historical analogues for the literary figure of beowulf

8/10/2019 Historical Analogues for the Literary Figure of Beowulf

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Mark WebsterPID: 720007280

Beo-vad?An Exploration of Beowulfs Historical Analogues

The medieval epicBeowulf is lugged about in high school and college backpacks the world around.

The classic story of the Geat King and his struggles with the demon Grendel have been preserved since

approximately A.D. 800-1000, yet surprisingly little is known about either the poems author(s) or the historic

analogue of its titular character. Who inspired the legend of the Geat with the strength of thirty men? Was his

legend constructed around a real historical figure? These are vital questions, yet difficult to answer.

WhileBeowulfs author is hidden in antiquity, there are several figuresthat may be the basis for the

Swedish hero. There are countless instances in folklore and legends across Western Europe. Three candidates

that are omnipresent are Bdvar Bjarki, present in the Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, an Icelandic tale; a legendary

Icelandic bandit named Grettir smundarson; and a Mercian king named Beornwulf. Of the three, this essay

posits that Bdvar is the most likely candidate to have inspired Beowulf, but the similarities and differences for

each figure to the literary Beowulf will be explored with an aim to provide a summarized view of the evidence

and weaknesses for each. In the conclusion, there will also be a brief exploration of the effect of the oral

tradition on our dating and understanding ofBeowulf and its analogues.

Beornwulf

The 8thcentury king of Mercia, Beornwulf, was originally posited to be the model for Beowulfs

character; however, aside from the apparent similarities in the spellings of their name, not much else links the

two, except for one key character: Wiglaf.

Making his first appearance in line 2599 ofBeowulf, Wiglaf assists Beowulf in slaying the dragon,

and becomes the King of the Geats after the latter dies during his final heroism. The historic Beornwulf dies

while attempting to put down a Saxon-supported East Anglian revolt in his rapidly-disintegrating Mercian

empire in A.D. 826. Wiglaf of Mercia only becomes king after Beornwulfs first successor, Ludeca of Mercia,

is also slain the by Anglian rebels. He ruled until approximately A.D. 839.


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Aside from corresponding names, historians have managed to find no evidence in known literature of

Beornwulf as Beowulf. It is simply a historic coincidence.

Grettir smundarson

Grettir receives his literary immortality in the Grettis saga, an Icelandic work dating from the 13th

and

14thcenturies1. Grettir is at times a hero and an anti-hero; he can be lazy as well as violent. He is

characterized as being of few words, and rough; worrying both in word and deed (Morris 13), as well as

physically impressive, having massive strength and infallible courage. Similarities toBeowulfinclude several

instances of slaying monsters: in Chapter 65, Grettir fights and defeats a troll-wife who enters into the hall

where he sleeps as a guest, lopping her arm off as she falls into the river; in the next chapter, he dives into the

river and under a waterfall to explore the troll-wifes old lair. Finding a sleeping giant, he slays it and claims

its treasure.

A key event occurs in Chapter 35: Grettir, hearing that a draugr (undead being) is terrorizing

Thorhall-stead, travels to investigate. This particular draugr was once a shepherd named Glam; Grettir finds

him not the sheep-tender of yore. On the third night of his vigil, Grettir wrestles bare-handedly and mortally

wounds Glam, but not before the draugrplaces a curse on the Icelander. Afterward, he eventually is exiled for

twenty years after accidentally burning down a hall and killing a chieftains son.

In Grettir we definitely have a hero who is similar toBeowulfs title character. Yet, these similarities

are scant, and do not add up to conclusive evidence that the figure of Grettir is the origin of Beowulf. As

Magnus Fjalldall explains in his book, The Long Arm of Coincidence, there are over a dozen equivalencies

between the Grettis andBeowulf stories; however, only a few of themsuch as Grettirs fight in the mead-hall

and his underwater adventurepertain to Beowulf at all. Fjalldalls ultimate conclusion is that both works

were being orated around the same time period, drawing on a common pool of poetic and fairy tale motifs

utilizing the theory of oral-formulaic compositiona concept to be discussed in greater detail laterlong

before they were written down.

Brvad Bjarki

1For the full Grettis saga text, see Morris & Magnusson 1869


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The character of Bdvar Bjarki is introduced to us in The Icelandic Sagas, particularly the Saga of

Hrolf Kraki. Hrolf's Sagawas commited to parchment in Iceland sometime in the 14thcentury, and recounts

the adventures of Hrolf (analogous to Hroulf or Hrothulf inBeowulf)and his twelve champions in the mid-5th

century kingdom of the Skjldungs in Denmark, discussed in class as Scyldings. The genealogy of Hrolf

described in the Saga lines up almost perfectly with the genealogy laid down inBeowulf.

Bdvar Bjarki is the son of Bjorn, described in the The Saga of Gisli the Outlaw as a bearsark, also

known as berserker. The berserkers were considered unstoppable warriors who fought in a type of trance or

fury, and drew their name from the fact that they would wear coats of bear fur into battle.

Bdvar parallels Beowulf on many levels. There is of course the bear aspect of their names and

stories. Henry Sweet posited in 1884 that the literal Old English translation of bee-wolffor Beowulf is a

kenning meaning bear. Freidrich Panzer, a German literary professor, placed both the tale of Bdvar and

Beowulf into a folklore category known as the Bear's Son Tales. Traditionally, this folklore subset is

characterized by a hero who claims ancestry from bears, and who must defeat a monster of some type. 2

Bdvar is the brother of Thorir, the King of Geatland, called GtalandinHrolfs Saga, while Beowulf is the

nephew of the Geatish king Hygelac.

It isboth characters arrivals in the kingdom of the Skjldungs in Denmark which marks the

beginnings of important similarities between the two. Bdvar arrives at Hleidargard, the seat of the Scylding

kingdom as well as the home of the famed mead hall of Heorot, though it is not mentioned specifically as

such3. Unlike Beowulf, he arrives alone, traveling from visiting Thorir in Geat. After slaying the retainer of

King Hrolf by throwing a large bone, he joins the kings champions, an elite group of berserkers who form the

core of the Danish kings army. Finding a companion in the young Hjalti, the two men slay a troll-like

creature which pillages Hrolfs cattle and men. Beowulf arrives specifically because he has heard of Grendels

killings; Grendel is much more a refined and detailed monster than the troll Brvad fights, attacking the mead-

hall specifically rather than snatching cattle or harassing the village. Bringing with him an entourage of

warriors, he slays Grendel and his mother, and returns to his king with a wealth of treasures and fame.

2For further information see Stitt 1992, as well as Kinnes 2011.3Recent archaeological excavations in modern Denmark place Hleidargard as the village of Lejre on the smallisland of Sjlland. Several Viking halls have been uncovered in the area. For further information, see Byock 2009.


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Aside from their similar Danish adventures, Bdvar and Beowulf share a few common occurrences

afterward, particularly the historical

Shortly after Beowulfsreturn to Geatland, Ohthere and Onelasons of the Swedish king

Ongentheowinvade. King Hygelac is slain; his successor, Haethcyn, leads a retributive invasion into

Sweden, where he himself is killed, along with Ongentheow.

Ohthere and Onela disagree about who should rule, and Onela usurps the Swedish throne. Ohtheres

two sons Eanmund and Eadgils are driven into exile and seek refuge with Haethcyns successor and Hygelacs

son, Heardred. Upon hearing the Geats are giving quarter to the two Swedes, Onela attacks Geatland;

Eanmund and Heardred are slain and Beowulf is made king. He consequently provides Eadgils with the

weapons and men necessary to overthrow Onela, and the young Swede returns home and slays the usurper in a

final battle.

Brvad has a different, but fundamentally similar, version of this tale. As related in Section XLIII of

the Skldskaparml4, as one of the twelve berserker champions of Hrolf, he is sent by his lord to aid the

Swedish king Ails (analogous to Eagils) in his struggles against the Norwegian king li. Brvad and his

fellow champions defeat li at what is known as the Battle of the Ice at Lake Vnern in southern Sweden

without any Geatish support.

While the two versions of the battles differ in somewhat in plot and names, the Battle of the Ice is

actually a recorded historical event believed to have occurred around A.D. 530. The similar chronology in

Skldskaparml andBeowulfstrongly infer that they speaking of the same event.

It is clear when you compareHrolfs Saga toBeowulf that there are strong parallels between Bdvar

and Beowulf. Yet, the Skldskaparml was written around A.D. 1220; the Saga of King Hrolf Kraki around

A.D. 1400;Beowulf, at least the earliest surviving manuscript we have, was written down sometime between

A.D. 800-1100. Therefore, could the literaryBeowulf in fact be the inspiration for the historical fiction of

Hrolfs Saga and many of the other Icelandic tales, instead of the reverse? The answer is complicated.

The difficulties lie in trying to flesh out the transition from oral tradition to written texts. Based on the

connections between the various texts we have, there is a strong possibility that many of the stories existed

4See Brodeur 1916 for further details.


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simultaneously as oral poems. Passed down through word-of-mouth, traditional long poems were far too

lengthy to commit to memory. Analysis of folklore has revealed common motifs throughout works spread

across the globe, e.g.the aforementioned Bears Son Tale. The theory of oral-formulaic composition

explains how these themes and plots serve as fill-in-the-blanks, allowing orators to use formulas5

with their

own variety thrown in. Each story could be different based on the poets audience or occasion. Certain basic

popular storylines and plot devices were used like Legos, interchanging one construction out for another

depending on the on the poets audience or occasion.

Ultimately, we have no clear answers. While we can mark Beornwulf off our list with certainty,

Bdvar Bjarki is unmistakably tied toBeowulf. However, due to our lack of knowledge about the stories

previous to their transmissions into permanent writing, we cannot say for certain that either existed first.

However, given the in-depth historic nature of theIcelander Sagas written forms, it is entirely plausible then

that the Anglo-Saxon author ofBeowulf was influenced by overheard oral versions of Bdvar, Hrolf, and

Hjaltis stories, utilizing the basic formulas to create a new story for a different audience. Given the fact that

Beowulfin print first appears shortly after the A.D. 800s when the Norsemen (Norway, Denmark, et al)were

engaging in Viking raids, especially against Anglo-Saxon Britain, it is conceivable for the Norwegian hero

Bdvar to transform into the Geat hero Beowulf to make the story more acceptable to Anglo-Saxon audiences.

This, however, is simply a moment of final daydreaming conjecture. The motives ofBeowulfs author, as well

as his inspirations, are lost to us. Only through continued research of primary texts and literary history can we

hope to crack the code of a long-dead Anglo-Saxon.

5A formula is a group of words which is regularly employed under the same metrical conditions to express a givenessential idea in oral-formulaic theory.


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Work Cited/Referenced

Blaney, Benjamin (1972). The Berserker: His Origin and Development in Old Norse Literature. Ph.D. Diss.University of Colorado. p. 20. 12 Oct 2013.

Brodeur, Arthur G. "SKLDSKAPARML, Translated from the Original Sturluson Text." The Poesy of the

Skalds. N.p., 1916. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.

Byock, Jesse. "Archaeology and the Legendary Hleirdergard."Excerpts from The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki.UCLA, 2009. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. .

Fulk, R. D.Interpretations of Beowulf: A Critical Anthology. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1991. Print.

Greenblatt, Stephen. "Beowulf." The Norton Anthology of English Literature.9th ed. Vol. A. New York:W.W. Norton, 2012. 36-108. Print. The Middle Ages.

Kinnes, Tormod, Ph.D. "AT Types of Folktales." - The Gold Scales. N.p., 2011. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

.

Morris, William, and Eirikr Magnusson. "The Saga of Gisli the Outlaw." Sagas of the Icelanders DB. IcelandicSaga Database, 1869. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. .

Parry, Milman "Studies in the Epic Technique of Oral Verse-Making: I: Homer and Homeric Style." HarvardStudies in Classical Philology.41:80 (1930).

Staver, Ruth J.A Companion to Beowulf. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2005. Print.

Stitt, J. Michael (1992).Beowulf and the bear's son: epic, saga, and fairytale in northern Germanictradition.Garland Publishing. Print. 12 Oct 2013.

Turville-Petre, Joan.Beowulf and Grettis Saga: An Excursion. Saga-book 19 01 Jan 1977: 347-357. VikingSociety. Print. 14 Oct 2013.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garland_Publishinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garland_Publishinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garland_Publishinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garland_Publishing

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