Beowulf: Historical Context and Cultural Significance
An Introduction to Beowulf
Localization of the Text
Beowulf, the oldest of the great long poems written in English, was probably composed more than twelve hundred years ago, in the first half of the eighth century. Its author may have been a native of what was then West Mercia, the West Midlands of England today. The text of the poem is preserved in a single manuscript, dated to the late tenth century, which originated in the south, in the kingdom of the West Saxons. In 1731, the manuscript was seriously damaged in the fire that destroyed the building in London which housed the collection of medieval English manuscripts made by Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (1571–1631). As a result of the fire and of subsequent deterioration of the manuscript, a number of lines and words have been lost from the poem. While the poem itself is English in language and origin, it deals not with native Englishmen, but with their Germanic forebears, especially with two south Scandinavian tribes, the Danes and the Geats, who lived on the Danish island of Zealand and in southern Sweden, respectively. Thus, the historical period it concerns is some two centuries before the poem was written. That is, it concerns a time following the initial invasion of England by Germanic tribes in 449, but before the Anglo-Saxon migration was completed. The audience may have considered itself to be of the same Geatish stock as the hero, Beowulf. The one datable fact of the history mentioned in the poem is a raid on the Franks made by Hygelac, the king of the Geats at the time Beowulf was a young man, and this raid occurred in the year 520. As it stands, Beowulf is not only unique as an example of the Old English epic but is also the greatest of the surviving epics composed by the Germanic peoples.
The Author and the Christian Tradition
It is generally agreed that the poet who put the old materials into their present form was a Christian, and that his poem reflects a Christian tradition: the conversion of the Germanic settlers in England had largely been completed during the century preceding the one in which the poet wrote. But there is little general agreement as to how clearly Beowulf reflects a Christian tradition or, conversely, the actual nature of the Christian tradition that it is held to reflect. Many specifically Christian references occur, especially to the Old Testament:
- God is said to be the Creator of all things and His will seems recognized as being identical with Fate.
- Grendel is described as a descendant of Cain.
- The sword that Beowulf finds in Grendel’s mother’s lair has engraved on it the story of the race of giants and their destruction by the flood.
- The dead await God’s judgment.
Yet there is no reference to the New Testament—to Christ and His Sacrifice which are the real bases of Christianity. Additionally, the poet also invokes values that seem to belong to an ancient, pagan, warrior society of the kind described by the Roman historian Tacitus at the end of the first century in his Germania.
One must, indeed, draw the conclusion from the poem itself that while Christian is a correct term for the religion of the poet and of his audience, it was a Christianity that had not yet by any means succeeded in obliterating an older pagan tradition, which still called forth powerful responses from men’s hearts.
The Warrior Society
In the warrior society, the most important of human relationships was that which existed between the warrior—the thane—and his lord, a relationship based less on subordination of one man’s will to another’s than on mutual trust and respect. When a warrior vowed loyalty to his lord, he became not so much his servant as his voluntary companion, one who would take pride in defending him and fighting in his wars. In return, the lord was expected to take affectionate care of his thanes and to reward them richly for their valor. A good king, one like Hrothgar or Beowulf, is referred to by such poetic epithets as “protector of warriors” and “dispenser of treasure” or “ring-giver”. The relationship between kinsmen was also of deep significance to this society and provides another emotional value for Old English heroic poetry.