Anglo-Saxon Swords In Medieval England

Swords were a huge part of life in Anglo-Saxon England. It had been argued that swords were used as a symbolism of heroism, legacy or bravery in Old English literature. In Beowulf, there are multiple swords introduced in the text, most of them containing names representing their importance of the events they had been involved in, in the poem. Swords represent a form of advanced technology around the tenth century.

Anglo-Saxon Pattern Welded Sword

There were multiple ways to manufacture a sword. SarahBrunning describes the most common technique discussed in Anglo-saxon literature, which is called pattern welding. It is a technique that consists of taking multiple iron rods and welding them together leaving ridges in the face of the sword of the finished product. Some swords were even inscribed with the name of their maker. Gold or silver swords were very rare to find because those materials were and older technique to create the product.

According to D.M. Hadley, Swords in Anglo-Saxon society emulated one’s masculinity. The story of Beowulf supports the symbolic claims of masculinity that the sword represents. Towards the end of the epic, during Beowulf’s encounter with Grendel’s mother, his sword named Hrunting that he had brought to the fight is no match for the monster. Beowulf then choses to abandon Hrunting and continues with another. The other swords easily defeats Grendel’s mother but that is because the second sword belonged to an ancient giant. The Giant’s masculinity represented through the sword as ‘magic’ is an explanation for why it was able to defeat Grendel’s mother when Hrunting could not.

Power and social standing in Anglo-Saxon societies is represented frequently through swords. Swords consistently change hand in history and in Beowulf. A swords value could come from its maker, design or history. Swords can be transferred between a lord and retainer, through inheritance and to burials. First and foremost, burials of swords were very rare especially later in Anglo-Saxon England due to maintaining the value that a sword holds. Power of kings in Beowulf is established through the gifting of weaponry to men in exchange for services. Swords were passed down as a sign of respect and duty to serve the king.

The Controversy Behind The Anglo-Saxon Harp and The Exeter Book Riddles

Oxford, Bodleian Librar, MS Junius 11, pg. 54

     The Exeter Book Riddles, translated by Kevin Crossley-Holland, allows for many interpretations for each riddle’s solution. More specifically, riddles  28, 31, 55, and 70 can all be solved with the Anglo-Saxon harp. The most common evidence discovered through research to prove the harp to be a substantial solution in these riddles is its popularity during the Anglo-Saxon era as well as its shape.

  Using the information from The Anglo-Saxon Harp written by Robert Boenig and Lewis Anderson’s The Anglo Saxon Scop, one can compare and contrast the harp’s creation and appearance to the riddles. A physical description of the Anglo-Saxon harp includes it being triangular, with four sound holes, and it has twelve strings (Boenig 295). The image above shows an illustration of the Anglo-Saxon harp being triangular in shape as well as having four holes. Anderson also describes the harp as having “a form approximating to that of a right-angled triangle” (Anderson, 37). Riddle 70 in the Exeter Book Riddles also describes the solution as having “pointed shoulders”. 

While Boenig and Anderson focus on the construction of the Anglo-Saxon harp, there are also references made in the riddles about the instruments sounds and purposes. Two Anglo Saxon Harps, written by CL Wrenn, connects how the harp was used and who played it to the riddles. Wrenn states that the harp tends to bring happiness to people even in their darkest moments. This would explain the illustration of the harp in Riddle 28. The riddle states that “a quickening delight lies in this treasure, lingers and lasts” as well as “after death, it begins to gab, to gossip recklessly”. 

  Riddle’s 55 and 31 are much more controversial then the previously talked about riddles. Some possible solutions to Riddle 55 include a sword rack, shield, and harp. The first line of the riddle states “I saw in the hall (where visitors were drinking) a wondrous tree”, it is also referred to as “a treasure in the hall” (Crossley-Holland, 58). During the Anglo-Saxon era, the music of harps filled the halls of banquets during feasts. It was common for people to take turns playing the instrument at events that took place in halls.

  On the hand Riddle 31 uses words like “bird-like” and “creature” add to the confusion. For both riddles the only string instruments of the Anglo-Saxon time period that could be a solution are either a harp, harp-lyre, cithara, or kithara. Evidence points to the solution being a harp because of its popularity. The riddle states “often and again she goes the rounds at gatherings of men, she sits at the feast and awaits her turn” (Crossley-Holland, 31). Harps were the most popular instruments to be passed around events during that time period. 

The History and Usage of Language in the Beowulf Manuscript

     Beowulf Codex

As the oldest known poem written in Old English, Beowulf, it had been originally thought the poem was written around 700-1100 years old. That has since been narrowed down between the years 927 and 931 (Thundy, 102). However, the identity of the poet has remained a mystery for scholars. Recent articles have uncovered that the original author might have left clues to their identity, and the deeper meaning, behind. More research claims that the characters and their names are tied to more significant themes and patterns that can be used to learn more about the individual who penned Beowulf (Harris, 414). By using using recent research on the history and meaning of Beowulf, this blog will examine the history, language, and significance of the poem.

To best understand the importance of Beowulf, people need to comprehend its full history. In Sisam’s article, The “Beowulf” Manuscript, the author say that “…certain facts had escaped notice or attention…they are worth while setting out, if only as an indication of the dangers that beset a historical study in which insufficient attention is paid to manuscript indications, often the clearest indications of time and place” (Sisam, 335). Sisam continues by explaining that the manuscript had originally been two codexes, and by comparing the handwriting from each half, he discovered that there were two authors. Information like this is crucial to learning more about Anglo-Saxon language, literature, and culture as a whole so that historical facts may be alined.  

One researcher, Zacharias Thundy, suggests that the manuscript had been written by a poet named Wulfgar, a member of King Athelstan’s retainer. He compares Beowulf to similar text where the author created a map with clues throughout the book, Thundy believes that the author of Beowulf had done the same (Thundy, 103). He broke the text into three major episodes and deduced that the foes Beowulf fights off –– Grendel, his mother, and the dragon; represent the Roman empire and the latter, British/Welsh powers that Germans battled, the author suggests the epic poem with allusions to these powers. Thundy believes the poem had originally been performed in a front of nobles and kings, he says that “the poem was not intended for the edification of monks but for the education of princes and nobles who fought and presided over the destinies of nations”. This demonstrates that Beowulf was not only politically charged, as Thundy suggests, but also that the author was educated and had access to leaders.

Language, especially names played a large role in the poem. Specifically, the article says “many characters are named appropriately to their context, indicating their role in the society or their function in the poem” (Harris, 415). Notably, the names in the poem are compounds, two names combined to create a new meaning (Heaney, 31). For example, Harris points out one of Grendel’s first victims, Hondsciõ (meaning ‘glove’) who was used to emphasis Beowulf’s own heroism. The first time Beowulf meets Grendel, the author goes into great detail about Grendel’s hands, “ The captain of evil discovered himself in a handgrip harder than anything he had ever encountered…Fingers were bursting the monster back-tracking, the man overpowering” (Heaney, lines 749- 760). It was in this scene that Hondsciõ was killed by Grendel but was later avenged by Beowulf (also a compound name meaning ‘bee wolf’ or ‘bear’). 

Centuries old, Beowulf has continued to enchant readers yet much of the original manuscript’s history remains a mystery; the author, location, and meaning can only be speculated. Recent research has found that there were in fact two main authors, and the manuscript had originally been two codexes who had put together presumably by Sir Robert Cotton. Almost as important as the history is actual language, the poet’s use of compounded names and allusions to both Rome and Germany set the poem apart since it was first published in the tenth century.