The Beowulf Discussion: Section XX

[Michael]

This discussion was originally posted to the Endor mailing list. It used the Project Gutenberg eText based on Leslie Hall's translation of the poem. The source can be found here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16328/16328-8.txt

XX.


THE MOTHER OF GRENDEL.



They sank then to slumber. With sorrow one paid for
His evening repose, as often betid them
While Grendel was holding[1] the gold-bedecked palace,
Ill-deeds performing, till his end overtook him,
5 Death for his sins. 'Twas seen very clearly,


{Grendel's mother is known to be thirsting for revenge.}


Known unto earth-folk, that still an avenger
Outlived the loathed one, long since the sorrow
Caused by the struggle; the mother of Grendel,
Devil-shaped woman, her woe ever minded,
10 Who was held to inhabit the horrible waters,


{[Grendel's progenitor, Cain, is again referred to.]}


The cold-flowing currents, after Cain had become a
Slayer-with-edges to his one only brother,
The son of his sire; he set out then banished,
Marked as a murderer, man-joys avoiding,
15 Lived in the desert. Thence demons unnumbered


{The poet again magnifies Beowulf's valor.}


Fate-sent awoke; one of them Grendel,
Sword-cursèd, hateful, who at Heorot met with
A man that was watching, waiting the struggle,
Where a horrid one held him with hand-grapple sturdy;
20 Nathless he minded the might of his body,
The glorious gift God had allowed him,
And folk-ruling Father's favor relied on,
His help and His comfort: so he conquered the foeman,
The hell-spirit humbled: he unhappy departed then,
25 Reaved of his joyance, journeying to death-haunts,
Foeman of man. His mother moreover


{Grendel's mother comes to avenge her son.}


Eager and gloomy was anxious to go on
Her mournful mission, mindful of vengeance
For the death of her son. She came then to Heorot
[45] 30 Where the Armor-Dane earlmen all through the building
Were lying in slumber. Soon there became then
Return[2] to the nobles, when the mother of Grendel
Entered the folk-hall; the fear was less grievous
By even so much as the vigor of maidens,
35 War-strength of women, by warrior is reckoned,
When well-carved weapon, worked with the hammer,
Blade very bloody, brave with its edges,
Strikes down the boar-sign that stands on the helmet.
Then the hard-edgèd weapon was heaved in the building,[3]
40 The brand o'er the benches, broad-lindens many
Hand-fast were lifted; for helmet he recked not,
For armor-net broad, whom terror laid hold of.
She went then hastily, outward would get her
Her life for to save, when some one did spy her;


{She seizes a favorite liegemen of Hrothgar's.}


45 Soon she had grappled one of the athelings
Fast and firmly, when fenward she hied her;
That one to Hrothgar was liefest of heroes
In rank of retainer where waters encircle,
A mighty shield-warrior, whom she murdered at slumber,
50 A broadly-famed battle-knight. Beowulf was absent,


{Beowulf was asleep in another part of the palace.}


But another apartment was erstwhile devoted
To the glory-decked Geatman when gold was distributed.
There was hubbub in Heorot. The hand that was famous
She grasped in its gore;[4] grief was renewed then
[46] 55 In homes and houses: 'twas no happy arrangement
In both of the quarters to barter and purchase
With lives of their friends. Then the well-agèd ruler,
The gray-headed war-thane, was woful in spirit,
When his long-trusted liegeman lifeless he knew of,


{Beowulf is sent for.}


60 His dearest one gone. Quick from a room was
Beowulf brought, brave and triumphant.
As day was dawning in the dusk of the morning,


{He comes at Hrothgar's summons.}


Went then that earlman, champion noble,
Came with comrades, where the clever one bided
65 Whether God all gracious would grant him a respite
After the woe he had suffered. The war-worthy hero
With a troop of retainers trod then the pavement
(The hall-building groaned), till he greeted the wise one,


{Beowulf inquires how Hrothgar had enjoyed his night's rest.}


The earl of the Ingwins;[5] asked if the night had
70 Fully refreshed him, as fain he would have it.


[1] Several eminent authorities either read or emend the MS. so as to
make this verse read, _While Grendel was wasting the gold-bedecked
palace_. So 20_15 below: _ravaged the desert_.


[2] For 'sóna' (1281), t.B. suggests 'sára,' limiting 'edhwyrft.' Read
then: _Return of sorrows to the nobles, etc_. This emendation supplies
the syntactical gap after 'edhwyrft.'


[3] Some authorities follow Grein's lexicon in treating 'heard ecg' as
an adj. limiting 'sweord': H.-So. renders it as a subst. (So v. 1491.)
The sense of the translation would be the same.


[4] B. suggests 'under hróf genam' (v. 1303). This emendation, as well
as an emendation with (?) to v. 739, he offers, because 'under'
baffles him in both passages. All we need is to take 'under' in its
secondary meaning of 'in,' which, though not given by Grein, occurs in
the literature. Cf. Chron. 876 (March's A.-S. Gram. § 355) and Oro.
Amaz. I. 10, where 'under' = _in the midst of_. Cf. modern Eng. 'in
such circumstances,' which interchanges in good usage with 'under such
circumstances.'


[5] For 'néod-laðu' (1321) C. suggests 'néad-láðum,' and translates:
_asked whether the night had been pleasant to him after
crushing-hostility_.


INITIAL COMMENTARY:
This passage reveals some of the most extensive reworking of the ancient Germanic tradition by the Christian poet, as Cain is introduced and all manner of demons are said to descend from him.

Another curious statement is the remark that Beowulf was given separate sleeping quarters. While Heorot is supposedly a larger than normal hall, many commentators compare it to classic northern long-house style halls. Such dwellings usually only had one private sleeping compartment for the lord and his wife. Everyone else was expected to sleep in the main hall, out in the open (as the warriors clearly do when Grendel and his mother steal among them at night).

There is a set of illustrations of Viking Age halls at this Web site devoted to the saga of Hrolf Kraki:
http://www.viking.ucla.edu/hrolf/archaeology.html

There is a picture of the exterior of a reconstructed Viking Age hall here:
http://sites.scran.ac.uk/scottish_people/html/N1Q4scenario.html

You can click on the picture to bring up a larger image.

The great hall of Theoden, Meduseld, is also larger than a classic Viking Age hall.

The Vikings did build castles, but those structures were influenced by southern European design. The original "Beowulf" would have been set several centuries before the Viking Age. I have seen reconstructions of the kinds of villages and halls and longhouses that were built throughout northern Europe (what are now the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland) prior to the 6th century CE, but it's difficult to find good examples on the Web.

You can see some pictures of prehistoric Swedish villages here:
http://www.foteviken.se/vgate/pre_villages/byar_sverige/vitlycke_museum.htm


http://www.humledal.dk/ekehag.html

http://www.ekehagensforntidsby.r.se/

Ekehagen is actually a Bronze Age village in Sweden.


Here is an Iron Age Finnish trading post:
http://www.sommelo.hai.fi/en3rauta.htm

You can find a picture of a reconstructed Danish Iron Age village on the right side of this page:
http://scandinavian.wisc.edu/mellor/hca/glossary/denmark.html

Here is another Danish village (perhaps the same one):
http://mikaidt.dk/deb/03.html

You'll find a picture of an Iron Age Germanic farm reconstruction on the left side of this page (you can click on the picture to bring up a larger image):
http://www.livius.org/caa-can/caesar/caesar_t07.html

There are pictures of a Norwegian Iron Age farm here (you can click on two of the images to bring up larger pictures):
http://www.stavanger-web.com/touristinfo/jernalder.htm

Here are a couple of good pictures of an Iron Age farm in the Netherlands:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~kammdijk/en/ijzertijd.html

There are many pictures of Iron Age settlements and farms from around the United Kingdom, but those are Romano-British or Celtic structures. The houses tend to be round with overhanging thatched rooves. The Germans and their Scandinavian cousins built mostly rectangular and sometimes square buildings to live in.

A longhouse was typically divided into two or three sections. There tended to be a "front" door near one end, often on the long side. Animals would be kept on one side of the house and people lived in the other side of the house. The halls of the great chieftains were styled upon that plan. A wealthy chieftain's longhouse might be enclosed in a fenced compound (square or rectangular were common, but circular compounds have also been found). The compound would include worksheds, a smithy, an outside oven, and maybe a pen for animals.

The Vikings and Anglo-Saxons took this style of dwelling with them to Britain, and the keepers of the animals -- the Styg-weardans (Sty Wardens) became prominent and influential in those societies. The Sty Warden became the equivalent of the French Major Domo, and as the Anglo-Saxon-Viking halls were replaced by castles, the Sty Wardens became Stewards.

There is no Sty Warden in either "Beowulf" (that I can recall) or The Lord of the Rings. Hama, Theoden's door warden, held an equivalent function to a ceremonial Sty Warden, in that he decided who would enter the King's House.

In this translation of "Beowulf", Beowulf is greeted by a "proud-mooded hero" who is also called a "wederchief". This is Wulfgar, who is referred to as a herald by some commentators. The word "herald" is inappropriate, however, as heralds were originally army commanders (see http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE238.html for the etymology).

The etymology of "herald" may actually shed some light on Elrond's role in the War of the Last Alliance. As Tolkien often used modern words in their more ancient sense, Elrond may have been claiming to be Gil-galad's field commander when he said he was Gil-galad's herald.

Eventually, heralds were relegated to the role of being messengers and bearers of news between kings and great lords, and finally to recording and recognizing the various emblems used by knights and nobles on the battlefield and in formal ceremonies.