FIRST PRINTING
The Unknown Author of Beowulf
Around the year 1000, scribes set down a narrative poem about the Scandinavian hero Beowulf. In the alliterative, unrhymed, four-beat meter of Old English poetry, the epic depicts Beowulf’s encounters with the marauding monster Grendel and Grendel’s mother, and the hero’s final battle against a fearful dragon.
It is generally believed that the Beowulf manuscript was composed in Anglo-Saxon England using Old English, which was spoken from the early 400s to around 1100. The identity of the poet remains unknown, and what is surmised about the author is historical, genealogical, and linguistic conjecture. The poem was composed following the conversion of England to Christianity, and Beowulf’s author and the creators of the manuscript were undoubtedly Christian, but the poem is an amalgam of Christian and pagan values. Significantly, Beowulf is among the first vernacular poems in English literature.
Bound up with several other works, Beowulf lay dormant in an unknown monastery until 1563, when, after the dissolution of the English monasteries, it emerged into history just long enough for Lawrence Nowell, dean of Litchfield, to inscribe his name on its pages. The manuscript found its way into the library of Sir Robert Cotton (1571-1631), an antiquarian and member of Parliament whose manuscripts, including Beowulf, became part of the British Library. In 1731 a fire left the pages of the manuscript singed and powdery. Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin (1752-1829), an Icelandic linguist and archivist working at the University of Copenhagen, made the first transcriptions of the poem. Napoléon’s bombardment of the Danish capital in 1807 destroyed Thorkelin’s house and the manuscript, but the scholar published the first printed edition of Beowulf in 1815.
In the twentieth century, J. R. R. Tolkien (best known for his The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which is based on Beowulf) and other scholarly researchers firmly established the historical and literary importance of the epic. Whether approached as a work of great literature or a rousing tale, Beowulf continues to fascinate first-time readers and scholars alike.
The World of Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons
55 Julius Caesar begins leading military expeditions into
B.C.E. Britain.
43 C.E. Emperor Claudius launches a successful Roman invasion of Britain.
122 Romans build Hadrian’s Wall, defending the province from invasions by barbarians from the north.
410 Roman legions are withdrawn from Britain.
413 The City of God, by Saint Augustine of Hippo, begins to appear.
C.450 Germanic tribes—the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons—begin arriving in Britain and ward off invasions by the Picts and the Scots.
521 Hygelac, king of the Geats, whose story is told in Beowulf, is killed in a raid against the Frisians.
597 Pope Gregory sends Saint Augustine to England on a mission to convert Britain to Roman Christianity. Augustine lands at Ebbsfleet and converts King Ethelbert of Kent, the first Christian ruler in England. Augustine remains in England and establishes a holy see at Canterbury; he will be known as Saint Augustine of Canterbury.
627 Northumbrian King Edwin and his counselors accept Christianity. Bishop Paulinus of Kent baptizes the populace.
664 The Synod of Whitby endorses the supremacy of Roman Christianity over Celtic tradition.
731 Bede, the scholar and historian, completes his History of the English Church and Peoples.
757 Offa becomes king of Mercia. During his reign, which will end in 796, he consolidates power in Mercia. He builds Offa’s Dike, a massive fortification, to defend Britain against invasion from Wales.
814 Charlemagne, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, dies at Aachen.
866 Vikings (Scandinavian raiders), who have been launching attacks on Britain since the late eighth century, conquer York, and the city becomes the Scandinavian capital in England. Largely consisting of Danes, these Vikings are all simply called “Danes” in prominent English sources.
886 King Alfred the Great (871-899), who has prevented the Danes from overtaking Wessex, and thus all of England, captures London from Viking occupiers. The boundaries of the Danelaw, the “Danish” territories in Britain, are established.
C.892 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a history of the Anglo-Saxons, appears.
924 Athelstan, Alfred’s grandson, becomes king and will soon proclaim himself ruler of all of England.
C.1000 A manuscript containing the text of Beowulf is written. The work is bound together with four other pieces: The Life of Saint Christopher, The Wonders of the East, Alexander’s Letter to Aristotle, and Judith.
1016- 1042 Cnut (Canute) and his sons, Harold Harefoot and Harthacnut (Hardecanute), reign as Danish kings of England.
1042 The old Wessex line of Alfred the Great is restored as Edward the Confessor becomes king.
1066 On October 14 the Battle of Hastings ends with victory for William the Conqueror, the first Norman king of England, over forces led