"The Battle of Maldon" is the name given to an Old English poem of uncertain date celebrating the real Battle of Maldon of 991, at which an Anglo-Saxon army failed to repulse a Viking raid. Only 325 lines of the poem are extant; both the beginning and the ending are lost.
The poem is told entirely from the perspective of the Anglo-Saxons, and names many individuals that scholars Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson [1] believe were real Englishmen.
Mitchell and Robinson conjecture that the lost opening of the poem must have related how Byrhtnoth, an Anglo-Saxon ealdorman, hearing of the Viking raid, raised his troops and led them to the shore. [1]
The part of the poem that survives today begins with the Anglo-Saxon warriors dismounting to prepare for battle. A Viking force is encamped on an island that can be reached by a causeway. A Viking messenger offers Byrhtnoth peace if he will consent to pay tribute. Byrhtnoth angrily refuses, telling the messenger that he will fight the heathen Vikings in defence of his land, and the land of his king, Æthelred. In his "ofermōde", [note 1] Byrhtnoth allows the Vikings to cross to the mainland, giving them room in which to do battle, rather than keeping them penned in on the island.
Individual episodes from the ensuing carnage are described, and the fates of several Anglo-Saxon warriors depicted – notably that of Byrhtnoth himself, who dies urging his soldiers forward and commending his soul to God. Not all the English are portrayed as heroic however: one, Godric the son of Odda (there are two Godrics in the poem), flees the battle with his brothers and, most improperly, does so on Byrhtnoth's horse. Several lines later, the English lord Offa claims that the sight of Byrhtnoth's horse (easily recognisable from its trappings) fleeing, and so Byrhtnoth, as it would appear from a distance, has bred panic in the ranks and left the English army in danger of defeat. There follow several passages in which English warriors voice their defiance and their determination to die with their lord, and descriptions of how they are then killed by the un-personified "sea-wanderers". The poem as it has come down to us ends with another Godric disappearing from view. This time, it is Godric, the son of Æthelgar, advancing into a body of Vikings and being killed.
In 1731, the only known manuscript of the poem (which, as with the modern version, was missing its beginning and ending [3] ) was destroyed in the fire at Ashburnham House that also damaged and destroyed several other works in the Cotton library. The poem has come down to us thanks to the transcription of it made c. 1724, which was published by Thomas Hearne in 1726. After being lost, the original transcription was found in the Bodleian Library in the 1930s. [4] [5] Who made this original transcription is still unclear; some favour John Elphinstone, [2] [3] [4] [5] and others David Casley. [1] [6]
According to some scholars, the poem must have been written close to the events that it depicts, given the historical concreteness and specificity of the events depicted in the poem. [7] According to Irving, the specific events told with such clarity could only have been composed shortly after the events had taken place, and before legend had been introduced into the poem. [7] While this may seem strange to a modern audience, who are used to “realistic fiction,” this is in fact a fairly strong argument for an early composition date. The lack of legendary elements seems to indicate that this poem was written at a time when witnesses or close descendants of witnesses would have been able to attest to the validity and accuracy of the facts.
John D. Niles, in his essay "Maldon and Mythopoesis", also argues for an early composition date. He states that the three direct references to Æthelred the Unready necessitate an early composition date, before Æthelred had achieved his reputation for ineffectiveness. [8] This argument hinges upon Byrhtnoth's, and the poet's, degree of knowledge of Æthelred's ill reputation. If Byrhtnoth had known of Æthelred's nature, would he have been willing to sacrifice himself for an undeserving king, effectively throwing away his own life and those of his men? Niles indicates that this does not appear to be supportable through the actions and statements of Byrhtnoth throughout the poem. [8] Apparently Byrhtnoth did not know of the king's nature, and most likely the poet himself did not know of the king's nature either. If the poet had known, he would likely have mentioned it in an aside, similar to the way he treats the coward Godric when he is first introduced within the poem.
Some of these arguments have been rebutted; George Clark, for instance, argues against an early composition date, rebutting Irving, and states that the detail and specificity found in the poem do not necessarily necessitate an early composition date. [9] Clark argues that if one accepts the detail and specificity as indicators that the events were related to the poet by a witness or close descendant, then the presenter or narrator must have either been “one of the cowards or a retainer who missed the battle by legitimate accident and later chatted with one or more of the men who abandoned his lord”. [9]
Other arguments against an early date focus on vocabulary and spelling, which, it is argued, suggest that the poem had its origins in the 11th century in western England, rather than from the 10th century in eastern England (where Maldon is located). [9] [10] These arguments are not based upon one or two spellings which may have been transcribed poorly, but rather upon the uniform spelling of specific indicative words in Old English which are often associated with dialectical writing, such as “sunu” and “swurd”. [10] Clark further argues against an early composition date by exposing the contradictory descriptions of Byrhtnoth, both within the poem and against historical record. According to Clark, the poet of Maldon describes Byrhtnoth as an old warrior, but able-bodied (paraphrased); however, later in the poem Byrhtnoth is disarmed easily by a Viking. Clark argues that these two events are conflicting and therefore demonstrate the lack of historical accuracy within the poem. [9] Clark also argues that the poet never mentions the great height of Byrhtnoth, nor does he mention Byrhtnoth “enfeebled by age”, [9] which indicates that the poet was removed from the event, for the historical records show that Byrhtnoth was tall, which the poet would not have left out due to its indicative nature. [9]
George K. Anderson dated "The Battle of Maldon" to the 10th century and felt that it was unlikely that much was missing. [11] R. K. Gordon is not so specific, writing that this "last great poem before the Norman Conquest ... was apparently written very soon after the battle", [12] while Michael J. Alexander speculates that the poet may even have fought at Maldon. [2]
S. A. J. Bradley reads the poem as a celebration of pure heroism – nothing was gained by the battle, rather the reverse: not only did Byrhtnoth, "so distinguished a servant of the Crown and protector and benefactor of the Church," die alongside many of his men in the defeat, but the Danegeld was paid shortly after – and sees in it an assertion of national spirit and unity, and in the contrasting acts of the two Godrics the heart of the Anglo-Saxon heroic ethos. [3] Mitchell and Robinson are more succinct: "The poem is about how men bear up when things go wrong". [1] Several critics have commented on the poem's preservation of a centuries-old Germanic ideal of heroism:
Maldon is remarkable (apart from the fact that it is a masterpiece) in that it shows that the strongest motive in a Germanic society, still, nine hundred years after Tacitus, was an absolute and overriding loyalty to one's lord.
— Michael J. Alexander, The Earliest English Poems
The Anglo-Saxon scholar and writer J. R. R. Tolkien was inspired by the poem to write The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son , an alliterative dialogue between two characters at the end of the battle. In publishing the work, Tolkien included alongside it an essay on the original poem and another on the word "ofermōde".
In 1959, author Pauline Clarke wrote Torolv the Fatherless, a children's novel set in the Anglo-Saxon era. The novel focuses on a lost Viking child, Torolv, who is adopted by the Anglo-Saxon court, and eventually witnesses the Battle of Maldon, in which the child's father may be one of the attacking Vikings. Clarke ends the novel with her own Modern English translation of the Anglo-Saxon poem The Battle of Maldon. In the early 1940s, Clarke had been an undergraduate at Oxford University, and attended lectures by Tolkien.
Beowulf is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The date of composition is a matter of contention among scholars; the only certain dating is for the manuscript, which was produced between 975 and 1025 AD. Scholars call the anonymous author the "Beowulf poet". The story is set in pagan Scandinavia in the 6th century. Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall Heorot has been under attack by the monster Grendel for twelve years. After Beowulf slays him, Grendel's mother takes revenge and is in turn defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland and becomes king of the Geats. Fifty years later, Beowulf defeats a dragon, but is mortally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants cremate his body and erect a barrow on a headland in his memory.
Æthelred II, known as Æthelred the Unready, was King of the English from 978 to 1013 and again from 1014 until his death in 1016. His epithet comes from the Old English word unræd meaning "poorly advised"; it is a pun on his name, which means "well advised".
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Maldon District is a local government district in Essex, England. The district is managed by Maldon District Council, which is based in Maldon, the largest town in the district. The district also includes the town of Burnham-on-Crouch and numerous villages, including Heybridge, Wickham Bishops, Southminster, Tolleshunt D'Arcy and Tollesbury. The district covers the Dengie peninsula to the south of Maldon and the Thurstable Hundred area to the north of the Blackwater Estuary, a total area of 358.78 km2.
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The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son is a work by J. R. R. Tolkien originally published in 1953 in volume 6 of the scholarly journal Essays and Studies by Members of the English Association, and later republished in 1966 in The Tolkien Reader; it is also included in the most recent edition of Tree and Leaf. It is a work of historical fiction, inspired by the Old English poem The Battle of Maldon. It is written in the form of an alliterative poem, but is also a play, being mainly a dialogue between two characters in the aftermath of the Battle of Maldon. The work was accompanied by two essays, also by Tolkien, one before and one after the main work. The work, as published, was thus presented as:
Ælfric Cild was a wealthy Anglo-Saxon nobleman from the east Midlands, Ealdorman of Mercia between 983 and 985, and possibly brother-in-law to his predecessor Ælfhere. He was also associated with the monastic reformer Æthelwold, bishop of Winchester, he is also notable for being involved in a number of land transactions for the refounding and endowment of Peterborough Abbey, as well as with Thorney Abbey during the 970s and early 980s.
The period of Anglo-Saxon warfare spans the 5th century AD to the 11th in Anglo-Saxon England. Its technology and tactics resemble those of other European cultural areas of the Early Medieval Period, although the Anglo-Saxons, unlike the Continental Germanic tribes such as the Franks and the Goths, do not appear to have regularly fought on horseback.
Events from the 1000s in England.
Events from the 10th century in the Kingdom of England.
The "Battle of Brunanburh" is an Old English poem. It is preserved in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record of events in Anglo-Saxon England which was kept from the late ninth to the mid-twelfth century. The poem records the Battle of Brunanburh, a battle fought in 937 between an English army and a combined army of Scots, Vikings, and Britons. The battle resulted in an English victory, celebrated by the poem in style and language like that of traditional Old English battle poetry. The poem is notable because of those traditional elements and has been praised for its authentic tone, but it is also remarkable for its fiercely nationalistic tone, which documents the development of a unified England ruled by the House of Wessex.
Helmut Gneuss was a German scholar of Anglo-Saxon and Latin manuscripts and literature.
Germanic heroic legend is the heroic literary tradition of the Germanic-speaking peoples, most of which originates or is set in the Migration Period. Stories from this time period, to which others were added later, were transmitted orally, traveled widely among the Germanic speaking peoples, and were known in many variants. These legends typically reworked historical events or personages in the manner of oral poetry, forming a heroic age. Heroes in these legends often display a heroic ethos emphasizing honor, glory, and loyalty above other concerns. Like Germanic mythology, heroic legend is a genre of Germanic folklore.
