The Beowulf Discussion: Section XXVIII

[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

XXVIII.


THE HOMEWARD JOURNEY.--THE TWO QUEENS.

Then the band of very valiant retainers
Came to the current; they were clad all in armor,

{The coast-guard again.}

In link-woven burnies. The land-warder noticed
The return of the earlmen, as he erstwhile had seen them;
5 Nowise with insult he greeted the strangers
From the naze of the cliff, but rode on to meet them;
Said the bright-armored visitors[1] vesselward traveled
[65] Welcome to Weders. The wide-bosomed craft then
Lay on the sand, laden with armor,
10 With horses and jewels, the ring-stemmèd sailer:
The mast uptowered o'er the treasure of Hrothgar.

{Beowulf gives the guard a handsome sword.}

To the boat-ward a gold-bound brand he presented,
That he was afterwards honored on the ale-bench more highly
As the heirloom's owner. [2]Set he out on his vessel,
15 To drive on the deep, Dane-country left he.
Along by the mast then a sea-garment fluttered,
A rope-fastened sail. The sea-boat resounded,
The wind o'er the waters the wave-floater nowise
Kept from its journey; the sea-goer traveled,
20 The foamy-necked floated forth o'er the currents,
The well-fashioned vessel o'er the ways of the ocean,

{The Geats see their own land again.}

Till they came within sight of the cliffs of the Geatmen,
The well-known headlands. The wave-goer hastened
Driven by breezes, stood on the shore.

{The port-warden is anxiously looking for them.}

25 Prompt at the ocean, the port-ward was ready,
Who long in the past outlooked in the distance,[3]
At water's-edge waiting well-lovèd heroes;
He bound to the bank then the broad-bosomed vessel
Fast in its fetters, lest the force of the waters
30 Should be able to injure the ocean-wood winsome.
Bade he up then take the treasure of princes,
Plate-gold and fretwork; not far was it thence
To go off in search of the giver of jewels:
[66] Hrethel's son Higelac at home there remaineth,[4]
35 Himself with his comrades close to the sea-coast.
The building was splendid, the king heroic,
Great in his hall, Hygd very young was,

{Hygd, the noble queen of Higelac, lavish of gifts.}

Fine-mooded, clever, though few were the winters
That the daughter of Hæreth had dwelt in the borough;
40 But she nowise was cringing nor niggard of presents,
Of ornaments rare, to the race of the Geatmen.

{Offa's consort, Thrytho, is contrasted with Hygd.}

Thrytho nursed anger, excellent[5] folk-queen,
Hot-burning hatred: no hero whatever
'Mong household companions, her husband excepted

{She is a terror to all save her husband.}

45 Dared to adventure to look at the woman
With eyes in the daytime;[6] but he knew that death-chains
Hand-wreathed were wrought him: early thereafter,
When the hand-strife was over, edges were ready,
That fierce-raging sword-point had to force a decision,
50 Murder-bale show. Such no womanly custom
For a lady to practise, though lovely her person,
That a weaver-of-peace, on pretence of anger
A belovèd liegeman of life should deprive.
Soothly this hindered Heming's kinsman;
55 Other ale-drinking earlmen asserted
That fearful folk-sorrows fewer she wrought them,
Treacherous doings, since first she was given
Adorned with gold to the war-hero youthful,
For her origin honored, when Offa's great palace
60 O'er the fallow flood by her father's instructions
She sought on her journey, where she afterwards fully,
Famed for her virtue, her fate on the king's-seat
[67] Enjoyed in her lifetime, love did she hold with
The ruler of heroes, the best, it is told me,
65 Of all of the earthmen that oceans encompass,
Of earl-kindreds endless; hence Offa was famous
Far and widely, by gifts and by battles,
Spear-valiant hero; the home of his fathers
He governed with wisdom, whence Eomær did issue
70 For help unto heroes, Heming's kinsman,
Grandson of Garmund, great in encounters.

[1] For 'scawan' (1896), 'scaðan' has been proposed. Accepting this,
we may render: _He said the bright-armored warriors were going to
their vessel, welcome, etc_. (Cf. 1804.)

[2] R. suggests, 'Gewát him on naca,' and renders: _The vessel set
out, to drive on the sea, the Dane-country left_. 'On' bears the
alliteration; cf. 'on hafu' (2524). This has some advantages over the
H.-So. reading; viz. (1) It adds nothing to the text; (2) it makes
'naca' the subject, and thus brings the passage into keeping with the
context, where the poet has exhausted his vocabulary in detailing the
actions of the vessel.--B.'s emendation (cf. P. and B. XII. 97) is
violent.

[3] B. translates: _Who for a long time, ready at the coast, had
looked out into the distance eagerly for the dear men_. This changes
the syntax of 'léofra manna.'

[4] For 'wunað' (v. 1924) several eminent critics suggest 'wunade'
(=remained). This makes the passage much clearer.

[5] Why should such a woman be described as an 'excellent' queen? C.
suggests 'frécnu' = dangerous, bold.

[6] For 'an dæges' various readings have been offered. If 'and-éges'
be accepted, the sentence will read: _No hero ... dared look upon her,
eye to eye_. If 'án-dæges' be adopted, translate: _Dared look upon her
the whole day_.

INITIAL COMMENTARY:

In my comments for Section I, I wrote:

"Another tradition, not preserved in poetry (so far as I know) is the legend of Offa of Angel, ancestor of the King Offa of Mercia who built the famous dyke between England and Wales. Offa of Angel was a great warrior who supposedly slew a dragon and saved his aged father (Wearmund). This earlier Offa is mentioned in the poem 'Widsith' and he is believed to have lived in Denmark in the 4th or 5th century. He is also mentioned in 'Beowulf'."

So, here we have the reference to King Offa, whose wife wasn't very popular.

Angel is also spelled Angeln in some sources. I'm not sure of where the differentiation in spelling came from. Actually, I have no idea. Angel(n) was a region in Denmark where the Angles lived, and from which they migrated over the North Sea to Angle-land (England). The Angles settled mostly in the eastern lands of the island, but their hereditary royal family ended up in Mercia (which means "the mark" or "border-land"). Some early to mid-20th century archaeologists speculated that the kings of the Angles were among the last of their people to leave Denmark for Angle-land, basing that belief on evidence citing a final migration from somewhere around the mid-6th century.

There is a rough, very rough, correlation in Tolkien's fictional history of the Rohirrim with this migration of the Angles. That is, the ancestors of the Rohirrim are first encountered in the far eastern region called the Kingdom of Rhovanion (which lay on the east side of Greenwood the Great/Mirkwood). When the kingdom was destroyed by the Wainriders, some of their soldiers (the cavalry) survived and fled west. They became the Eotheod (the Horse-folk) and mingled with other Northman living in the Vales of Anduin. After many centuries, Eorl led the Eotheod south to Calenardhon where they established the Mark of the Riders and he became their first king there.

Of course, Tolkien's Rohirric history also borrows a great deal from actual Gothic history. The Goths became divided into two major groups, the East-goths (Ostrogoths) and West-goths (Visigoths). Their most famous king was Alaric, who led a Gothic rebellion while in the service of the Roman empire. Alaric actually laid siege to Rome itself. His goal was to find a homeland for his people, but he ultimately failed.

The Ostrogoths were conquered by the Huns and forced to ride with them against Rome. In one of J.R.R.T.'s letters, he comments on his son Christopher's philological presentation in which Christopher argues that "Attila" is actually probably a Gothic word meaning "Little Father". Attila, as a Hun, would have stood shorter than the tall Gothic warriors who served him. They may have borne him great affection, certainly great respect, in conferring such a title upon him.

The Visigoths were allowed to settle in southwestern France, but when the Franks invaded the empire they fought with the Visigoths and drove them south over the Pyrenese Mountains into what are now Spain and Portugal. The Visigothic kingdom lasted until 711 CE, when it was conquered by the Islamic Moors.

The Ostrogoths, after the breakup of the Hun empire, were granted sanctuary inside the empire and they eventually were sent to reconquer Italy by the eastern Roman emperor. Italy at that time had been held by Odovacar (Odoacer), who had deposed Romulus Augustus, the last western emperor, supposedly on orders from the eastern emperor. Odovacar was (I believe) a king of the Sciri or Heruli who led those two tribes and the Rugii (these were all minor German tribes) into Italy as mercenaries. He advised the emperor Zeno there was no need to appoint a new western emperor.

Roman institutions survived under both Odovacar and the Ostrogoths (whose king Theodoric was considered the greatest Germanic ruler of his day, greater even than Clovis of the Franks). The Ostrogoths were eventually defeated and conquered by Belisarius in the mid-6th century. The eastern emperor Justinian had sent Belisarius to reconquer the western empire, but Belisarius fell out of favor with Justinian and was recalled before the reconquest was completed.

The wanderings of the Eotheod thus resemble somewhat the wanderings of the Goths. And Tolkien also employed Gothic names for the early leaders of the Eotheod (as well as for Vidugavia/Widugauja, the earliest King of Rhovanion and grandfather of Eldacar of Gondor). The horse-riding Rohirrim are portrayed much the same way as Gothic cavalry were described by Roman writers. But the Rohirrim's language is represented by Old English (Anglo-Saxon) and Tom Shippey makes some very interesting comparisons between Tolkien's fictional toponymy and actual Old English toponymy.

Another interesting name that is found in this section is that of Haereth. Tolkien's "amazon" leader of the First Age was Hareth, who led the surviving members of her people (the Second House of the Edain) to establish a new home in the forest of Brethil.

I believe one of the Rohirrim also bore that name.

And, finally, we come to the name Eomer -- here a son of Offa of Angel, and therefore himself an Angle. Some experts estimate that Waermund would have lived around the middle of the 4th century.

ADDENDUM FROM A FOLLOW UP POST I MADE:

At 11:06 PM 4/4/2006, you wrote:

> To the boat-ward a gold-bound brand he presented,
> That he was afterwards honored on the ale-bench more highly
> As the heirloom's owner. [2]Set he out on his vessel,
> 15 To drive on the deep, Dane-country left he.
> Along by the mast then a sea-garment fluttered,
> A rope-fastened sail. The sea-boat resounded,
> The wind o'er the waters the wave-floater nowise
> Kept from its journey; the sea-goer traveled,
> 20 The foamy-necked floated forth o'er the currents,
> The well-fashioned vessel o'er the ways of the ocean,

I meant to comment on the sail but forgot to (I got sidetracked). I don't believe this is a historically accurate reference to sails. If I recall correctly, the craft of the northern sea didn't use sails until somewhat later. However, it may be that they were using leather sails until a later time. I'll have to try to find time to look this up.


NOTE: I never actually found the time to check on the leather sails.