the use of the imagery of landscape in the poem. The extension of the imagery of the city as inherited from Genesis is informed in the Old English by the idea of the stronghold, an idea highly congenial to Germanic heroic poetry, and of the hall, which epitomizes the social life of the people. The extension of this imagery is underlain by a preoccupation with the relationship to God of the people who live in the city. In this, Genesis A can be seen as remaining faithful to the spirit of Genesis itself, without displaying evidence of a developed concern with the subtleties of exegetical scholarship. IMAGES OF THE CITY IN JUDITH AND DANIEL

Two other biblical poems require consideration at this point, Judith and Daniel, both of which make creative use of the imagery of the city. In Judith the city of Bethulia, stronghold of a community under siege and beautiful dwelling-place, becomes in victory an extension of the glory of the heroine, and serves at the same time as a bright symbol of the divine cause for which Judith fights. In its splendour, indeed, Bethulia takes on the quality of heaven itself, as Judith is shown being glorified in it at the end of the poem. The city of Bethulia stands physically in opposition to the camp of the Assyrians — the heavenly city, in a sense, facing the earthly. In Judith historical and spiritual levels of meaning are imaginatively opened out in an assured treatment of the image of the city. The city of Bethulia receives little explicit attention in the Book of Judith itself. It is mentioned a number of times in the course of the narrative, but never with any kind of descriptive qualification. The incidental nature of the first reference to Bethulia, 'ut . . . perducerent eum 80

Line 1849: 'exulting in their glory' (?). 159

81

Lines 1869-72.


[Achior] in Bethuliam', is typical of the treatment of it throughout. There is no emotive dimension to it, no sense that it is a place of special importance. When Ozias and the elders of the city entrust Judith to the favour of God as she departs on her expedition, they express the wish that Jerusalem, not Bethulia, may glorify her: 'ut glorietur super te Ierusalem, et sit nomen tuum in numero sanctorum et iustorum'. 83 And after her victory it is said that the people go to Jerusalem to adore the Lord: 'omnis populus post victoriam venit in Ierusalem adorare Dominum'. 8 The emotive focus of the people's sense of themselves is not the shadowy place called Bethulia but the symbolically charged city of Jerusalem. Bethulia has significance not for its own sake but because this city high in the mountains serves as a defence for Jerusalem. In his Homily on the Book of Judith^ yElfric reflects this disregard for the city of Bethulia, and indeed he carries this disregard much further. He systematically excises all mentions of Bethulia by name but one, substituting instead references to 'the city'. The one mention of Bethulia by name which remains occurs in the account of the journey of the high priest Joachim from Jerusalem to Bethulia, when he tells Judith that she is 'the glory of Jerusalem'. Here Êlfric's retention of the reference to Bethulia, although inconsistent and not helpful to an uneducated audience (who, presumably, would never have heard of Bethulia), serves by means of contrast to highlight the importance of Jerusalem in the hearts of the people. ^Blfric is interested in the allegorical meaning of the Book of Judith, 88 but he does not take the opportunity to explore the allegorical meaning of Bethulia. In the course of his narrative he stresses not the splendid city but the mountainous landscape of the area, an idea ignored by the poet of Judith. The Old English poem Judith differs from ^lfric's version in its treatment both of Bethulia and of Jerusalem. In considering the poem's 82

Judith VI.7: 'to lead him to Bethulia'.

83

Judith X.8: 'that Jerusalem may glory in thee; and thy name may be in the number of

8

Judith X V I . 2 2 : 'all the people, after the victory, came to Jerasulem to adore the Lord'.

85

Angelsdchsische Homilien und Heiligenleben, ed. Assmann, pp. 1 0 2 - 1 6 .

the holy and just'.

86

See Homily on Judith, ed. Assmann, lines 1 7 3 , 231 etc.

87

Homily on Judith, lines 3 8 6 - 9 4 . Cf. Judith X V . 9 - 1 2 .

88

See iElfric's exegetical discussion, Homily on Judith, lines 4 0 4 - 5 2 .

89

Homily on Judith, lines 6 9 , 7 0 and 8 0 .

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treatment of Jerusalem we have to be somewhat tentative due to the incompleteness of the Old English text. This is not the place to go into the question of the original length of the poem, but we cannot be certain, for example, how it might originally have treated the reference to Jerusalem at Judith X.8, since the extant text does not cover this part of the biblical book. The references to Jerusalem at XV.9-10 and XVI.22, however, which do fall within the scope of the existing 'fragment' as it appears in Cotton Vitellius A. xv, are omitted in the Old English (they are present at the corresponding parts of ^lfric's narrative), and it is clear that generally the emotive significance which Jerusalem bears in the Book of Judith has been transferred to Bethulia. The focus in Judith is on the heroine and the local community rather than the nation, and the fact that Bethulia is under siege makes it a more immediate symbol for the plight and then the victory of these people of God. 91 The kind of significance which the Old English poet finds in the city of Bethulia is paralleled in some respects in the ninth-century commentary on the Book of Judith by Hrabanus Maurus. In his enthusiastic allegorizing of the biblical book Hrabanus fastens on Bethulia as a multi-faceted figure of spiritual meaning. For Hrabanus, as well as signifying perpetual chastity,93 a theme not developed by the Judith-poet, Bethulia represents both the church in the world and the heavenly city. For Hrabanus, Bethulia sometimes overlaps in significance with Jerusalem and sometimes contrasts with it: in attacking Bethulia, says Hrabanus, commenting on Judith VII. 1, Holofernes and his soldiers are attacking the church: *ut ascendat contra Bethuliam, id est, contra Ecclesiam catholicam, quae est domus Dei, ex vivis lapidibus utique constructa'. The high priest Joachim, who comes from Jerusalem to Bethulia and praises Judith as 'tu gloria Ierusalem, tu laetitia Israel, signifies Christ descending from heaven into 90 91

Homily on Judith, lines 386-90 and 398. The poet uses the terms burhsittende (line 159) and burgleoda (line 187) of the people, and where the tribe is mentioned — 'Ebrea' (line 298), 'guman Ebrisce' (line 305) — it is immediately associated with the city: seo cneoris eall, maegSa maerost... waegon and laedon to 6aere beorhtan byrig Bethuliam . . .

92 9

95

(lines 323—6)

93 Expositio in Librum Judith (PL 109, 539-92). PL 109, 589C. PL 109, 556C: 'that he should ascend against Bethulia, that is against the catholic church, which is the house of God, built indeed from living stones'. Judith XV. 10: 'Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the joy of Israel.'

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the world, and the praise of Joachim for Judith is the blessing of Christ upon his church: 'Benedixit ergo Ecclesiam suam Dominus.' 96 As well as signifying the church in the world in this exegetical interpretation, Bethulia also signifies the heavenly city. The watchmen on the walls to whom Judith calls out on her return to the city signify for Hrabanus the doctors of the church who by their word, example and prayer prepare the entry of the faithful to eternal beatitude, 'ad aeternam beatitudinem illis praeparant introitum'. Hrabanus goes on in this passage explicitly to identify Bethulia with Jerusalem by quoting Isaias LXII.6, 'Super muros tuos, Ierusalem, constitui custodes, tota die, tota nocte non tacebunt laudare nomen tuum.' 99 Outside the gates Judith is a figure of the church in the world asking for entry to the celestial kingdom to be opened: 'ut per suffragia sanctorum sibi supernae patriae pandatur introitus'. 100 The overall approach of the Judith-pott, unlike that of Hrabanus and other early medieval writers on Judith, 101 is not allegorical, but it draws upon aspects of the exegetical tradition which we see in the Hrabanus commentary. 102 In both works Bethulia becomes an important symbol for 96

97 99

101

102

Hrabanus, Expositio in Librum Judith (PL 109, 5 7 9 Q : 'The Lord therefore blessed his church.' 98 Judith XIII.13. PL 109, 574A 'Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen, that shall never cease to praise thy name all the day and all the night.' See Hrabanus, PL 109, 574A. PL 109, 574B: 'that through the support of the saints the entry to the celestial homeland may be opened to her'. Other expositions are conveniently listed by Pringle, Judith', the Homily and the Poem', p. 84: Ambrose, Liber de Elia et ieiunio 9 (PL 14, 741-2), De officiis ministrorum 111.13 (PL 16, 178-9), Liberdeviduis 1 (PL 16, 259-60); Jerome, Ep. xxiiadEustochium 21 (ed. Hilberg I, 173), Ep. liv ad Furiam 16 (ed. Hilberg I, 483-4), Ep. Ixxix, ad Salvinam 11 (ed. Hilberg II, 100-1), Apologia adversus libros Rufini 48 (PL 23, 412), Praefatio in Librum Judith (PL 29, 39-40); Augustine, Sermones de Judith (PL 39, 183941); Prudentius, Psychomachia, lines 40-97 (ed. I. Bergman, Aurelii Prudentii dementis Carmina, CSEL 61 (Vienna and Leipzig, 1926), 165-211); Fulgentius, Ep. ii, ad Gallam viduam (PL 65, 319—20); Isidore, Allegoriae quaedam sacrae Scripturae 122 (PL 83, 116), De ortu et obitu patrum (PL 8 3 , 148); Dracontius, De laudibus Dei (ed. F. Vollmer, M G H Auct. antiq. 14 (Berlin, 1905)), 4 8 ; Aldhelm, De virginitate. Prosa 57 (ed. Ehwald, pp. 3 1 6 - 1 7 ; trans. M. Lapidge and M. Herren, Aldhelm: the Prose Works (Cambridge and Totowa, NJ, 1979), pp- 126—7), Carmen de virginitate (ed. Ehwald, lines 2 5 6 0 - 7 0 ; trans. Lapidge and Rosier, Aldhelm: the Poetic Works, p . 159). The view that Judith should be interpreted allegorically has, however, been asserted in

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the glory of the heroine and for the people of God. The city stands as a shining beacon in a hostile world. Judith presents its material in such a way as to leave open the possibility of non-literal interpretations, but its poetic treatment of Bethulia, as of other elements in the narrative, is such as to suggest richness rather than narrowness of possible signification. After Judith's victory the city of Bethulia is described in terms of the brightness which is insistently applied to Judith herself.10 As Judith and her servant return 'ut of 5am herige' 105 they see before them, and the audience sees with them, the bright walls of the city shining: t>aet hie sweotollice £>aere wlitegan byrig Bethuliam.106

geseon mihten weallas blican,

Here the proper noun is climactically withheld to the end of the clause. The brightness of the city reflects at this point the victory of Judith and the sublime cause for which she has fought. In contrast to the elation of Judith and her servant - 'glaedmode'107 - the inhabitants have been sitting in sorrow: 'Wiggend saeton . . . geomormodum'. Their mood changes immediately, however, and from now on Bethulia is a city whose brightness reflects its joy. It becomes, in a transformation in some ways analogous to that of Mermedonia in Andreas, a mead-city — 'on Saere medobyrig'. 10 It is a spacious city, 110 a holy one 111 and a bright one. 112 The description of Bethulia as a 'mead city' reflects the poem's adoption of the imagery of the good social framework of the traditions of Germanic heroic poetry, and brings us back to the symbolism of the hall discussed earlier in this study. Among Old English biblical poems, the imagery of Germanic heroic life is also exploited in Exodus, in the references to the burh and beagas and the beorselas beorna of the promised land, and in

103

109

110 113

an important recent study: see Hermann, Allegories of War, pp. 173—98. For an earlier allegorical approach to the poem, see Huppe, The Web of Words, pp. 136—87. 104 See Hrabanus, PL 109, 589A. Judith, lines 4 3 , 58, 254 and 340. Line 135: 'out from the invading army'. Lines 136—8: 'that they could clearly see the walls of the radiant city of Bethulia shining'. Line 140: 'joyous'. Lines 141-4: 'The warriors sat . . . sad-minded.' Line 167. Contrast the different associations of mead in medowerige, applied to the unvigilant Assyrians (lines 229 and 245). 11! 112 Line 149. Line 203. Lines 137 and 326. 114 Exodus, line 557: 'stronghold and rings'. Line 564: 'beer-halls of men'.

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Genesis A, in the mention of the warriors who inhabit the impressive cities which the poem describes. In Genesis A, however, dwellers in cities are also led to shameful excess — 'ealogalra gylp'. And Genesis A also uses the imagery of prosperity in cities and of joy in the hall to highlight the theme of reversal, as glory is overturned goldburgum in. But in the Old Testament poems generally, and particularly in Judith, approval for the city and its people is expressed through the exploitation of the imagery of idealized Germanic heroic society. Judith itself presents an especially creative fusion of secular and exegetical traditions. Medoburh also contains the idea of stronghold, the other feature particularly associated with Bethulia. The city's secureness reflects the resistance of its people. The theme of the mountain remoteness of Bethulia is not taken up in Judith (since Bethulia is not presented as an outpost of Jerusalem but is itself the people's communal centre). The city is a fasten, 'stronghold', however. The high wall and the guarded wall gate are mentioned in the account of Judith's triumphant return. In the confrontational scheme of the poem, Bethulia stands in opposition to the military camp of the Assyrians. The camp faces the city, the foreigners120 face the people of the homeland. At the centre of the camp of the invaders is the tent of Holofernes,121 with its fleohnet, 'curtain', behind which is the innermost centre of his dominance and power.* It is here that he is ignominiously killed, when the invader has been himself invaded. The poem ends with booty having been brought back from the invading army to the city, the opposite of Holofernes's plans, and with joy in the city whose brightness is an extension of that of its heroine. In ^lfric's version Judith rejects the booty of Holofernes because of his paganism, but in Judith the booty is a visible sign of victory. The lofty city — 'hean byrig' — in which the narrative of Daniel 115 116 118 121 123

124 125 126

Genesis\ line 2410: 'the boasting of those drunk with ale'. 117 Line 2 5 5 1 : 'in the cities of gold'. Judith, lines 143 and 162. 119 12 Line 161. Lines 141 and 162. ° Lines 215 and 2 3 7 . 122 Lines 4 3 and 57. Line 4 7 . See C. Berkhout and J. F. Doubleday, 'The Net in Judith, 4 6 b - 5 4 a \ NM 74 (1973), 6 3 0 - 4 ; and Lochrie, 'Gender, Sexual Violence, and the Politics of W a r in the Old English Judith', p p . 8 - 9 . Judith, lines 3 2 6 and 340. Homily on Judith, lines 4 2 4 - 5 . Here ^ l f r i c follows Judith XVI.23. Daniel, line 54.

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begins is Jerusalem. It is here that the Israelites enjoy prosperity until they earn God's punishment. In a manner similar to that of Genesis A in relating the destruction of Sodom, Daniel exploits the imagery of reversal to express the discomfiture of the Israelites: their winburhy 'wine-city', is destroyed. The enemies of the Israelites plunder the temple itself: bereafodon J)a receda wuldor readan golde, since and seolfre, Salomones tempi. The fall of Jerusalem is handled in summary fashion in the Book of Daniel, 129 with none of this emphasis on splendour. The other city which features in Daniel is Babylon, and the poem develops the theme of contrast between it and Jerusalem, the earthly city again and the heavenly, a familiar theme in exegetical tradition. 130 Babylon too is a lofty city — 'hean byrig' — and at its centre is a focus of worship, the idol which Nebuchadnezzar raises up: Paere burge weard anne manlican ofer metodes est, gyld of golde, gumum araerde, for J)am {)e he gleaw ne waes.132 This idol in Babylon is the inverted equivalent in the poem of the temple in Jerusalem, the despoiling of which is recalled at lines 710—11 and 747—8. The godlessness of the city of Babylon is reflected in the idolatrous pride of Nebuchadnezzar as he praises his city, built to his own glory: Du eart seo micle and min seo maere burn \>e ic geworhte to wurSmyndum, rume rice. Ic reste on l>e, eard and edel, agan wille.133 128

129 130 131

Lines 5 9 - 6 0 : 'They despoiled that glory of buildings, the temple of Solomon, of its red gold, its treasures and silver.' Dan. 1.1-2. See Isidore, Allegoriae quaedam sacrae Scripturae 127 (PL 83, 116). Daniel, line 206. Lines 173—6: 'The guardian of the city raised up for men against the consent of the Lord a golden image in human likeness, for he was not wise.' Cf. Daniel III.l. Lines 608—11: 'You are the great and glorious city which I have built in my honour, in my great power. I intend to possess a resting-place in you, a dwelling and a homeland.'

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The Old English slightly expands on Daniel IV.27: 'Nonne haec est Babylon magna, quam ego aedificavi in domum regni, in robore fortitudinis meae, et in gloria decoris mei?' 134 This boasting, in which Nebuchadnezzar's pride in his city is an expression of his pride in himself, comes just before his tribulation in the wilderness. In the Old English account of this humbling of Nebuchadnezzar the image of the wine-city appears again in the context of reversal, in a stark juxtaposition of civilization and the wilderness: Seofon winter samod susl Jsrowode, wildeora westen, winburge cyning. Babylon is an image of pride throughout most of Daniel. Even Babylon is redeemable, however, and with the repentance of Nebuchadnezzar it becomes (temporarily) an attractive and prosperous place, a city of warriors in which good order reflects divine approval.13 A final image of the city in Daniel, presented in characteristically Germanic terms, comes in the treatment of the sinful life of Belshazzar and his men. This is carried on within the protection afforded by the city wall: 'Saeton him aet wine wealle belocene.'137 It is here, where Belshazzar foolishly thinks he is secure (the city as stronghold), that he grows medugal, 'drunk with mead', and angers God. The Old English adds the detail 'wealle belocene'.140 In this passage, as generally in Daniel, the image of the city appears in a context of reversal, as an expression of the heedlessness of humankind in the face of God's omnipotence. Although Jerusalem is opposed to the godless Babylon in the thematic pattern of the poem and although the people of Jerusalem are the people of God, the inhabitants of the winburh of Jerusalem too 13

133

136 138 139

I s not this the great Babylon which I have built to be the seat of the kingdom, by the strength of my power and in the glory of my excellence?' On this as indicating the pride of Nebuchadnezzar, see Jerome, Commentarius in Danielem prophetam I.iv.27 (PL 25, 540C). Daniel, lines 6 2 0 - 1 : Tor seven years together he suffered torment, the wild beasts' wilderness, that king of the wine-city.' 137 Lines 6 7 1 - 4 . Line 695: 'They sat at wine enclosed by the wall.' Line 702; d. Vulgate temulentus 'intoxicated', Dan. V.2. Cf. also lines 7 1 2 - 1 6 . 'Enclosed by the wall'; see also the similar phrase under wealla bleoy 'under the protection of the walls', at line 690.

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display presumption and the Israelites undergo the reversal of exile. In Daniel, to an extent not matched in other biblical poems, the imagery of the city/stronghold and that of the hall combine to provide a means of suggesting disapproval for the people who set themselves against the Lord.

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8 Places of trial and triumph in hagiographical poetry

In common with other aspects of the genre, the general treatment of place and setting in early medieval hagiography is highly conventional.1 The concern of the hagiographer is not normally with individuality of place any more than it is with individuality of characterization. One Roman city in hagiography is very much like any other; monasteries, rivers, roads and settlements are not individualized. Wilderness retreats of hermit saints recall those of the desert fathers Antony and Paul:2 the oriental features of such dwelling-places — the palm trees, the spring of cold water in the desert — are not taken over by western writers but the details of the rocky mountain, of the saint tilling a plot of ground to grow a few crops and of the troublesome birds and beasts which steal the produce become recurrent features of the eremitic tradition. Attention to the setting of the hermit's dwelling-place presents a conventional theme of the vita of the hermit saint. In the confrontational form of the passzo, however, there is no interest in the physical setting of the saint's martyrdom, which takes place in a location without 1

2

The most important recent studies of the genre of hagiography are W. Berschin, Biographie und Epochenstil im lateiniscben Mittelalter, 3 vols., Quellen und Untersuchungen zur lateinischen Philologie des Mittelalters 8-10 (Stuttgart, 1986-); R. Gregoire, Manuale di agiologia: Introduziom alia letteratura agiografica, Bibliotheca Montisfani 12 (Fabriano, 1987); and Hagiograpbies, ed. G. Philippart (Turnhout, 1994—) (one vol., out of a projected four, so far published). The conventional features of hagiography are also treated in the older standard works on the subject: see esp. H. Delehaye, Les legendes bagiograpbiques, 4th ed., Subsidia hagiographica 18a (Brussels, 1955); R. Aigrain, L'bagiograpbie: ses sources, ses meihodes, son bistoire (Paris, 1953). Evagrius, Vita Beati Antonii abbatis auctore Sancto Atbanasio, PL 73, 125-70, at 148C-D; Jerome, Vita S. Pauliprimi eremitae, PL 23, 17-30, at 20A-22D. See Kurtz, 'From St Antony to St Guthlac', pp. 116—17.

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Places of trial and triumph in hagiographical poetry

acknowledged topography and without significant climate or weather. The passio characteristically begins with a highly specific reference to the period and place of the events described and with a careful introduction to the dramatis personae, but when the narrative gets under way the focus moves in on the timeless and placeless confrontation between Christian hero and heathen persecutor. The saint, who aspires to and represents an ideal of heavenly community, is isolated in a hostile and obdurate earthly community. The individual passio is a version of an archetypal conflict rather than a dramatization of a unique event. Thus, weather in saints' lives — usually severe weather — is mentioned only if narrowly relevant to a specific episode. Particular features of the setting, such as this hill or that plain, may be suddenly introduced in the course of the narrative in accordance with the requirements of the plot, but these are identified by name rather than by description. Place names and personal names figure greatly in hagiographical writing, imparting a sense of authenticating solidity, but the intention in introducing such names is not normally to familiarize readers with the location or to help them to visualize the actual scene. Only in special cases is attention paid to what a particular place looks like.5 In Bede's prose Vita S. Cuthberti, indeed, we see the writer systematically excising the local dimension which he has found in his less assured source, the anonymous Vita S. Cuthberti. For Bede an emphasis on local detail, apart from the inclusion of authenticating names, would distract from the universalizing quality of this form of writing. Scenery in hagiography is characteristically handled in a neutral and unobtrusive way. This picture is reflected in Old English prose saints' lives as well as in the Latin tradition from which they derive. In Old English prose, indeed, it is in some ways carried even further than in Latin: vernacular 4

5

6

For example, M\k'\cs Life of St Martin (in JElfric's Lives of Saints) mentions a bitter winter in the context of episodes of the saint clothing naked men (ed. and trans. Skeat II, 218-313 (lines 58-74 and 901-14)); a storm is calmed through prayers to Martin (lines 1135-42); hailstorms are miraculously prevented (lines 1215-28). As in the Legend of the Seven Sleepers (also in /Elfric's Lives of Saints, ed. and trans. Skeat I, 488-541), in which attention is paid to the changes which have come over Ephesus during the saints' sleep: the extent of these changes emphasizes the greatness of the miracle of the sleep. See also the description of eremitic desert dwelling-places discussed below, pp. 178-80. Both the anonymous Vita S. Cuthberti and the Bede prose Vita S. Cuthberti are in Two Lives ofSt Cuthberty ed. and trans. Colgrave (pp. 60-139 and 141-307, respectively).

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hagiographers reduce the number of references to named places and they present an abstracted world of starkly opposed values. This approach is seen at its most radical in the saints' lives of JElinc and is epitomized by the omission in his Life of St Cecilia of all reference to specific place or time. Concerning the setting of this saint's martyrdom Êlfric tells us only that it took place in olden days — 'on ealdum dagum' — during the time of the pagan Roman Empire. CONTRASTING APPROACHES TO SETTING IN JULIANA AND ANDREAS

In Old English poetry the traditional hagiographical disregard for setting is clearly reflected in the work of Cynewulf. In other verse saints' lives in Old English, however, a concern with setting, though not with individuality of place, forms a significant aspect of the re-creation of hagiographical material in poetic terms. Cynewulf has little to say about place and setting in The Fates of the Apostles or Elene. In The Fates of the Apostles heaven

is described in terms of the traditional Christian imagery of a splendid city of bright dwelling-places,9 and in Elene Cynewulf introduces at one point a brief image of desert and moorland,10 where his source probably had instead an image of solitary confinement,11 but there is no attempt to exploit ideas of place or setting in poetic terms. Cynewulf''s Juliana is based on a version of the anonymous Latin passio similar but not identical to that printed in Ada Sanctorum. The Old English follows the Latin in placing the story in Nicomedia (or Commedia, as Cynewulf has it) but like the Latin it excludes entirely description of this city or of the more immediate scenes of Juliana's trial and torture. The poem establishes a feeling of the power of the pagan persecutor Heliseus: Rondburgum weold, eard weardade oftast symle in j)aere ceastre Commedia, heold hordgestreon.14 7 8 10 12 13

JElfric's Lives of Saints, ed. and trans. Skeat II, 356-77 (line 1). 9 Ibid., lines 3-4. The Fates of the Apostles, lines 116-18. ll Elene, lines 611-12. See above, p. 130, n. 62. Acta Sanctaejulianae, ed. Bollandus and Henschenius, pp. 873-7. Juliana, line 21. Lines 19—22: 'He ruled over shield-cities, but always resided most often in the city of

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Places of trial and triumph in hagiographical poetry The Heliseus of the Old English is more like a Germanic chieftain than a Roman prefect, and what few references to the Roman world as appear in the passio (the reference to Eleusius as a senator, the mention of the coach of state on which he performs his official duties, the naming of the gods Mars, Apollo and Diana) are excised in the vernacular adaptation. The one detail of natural description which the Old English poet expands upon is that of the storm in which Heliseus and his warriors perish: P>a se synsca£>a to scipe sceohmod sceaj)ena Create Heliseus ehstream sohte, leolc ofer laguflod longe hwile on swonrade. Swylt ealle fornom secga hloj)e ond hine sylfne mid, aer{)on hy to lande geliden haefdon, Jmrh {>earlic {>rea. Paer XXX waes ond feowere eac feores onsohte |mrh waeges wylm wigena cynnes, heane mid hlaford, hro{)ra bidaded, hyhta lease helle sohton. For the most part, however, Cynewulf shows little desire to enhance the presentation of the physical or social setting of his inherited story. In Juliana he sets out to produce, as nearly as his medium allows it, the equivalent of the timeless and placeless martyrdom of the Latin tradition. Indeed his adaptation of his source is in the direction of simplifying and sharpening the pattern of hagiographical confrontation and opposition as he has found it in the Latin. To this end, as we have seen in a previous

15

1

Commedia; and he possessed hoarded treasure.' The name of the persecutor appears as Eleusius in the Latin version. Lines 671-82: 'Then Heliseus the sin-stained wretch in cowardly fashion sought the sea in a ship with his troop of warriors, and he was tossed over the ocean flood for a long time, on the swan's way. Death carried away the whole troop in a severe onslaught, and himself with them, before they had travelled to land. There through the surge of the wave the lives of thirty-four of the warrior-kind were taken; brought low with their lord, deprived of joys and without hopes, they made their way to hell.' Cf. Ada Sanctae Julianae, ed. Bollandus and Henschenius, ch. 22: 'Praefectus autem Eleusius cum navigasset in suo suburbano, venit tempestas valida, et mersit navem ipsius, et mortui sunt viri numero viginti quatuor: et cum aqua jactasset eos in locum desertum ab avibus et feris corpora eorum sunt devorata' (p. 878). Calder comments that the hagiographical pattern 'remains essentially unrealized in the

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chapter, Cynewulf employs the Germanic ideas of the stronghold and the comitatus, associating them not with virtuous community but with the pagan secular world, which is antagonistic to the principles by which the saint lives. Similarly, the 'rice brad' of Maximianus, which is 'wid ond weorSlic', is a sign not, as in Genesis A, of God's favour, but of secular power. Cynewulf's treatment is such as to highlight central hagiographical features of his received narrative. For example, he emphasizes the public nature of the arena in which the martyrdom takes place; he develops the theme of the saint's overnight confinement in prison, where she is assailed by a demon; he has no room for the complicating figure of Juliana's mother or for an antagonist as ineffectual as the one who appears in the Ada Sanctorum version.20 Cynewulf brings the city into the foreground only at the very end of the poem. After Juliana has been executed outside the city, her body is ushered into the city by a great crowd, so that she may be buried within the stronghold: Ungelice waes laeded lofsongum lie haligre micle maegne to moldgraefe, {>aet hy hit gebrohton burgum in innan, sidfolc micel.

17 19 20

sometimes cluttered and thematically unfocused account of the Latin Acta ... Cynewulf, however, perceives in this Latin story a clear structure and he turns the realistic Latin version into a sharply etched ritual drama' (Cynewulf, p. 82). For Calder, Juliana reflects a 'radically simple conception of the Juliana legend' (ibid, p. 155). See also Lee, The Guest-Hall of Eden, p. 102. On the theme of opposition in Juliana, see also Anderson, Cynewulf, pp. 84-102. Bjork, focusing particularly on the speeches in the poem, stresses the iconographic quality of Cynewulf's treatment of opposition: 'the saint stands firm at the linguistic and spiritual still point of the turning world' (The Old English Verse Saints' Lives, p. 61). 18 Juliana, line 8: 'broad kingdom'. Line 9- 'wide and splendid'. Lines 4 5 , 74, 162 etc. Calder describes the Latin Eleusius as proceeding in his actions from 'a middle-echelon bureaucrat's fearful caution' (Cynewulf, p . 88). On Cynewulf's excision of Juliana's mother, see Hermann, Allegories of War, pp. 161—2. Juliana, lines 688—92: 'In a different way was the body of the saint led with songs of praise by a great host to its grave, so that they, a great crowd, brought it inside the city.'

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This receiving of the body back into the city epitomizes the city's repentance and rejection of wicked paganism. The poem leaves the reader with an image of good community in contrast to the vicious community represented by Heliseus and his followers. By their action the people of the city show their embracing of the message of conversion of Juliana's last speech.22 Cynewulf has inherited from his source the familiar hagiographical theme of the martyr being taken outside the city for execution, but he appears to have introduced the communal image of the multitude escorting the body of the saint inside the city for burial. Instead of this image of conversion, the Ada Sanctorum version has the episode of the holy woman Sephonia recovering the body of Juliana and taking it away from Nicomedia by sea. In Andreas setting is both more prominent than it is in Cynewulf's work and has a symbolic and emotive significance largely lacking in the poems mentioned above. The symbolic and emotive dimension to the treatment of place and setting in Andreas is, as far as we can tell, entirely the contribution of the Old English poet: there is no such dimension apparent in the Old English prose Life of St Andrew, which is thought to be a translation of a Latin version close to that used by the Andreas-pott, or in the 'Casanatensis' version, the Latin version with most details in common with Andreas.25 In both of these analogues place and setting are treated in the unobtrusive way which we have seen to be generally characteristic of early medieval hagiography. 2 The development of place and setting is part of the Andreas-poet's adaptation of inherited material, exploiting features derived from the vernacular poetic tradition. Place and setting in Andreas reflect mood, and the impression which they make upon the reader/audience at any particular juncture in the story depends primarily on the state of mind of the hero and those associated with him. Mermedonia, the city in which the main action of the poem takes place, has no abiding essential quality: symbolically it reflects the spirit of its people in relation to Andreas, and indeed in relation to God, and this changes in the course of the poem. Before the conversion of its inhabitants, 22 23 24 25

26

Lines 6 4 1 - 6 9 . ActaeS.Julianae, ed. Bollandus and Henschenius, ch. 21 (p. 878). The Blickling Homilies, ed. and trans. Morris, p p . 2 2 8 - 4 9 Die lateinischen Bearbeitungen der Ada Andreae et Matthiae apud Antbropophagos, ed. Blatt, pp. 3 2 - 9 5 . See above, pp. 168-70.

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Mermedonia is presented as difficult to get to and well defended. When Andreas first arrives there he sees a fortified city of towers and walls, defended by steep cliffs: Beorgas steape, hleo5u hlifodon, ymbe harne stan tigelfagan trafu, torras stodon, windige weallas.27 The description recalls that of the coast of Denmark in Beowulf, seen from the perspective of Beowulf and his men as they first approach it. The shining cliffs — 'brimclifu blican' — of Denmark, however, are inviting in a way that Mermedonia is not. At this stage Mermedonia is not described as bright or shining. It is described as a mcere city, but this epithet draws attention to the infamy of the place rather than expressing admiration for it. After the conversion of its inhabitants, however, Mermedonia loses its forbidding aspect and is presented as a place of admirable community. It is now a winburg\ x it is referred to as a 'bright city' — 'in J)aere beorhtan byrig', — and a 'gold city' — 'goldburg', — a place where the communal joys of the hall are found: secga seledream beorht beagselu.

ond sincgestreon,

At the beginning of the poem the Lord tells Matheus that paradise awaits him: Pe is neorxnawang, blaeda beorhtost, boldwela faegrost, hama hyhtlicost, halegum mihtum torht ontyned. The glowing account of heaven as a splendid city suggests a contrast not only with Matheus's present bondage in prison but also with the hateful, 27

Andreas, lines 8 4 0 - 3 : 'Steep hills and crags rose u p ; around the grey rock stood tileadorned buildings, towers and windy walls.'

28

Beowulf, lines 2 2 1 - 3 .

30

Andreas, lines 2 8 7 and 9 7 3 : 'famous'.

29

Beowulf, line 2 2 1 : 'the sea-cliffs shone'.

31

Lines 1637 and 1 6 7 2 : 'wine stronghold'.

32

Lines 1649-

33

Line 1 6 5 5 .

Lines 1656—7: 'the hall-joys of m e n , and treasures, the b r i g h t hall of ring-giving'. Lines 102—5: 'For you paradise will be radiantly opened, t h r o u g h divine powers, the brightest of glories, t h e fairest of dwelling-places, the most joyful of homes.'

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and indeed hellish, city of Mermedonia itself.36 But in its transformed state after the conversion, when it becomes a 'bright city', Mermedonia can be seen as reflecting some of the attributes of the heavenly city. In the opening lines of Andreas Mermedonia is portrayed as a place of danger and evil. It is a 'mearcland',37 which is 'morSre bewunden' 38 and enveloped in 'feondes facne'.39 The major addition which the Old English poem introduces in its presentation of Mermedonia is to make it an island.40 This detail, not present in the analogues, increases the sense of danger associated with the heathen city, highlighting its remoteness, its fastness, and the difficulty of escaping from it. 41 The Old English poem also emphasizes the distance over the sea that Andreas has to travel in order to get to this island. The theme of the journey is particularly brought out in this version of the legend and there is much extended description of the sea, again unparalleled in the analogues. As Andreas sets out, the roaring of the sea is described: Garsecg hlynede, beoton brimstreamas.43 There are notable descriptions of storms at sea, one on Andreas's voyage, and another — the storm on the Sea of Galilee — recounted in direct discourse during the sea passage. There is a picture of a ship travelling through the waves at full speed. The poem expresses something of the difficulty of seafaring, but much of the sea description, it has to be admitted, consists of the uninspired recitation of familiar formulaic phrases, of which the poet has a ready stock to draw upon. The Old English prose version includes a brief description of the sea only in its account of the storm on the Sea of Galilee: 'ond dyde swij)e freonesse 5aere saewe, fram J)aem winde waes geworden, swa J)aet J)a sylfan y{)a waeron ahafene ofer J)aet scip'. Little attention is given to sea 3 37 39 41 42 43 45

See Hieatt, T h e Harrowing of Mermedonia'. 38 Andreas, line 19: 'a land on the borders'. Line 19: 'enveloped in murder'. 4o Line 20: 'the evil of the devil' See lines 15 and 2 8 . SeeO.J.H.Grosz, 'The Island ofExiles:aNoteonAWraw 15', ELN1 (1969-70), 2 4 1 - 2 . See Andreas, lines 1 7 4 - 7 , 1 9 0 - 3 , 2 0 3 - 4 etc. 44 Lines 2 3 8 - 9 : 'The ocean roared, the sea-streams beat.' Lines 3 6 9 - 8 1 . 46 Lines 4 3 3 - 4 5 . Lines 4 9 5 - 5 0 0 . Note the reference to the traveller on board ship with freezing hands — 'mundum freorig' (line 491). The Blickling Homilies, ed. Morris, p. 235: 'and he caused the sea to become rough with the wind, so that the waves mounted over the ship' (trans. Morris, p . 234).

175


description in the Latin Casanatensis version either, but what little sea description there was in the Old English poet's source was enough to stimulate enthusiastic exploitation of the traditional vernacular imagery. As Andreas leaves Mermedonia the people escort him to the headland facing out to sea. The headland, the last point of the land, epitomizes the sense of separation as the saint sets out on his voyage across the sea: Hie J>a gebrohton set brimes naesse on waegj>ele wigan unslawne. ° This image, reminiscent of the funeral of the hero at the end of Beowulf does not appear in the analogues. The emotive aspect of setting in Andreas is illustrated in the reference to the sea, as Andreas begins his daunting voyage to Mermedonia, as the 'cold water' — 'ofer cald waeter'. l This kind of affective description has been suggested to have allegorical (specifically tropological) overtones, but it is widely paralleled in Old English poetry in contexts which appear to have no significant tropological dimension: ofer cald water itself also occurs in The Battle ofMaldon and Christ 7/,53 where it has the connotations of hostility and balefulness which we sense at Andreas's time of trial, when the Lord sends him on his journey.5 49

See the Casanatensis version, ed. Blatt, chs. 7—8.

50

Andreas', lines 1 7 1 0 - 1 1 : 'They brought then the active warrior to his ship at the

51

Lines 2 0 1 and 2 2 2 . N o t e also 'ofer cald cleofu' (line 310).

headland of the sea.' See T. D . Hill, 'The Tropological Context of Heat and Cold Imagery in Anglo-Saxon Poetry', NM 6 9 (1968), 5 2 2 - 3 2 . 53

The Battle ofMaldon,

54

In Old English poetry cald usually has an emotive sense, connoting that which is

line 9 1 ; and Christ, line 8 5 1 .

hostile or sinister. The literal sense is normally present as well, as in pone caldan grund

{Christ and Satan, line 635), caldum clommum {Christ, line 1629; The Seafarer, line 10; Andreas, line 1212), but in caldheorte {Andreas, line 138) the sense is purely metaphorical, as it is in caldan reorde {Soul and Body II, line 15). With reference to caldan reorde, compare the Old Norse kaldri rgddo {Atlakvida, stanza 2, line 6): on this Dronke comments, 'Cold as an epithet for speech or counsel has the connotations "sinister", "hostile", "fate-bringing" in ON (cf. kaldyrSi, "sarcasm", "hostile words"' {The Poetic Edda, p. 47). Cf. also Chaucer, The Nun's Priest's Tale, line 3256: 'Wommennes conseils been ful ofte colde' (ed. L. Benson et al., The Riverside Chaucer (Oxford, 1987), p. 259). See further V. Salmon, 'Some Connotations of "Cold" in Old and Middle English', MLN 74 (1959), 314-22; and Fletcher, 'Scir Water, Cald Water: a Note on Lines 91 and 98 of The Battle ofMaldon.

176


The most striking example of the affective use of setting in Andreas is represented by the description of winter weather which is introduced in the account of Andreas's hardship in prison. Pa. se halga waes under heolstorscuwan, eorl ellenheard, onlange niht searoj)ancum beseted. Snaw eorSan band wintergeworpum. Weder coledon heardum haegelscurum, swylce hrim ond forst, hare hildstapan, haele5a e5el lucon, leoda gesetu. Land waeron freorig cealdum cylegicelum, clang waeteres f>rym ofer eastreamas, is brycgade blaece brimrade. There is nothing corresponding to this emotive description in the Old English prose Life of St Andrew or in the Latin Casanatensis version, and there is no further mention of winter weather in Andreas itself. Indeed the saint would hardly have undertaken the voyage to Mermedonia in winter in the first place. The description has been added in the Old English adaptation at this point to increase the feeling of discomfort and difficulty experienced by Andreas. One might compare the reference to the 'frostcovered groves' in the account in Beowulf of the approaches to Grendel's mere, again in a context which otherwise makes no mention of winter. The Andreas-poet is enthusiastic in transposing the legend of St Andrew into the medium of Germanic heroic poetry. Critics have been struck in particular by the poem's many apparent similarities to Beowulf although they have not been able to agree as to whether this is due to direct influence from Beowulf or to the shared tradition in which the two poets worked.57 An interest in describing the sea and voyages over the sea is Andreas, lines 1253—62: 'Then the saint, the warrior hard in valour, was beset w i t h snares u n d e r t h e shadow of darkness for the whole n i g h t . Snow fettered t h e earth in the storms of winter. T h e skies grew cold w i t h hard hail, and likewise r i m e and frost, hoary battle-warriors, b o u n d u p t h e land of t h e m e n , the dwelling-places of t h e inhabitants. T h e land was freezing w i t h cold icicles; t h e power of t h e water shrank back in t h e river-streams; ice bridged t h e dark sea-way.' 56 57

Beowulf, line 1 3 6 3 . For a survey of discussion on this topic, see D . H a m i l t o n , 'Andreas a n d Beowulf: Placing the Hero', in Anglo-Saxon Poetry: Essays in Appreciation for John C. McGalliard, ed. Nicholson and Frese, pp. 81-98. Reopening the topic, A. R. Riedinger has recently argued that Beowulf is a direct source of Andreas: see 'The Formulaic Relationship

177


among the features which both poems have in common. A comparison of Andreas and Beowulf however, serves to bring out the limitations of the Andreas-poet. In sea description, as in other aspects of the composition, the mechanical nature of this poet's work is evident. Andreas is full of the accoutrements of heroic poetry but they are brought together in a somewhat cumbersome manner, the poet straining to fit the material into the heroic form. The description of winter weather discussed above, for example, is superimposed uncomfortably onto the narrative, and there is no attempt to integrate this set piece into the larger pattern of the poem. Place and setting are not handled deftly in Andreas, but nonetheless this hagiographical work is of considerable interest in that it devotes so much attention to them. For the Andreas-poet, landscape and setting, with their associations both with threat and with community, have their place as part of the poetic language in which the story of the saint is recast. In this poem they have an importance which they would not have had in the source on which the Old English is based. GUTHLAC'S 'BEORG ON BEARWE'

Among Old English hagiographical writings, setting figures most prominently in the composite Exeter Book text Guthlac, in particular in the part of the text conventionally designated Guthlac A. It may be useful to approach Guthlac A by way of reference to two Anglo-Latin analogues, Bede's prose Vita S. Cuthberti and Felix's Vita S. Guthlaci. These vitae are remarkable, among other respects, in that they each contain a descriptive passage which in its approach appears to run counter to the principles of disregard for scenic specificity which were observed at the beginning of the chapter. We have already described Bede's prose Vita S. Cuthberti as a work which reduces the local detail found in its source.58 But Bede's Vita S. Cuthberti also contains a detailed factual description of the island of Fame on which the saint makes his lone dwelling: Fame dicitur insula medio in mari posita, quae non sicut Lindisfarnensium incolarum regio, bis cotidie accedenti aestu oceani, quern rheuma uocant Greci, fit insula, bis renudatis abeunte rheumate litoribus contigua terrae redditur, sed

58

Between Beowulf and Andreas', in Heroic Poetry in Anglo-Saxon England, ed. Damico and Leyerle,pp. 283-312. See above, p. 169. Note also discussion of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica, at pp. 129-30.

178


aliquot milibus passuum ab hac semiinsula, ad eurum secreta, et hinc altissimo, et inde infinito clauditur oceano. Here Bede goes out of his way to give a precise description of the island of Fame in a manner which does not seem relevant to his 'universalizing' approach and which is not paralleled in the anonymous Vita S. Cuthberti or in Bede's own earlier metrical Vita. He goes on immediately to add the familiar Antonine motifs of the demons dwelling there and later of the planting of crops, which in turn attracts birds; but the description of the island itself is closely based on observation. The idea of Cuthbert having lived on Fame clearly grasped Bede's imagination and he was concerned to leave the reader in no doubt about the saint's spiritual heroism in making his abode in such a place. The factual description gives a sense of immediacy and authenticity to the eremitical theme. But although this description is in its detail specific to a particular place, it can also be seen as influenced by hagiographical tradition: there is also a striking particularity to Jerome's description of St Paul the Hermit's desert dwelling-place in the Vita S. Pauli primi eremitae, and (although the details of Bede's description of an island off Northumbria are naturally very different from those of Jerome's Egyptian description) Bede may well have been influenced by such an approach in the Vita S. Cuthberti passage. Jerome pauses to describe the huge cave discovered by Paul, the spacious opening within it, and the evidence of former occupation. The Bede account resembles that of Jerome in the scrupulousness with which it locates the retreat of the saint. Bede is followed in turn by Felix in his Vita S. Guthlaci. The passage in this work introducing Guthlac's fenland home presents a closely observed description of place: 59

61 62

Vita S. Cuthberti, ch. 17 (ed. Colgrave, Two Lives of St Cuthbert, p . 214): 'There is an island called Fame in the middle of the sea which is not like the Lindisfarne region for that owing to the flow of the ocean tide, called in Greek "rheuma", twice a day becomes an island and twice a day, when the tide ebbs from the uncovered shores, becomes again contiguous to the land; but it is some miles away to the south-east of this half-island, and is shut in on the landward side by very deep water and on the seaward side by the boundless ocean' (trans. Colgrave, p . 215). See the anonymous Vita S. Cuthberti, III.2 (ed. and trans. Colgrave, Two Lives of St Cuthbert, p p . 9 6 - 7 ) . Cf. Bede's metrical Vita S. Cuthberti, ed. Jaager, ch. 15, lines 1-4. Vita S. Pauli primi eremitae, ch. 5 (PL 23, 21A-B).

179


Est in meditullaneis Britanniae partibus inmensae magnitudinis aterrima palus, quae, a Grontae fluminis ripis incipiens, haud procul a castello quern dicunt nomine Gronte, nunc stagnis, nuncflactris,interdum nigris fusi vaporis laticibus, necnon et crebris insularum nemorumque intervenientibus flexuosis rivigarum anfractibus, ab austro in aquilonem mare tenus longissimo tractu protenditur. Like Bede, Felix adds that no one had dared to live there before because of the demons that inhabited the place. Despite its conventional aspects, however, Felix's description presents an account of the 'Black Fens' of East Anglia which is both topographically accurate and highly atmospheric.64 He goes on to describe the particular site chosen by Guthlac: Crugland dicitur, insula media in palude posita quae ante paucis propter remotioris heremi solitudinem inculta vix nota habebatur.65 The verbal echo of the opening of this sentence announces the debt to Bede's account of Fame. The imitation is not mechanical, however, for this description, though stimulated by Felix's reading of Bede, is based on physical observation. Both Anglo-Latin writers are celebrating English saints who lived in the recent past, and in Felix, as in Bede, the conventional is extended into the observed world in a way which brings a hagiographical tradition strikingly to life. In turning to Guthlac A, we find that setting is of central importance in the Old English composition, but there is no interest in scenic specificity of the kind we have seen in Bede and Felix. Treatment of setting is here poetic and symbolic, not realistic. The Guthlac A-poet, who may or may not have known Felix's work directly,66 is certainly familiar with the wider tradition of eremitical hagiography.67 The approach to setting in 63

Vita S. Guthlaciy ch. 24 (ed. Colgrave, p . 86): 'There is in the m i d l a n d district of Britain a most dismal fen of immense size, which begins at the banks of the river G r a n t a not far from the c a m p which is called Cambridge, and stretches from the south as far north as the sea. It is a very long tract, now consisting of marshes, now of bogs, sometimes of black waters overhung by fog, sometimes studded w i t h wooded islands and traversed by the w i n d i n g s of tortuous streams' (trans. Colgrave, p . 87).

64

For an account of the fens before drainage, see H . J . Mason, The Black Fens (Ely, 1984),

pp. 8-10. 65

Vita S. Guthlaci,

ch. 14 (ed. Colgrave, p . 88): 'It is called Crowland, an island in the

m i d d l e of t h e marsh which on account of the wildness of this very remote desert had h i t h e r t o remained unfilled and k n o w n to a very few' (trans. Colgrave, p . 89). 66

See Roberts, The Guthlac Poems of the Exeter Book, pp. 1 9 - 2 9 -

See Kurtz, 'From St Antony to St Guthlac', esp. pp. 141—6.

180

Places of trial and triumph in hagiographkal poetry

Guthlac A shows a reversion to Antonine and indeed Pauline models and an imaginative expansion of the theme of the saint setting up a dwellingplace in the wilderness. As in Andreas, place is invested with symbolic significance, but in Guthlac A it is not used to heighten the poetic expression of a central theme, as it could be said to do in Andreas (and also in Judith), but it is itself an inextricable part of that theme. Neither part of the Old English Guthlac follows Felix in mentioning that Guthlac's abode is in the fens. In secular Old English poetry, fens are associated with monsters and with murky impenetrability. In Guthlac A, despite the contrary picture in Felix, Guthlac's retreat is presented as a pleasant place where the saint lives happily. First he has to expel the demons that have colonized it, but the site itself is not forbidding. Guthlac B mentions that Guthlac lives on an island but there is no such suggestion in Guthlac A. In Guthlac A, the saint establishes his dwelling not on an island but on a beorg, the beorg being the key feature of the poem's physical setting. The mention of the island even in Guthlac B is very much incidental. The first reference to it comes near end of the text, where it is stated that at Guthlac's death 'Beofode J)aet ealand.'69 After this the poem tells of Guthlac's servant setting out in a boat to visit the saint's sister.70 The boat travels swiftly over the open water, the description suggesting indeed a traditional sea voyage rather than one through marshy fens: Lagumearg snyrede, gehlaested to hy5e.71 Apart from these allusions to an island and to water, Guthlac B shows no concern with external setting, focusing instead on the emotions and state of mind of Guthlac and his servant. It is in the description of emotions that much of the most notable imagery of Guthlac B is to be found. Landscape is not used to reflect these emotions and the poet shows no interest in providing a description of the setting. By way of introduction to the latter it is related only that Guthlac chose a dwelling-place in the wilderness: 'sijân he on westenne wiceard geceas'. It is also stated 68 70 71 72

9 See above, p. 132. Guthlac, line 1325: T h e island trembled.' Lines 1328-35. Lines 1332-3: 'The horse of the sea hastened on with its burden to the harbour.' Line 935: 'after he chose his dwelling-place in the wasteland'.

181


that Guthlac's dwelling-place is a solitary one - 'anseld bugan' 73 although he has a servant living nearby, who comes to him daily: Hine wunade mid an ombeht{>egn, se hine aeghwylce daga neosade.74 This servant does not figure in Guthlac A, which concentrates on Guthlac living alone on his beorg. It is generally recognized that the beorg and indeed the wider landscape of Guthlac A are to be understood in spiritual and symbolic terms. There has been no agreement among scholars, however, as to what this landscape signifies or even as to what precise form it takes. For Shook, the beorg is a barrow, symbolizing the spiritual life; for Wentersdorf, it is a heathen tumulus which Guthlac transforms into a sanctified place; for Reichardt, it is a mountain, the 'mount of saintliness' which the follower of monasticism aspires to climb. 75 In a recent article Earl Anderson supports the Shook interpretation.7 The primary meaning of beorg in Old English is 'hill' or 'mountain' and that is how one is inclined to take it in Guthlac A, especially as the poet does not supply reinforcing description associating the term with the idea of a barrow or tumulus. The main support for the 'barrow' interpretation comes from Felix rather than Guthlac A, and since Felix does not appear to influence our poet closely in other respects (to the extent of making it not absolutely clear that the Guthlac A-poet knew Felix at all) it seems reasonable to persevere with the straightforward meaning 'hill' or 'mountain' for beorg?1 What is surely the most important context for understanding the poet's preoccupation with the hill on which Guthlac lives is that supplied by the tradition of eremitical hagiography. None of the commentators mentioned 73 7 75

76 77

Line 1240: 'to stay in a lone dwelling'. Lines 9 9 9 - 1 0 0 1 : 'There stayed with him a servant, who visited him every day.' L. K. Shook, T h e Burial Mound in Guthlac A \ Modern Philology 58 (I960), 1-10; K. P. Wentersdorf, 'Guthlac A: the Battle for the Beorg, Neophilologus 62 (1978), 135-42; P. F. Reichardt, 'Guthlac A and the Landscape of Spiritual Perfection', Neophilologus 58 (1974), 3 3 1 - 8 . Anderson, 'The Uncarpentered World of Old English Poetry', pp. 7 2 - 3 . See also Roberts, The Guthlac Poems of the Exeter Book, p . 132, n. on line 140. This interpretation has recently been supported by Clemoes, Interactions of Thought and Language, p. 446.

182

Places of trial and triumph in hagiograpbical poetry

above draws attention to the fact that the landscape of St Antony's desert retreat is dominated by a mountain: Athanasius tells how Antony, having travelled in the desert for three days, came upon a very high hill — in Evagrius's Latin translation, 'invenit montem valde excelsum'.78 The Antonine landscape consists of a mountain with a spring, surrounded by plains; 79 later Antony retreats to the inner mountains, where he devotes himself to prayers and the discipline: 'Sic Antonio impenetrabilia montium et deserti interiora captanti, orationibus etiam dedito .. .' 80 According to Jerome, St Paul the Hermit also made his abode in a rocky mountain — 'saxeum montem'. 81 In setting up his abode on the beorg, Guthlac is thus conforming to the archetype represented in these influential vitae. And like Antony, Guthlac struggles against destructive demons in the mountain. The beorg is an appropriate setting for Guthlac's struggle with the demons in other respects as well. In terms of the language of heroic conflict adopted in Guthlac A, the beorg is a strategic height and a fastness to be held against enemies (in Andreas Mermedonia is defended by 'beorgas steape').83 In heroic fashion Guthlac storms for wlence, 'proudly', the hills which the devils held: sit>t>an he for wlence beorgas braece.8

on westenne

Guthlac the cempa, 'warrior',85 sets the cross of Christ where he has defeated evil,8 and as cempa he is 'joyful on the mountain' — 'blif)e on beorge' - after his victory.87 It is, however, the natural qualities of the place rather than its military significance which are most striking in the development in Guthlac A of the image of the eremitical retreat. The desolation and secretness of the site are stressed:

78

Vita beati Antonii abbatis, ch. 2 4 (PL 7 3 , 148C).

80

79

Ibid., ch. 25 (PL 7 3 , 149B): 'Thus w h e n A n t o n y , captivated by the inner parts of the

Ibid.

m o u n t a i n s and the desert, gave himself over to prayer 81

Vita S. Pauliprimi

82

Cf. Vita beati Antonii abbatis, ch. 25 (PL 7 3 , 1 4 9 B - D ) .

83

Andreas, line 8 4 0 : 'steep hills'.

eremitae, ch. 5 (PL 2 3 , 21B).

84

Guthlac, lines 2 0 8 - 9 : 'after he proudly stormed the hills in the wilderness'.

85

Line 180 etc.

86

87

Lines 1 7 9 - 8 1 .

183

Line 4 3 9 .


he ana gesaet dygle stowe.88 dygl Also: Stod seo dygle stow dryhtne in gemyndum idel ond aemen, eêlriehte feor. As noted above, however, the place itself is not sinister or threatening. It remains in the mind of the Lord — 'dryhtne in gemyndum'. As well as its desolation and secretness, its attractiveness is also emphasized. It is the Lord who reveals to Guthlac the 'beorg on bearwe'.92 The beorg is the desired dwelling-place of the demons before Guthlac takes it from them. The poet describes their separation from this pleasant place in elegiac terms: Sceoldon wraecmaecgas ofgiefan gnomende grene beorgas. The term grene, 'green', employed in this passage, is again applied to the site when it becomes the peaceful abode of Guthlac after the demons have been driven out. 9 Guthlac's dwelling-place takes on an increasingly paradisal quality, to which the adjective grene strongly contributes. The place itself reflects the tranquillity of Guthlac's life after the defeat of the demons, but it does not suddenly acquire this paradisal quality out of nothing when Guthlac comes along. It is a beautiful place anyway, and although this beauty is stressed more as the poem goes on, it is associated with the beorg throughout. The emotive term grene is not confined to the part of the poem which comes after Guthlac's victory, and it is used from the demons' perspective, as it were, as well as from Guthlac's. The demons lament at being ejected from the 'grene beorgas'. The place where Guthlac comes to 88

Lines 1 5 8 - 9 : 'he settled alone the secret place'.

89

Lines 2 1 5 - 1 6 : 'The secret p a k e remained in the m i n d of the Lord, e m p t y and u n i n h a b i t e d , far from ancestral domain.'

90

Cf. descriptions of sinister landscape in Beowulf, discussed above, p p . 1 3 1 - 4 2 .

91

See also Guthlac, line 1 4 7 .

92

Line 1 4 8 : ' m o u n t a i n in the woods'. T h e same phrase occurs at line 4 2 9 . T h e m e n t i o n of the woods - bearwe - may be taken from Felix, b u t there is little other evidence that the landscape of the p o e m derives from the Latin vita. Felix's famous description of the fens and the island of Crowland, referred to above (pp. 179—80), is ignored in Guthlac Lines 231—2: ' M o u r n i n g , the exiled ones had to give u p the green hills.'

94

Line 7 4 6 .

95

Line 2 3 2 : 'green hills'.

184

A.


live is a natural and good place which these evil ones have taken over and made their own and from which they are expelled by Guthlac: hy sigelease J)one grenan wong ofgiefan sceoldan. The emphasis on the adjective grene suggests that the place is like paradise97 and that it is an especially attractive part of God's natural creation. The verdant land, created by God, is the normal referent of the adjective grene in Old English poetry. We have seen that grene and celgrene are particularly employed in this context in Genesis A; the grene grund, 'green ground', of Exodus line 312 may draw on a rarely found motif of the green road to heaven but it also exploits the paradox of verdant land where i

98

once there was sea. In its natural aspect the beorg of Guthlac A may be compared with that presented in Maxims II: Beorh sceal on eorSan grene standan." It is to such a beorg, the 'archetypal' beorg of Maxims II, that Guthlac comes. His pleasure in this retreat is described early in the poem: t>aet him leofedan bold on beorhge.

londes wynne,

The demons come to find out whether his delight in this place remains constant: 'hwsefcre him Jsaes wonges wyn swe5rade'.101 Here wong may be used in a neutral sense, though the term has desirable associations when used later in the poem in the combination grenan/grena wong.102 For Guthlac the beorg becomes a home, his most beloved dwelling-place on earth: 96

Lines 4 7 6 - 7 : 'defeated, they had to give u p the green plain'.

97

Compare Genesis A , line 1 1 3 7 ; Genesis B , line 8 4 1 ; The Phoenix, lines 1 3 , 3 6 , 7 8 , 1 5 4 ,

98

See Keenan, 'Exodus 3 1 2 : " T h e Green Street of Paradise" '. O n occurrences of grene and

2 9 3 and 2 9 8 . It is also like the promised land: see Genesis A , lines 1751 and 1 7 8 7 . celgrene in biblical poetry, see above, p p . 1 4 7 - 8 . 99

Maxims / / , lines 3 4 - 5 : 'The hill shall stand green on earth.' Guthlac, lines 1 3 9 - 4 0 : 'so that the joys of the land were pleasing to h i m , his dwelling on the hill'. Line 3 5 2 : 'whether the joy of the place diminished for h i m ' .

102

Lines 4 7 7 and 7 4 6 .

185


to {)am leofestan earde on eor5an, {>aet he eft as tag beorg on bearwe. In his love for his desert retreat the saint resembles SS Antony and Paul the Hermit: Athanasius tells that Antony loved the place in which he settled - 'Hunc Antonius locum, quasi a Deo sibi offeretur, amplexus est', 10 and Jerome refers to the beloved habitation of St Paul: 'Igitur adamato (quasi quod a Deo sibi offeretur) habitaculo.'105 Guthlac is welcomed to his retreat by the birds, which he feeds from his hands. 10 In including this detail, Guthlac A accords with Felix,107 but both parts of the Exeter Book Guthlac text omit Felix's reference to the fishes of the fens swimming tamely to Guthlac: after all, neither part mentions that the saint's retreat is in the fens. Turning his back on the joys of humanity, Guthlac serves the Lord and finds delight in the wild animals: Swa t>aet milde mod wi5 moncynnes dreamum gedaelde, dryhtne f>eowde, genom him to wildeorum wynne, si[){>an he f>as woruld forhogde. Guthlac's dwelling-place is a place of tranquillity and happiness: Smolt waes se sigewong ond sele niwe, faeger fugla reord, folde geblowen; geacas gear budon. Gu{)lac moste eadig ond onmod eardes brucan. Lines 427—9: 'as the most beloved abode on earth, so that he ascended again to the hill in the grove'. On Guthlac's dwelling-place as 'ham', see Bjork, The Old English Verse 104

105

106 107 108

Saints' Lives, p. 3 3 . Vita beati Antonii abbatis, ch. 24 (PL 7 3 , 148D): 'Antony loved this place, given to him, as it were, by God.' Vita S. Pauli primi eremitae, ch. 6 (PL 23, 2IB). 'Therefore the beloved habitation, given to him, as it were, by God.' Note that the Evagrius translation of Athanasius uses an identical phrase (see n. 104). Guthlac, lines 7 3 3 - 8 . Cf. Vita S. Guthlaci, ch. 38 (ed. and trans. Colgrave, pp. 118-21). Ibid., ch. 25 (pp. 88-9). Guthlac, lines 739—41: 'So that gentle mind cut itself off from the joys of humanity, served the Lord, took pleasure in the wild animals, when he rejected this world.' Lines 742—5: 'Peaceful was the plain of victory and the new hall, pleasant was the sound of the birds, the land blossoming; cuckoos announced the spring. Guthlac happy and steadfast could enjoy his dwelling-place.'

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One might compare the serena regna, 'serene domains', which Bede describes St Cuthbert as inhabiting on Fame. 111 The passage at lines 742—5, like others in Guthlac A, is strongly reminiscent of the description of the earthly paradise in another Exeter Book poem, The Phoenix: The Phoenix even has the phrase Smylte is se sigewong}12 The closing sentence of the passage also recalls the joys of heaven to which Guthlac looks forward: compare the earlier image, t>aer he faegran botlesbruced.113 Guthlac has built himself a botl, 'dwelling', on his beorg, and he is described twice as a bytla 'builder'. This imagery can be seen as paralleling the imagery of buildings which in Guthlac A, as elsewhere in Old English poetry, 11 is associated with heaven,117 and it thus contributes to the expression in the poem of the eremitical theme of the life of heaven upon earth. 118 In his solitude Guthlac paradoxically builds a city in the desert. In turning his back on earthly community, he aspires to share in the community of the heavenly city. Hermits settle in the wilderness, the Guthlac A-poet declares, and in doing so they await the heavenly dwelling-place: Hy 6aes heofoncundan boldesbidaS.119 By living his joyful life in the desert Guthlac thus anticipates the bliss of heaven. Guthlac A uses landscape as an image of this good life which Guthlac achieves. Here there are no gloomy fens, only a bright hill offering a reflection of heavenly tranquillity. In Guthlac A the saint

111

113 114 115

116 117 118

Metrical Vita S. Cuthberti, ed. Jaager, ch. 15. The Phoenix, line 33: 'Peaceful is that plain of victory.' Guthlac, lines 382-3: 'where he will enjoy a lovely dwelling-place'. Line 329. Lines 148 and 733: both occurrences alliterating with beorg. Cf. St Cuthbert as 'builder' in Bede's metrical Vita S.Cuthberti, ed. Jaager, ch. 15. See above, pp. 4 0 - 2 . Guthlac, lines 16-18, 584 and 812-13. Compare Vita S. Pauli primi eremitae, ch. 7 (PL 23, 22A): 'Beams Paulus vitam coelestem ageret in terris' - 'blessed Paul lived a heavenly life on earth'. Guthlac, lines 83—4: 'They await the heavenly dwelling-place.'

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struggles to possess the place, as he struggles to live the good life, and his continuing abode in this harmonious place symbolizes his spiritual state. The approach to place and setting in Guthlac A is in the tradition of eremitical hagiography inherited ultimately from Athanasius and Jerome. The application of this approach is a thoughtful one, however, and one that imaginatively exploits the suggestive power of the Old English poetic idiom. Place and setting have their significance in other Old English hagiographical poems, as we have seen, but nowhere is their development as deeply integrated into poetic expression as it is in Guthlac A, in which the beorg is the object and symbol of the central action of the poem. Although in its treatment of setting Guthlac A can be seen to be drawing on traditions shared by Andreas and other poems, it can also be seen therefore as presenting a different emphasis on setting from that found elsewhere in Old English hagiographical poetry. Guthlac A is also unusual among Old English poems in regarding a remote solitary habitation as attractive in the first place, and in the degree to which it presents the inherent qualities of a natural place as persisting in spite of the changing fortunes of its occupants: the beorg and its surrounding landscape are an abiding symbol in Guthlac A. Mood influences the presentation of place in the poem, but to a lesser extent than is usual in Old English poetry. In the image of the beorg and its surrounding landscape traditional Old English poetic ideas about setting are fruitfully combined with those deriving from a significant strand of hagiographical tradition.

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9 Conclusion: community and power in later poetic and other texts

The preceding chapters have illustrated the breadth of interest in ideas of community in poetic texts being read in late Anglo-Saxon England. We have seen that Old English poems tell of striving for community and of absence of community. They demonstrate a preoccupation with questions of social harmony and of order and rule, under which shared lives can be carried on. This preoccupation is expressed most insistently through exploitation of the complex of imagery associated with the hall and with the burhlcivitas. Old English poems also make use of place and setting in their treatment of community, integrating these with the hall-burh/civitas imagery. We have observed differing approaches to place and setting in the poetry, as we have to the imagery of the hall, but seldom are place and setting neutral in significance. Even in a poem as eremitical in spirit as Guthlac A, the location of the action is defined with respect to ideas of human community and use. Perversion of community is an especial concern in Christian narrative poems, both biblical and hagiographical. It is a concern which often finds its focus in the presentation of a particular place. In Andreas and Juliana the perverted communities of Mermedonia and Commedia, respectively, are transformed through conversion to Christianity. Christian narrative poems deal also with the theme of the good community under threat, as that of Bethulia in Judith. Exodus shows the people of the Israelites as oppressed and hemmed in by their enemies but persevering as a faithful community, true to their covenant with the Lord, and finding in the 'beorselas beorna', the 'beer-halls of men',1 in the land of Canaan the setting for vindication of communal solidarity. The theme of threat to 1

Exodus, line 564. 189


community and that of perversion of community readily suggest the possibility of non-literal interpretation of Christian narrative poetry, particularly in terms of the idea of the city of God. The theme of threat to community is widely found in secular poetry as well, however, occurring with notable insistence, as we have seen, in Beowulf. SOME LATER OLD ENGLISH PROSE TEXTS, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SLEEPERS

This whole area of community and related ideas is also one which receives attention in literature which we know to have been composed in the later Anglo-Saxon period. The present concluding chapter continues our emphasis on poetic texts by considering the late Old English poems The Battle ofBrunanburh and The Battle of Maldon in the light of the interests of this study. A concern with ideas of community, however, and the bonds of society, is not confined to verse in this period but is also illustrated in the prose literature of late Anglo-Saxon England. Here, it features in homiletic writings and in narrative works. The theme of community can be seen as a central concern in Apollonius of Tyre, for example, the story of which closes with familial and communal integration and an end to dislocation. A similar pattern is apparent in the hagiographical journey-tale the Life of St Eustace, complicated here, however, by the conflict between Christian and pagan models of community and by the incorporation of a concluding martyrdom. In the Life of St Eustace, the reuniting of Eustace and his family is celebrated by a great feast, acknowledging Eustace's eminent position in secular Roman society.3 Eustace and his family are discovered to be Christians, however, and so they are ejected from secular society and martyred. Their memory is honoured only in secret by the persecuted members of the Christian community.4 The late Old English hagiographical text which gives the most developed treatment to questions pertinent to ideas of community is perhaps the anonymous Legend of the Seven Sleepers. This work displays the deceptive blandishments of pagan society, which the seven saints have to reject, embracing instead their own devout fellowship and retreat from their home city of Ephesus. The retreat is epitomized by the cave in which 2 3 5

In JElfrk's Lives of Saints, ed. and trans. Skeat, II, 190-219. 4 Life ofSt Eustace, lines 387-8. Life ofSt Eustace, lines 465-6. JElfric's Lives of Saints, ed. and trans. Skeat, I, 488-541.

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Community and power in later poetic and other texts

they hide. This cave, outside the city, becomes the 'tomb' from which they emerge, like Lazarus (as the text points out), after their miraculous resurrection. The city of Ephesus is constantly referred to in the Legend, and functions as a suggestive emblem of relationships between the followers of Christ and the world. In treating of the saints' relationship with the pagan emperor Decius, the Old English prose text does not have at its disposal the rich imagery of the Germanic hall, as found in Old English poetry, but nevertheless it makes insistent use of the language of earthly fellowship and personal lordship, thus drawing upon the experience of Anglo-Saxon life. The seven saints are young members of the retinue of Decius. In expelling them from his fellowship, Decius considers that he is already punishing them, even before he threatens them with violence: on hearing that the seven young men are Christians, he announces, 'Nu ge f)am maerum godum offrian nellad" . ne beo ge me naefre heonon-for5 swa wurSe ne swa leofe swa ge aer waeron . ac fram me ge beo5 ascyrede . and fram aelcere myrtle.' 7 Decius himself laments the loss of his dyrlingas. Christians in the Legend of the Seven Sleepers, however, must choose between heavenly lordship and earthly, and earthly lordship is equated here with that of the devil: 'gehwa to saeles moste clipian and openlice mid daedum cy5an . to hwaejseran hlafordscipe he wolde gebugan . Ipe to ures ecean drihtnes . J)e to 5aes awyrgedan deofles.' The anonymous Old English Legend of the Seven Sleepers also gives an extended account of the breakdown of community among Christians in the face of persecution. In this respect, it expands greatly on its Latin source. The persecuted Christians in the Legend inhabit a world of fear and distress in which the security of community is fractured, and in which even the seven saints are anxious to escape confrontation with the torturers. The Old English text describes an atmosphere of betrayal among the Christians of the city, as frightened individuals scramble for self-preservation at the

7

8 9

Legend of the Seven Sleepers, line 828. Lines 179-82: 'Now that you are unwilling to make offering to the glorious gods, you will never be henceforth so honoured or so dear to me as you were formerly, but you will be cut off from me and from every joy.' Line 271: 'dear ones'. Lines 115—17: 'Every one had to speak out in due time and openly reveal to which lordship he wished to submit, to that of our eternal Lord or to that of the accursed devil.'

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expense of others. The situation at Ephesus is seen as fulfilling Christ's words in the gospel in sending out his followers into the dangers of the world: following Matthew X, the Old English narrator declares, 'se faeder wi5-soc his bearne . and J)aet beam wi5-soc J)one faeder . and set nextan aelc freond wi5-soc oSres for 6am micclan egsan \>e hi 5aer gesawon.' The seven saints are themselves betrayed by their kinsmen, who have been threatened by the emperor.11 In such a context of intimidation, the heroism of those who remain resolute is all the more remarkable. The communal solidarity of the seven saints expresses itself not only in their loyalty to one another but in their determination to carry on their work among the poor, despite the danger in this: 'and J)a eawunga and dearnunga ealle godes Sances spendon . and daeldon hafenleasum mannum.' Betrayal among the oppressed community is a result of the dehumanizing power of pagan brutality, but it is also a product of the imperfection and faint-heartedness of humankind, even when they have received and accepted Christian revelation. Wulfstan points to a similar lack of solidarity among the English in the face of Danish attack at the beginning of the eleventh century. In castigating the weakness of the English, Wulfstan refers to the same gospel passage warning against betrayal by kindred, which we have seen alluded to in the Legend of the Seven Sleepers: Wulfstan writes, 'on J)ysan earde waes, swa hit {)incan maeg, nu fela geara unriht fela 7 tealte getrywSa aeghwaer mid mannum. Ne bearh nu foroft gesib gesibban \>e ma {)e fremdan, ne faeder his bearne, ne hwilum beam his agenum faeder, ne broj)or oj)rum.'13 In the second half of the narrative of the Legend of the Seven Sleepers, when the saints have awakened after their centuries-long sleep, the era of

11 12

13

Lines 110—12: 'The father denied the child and the child denied the father, and at last every friend denied the other because of the great terror which they saw there.' Cf. Matth. X.21-2. Lines 296-309. Lines 199-200: 'And then openly and secretly they spent it all for the sake of God, and distributed it to needy people.' Sermo Lupi ad Anglos, ed. Whitelock, lines 60-4: 'In this country there have been now for many years, so it seems, many injustices and unstable loyalties everywhere between men. Often now a relation does not protect a relation any more than a stranger, nor a father his child, nor sometimes a child his own father, nor one brother another.' Cf. also The Homilies of Wulfstan, ed. Bethurum, nos. Ill, line 55, and V, lines 98-100. See also above, p. 25.

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persecution is long past and Ephesus is now a Christian city. It is still, however, a troubled city. Unlike the earlier pagan Ephesus, it bears the sign of the cross on its gates, but it still belongs to the realm of earthly imperfection and error. Heresy infects the world of the saints' reawakening in this narrative, and Ephesus is a place of ignorance and human frailty. The inhabitants and secular authorities of the city act first with suspicion and then with violence towards the hapless Malchus, one of the Seven Sleepers, who has been sent by his companions into Ephesus to buy bread for them. Only the clear-sightedness of ecclesiastical wisdom, in the person of Bishop Marinus, preserves the safety of Malchus, an innocent before a hostile populace. The miracle of the Seven Sleepers and the renewal of revelation which it represents, usher in the prospect of an era of confident faith and peace under the enlightened rule of the devout emperor Theodosius. The story ends with a picture of communal harmony, in which secular and religious order on earth coincides in the figure of Theodosius, who comes to the city of Ephesus so that the full significance of the miracle may be revealed. Such communal harmony is achieved, however, in an imperfect world, only through divine guidance. Bishop Marinus is a wise spiritual leader of the people, but other high ecclesiastics of the time have been instrumental in fostering error: 'and on Sam timan J)e 6a bisceopas beon sceoldan . and godes J)aet halige folc on rihtne weg gebringan . hi swi5ost aelces gedweldes tiledon . and aelc gedwyld hi upp araerdon.'1 Even Theodosius is presented as weak and floundering, before he receives the divine revelation of the miracle of the Sleepers. Theodosius emerges in the narrative from the darkness and solitude of his inner room17 to the public stage of his encounter with the Sleepers in front of the, now accepting, audience of the citizens of Ephesus. Perfected community is presented as emanating from heaven: the seven saints are shown, in their transfigured form, participating in this glorified state, even before their actual deaths. The rarified speech of Maximianus, the leader of the seven, with which the Old English text breaks off, is an utterance of assured authority, different indeed from the timorous speeches of the saints in the 14 1

17

15 See Legend of the Seven Sleepers, lines 3 5 3-69See lines 834-6. Lines 362-4: 'And at that time when there should have been bishops and they should have led God's holy people on the right way, they especially fostered every heresy and raised up every error.' 18 19 Lines 394-7. Lines 814-25. Lines 819-21.

193


cave and those of Malchus in the hostile city. Through the seven saints at the end of the Legend, heavenly radiance is shown to extend into the realm of the earthly, bringing to Theodosius and his subjects a spirit of secure unity and a proper appreciation of God's miraculous order (to the populace of Ephesus, the unknown youth Malchus had ostensibly represented border). The extent of the preoccupation with problems of community in this text is highlighted by comparison of it with ^lfric's brief version of the legend of the Seven Sleepers in his second series of Catholic Homilies.20 Êlfric is not perturbed by problems of community in his version, concentrating instead on the theme of doctrine and orthodoxy. He finds a focus for this theme in the person of Theodosius, whose presence comes to dominate the Catholic Homilies treatment. In his account of the miracle, Êlfric presents a benevolently hierarchical world in which Theosodius is a figure of Christian kingship, under God's secure guidance. The narrative develops indeed into a dialogue between Theodosius and the saints, with the rest of the community as bystanders. Throughout, the Sleepers are instruments of divine revelation rather than human figures. Êlfric shows no interest in the significance of the city of Ephesus or in the theme of fellowship, either between the seven saints themselves or between them and a wider society. His text assumes the existence of good social order at the time of the miracle, an order which is a reflection of rule by enlightened Christian authority. Communal values are thus implicit rather than explicit in Êlfric's version of the legend of the Seven Sleepers. This narrative does not express the kind of anxiety concerning the vulnerability of communal bonds in the face of threat and opposition which the writer of anonymous Legend of the Seven Sleepers imagines to have existed in the period of Roman persecution of the Christians, or which some homilists and chroniclers of the late Anglo-Saxon period perceive as a contemporary reality. The idea of a harmonious society under good Christian rule is strongly espoused in the writings of Êlfric on kingship and earthly rule. l It underlies the image of society presented in the 20

Sanctorum Septem Dormientium, in Catholic Homilies II, ed. Godden, pp. 2 4 7 - 8 . See esp. Dominica Post Ascensionem Domini, in Homilies of JElfric ed. Pope, I, 372—92 (lines 64—82); 'Wyrdwriteras

Us SecgaS Sa 8e Aivritan be Cyningum', ibid. II, 725—33; De

Oratione Moysi, in JElfric's Lives of Saints, ed. and trans. Skeat I, 282-307 (lines 1 4 7 77); Life ofSt Swithun, ibid. I, 440-73 (lines 440-63); On the Old and New Testament, in

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Colloquy and is particularly evident in his descriptions of the admired English kings Oswald and Edmund. 23 ^lfric's emphasis, however, is characteristically on government and the responsibilities of government, rather than on communal relationships, ^lfric's writings on kingship and earthly rule are underlain by the conviction, as J. C. Pope has pointed out, that 'all authority is from God'. 2 This conviction also finds expression in his account of the Seven Sleepers. THE BATTLE OF BRUNANBURH

Êlfric, as indeed Wulfstan,25 portrays power, order and community as forming a necessary and harmonious whole. In other late Old English texts, however, the interest in power and order emphatically supersedes that in community. Such texts impress the reader with a portrayal of the imposition of power and order rather than suggesting a picture of communal interaction. The later Old English poem in which the celebration of achieved power and order is most pronounced is The Battle of Brunanburh. A spirit similar to that of The Battle of Brunanburh is apparent in the closely related AngloSaxon Chronicle poem The Capture of the Five Boroughs, and elements of the

triumphalism of these poems also appear in the other Chronicle poems of the tenth century, although in these there is more emphasis on the relationship between king and people than in the former poems. The Battle of Brunanburh eulogizes an aggressive and confident West-Saxon dynasty. The poem does not present itself as the product of a climate of fear of The Heptateuch, ed. Crawford, p p . 1 5 - 7 5 (lines 8 3 7 - 8 ) (cf. The Maccabees, in JElfric's Lives of Saints, ed. a n d trans. Skeat II, 6 6 - 1 2 1 (lines 8 1 2 - 6 2 ) ) . 22

See E. R. Anderson, 'Social Idealism in ^ l f r i c ' s Colloquy, ASE 3 (1974), 1 5 3 - 6 2 ; and

23

JElfric's Lives of Saints, ed. and trans. Skeat

Ruffing, ' T h e Labor Structure of ^ l f r i c ' s Colloquy'. II, 1 2 4 - 4 3 (see esp. lines 1 0 4 - 1 8 ) ; and

3 1 4 - 3 5 (see esp. lines 1 3 - 2 5 ) . 24

Homilies of JElfric, ed. Pope I, 3 7 3 .

25

W u l f s t a n sees ordered c o m m u n i t y as to be achieved u n d e r t h e protecting guidance of a Christian k i n g . According to Wulfstan, it behoves the Christian king to be a comfort and a righteous shepherd over his flock; it is his d u t y to b r i n g peace a n d reconciliation to all Christian people t h r o u g h just law {institutes of Polity,

I I . 4 - 6 , ed. Jost, Die

'Institutes of'Polity, Civil and Ecclesiastical', pp. 4 1 - 3 ; trans. Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Prose, p.

188). In contrast to this ideal, the England described in the Senno Lupi is

characterized by weakness, disorder and lack of communal solidarity.

195


external threat. It expresses nothing of the sense of the preciousness of community in a society under attack, as exemplified, for instance, in Judith. Instead, from a perspective of achieved security, it impresses its audience with an account of the military exercise of irresistible royal power. The Battle of Brunanburh makes considered use of heroic ideas and language, exploiting the familiar motif of the beasts of battle, for example, and referring to Êthelstan in the opening line as 'eorla dryhten'. 27 Despite the occurrence of epithets such as the latter, however, the poem is entirely lacking in the personal dimension characteristic of heroic poetry and in any interest in a code of voluntary commitment on the part of the West-Saxon warriors. There is no reference to a comitatus. Instead, The Battle of Brunanburh focuses almost exclusively on the royal figures of ^thelstan and Edmund, mentioning none of their followers by name and eschewing the employment of features suggestive of immediacy and personal relationship, such as direct speech and close-up battle description. The battle is described in general terms rather than particular, and the concern of the poem is emphatically with the outcome and political significance of the battle, rather than with the course of its action. Indeed, the account of the battle is so depersonalized as to be presented almost as a clash of weapons rather than of people. The fixation on royal power is apparent from the first line, with its defining reference to ^thelstan as cyning, 'king'. The only people mentioned on the opposing side are also of royal rank. It is cause for rejoicing that Fife laegun on J?am campstede sweordum aswefede.

cyningas giunge,

As noted above, there is more emphasis on the relationship between king and people in the later tenth-century Chronicle poems, The Coronation of Edgar and The Death of Edgar. This relationship takes place at a refined and elevated level, however, and has none of the intimacy of the heroic poems of the past or of The Battle of Maldon. In The Coronation of Edgar the congregation is of ecclesiastics and wise men, a fact which emphasizes the coincidence of religious and secular in Edgar's rule. The poem stresses rule 28

27 The Battle of Brunanburh, lines 60-5. Line 1: 'lord of warriors'. Lines 28-30: 'Five young kings lay on the battlefield, put to rest by swords.'

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from above, however, rather than community, as does The Death of Edgar, which laments the breakdown of security and order after the admired king's death. The Battle ofBrunanburh exults in the completeness of the destruction of the enemies of Êthelstan and Edmund, taking satisfaction in the sheer number of Scots and Vikings killed, and omitting all mention of casualties on the West-Saxon side. The poem presents a portrayal of military power and ruthlessness in victory. It suggests indeed a providential aspect to this power, by associating it with the natural course of God's 'maere tungol', 29 the sun, from morning until evening. It magnifies its claim for the WestSaxon royal house by setting the victory at Brunanburh in the context of Anglo-Saxon history as a whole. The poem appeals to the heroic past and to the tradition of Anglo-Saxon historiography — 'J)aes J)e us secgaS bee'. Apart from the opening references to yEthelstan as 'eorla dryhten' and 'beorna beahgifa',31 however, it is lacking in the language of personalized loyalty and lordship and in the rich imagery of the hall. Victory here is not presented as a communal enterprise but as an act of will and greatness on the part of the brothers. The audience is impressed with the power of ^thelstan and Edmund, but this is essentially the power of brutal strength and is calculated to inspire awe rather than devotion. THE BATTLE OF MALDON

In its concentration on the personal dimension of lordship, The Battle of Maldon forms a complete contrast with The Battle of Brunanburh and the other Chronicle poems. The Battle of Maldon emphasizes the personal nature of the ties between Byrhtnoth and his men and between Byrhtnoth and his lord, King ^thelred. The poem's insistence on reference to the names of warriors, on their genealogies and, in one case, even on their locality, underlines this personal dimension. Moreover, unlike in The Battle of Brunanburh, the description of battle is close-up and immediate, and the use of direct speech is pervasive, giving the action of the poem a remarkable sense of urgency and commitment. The direct speeches of the English warriors express the speakers' identification with the traditional code of the comitatus. 29

32

30 Line 14: 'famous star'. Line 68: 'as books tell us'. Lines 1 and 2: 'lord of warriors', 'ring-giver of men'. The Battle of Maldon, line 249.

197


Grammatically, the speeches shift significantly between use of the first person singular (conveying the personal dedication of the speaker), the first person plural (indicating the communal aspect of the warriors' resolution) and the indefinite third person singular (imparting a gnomic quality to the utterances). This alternation is illustrated strikingly in the speech of the old retainer Byrhtwold, in the closing lines of the surviving text of the poem: Her liS ure ealdor eall forheawen, god on greote. A maeg gnornian se Se nu fram J)is wigplegan wendan [>enceS. Ic eom frod feores; fram ic ne wille.33 The leader who inspires this intense declaration, and similar declarations from other retainers, is no remote general, insulated from his men. The poem shows Byrhtnoth going among his warriors and urging them on.3 He is presented as the valiant chieftain, meriting the unswerving loyalty of his followers. In treating the bonds between lord and retainer, The Battle of Maldon exploits the traditional terms of the language of the hall and the comitatus. In the context of the intimacy of these bonds, the crime of treachery stands out as particularly heinous. The personal dimension of treachery is epitomized in the poem by the observation that Godric, who had been given many a horse by Byrhtnoth, fled from the battle on the horse of his lord.35 This act of treachery may be seen indeed as constituting the turning-point of the battle, for it is the flight of the faint-hearted warriors rather than the death of the leader which is the immediate prelude to the defeat of the English. Byrhtnoth himself does not anticipate defeat for his men, even in his dying speech. The Battle of Maldon is often viewed as a celebration of the heroic code, but it can also be viewed as a tragedy stemming from the failure of some adherents to that code, when put to the test. The possibility of such a failure is foreseen in the poem by the retainer Offa: Swa him Offa on daeg on [)am me{)elstede, 33

34

aer asaede f)a he gemot haefde,

Lines 3 1 4 - 1 7 : 'Here lies our [first person plural} lord all cut down, the good man in the dirt. Always may he [indefinite third person singular] feel regret who now intends to turn from this battle-play. I [first person singular] am old in life; I do not wish to withdraw.' 35 Lines 1 7 - 2 4 . Lines 1 8 6 - 9 0 .

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fcaet J)aer modiglice manega spraecon \>e eft aet f>earfe fcolian noldon.36 In the light of this failure, the commitment of Byrhtnoth's loyal warriors stands out as all the more admirable and exemplary. The figure of Byrhtnoth dominates the poem, and yet Maldon does not present the battle as the exploit of one great man. Rather, it is shown to be the enterprise of a community in the face of external threat. Some members of the group fail the test of resolution, but the poem still stresses the communal nature of the struggle against the Danes. Reference is made to the social inclusiveness of the contingent of English defenders. This contingent spans the age range, from the very young (Wulfmaer, a youth 'unweaxen')37 to the old (Byrhtwold, the 'eald geneat'),38 and The Battle of Maldon is unique among secular Old English poems in singling out by name a ceorl as a member of the warrior group. 39 The Battle of Maldon self-consciously exploits the traditions of heroic poetry to express a spirit of resistance among the English warriors commemorated in the poem and perhaps to foster such a spirit among its audience. Like Judith, Maldon celebrates the principle of solidarity against foreign aggression, and it shares the contempt for the idea of paying tribute to the Danes found in entries in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle covering the 990s. 40 The Battle of Maldon describes a defeat of the English, but it sees this defeat to be the result of treachery, and a message that contemporary readers might elicit from the poem is that salvation lies in loyalty and resistance rather than compromise. Coming at the end of the tradition of Old English poetry, The Battle of Maldon builds carefully on the heritage of the past to give creative expression to urgent concerns of the present. It is able to do so because of 36

Lines 1 9 8 - 2 0 1 : 'So had Offa told t h e m earlier that day in the meeting place, w h e n he held council, that there were m a n y w h o spoke vauntingly w h o at the t i m e of need would be u n w i l l i n g to hold o u t . '

37

Line 1 5 2 : 'ungrown'.

38

Line 3 1 0 : 'old companion'.

Lines 255—6. O n this passage, and on t h e social inclusiveness of t h e g r o u p of Byrhtnoth's followers, see A . W i l l i a m s , ' T h e Battle of Maldon a n d " T h e Battle of M a l d o n " : History, Poetry and Propaganda', Medieval History 2 (1992), 4 1 - 4 ; and Campbell, 'England, c. 9 9 1 ' , p . 1 6 . See text of MS E, in Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel, ed. P l u m m e r I, 127—31 (trans. Garmonsway, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, pp. 126—9). On the theme of loyalty in The Battle of Maldon, see further Clemoes, Interactions of Thought and Language, pp. 409-37.

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the strength with which this poetic tradition has persisted into the later years of the Anglo-Saxon period. Our study has shown that concerns of the 'present', to do with community and the values and obligations of society, are also encountered in the corpus of Old English poetry as a whole. The collection and reading of Old English poetry in late Anglo-Saxon England might have had an antiquarian aspect, but it was much more than an antiquarian exercise. The poetry selected for preservation by the late Anglo-Saxon textual community provided, in the context of the experience of the time, a living source of teaching, inspiration and example.

200

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206

Index

Abel, 31, 157 Abingdon, 12, 56 Abraham, 21, 44, 91, 128, 153, 155, 158-9 Absolom, 29 Achitophel, 29 ActaS. lulianae, 22, 170-1 ActaS. Quiriaci, 130, n. 62 Adam, 145, 148-9,151, 153 Êlfric, Abbot, 6, 9, n. 20, 29-31, 53-54, 55-6, 58-9, 170; Catholic Homilies I, 9, n. 20, 18, n. 60, 53, n. 78, 53, n. 80; Catholic Homilies II, 20, 30-1, 42, 53, 59, 194-5; Colloquy, 6, 45, n. 44, 195; 'In Cena Domini', 19, n. 60; Homily on Book of Esther, 84-5; Homily on Book of Judith, 30, 84-5, 116, n. 44, 160-1, 164; Lives of Saints, 27, 29-30, 53, n. 77, 169, n. 4, 170; Letter to Sigeweard, 53, 56; Letter to Wulfgeat, 53; Letter to Wulfsige, 53; VitaS. JEthelwoldi, 12, n. 35, 55-6, 59 yElfric, Ealdorman, 26 /Elfwold (king of Northumbria), 18 celgrene, 1 4 8

/Eschere (in Beowulf), 125 iEthelred, King (II, 'Unread), 12, 28, 197 ^thelstan, King, 12, 16, 28, 196-7 iEthelthryth, St, 38 y£thelwold, Bishop, 12, 55-6 agriculture, 128, 153 Alban, St, 29 Alcuin of York, 9, n. 20, 45, n. 44, 55, 75 Aldhelm (abbot of Malmesbury and then bishop of Sherborne), 54 ale, 45, 63 Alfred, King, 15-17, 19, 28, 53 allegory, 127, 159, 160-3, 176 Ambrose (church Father), 147, 162, n. 101 Ampsanctus (valley in the Aeneid), 136

Andreas, 34, 41, 42, 47, 90, 101, 122, 127, 163, 173-8, 181, 183, 188, 189 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 8, 17, 18, 26-7, 195-6, 199 Antiochus (character in Apollonius of Tyre), 27 antiquarianism, 11 Antonine motifs, 179, 181, 183 Antony, St, 41, 168, 183,186 Apollo (god), 171 Apollonius of Tyre, 27, 38, 190 aristocratic life, 36 Assyrians, 84 Athanasius of Alexandria, 41,168,n.2,183, 186,188 Atlakvida, 49-51, 123-4 Atlamal,50, 116, 123 Atli (Hunnish leader, Attila), 49-50 audience/readership, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8,15, 33, 73 Augustine of Hippo, 41, 92, n. 72, 157, 162, n. 101 Avernus (lake in the Aeneid, entrance to the Underworld), 136, 137 Avitus (late Latin writer), 146-7, 149 Babel, 156-7 Babylon, 165-6 barrow, 182 Battle of Brunanburh, 2, n. 7, 8, 14, 34, 100, 122,190,195-7 Battle ofMaldon, 14, 22, 24, 26, 28, 34, 36, 47, 122-3, 176, 190, 197-200 be seem tweonum, 125

Beatitudes, 97 Bede, 54; HE, 4, 17, 18, 21, 41, 76, 81, 129-30; De die iudicii, 139-40; In Genesim, 157, n. 69; Vita S. Cuthberti (prose), 56, 59, 169, 178-9, 187; VitaS. Cuthberti (metrical), 179

207

Index beer, 45, 58, 63 Belshazzar, 94-5, 166-7 Benedictine Revival, 6, 12, 59 beorg, 181-8 beorsele, 63 Beowulf, 1, 12, n. 31, 15, 24, 33, 34, 35, 36, 43, 45-52 passim, 60-81, 82, 84, 90, 104-10, 112,121-43,151,174,176, 177, 190 Beowulf, 45, 49, 61-81 passim, 124, 125, 126, 130,131,132,140, 141, 142, 174 Bernicia, 17 Bethulia, 30, 41, 158-64, 189 betrayal, 6, 15-31, 33, 75-81, 191-2 Bible, 18, 21, 35, 42, 56; Acts I. 18-19, 20, n. 66; Apoc. XIX. 9, 8, n. 20; Cant. II. 4, 8, n. 20; Dan. I. 1-2, 165, n. 129; II. 1-9, 94, n. 81; IV. 27, 166; V. 2, 166, n. 138; V. 11, 94; Esther I. 3-13, 84-5; Gen. 91, 93, 145-59passim; I. 2, 150; II. 8-10, 145; IV. 17, 157; IX. 20-1, 153; XIII. 10, 151-2; XIII. 13, 156; XVIII. 20, 93, n. 74; XIX. 25, 155; XXI. 8, 91; Is. LXII. 6, 162; John 11.1-11,56, n. 102; XIII. 2, 18, n. 60; Judith, 159; VI. 7, 160; VII. 1, 161; X. 8, 160, 161; XII. 10-20, 84-5; XII. 18-20, 22, n. 84; XV. 9-10, 160, 161; XVI. 22, 160, 161; II Kings XV-XVIII, 29, n. 117; Luke XIV. 15, 8, n. 20; XXII. 30, 8, n. 20; Matth. V. 4, 97, n. 95; VIII. 11, 8, n. 20; X. 21-2, 25, n. 92, 27, 192; XXII. 39, 16; XXVI. 24, 20, n. 71; XXVI. 75, 31; XXVII. 3-10, 20 Blickling Homilies, 134-5 'boar and badger', 39 boasting, 47,95, 166 Boethius (philosopher), 16—17 Boniface, St, 54-5 booty, 164 boroughs, 36 Breca (in Beowulf), 125, 126 Britain, 129 Britons, 17, 26 Brunanburh, 5 buildings, 40-2, 187 Burgundians, 49, 50 burh, 33, 189 Byrhtferth of Ramsey, 12, n. 35, 27 Byrhtnoth, Ealdorman, 26, 197-9 Byrhtwold (warrior at Battle of Maldon), 198, 199 Cadwalla (British king), 17 Caedmon (poet), 4, 72 Caesar, 46 Cain, 18, 19, 20, 21, 27, 31, 80-1, 130, 157

Cana, 56-7 Canaan, 152-3 Capture of the Five Boroughs, 195 'Casanatensis' version of Acta S. Andreae, 173, 176,177 ceorl, 36, 199 charms, 36 Cheddar, 12, 14 Christ II, 176 Christ III, 84 Christ and Satan, 15, 32, 40, 84, 144, 149 Christian Latin literature, 8 Chrysanthus, St, 38 church, 14 city, 35, 40-2, 144, 154-67, 168-75, 187, 190-3 'City of God', 41 civitas, 33,42, 189 climate, 149, 169 Clovesho, Synod of, 55 Cluniac monasticism, 10 Cnut, King, 6, 28 coenobium, 9

comitatus, 12, 89, 117, 172, 196, 197, 198 Commedia (city), 170, 189 community, 1-12 passim, 31-4 passim, 38-41, 60,73,95,101,102,126, 128, 157, 169, 178, 189-97 passim, 199, 200 continuity with the past, 34 contradiction, 71, 73-5, 90 conversion, 172—5 convivium, 3, 8, 33 Coronation of Edgar, 196 countryside, 128, 154—5 copia, 129, 151 Cotton Vitellius A. xv, 74, 161 covenant, 21, 189 creation, 72, 128,150-1, 185 Cuthbert (archbishop of Canterbury), 54—5 Cuthbert, St, 56, 59 Cynewulf (poet), 22, 86-90, 170-3 'Cynewulf and Cyneheard' (in Anglo-Saxon Chronicle), 18 Danes, 6, 43, 66, 67-78passim, 109, 122, 192 Daniel, 21, 34, 93-5, 149, 159, 164-7 Daniel, 94 Daria, St, 38 David, King, 29 Death of Edgar, 196-7 Decius (emperor), 191 demons, 172, 180, 181, 183, 184 Denmark, 61, 63, 68, 76, 125, 126, 128, 174 Deor, 15,37

208

Index Eustace, St, 38, 190 Evagrius (Latin translator of Vita S. Antonii), 183 Eve, 40, 145, 148-9, 151, 153 Exeter Book, 8, 9,46, 70, 83, 86, 90, 102, 114, 119,121, 132, 178, 186, 187 exile, 40, 130, 149 Exodus, 8, 21, 70, n. 72, 90-1, 122, 127, 130, n. 62,149, 154,163,185,189

descriptio loci, 1 3 7

desert, 41, 168, 170, 187 'desire for origins', 5 devil, 27,44, 86, 87-8, 151 Diana (goddess), 171 dislocation, 149, 190 disruption, 71 Dracontius (late Latin Christian writer), 162, n. 101 dragon, 38, 70, 71-3, 75, 78, 79, 125, 130

Fame, 178-9, 187

dream, 64, 85

Dream ofthe Rood, 3, 8, 11,23-4,33,44, 137 drink, drinking, 12, 33, 38, 43, 45, 47, 51-9, 62, 63, 65, 66, 68, 70, 85, 86, 89, 91-5, 97, 153 drinking cup, 72—3 drunkenness, 33, 38, 43, 51-9, 84-6, 88, 91-5, 99,101-2, 103, 153 Dryhthelm (character in HE), 41 Dublin, 122 Dunnere (character in Battle ofMaldori), 36

Fates of the Apostles, 1 7 0

feast, feasting, 13, 33, 42-51, 60-9, 70, 73, 75, 82-6, 87-90passim, 92, 94, 95, 96, 97-103, 112,190 Felix, VitaS. Guthlaci, 132, 178, 179-80, 181, 186 fens, 41, 122, 128-32, 179-80, 181, 186 feud, 109,119 feudalism, 12 Fight at Finnsburh, 1, 47-8 Finn (Frisian leader), 108, 122 Finnsburh, 66, 69, 109-10, 125, 126 food, 45 forests, 122, 130 Fortunes of Men, 19,45, 91, n. 63, 102, 110-12 Freawaru (in Beowulf), 48, 68, 105 Frisia, 125 Frisians, 39 frost, 140, 149 Fulgentius (late Latin writer), 162, n. 101

Durham, 130, n. 66

duplicity, 22, 50, 115 dwelling-places, 168, 170, 179, 181, 182, 184 dyrne craft, 115

Eadfrith (son of King Edwin of Northumbria), 17 Eadred, King, 12 Ealhhild (in Widsith), 107-8 ealuscerwen, 8 3

Eanfrith (king of Bernicia), 17 'earthly city', 40 East Angles, 17 East Anglia, 180 Ecgberht (archbishop of York), 5 5 Edgar, King, 196 Edmund, St, 195 Edmund (brother of King Êthelstan), 196-7 Edwin (king of Northumbria), 17, 18, 76 Edward the Martyr, 26—7 Egypt, 151-2, 158 Egyptians, 21, 158-9, 179 elegy, elegies, 2, 69, 104, 127 Elene, 130, n. 62,170 Elene, St (Helena), 36 Eleusius (character in Juliana; Heliseus in Acta S. lulianae), 22, 87, 89-90, 171 Enoch, 157 environment, 131-2 eordsele, 8 3

Ephesus, 27, 190-4 Eugenia, St, 116 Euphrosyne, St, 116

Geatland, 61,68, 69, 76, 125 Geats, 61, 70, 79, 80, 81, 125, 126, 128 Genesis A, 19, 21, 34, 44, 81, 90-3, 95, 128, 144,145-59, 164, 165, 172, 185 Genesis B, 20, 32,40, 131, n. 66, 148-9, 151 Germanic tradition, 5, 13, 18, 22, 33, 38, 42, 44, 46, 48, 60, 73, 74, 75, 79, 81, 85, 91, 93, 104, 112-5 passim, 121, 123, 130, 148, 159, 191 'Germanicization', 84 gifts, 43, 62-8passim, 85, 87, 89, 104, 107, 112 Gildas, 26 gluttony, 53, 58 Gnitahei5r, 124, 148 gnomic utterances (see also 'wisdom' poetry), 51, 105,112, 118 Godric (participant at Battle of Maldon), 198 goldburg, 90, 174

'Golden Age', 53, n. 76, 146 Gomorrha, 151, 157 greenness, 147-8, 151, 152, 153, 184-5 Gregory the Great, 96, n. 88

209

Index Grendel, 38, 45, 48, 61, 62, 65, 69, 71-3, 74, 77,78,83,109, 130-2, 134, 142 Grendel's mother, 38, 67, 68, 75, 78, 106, 110, 117,130-2, 142

Hygd (in Beowulf), 105, 107-8 Hygelac (in Beowulf), 68, 107, 125 ides geomoru, 108, 112, 119

Icelandic sagas, 123 Ingeld (in Beowulf), 48-9, 68 iQrmunrekkr (Gothic king), 51 Ireland, 122, 129 irony, 50, 82-6, 94, 119, 132, 156 Isidore of Seville, 157, n. 69, 165, n. 130 islands, 175, 178-9, 181 Ismael, 44 Israelites, 21, 189

Grettis saga, 45

Guthhere (character in Waldere), 122 Guthlac,32,34, 132 Guthlac A,41, 178-88, 189 GuthlacB, 181 Guthlac, St, 36, 58, 180-7 passim GuSrun (figure in Volsung legend), 49-51, 116-17 GuSrunarhvQt, 116

Haethcyn (in Beowulf), 80 hagiography, 10, 34, 56, 168-88, 190-5 hall, 11-14passim, 33, 35-51, 52, 60-75passim, 82-97, 104, 106, 119, 121, 122, 128, 129, 131,167, 174, 189 Hamdismal, 51

Haymo (Carolingian writer), 96, n. 88 healSegn, 62, 83

heathens, 86-9 passim Heathobards, 77 heaven, 40, 41, 42, 44, 96, 144, 161, 187 'heavenly city', 161-2, 165, 175 Hebrews, 21,44, 93, 94 Helgakvida Hundingsbana infyrri, 123—4

Heliand, 20-1, 30-1, 81, 92, n. 68, 144 Helisius (character in Ada S. lulianae), 170-3 hell, 84, 89, 134-5 Hengest (character in Finnsburh story), 108-10, 126 Heorot, 48, 61-3, 67, 72, 75, 77, 83, 142 Herebald (in Beowulf), 80 Heremod (in Beowulf), 78, 80 hermits, 168, 187 heroic poetry, 36, 38, 50, 51, 159, 163, 177-8 Hildeburh (in Beowulf), 14, 105, 107, 108-10, 112,117,125 hlafordswice, hlafordswicung, 29

Holofernes (Assyrian leader), 22, 30, 48, 84-6, 164 home, 40, 89, 185 homeland, 164 Homer, 136 homiletic writing, 6, 28, 29, 95, 96, 98, 190 Horace (Roman poet), 57, n. 108 Hrabanus Maurus (Carolingian writer), 161—2 Hrethel (in Beowulf), 70 Hrothgar (in Beowulf), 61, 64, 66, 69, 77, 78, 107,125,131,133, 138, 141,142 Hrothulf (in Beowulf), 49, 66, 78 Husband's Message, 47, 107, n. 9, 117, 122

Jerome (church Father), 57, n. 107, 162, n. 101, 168, n. 2, 179, 183, 186, 188 Jerusalem, 41, 160-2, 164, 165-7 Joachim (figure in Book of Judith), 160, 162 Jordan, 151-2 journey, 125-7, 142, 149, 154, 175-6 Judas Iscariot, 18, 19, 20, 21, 27, 29 Judgement Day I, 98 Judgement Day II, 1 3 9 ^ 0

Judith, 22, 30, 34, 37, 41, 42, 47, 48, 74, 84-6, 158-64, 181, 189, 196, 199 Judith, 22, 30, 115-16, 117, 158-60, 162, 163, 164 Juliana, 22, 30, 32, 34, 86-90, 127, 170-3, 189 Juliana, St, 22, 36, 44, 86, 87, 89-90, 115, 170 Junius Manuscript, 8, 9, 40, 93, 95, 148 kingship, 14, 36, 194-5 Lactantius, Carmen de ave pboenice, 146—7, 149 landscape, 121, 122, 123, 127-43, 144-59, 181,182,187-8 'last survivor' (in Beowulf), 61, 70 laughter, 64, 71,97 law codes, 15-16,28 LayofHlod, 124 Lay of Ingeld, 49 Lazarus, 191 Legend of the Seven Sleepers, 27, 169, n. 5, 190-5 Life of St Andrew, 173, 175, 177 Life of St Antony, 41 Life of St Eustace, 190

liturgy, 10 location, 122 locus amoenus, 34, 138-42

lordship, 11, 14,36, 118, 191 love, 37-8, 107,113-19 Lot, 151 loyalty, 15, 23-4, 27, 28, 36, 47, 76, 78, 79, 192,199

210

Index Offa (warrior at Battle of Maldon), 198 Old Norse, 33, 43, 48-52, 116-17, 123-4,148 Old Saxon, 30, 144 opus Dei, 10 oral community, 4, 37 Maethhild (character in Deor), 37 Malchus (character in Legend of the Seven Sleepers), Origen (patristic writer) 8, n. 20 Osred (king of Northumbria), 18 193 Oswald, St, 195 Maldon, 123 Margaret, St, 27 Marinus (character in Legend of the Seven Sleepers), paganism, 164, 172-3, 190 paradise, 129, 145-53, 185 193 participants at feasting, 62-8 passim Mars (god), 171 Passion of Christ, 30, 153 Matheus, St (Matthias), 174 patristic writings, 8, 86, 127, 157 maxims, 35, 36 Paul, St, the Apostle, 87 Maxims I, 19,22,39,65, 107, 114,115 Paul, St, the Hermit, 168, 179, 183, 186 Maxims II, 113-14, 115, 122, 130, n. 66, 132, Penda (king of Mercia), 17, 21 185 penitentials, 58 Maximianus (emperor), 172 persecution, 191-2 Maximianus (character in Legend of the Seven Peter, St, 30-1,87 Sleepers), 193 mead, 45, 47 Pharaoh, 21,159 medoburh,A2,Al, 101, 164 Phoenix, 146-7, 187 medostigge, 129 place, 34, 121, 129, 144, 168-88, 189 meodowongas, 129 Pliny (Roman writer), 57, n. 108 mere (Grendel's), 1 3 2 ^ 3 , 177 poculum mortis, 88 Mermedonia,4l, 101, 163, 173-7, 183, 189 power, 34, 195-200 metodsceaft, 110, 112 pride, 97, 101, 103, 156, 165-6 Mirkwood, 123-4 private values 32, 37 mist, 131 promised land, 149, 154, 163 Prudentius (Christian Latin poet), 162, n. 101 moderation, 58-9, 92 monasticism, monasteries, 6-14passim, 52, Redwald (king of East Angles), 17 57-9, 168, 182 Regula S. Benedicti, 58 mood, 122, 142-3, 163, 173, 188 Regularis Concordia, 14 moors, 122, 128, 130-1, 170 morSres brytta, 84 rejoicing, 62, 66, 68, 85 Moses, 90 renunciation, 86, 102 motherhood, 110-12 Resignation, 127 mountain, 168, 182-3 reversal, 71, 164-7 passim music, 43, 62, 65,69, 70,97 riddles, 35-7; Riddle 3, 127; Riddle 40, 151; Riddle 76, 119 Romans, 13, 16, 32, 46, 170-1, 190 names, 63, 110, 169 royalty, 36 nature, 129-30, 141, 143, 149, 153; nature Ruin, 2, n. 7, 32-3, 35, 43, 46, 70, 100 weeping, 137 ruins, 95 Nicomedia (city), 170-2 ruminatio, 10 nidsele, 83 Nebuchadnezzar, 94, 165-6 saints' lives (see also hagiography), 34, 86, Noah, 21,91-2, 153 Northumbria, 17, 18, 179 168-88 Northumbrians, 55, 56 Satan, 18-21 passim, 32, 40 Norwegians, 6 Saturn (god), 111 Saxo Grammaticus (historian of the Danes), 49 scop, 1,64, 69, 72, 128 Odda (father of participants at Battle of Maldon), Scots, 197 28 Scyld (in Beowulf), 43 Offa (king of continental Angles), 106

Lucan (Roman writer), 137, n. 108 Lucifer, 40 lyric, 1,2, 35,83, 121

211

Index Scyldings, 51,78 sea, 34, 96, 97, 121,123-7,174-8 Sea of Galilee, 175 Seafarer, 2, 32, 83, 95, 96-7, 98, 100, 102,127 secrecy, 115, 183-4 seledreamas, 70

Seneca (Roman writer), 57, n. 108 Sephonia (character in legend of St Juliana), 173 Sermon on the Mount, 97

treachery, 6, 10, 15-31, 33, 50-1, 74, 75-81, 198-9 tumulus, 182 ubisunt, 95,96 'uncarpentered world', 44—5 Underworld, 135, 136 Unferth (in Beowulf), 49, 64, 77-8, 80-1 Vainglory, 95, 97-103 vengeance, 75, 88 Vercelli Book, 8, 9

Sermones adfratres in eremo, 98, n. 101

setting, 34,47,121, 123,124, 168-89 sex, 37-8 Shinar, 152, 156

Vercelli Homilies, 98, n. 101

Vergil, Aeneid, 34, 134-8, 139, 141-2 Vikings, 22, 197 VisioS.Pauli, 134-5, 141

sib, 67

Sicga (killer of King iElfwolf), 18 Sigeweard (correspondent of Êlfric), 53-4, 58-9 Sigmundr (figure in Vglsung legend), 51 Signy (figure in Volsung legend), 51 Sigur6r (figure in Vplsung legend), 116-17 Sodom, 93, 151, 154-7,165 solitude, 95, 187-8, 193 Solomon, 111—12

Vita S. Cuthberti (anon.) (see also Bede), 169 Vita S. Oswaldi, 27 Vglsungasaga, 51 Vglundarkvida, 124

Vulgate, 37, 42 Waldere, 37, 122

Wanderer, 32, 70, 83, 95-6, 97, 102 wantonness, 99, 102 warriorship, 36 Wealhtheow (in Beowulf), 64, 65, 67, 68, 78, 105,107,110 weather, 126, 146-7, 169, 177-8 West Saxons, 122,195-7 Widsith, 15, 46, 102, 107, 122 Wife's Lament, 34, 37, 83, 116, 117-19 Wiglaf (in Beowulf), 70, 78, 79-80 wilderness, 34, 41, 121, 128, 130-2, 142-3, 154,168, 181, 187 winburh, 42, 47, 90, 100-1, 165-6, 174 wine, 45, 55, 56-7, 58, 101

Solomon and Saturn (verse), 111-12 sodgied, 99, 101 Soul and Body I, 98

sparrow simile (in Bede's HE), 129-30 speeches, 62, 64, 85 splendour, 62, 63, 68, 89 StarkaSr (Norse hero), 49, 52, n. 72 stewards, 62, 64, 85 storm, 171,175 stronghold, 42, 121, 128, 130, 142-3, 154, 156, 158,159,164,166-7,172 Swedes, 125 synna brytta, 85

winsele, 88

Tacitus, 13, 18,52,79,114 temple, 165-6 textual community, 4, 9, 11, 14, 15, 37, 38,43, 46, 52, 58-9, 74, 82, 92, 105, 115, 120, 138, 200 textuality, 3, 7-8 Theodoric the Goth, 16-17 Theodosius (II, emperor), 193, 194 Theodulfi Capitula, 53, n. 84

Thryth (in Beowulf), 105-6, 107, 117 towns, 36 transformation, 82-103 transitoriness, 95 travel, 125-6

'wisdom' poems, 2 winter, 126, 129, 140, 177-8 wlanclwlonc, 100, 158

women, 13, 36-9passim, 62, 64, 68, 82, 105-20 woods, 130 Wulf, 106, 115 WulfandEadwacer, 37, 106, 114-15 Wulfmaer (participant at Battle of Maldon), 199 Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, 6, 28, 29, 31, 195; Institutes of Polity, 6, n. 16; Homilies, 18, n. 60, 192, n. 13; Sermo Lupi ad Anglos, 6,

24-6, 27, 192 Wulfstan of Winchester, VitaS. JEthelwoldi, 12, 56

212

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