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:This article describes Beowulf, the epic poem. For the person Beowulf, see Beowulf (hero)- For other uses, see Beowulf (disambiguation).
Beowulf is a traditional heroic epic poem in Old English alliterative verse. At 3182 lines, it is far more substantial than any similar work in the language, representing about 10% of the extant corpus of Anglo-Saxon verse. The poem is untitled in the manuscript, but has been known as Beowulf since the early 19th century.
1 Background and origins
Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic poem in what is identifiable as a form of the English language. (The oldest surviving text in English is Caedmon's hymn of creation.) The precise date of the manuscript is debated, but most estimates place it close to AD 1000. The original composition of the poem, however, is under more debate. Some archaic forms of words that appear in the text suggest that the poem comes from the 8th century, probably the earlier half. The poem appears in what is today called the Beowulf manuscript, along with the shorter poem Judith. The text is the product of two different scribes, the second taking over roughly halfway through Beowulf.
The poem is a work of fiction, but it mentions in passing some people and events that were probably real, probably dating from between AD 450 to 600 in DenmarkKongeriget Danmark ( In Detail) Motto of the Queen: Guds hjaelp, Folkets kaerlighed, Danmarks styrke (English: God's help, the love of the people, Denmark's strength) Official language Danish Capital Copenhagen Kobenhavn Monarch Margrethe II Prime Ministe and southern SwedenThe Kingdom of Sweden Konungariket Sverige in Swedish) is a Nordic country in Scandinavia, in Northern Europe. It is bordered by Norway on the west, Finland on the northeast, the Skagerrak and the Kattegat on the southwest, and the Baltic Sea and the Gulf ( GeatsGeats Gautar Old Norse or Gotar in Swedish) is the Old English spelling of the name of a Scandinavian people living in Gotaland, land of the Geats, currently within the borders of modern Sweden. The name of the Geats lives on in the Swedish counties of Va and SwedesThe Swedes are a people of Germanic origin, having their primarily geographical location on the eastern side of the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Identification, or the identity, as Swedes are today resting on a variety of factors, where Swed). It is a useful source for information not only about Anglo-Saxon traditions such as the fight at Finnsburg, but also about Scandinavian personalities, such as EadgilsEadgils ( Beowulf), Adils the Great or Athisl ( Saxo Grammaticus) (all forms are based an older Adgils the Anglo-Saxon form is not etymologically identical but it was the only corresponding name used by the Anglo-Saxons) was a Swedish king of the house of and HygelacHygelac (Old Norse Hugleikr (d. 516) is the king of the Geats in the first part of Beowulf''. He is the son of Hrethel and has the brothers Herebeald and Haethcyn. His sister is married to Ecgtheow and has the son Beowulf. The hero Beowulf is consequently, and about continental Germanic personalities such as Offa , king of the continental AnglesAngles (German: Angeln Old English: Englas Latin: noun Anguls verb Anglii were a Germanic people, from Schleswig an area which was wholly the southern part of Denmark and protected from German conquest by the Danevirke until the 19th century to East Angli. Many have pointed out that Beowulf relates similar events and personalities as the Hrólf Kraki tales (see Origins for Beowulf and Hrólf Kraki). The hero's name Beowulf means bee-wolf, a kenning for "bear" (due to their love of honey). Consequently, it has often been suggested that the name Beowulf was a kenning for Bödvar Bjarki (Battle Bear) who somewhat corresponds to Beowulf in Scandinavian sources.
The story came to England at a time when the Germanic peoples were still part of the same cultural sphere and spoke what really were just dialects of the same language. However, the arrival of this legend to England surprises modern Englishmen, who today are more isolated from the rest of the Germanic world.
The language of this version is called Late West Saxon, a dialect of Old English but the poem shows strong hints of being originally composed in an Anglian dialect, quite possibly Mercian . Old English is the ancestor language of modern English, but the language has changed so much over the years that most modern English speakers would not immediately recognise it as their own language.
It is known only from a single manuscript, kept in the British Library. The earliest known owner is the 16th century scholar Lawrence Nowell. The Beowulf manuscript became better known as Cotton Vitellius A.XV, enumerated in the catalog of Robert Bruce Cotton's holdings in the middle of the 17th century. The Cotton library was donated to the nation in the end of the 17th century. The manuscript suffered some irreversible damage in a fire when it was being held at the ominously-named Ashburnham House in 1731.
Icelandic scholar Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin made the first transcription of the manuscript in 1818, working under a historical research commission by the Danish government. Since that time, the manuscript has suffered additional decay, and the Thorkelin transcripts remain a prized secondary source for Beowulf scholars.
