Blogging Beowulf, Fit XXIX, Lines 2039-2092

3 May 2009

Beowulf continues telling Hygelac about Freawaru. He predicts that one of the young Heathobards, egged on by an older comrade, will take offense at one of the Danes wearing the war-gear he won from his father in battle, and the feud will start anew. Beowulf goes on to give his version of the battle with Grendel, a bit different from one with got earlier in that Grendel has a pouch or sack in which he stuffs his victims. We also learn the name of the Geatish warrior whom Grendel devoured, Hondscio.

The Freawaru digression is quite interesting. Not only is a neat commentary on the practice of arranged noble marriages, but the storytelling skill that goes into it is quite high. Lines 2041-46a:

Þonne cwið æt bēore      sē ðē bēah ġesyhð,
eald æscwiga,      sē ðe eall ġe(man),
gārcwealm gumena      —him bið grim (se)fa—
onġinneð ġeōmormōd      ġeong(um) cempan
þurh hreðra ġehyġd      hiġes cunnian,
wīġbealu weċċean.

Then speaks over beer      he who sees the ring,
an old spear-warrior,      he who remembers all
the spear-deaths of men      —his spirit is grim—
he begins sad of mind      the young champion
the mettle of his heart      of his mind to test,
to awaken war.

You can just picture the scene: former enemies, lots of beer, an old warrior telling a younger one how he was there when the young man’s father was killed by the man across the room, who has the temerity to wear the father’s sword…

The old warrior says, lines 2053-56:

Nū hēr þāra banena      byre nāthwylċes
frætwum hrēmiġ      on flet gæð,
morðres ġylpe(ð),      ond þone māðþum byreð,
þone þe ðū mid rihte      rædan sceoldest.

Now here the son      of one of the slayers
exulting in his treasure      goes across the floor,
boasts of the murder,      and bears the treasure
of which you by right      should possess.

There are some neat words in this fit as well. There is wiflufa, or love of a woman. The sun is heofones ġim, heaven’s gem. Forswelgan, to swallow up, is what Grendel does to Hondscio. The grappling battle between Beowulf and Grendel is a hondræs hæleða, hand-fight of heroes. Grendel’s pouch is a glof. (And the name Hondscio is reminiscent of the modern German Handschuh, or glove.) And the pouch is closed with a searobend, or cunningly wrought clasp.

Lines 2087-92 describe the pouch further and tell of what Grendel intended for Beowulf, and alludes ever so slightly to the theme of a great warrior being able to influence his own fate through action:

Sīo wæs orðoncum      eall ġeġyrwed
dēofles cræftum      ond dracan fellum.
Hē meċ þær on innan      unsynnigne,
dīor dædfruma,      ġedōn wolde
maniġra sumne;      hyt ne mihte swā,
syððan iċ on yrre      uppriht āstōd.

It was with skill      all prepared
with the devil’s craft      and dragon skin.
Me there in the inside      guiltless,
the fierce evil-doer,      wished to place
one of many;      it was not to be,
once I in anger      stood upright.

Blogging Beowulf: XXVIII, Lines 1963-2038

2 May 2009

Beowulf enters Hygelac’s hall, where he is warmly greeted. Hygelac says he was leery about Beowulf’s going to Denmark to fight Grendel, thinking the Danes should settle their own affairs, and he asks about the journey and the fight. Beowulf announces that he was victorious, tells of the gracious greeting and treatment he received from Hrothgar, and begins talking about Freawaru, Hrothgar’s daughter. Freawaru is betrothed to Ingeld, prince of the Heathobards, as part of a settlement of a feud. Beowulf is skeptical that this will end the feud.

This is another example of where the division into fits makes no sense narratively. The Freawaru digression is interesting, but will not come to head until the next fit. The rest of this fit is pretty much filler.

As far as language goes, line 1965 has the word woruldcandel, meaning sun. The literal meaning is what it sounds like, the candle of the world.

Line 1983 has an interesting emendation. Hygd, Hygelac’s queen, is passing the ceremonial greeting cup to the warriors, hæleðum tō handa, into the hand of the heroes. But the manuscript actually reads hæ u, where a ð has been erased; so it originally read hæðu tō handa, or into the hands of the heathens. The emendation is pretty much universally accepted and you’ll find it in most editions of the poem. There is, however, some debate over it. Some hold that hænum is a tribal name for the Geats. Others that it was intended as heathen and that is a sensible reading for the non-Christian Geats. Others say the Geats, while not Christian, were monotheists, therefore heathen doesn’t apply. For my part, heroes fits better with the tone of the passage.

Beowulf also utters a gnomic statement about the eternity of feuds—the poem is filled with such maxims—about Freawaru’s betrothal and the unlikelihood of its success, lines 2029b-2031:

                        Oft seldan hwær
æfter lēodhryre      lytle hwīle
bongār būgeð,      þēah sēo bryd duge.

                        (Very seldom anywhere
after the fall of a prince      for even a little while
does the deadly spear lay still,      even though the bride is good.)

And, as the fit ends, Beowulf starts to describe the incident that will precipitate the failure of the peace overture when Freawaru’s escort is seen carrying a sword won in battle against the Heathobards, lines 2032-38:

Mæg þæs þonne ofþynċan      ðēoden Heaðo-Beardna
ond þeġna ġehwām      þāra lēoda
þonne hē mid fæmnan      on flett gæð,
dryhtbearn Dena,       duguða biwenede.
On him gladiað      gomelra lāfe,
heard ond hrinġmæl      Heaða-Bear[d]na ġestrēon,
þenden hīe ðām wæpnum      wealdan mōston

(It may then displease      the king of the Heathobards
and each of his thanes      of his people
when he with the virgin      goes across the floor,
the noble son of the Danes,    attended to with honors.
On him glitters    the heirloom sword of their ancestors
hard and ring-adorned    treasure of the Heathobards,
so long as they their weapons      could weald.)

Blogging Beowulf: Fit XXVII, Lines 1888-1962

1 May 2009

Beowulf and his men return home to Geatland and Hygelac’s court. We are introduced to Hygd, Hygelac’s young queen, who meditates on Thryth, a queen who as a young princess took offense at men lusting after her and had them killed—most unladylike behavior. Thryth is eventually “reformed” through marriage and becomes a model queen.

The Geats’ journey home is another great descriptive passage (lines 1903b-1913):

                        Ġewāt him on naca
drēfan dēop wæter,      Dena land ofġeaf.
Þā wæs be mæste      merehræġla sum,
seġl sāle fæst;      sundwudu þunede;
nō þær wēġflotan      wind ofer yðum
sīðes ġetwæfde;      sægenġa fōr,
flēat famiġheals      orð ofer yðe,
bundenstefna      ofer brimstrēamas,
þæt hīe Ġēata clifu      onġitan meahton,
cūþe næssas;      ċēol up ġeþrang,
lyftġeswenċed      on lande stōd.

(                        They went on the ship
driven through deep water,    gave up the Danish land.
There was by the mast      one of the sails,
a sail made fast by rope;      the sea-wood groaned;
The wind over the waves      not at all the wave-floater
its journey hindered;      the sea-goer went on,
floated foamy-necked      forth over the waves,
the ship with bound-prow      over the ocean-streams,
Until they the cliffs of the Geats      might see,
familiar headlands;      the keel pressed up,
impelled by the wind      and stood on the land.)

But the really interesting passage is the one about Thryth, who some editors name Modthryth. It’s a “taming of the shrew” story, only unlike Shakespeare’s Katherine, Thryth is murderous. Sort of Katherine meets Lady Macbeth. The passage figures prominently in feminist criticism of the poem, for obvious reasons (lines 1931b-1953):

                        Mōd Þryðo wæġ,
fremu folces cwēn,      firen’ ondrysne;
næniġ þæt dorste      dēor ġenēþan
swæsra ġesīða,      nefne sinfrea,
þæt hire an dæges      ēagum starede,
ac him wælbende      weotode tealde
handġewriþene;      hraþe seoþðan wæs
æfter mundgripe      mēċe ġeþinġed,
þæt hit sceādenmæl      scyran mōste,
cwealmbealu cyðan.      Ne bið swylċ cwēnliċ þēaw
idese tō efnanne,      þēah ðe hīo ænlicu sy,
þætte freoðuwebbe      fēores onsæċe
æfter liġetorne      lēofne mannan.
Hūru þæt onhohsnod[e]      Hemminges mæġ:
ealodrincende      ōðer sædan,
þæt hīo lēodbealewa      læs ġefremede,
inwitnīða,      (s)yððan ærest wearð
ġyfen goldhroden      ġeongum cempan,
æðelum diore,      syððan hio Offan flet
ofer fealone flōd      be fæder lare
sīðe ġesōhte;      ðær hīo syððan well
in gumstōle,      gōde mære.

(                        [Hygd] pondered Thryth’s pride,
the famous folk-queen,      and her terrible crime;
not any brave one      of her retainers
dared to venture,      except her great lord
by day into her      eyes to gaze
for him he reckoned      the deadly bond was ordained
twisted by hand;      quickly then was
after the hand-grip      the sword appointed
the pattern-welded sword it      had to settle,
to reveal the mortal attack.      It is not such a queenly custom
for a lady to perform,      though she may be beautiful
that a peace-weaver      should deprive of life
because of pretended injury      a dear man.
However, the kinsman of Hemming      stopped that:
ale-drinkers      said another thing
that she harm to her people      performed less
[fewer] hostile acts,      after she first happened
to be given gold-adorned      to the young champion,
the noble warrior,      since she to Offa’s hall
over the fallow flood      at her father’s instruction
sought journey;      there she afterwards well
on the throne,       for good things [became] famous.)

The syntax of the passage is hard to follow, especially in the opening lines. It would be much easier to translate this passage into prose, rather than attempt to retain the poetic structure. You’ll note that I’ve moved around some words in the translation—otherwise it would make no sense in modern English at all.

Here’s the translation in prose, which will give you better sense of the narrative and the descriptions:

(Hygd pondered Thryth’s pride, the famous folk-queen, and her terrible crime; by day not any brave one of her retainers, except her great lord, dared to venture to gaze into her eyes. For he who did so reckoned the deadly bond, twisted by hand, was ordained for him. Quickly he would be seized and then the sword, the pattern-welded sword, was appointed to settle the affair, to make the mortal attack. It is not such a queenly custom for a lady to perform, though she may be beautiful, that a peace-weaver should deprive a dear man of life because of pretended injury. However, the kinsman of Hemming stopped this. Ale-drinkers said yet another thing, that she caused less harm to her people and performed fewer hostile acts after she was given, gold-adorned, to the young champion, the noble warrior, after she went, at her father’s instruction, to Offa’s hall, over the fallow flood. There she did well on the throne and became famous for good things.)

Freoðuwebbe is an important term in Old English poetry. It literally means peace-weaver and is used to denote the proper role for noble women in court. It refers to both the giving of daughters in marriage as peace pledges and to create diplomatic alliances as well as the ceremonial role of women the court in reinforcing the social structure among the king’s retainers. In this passage it is contrasted with the deadly, woven bonds of murder.

So we’re told a tale of a sociopathic woman who has any man murdered who even looks upon her. She’s married off to Offa, where we are told by men in their cups—not the most reliable of sources—that she is reformed. It is a fascinating digression that tells us a lot about the status of noble women in Anglo-Saxon society.

And there may be some sort of historical basis for the story. There are two Offa’s, one legendary and one historical. The first was a prehistoric king of the Angles who married a strong-willed woman. The second was a king of Mercia (757-96) who had a wife name Cynethryth. We know nothing about Cynethryth beyond her name and it’s unlikely she was a sociopath. So there seems to be a lot of conflation and exaggeration going on here.