[424] Heimskringla, chap. 220.

[425] It has been suggested that the phrase "Hengest himself" indicates that Hengest is the "war-young king." But surely the expression merely marks Hengest out as a person of special interest. If we must assume that he is one of the people who have been speaking, then it would be just as natural to identify him with the watcher who has warned the king, as with the king himself. The difficulties which prevent us from identifying Hengest with the king are explained below.

[426] Garulf must be an assailant, since he falls at the beginning of the struggle, whilst we are told that for five days none of the defenders fell.

[427] Very possibly Guthere is uncle of Garulf. For Garulf is said to be son of Guthlaf (l. 35) and a Guthere would be likely to be a brother of a Guthlaf. Further, as Klaeber points out (Engl. Stud. XXXIX, 307) it is the part of the uncle to protect and advise the nephew.

[428] Koegel, Geschichte d. deut. Litt. I, i, 165.

[429] Klaeber (Engl. Stud. XXXIX, 308) reminds us that, as there are two warriors named Godric in the Battle of Maldon (l. 325), so there may be two warriors named Guthlaf here. But to this it might possibly be replied that "Godric" was, in England, an exceedingly common name, "Guthlaf" an exceedingly rare one.

[430] Finn is called the bana, "slayer" of Hnæf. But this does not necessarily mean that he slew him with his own hand; it would be enough if he were in command of the assailants at the time when Hnæf was slain. Cf. Beowulf, l. 1968.

[431] The idea that Finn's Frisians are the "North Frisians" of Schleswig has been supported by Grein (Eberts Jahrbuch, IV, 270) and, following him, by many scholars, including recently Sedgefield (Beowulf, p. 258). The difficulties of this view are very many: one only need be emphasized. We first hear of these North Frisians of Schleswig in the 12th century, and Saxo Grammaticus tells us expressly that they were a colony from the greater Frisia (Book XIV, ed. Holder, p. 465). At what date this colony was founded we do not know. The latter part of the 9th century has been suggested by Langhans: so has the end of the 11th century by Lauridsen. However this may be, all the evidence precludes our supposing this North Friesland, or, as Saxo calls it, Fresia Minor, to have existed at the date to which we must attribute the origin of the Finn story. On this point the following should be consulted: Langhans (V.), Ueber den Ursprung der Nordfriesen, Wien, 1879 (most valuable on account of its citation of documents: the latter part of the book, which consists of an attempt to rewrite the Finn story by dismissing as corrupt or spurious many of the data, must not blind us to the value of the earlier portions): Lauridsen, Om Nordfrisernes Indvandring i Sønderjylland, Historisk Tidsskrift, 6 R, 4 B. II, 318-67, Kjøbenhavn, 1893: Siebs, Zur Geschichte der Englisch-Friesischen Sprache, 1889, 23-6: Chadwick, Origin, 94: Much in Hoops Reallexikon, s.v. Friesen; and Bremer in Pauls Grdr. (2), III, 848, where references will be found to earlier essays on the subject.

[432] The theory that Hnæf is a captain of Healfdene is based upon a rendering of l. 1064 which is in all probability wrong.

[433] The view that the Eotenas are the men of Hnæf and Hengest has been held by Thorpe (Beowulf, pp. 76-7), Ettmüller (Beowulf, 1840, p. 108), Bouterwek (Germania, I, 389), Holtzmann (Germania, VIII, 492), Möller (Volksepos, 94-5), Chadwick (Origin, 53), Clarke (Sidelights, 184).

[434] "And therefore, said the King ... much more I am sorrier for my good knights' loss, than for the loss of my fair queen. For queens I might have enow: but such a fellowship of good knights shall never be together in no company." Malory, Morte Darthur, Bk. XX, chap. ix.

[435] The argument of Bugge (P.B.B. XII, 37) that the Eotens here (l. 1088) must be the Frisians, is inconclusive: but so is Miss Clarke's argument that they must be Danes (Sidelights, 181), as is shown by Lawrence (Pub. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. XXX, 395).

[436] I say "son" in what follows, without prejudice to the possibility of more than one son having fallen. It in no wise affects the argument.

[437] For example, it might well be said of Achilles, whilst thirsting for vengeance upon the Trojans for the death of Patroclus, that "he could not get the children of the Trojans out of his mind." But surely it would be unintelligible to say that "he could not get the child of the Achaeans out of his mind," meaning Patroclus, for "child of the Achaeans" is not sufficiently distinctive to denote Patroclus. Cf. Boer in Z.f.d.A. XLVII, 134.

[438] In the Skjoldunga Saga [extant in a Latin abstract by Arngrim Jonsson, ed. Olrik, 1894], cap. IV, mention is made of a king of Denmark named Leifus who had six sons, three of whom are named Hunleifus, Oddleifus and Gunnleifus—corresponding exactly to O.E. Hūnlāf, Ordlāf and Gūðlāf. That Hunlaf was well known in English story is proved by a remarkable passage unearthed by Dr Imelmann from MS Cotton Vesp. D. IV (fol. 139 b) where Hunlaf is mentioned together with a number of other heroes of Old English story—Wugda, Hama, Hrothulf, Hengest, Horsa (Hoc testantur gesta rudolphi et hunlapi, Unwini et Widie, horsi et hengisti, Waltef et hame). See Chadwick, Origin, 52: R. Huchon, Revue Germanique, III, 626: Imelmann, in D.L.Z. XXX, 999: April, 1909. This disposes of the translation "Hun thrust or placed in his bosom Lafing, best of swords," which was adopted by Bugge (P.B.B. XII, 33), Holder, ten Brink and Gering. Hun is mentioned in Widsith (l. 33) and in the Icelandic Thulor.

That Guthlaf, Ordlaf and Hunlaf must be connected together had been noted by Boer (Z.f.d.A. XLVII, 139) before this discovery of Chadwick's confirmed him.

[439] The fragment which tells of the fighting in the hall is so imperfect that there is nothing impossible in the assumption, though it is too hazardous to make it.

[440] Cf. Beowulf, ll. 1900 etc.

[441] Das Altenglische Volksepos, 46-99.

[442] C. P. Hansen, Uald' Söld'ring tialen, Møgeltønder, 1858. See Möller, Volksepos, 75 etc.

[443] See Müllenhoff in A.f.d.A. VI, 86.

[444] So Möller, Volksepos, 152.

[445] See Beowulf, ed. Wyatt, 1894, p. 145.

[446] Volksepos, 71 etc.

[447] e.g., Sedgefield, Beowulf, 2nd ed., p. 258. So 1st ed., p. 13 (Hoc being an obvious misprint).

[448] On the poet's use of plural for singular here, see Osthoff, I.F. XX, 202-7.

[449] I have thought it necessary to give fully the reasons why Möller's view cannot be accepted, because in whole or in part it is still widely followed in England. Chadwick (Origin, 53) still interprets "Eotens" as "Danes"; and Sedgefield (Beowulf (2), p. 258) gives Möller's view the place of honour.

[450] The treachery of Finn is emphasized, for example, by Bugge (P.B.B. XII, 36), Koegel (Geschichte d. deut. Litt. 164), ten Brink (Pauls Grdr. (1), II, 545), Trautmann (Finn und Hildebrand, 59), Lawrence (Pub. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. XXX, 397, 430), Ayres (J.E.G.Ph. XVI, 290).

[452] l. 36. The swords flash swylce eal Finnsburuh fȳrenu wǣre, "as if all Finnsburg were afire." I think we may safely argue from this that the swords are flashing near Finnsburg. It would be just conceivable that the poet's mind travels back from the scene of the battle to Finn's distant home: "the swords made as great a flash as would have been made had Finn's distant capital been aflame": but this is a weak and forced interpretation, which we have no right to assume, though it may be conceivable.

[453] Beowulf, ll. 1125-7. I doubt whether it is possible to explain the difficulty away by supposing that "the warriors departing to see Friesland, their homes and their head-town" simply means that Finn's men, "summoned by Finn in preparation for the encounter with the Danes, return to their respective homes in the country," and that "hēaburh is a high sounding epic term that should not be pressed." This is the explanation offered by Klaeber (J.E.G.Ph. VI, 193) and endorsed by Lawrence (Pub. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. XXX, 401). But it seems to me taking a liberty with the text to interpret hēaburh (singular) as the "respective homes in the country" to which Finn's warriors resort on demobilisation. And the statement of ll. 1125-7, that the warriors departed from the place of combat to see Friesland, seems to necessitate that such place of combat was not in Friesland. Klaeber objects to this (surely obvious) inference: "If we are to infer [from ll. 1125-7] that Finnsburg lies outside Friesland proper, we might as well conclude that Dyflen (Dublin) is not situated in Ireland according to the Battle of Brunanburh (gewitan him þā Norðmenn ... Dyflen sēcan and eft Īraland)." But how could anyone infer this from the Brunanburh lines? What we are justified in inferring, is, surely, that the site of the battle of Brunanburh (from which the Northmen departed to visit Ireland and Dublin) was not identical with Dublin, and did not lie in Ireland. And by exact parity of reason, we are justified in arguing that Finnsburg, the site of the first battle in which Hnæf fell (from which site the warriors depart to visit Friesland and the hēaburh) was not identical with the hēaburh, and did not lie in Friesland. Accordingly the usual view, that Finnsburg is situated outside Friesland, seems incontestable. See Bugge (P.B.B. XII, 29-30), Trautmann (Finn und Hildebrand, 60) and Boer (Z.f.d.A. XLVII, 137). Cf. Ayres (J.E.G.Ph. XVI, 294).

[454] See below, p. 289.

[455] So Brandl, 984, and Heinzel.

[456] Or just as the attack on the Danes began at night, we might suppose (as does Trautmann) that it equally culminated in a night assault five days later. There would be obvious advantage in night fighting when the object was to storm a hall: Flugumýrr was burnt by night, and so was the hall of Njal. So, too, was the hall of Rolf Kraki. It would be, then, on the morning after this second night assault, that Hildeburh found her kinsfolk dead.

[457] Beowulf, l. 1831: cf. l. 409.

[458] Leo (Beowulf, 1839, 67), Müllenhoff (Nordalbingische Studien, I, 157), Rieger (Lesebuch; Z.f.d.Ph. III, 398-401), Dederich (Studien, 1877, 96-7), Heyne (in his fourth edition) and in recent times Holthausen have interpreted eoten as a common noun "giant," "monster," and consequently "foe" in general. But they have failed to produce any adequate justification for interpreting eoten as "foe," and Holthausen, the modern advocate of this interpretation, has now abandoned it. Grundtvig (Beowulfes Beorh, 1861, pp. 133 etc.) and Möller (Volksepos, 97 etc.) also interpret "giant," Möller giving an impossible mythological explanation, which was, at the time, widely followed.

[459] Like oxnum, nefenum (cf. Sievers, § 277, Anm. 1).

[460] I do not attach much importance to the argument which might be drawn from the statement of Binz (P.B.B. XX, 185) that the evidence of proper names shows that in the Hampshire district (which was colonized by Jutes) the legend of Finnsburg was particularly remembered. For on the other hand, as Binz points out, similar evidence is markedly lacking for Kent. And why, indeed, should the Jutes have specially commemorated a legend in which their part appears not to have been a very creditable one?

[461] p. 97, note 225.

[462] See above, p. 200. Zimmer, Nennius Vindicatus, 84, assumes that the Kentish pedigree borrowed these names from the Bernician: but there is no evidence for this.

[463] Among those who have so held are Kemble, Thorpe (Beowulf, pp. 76-7), Ettmüller (Beowulf, 1840, p. 23), Bouterwek (Germania, I, 389), Grein (Eberts Jahrbuch, IV, 270), Köhler (Germania, XIII, 155), Heyne (in first three editions), Holder (Beowulf, p. 128), ten Brink (Pauls Grdr. (1), II, 548), Heinzel (A.f.d.A. X. 228), Stevenson (Asser, 1904, p. 169), Schücking (Beowulf, 1913, p. 321), Klaeber (J.E.G.Ph. XIV, 545), Lawrence (Pub. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. XXX, 393), Moorman (Essays and Studies, V, 99), Björkman (Eigennamen im Beowulf, 21).

So too, with some hesitation, Chadwick (Orgin, 52-3): with much more hesitation, Bugge (P.B.B. XII, 37). Whilst this is passing through the press Holthausen has withdrawn his former interpretation eotena, "enemies," in favour of Eotena=Ēotna, "Jutes" (Engl. Stud. LI, 180).

[464] P.B.B. XII, 37.

[465] The cognate of O.E. fǣr (Mod. Eng. "fear") in other Germanic languages, such as Old Saxon and Old High German, has the meaning of "ambush." In the nine places where it occurs in O.E. verse it has always the meaning of a peril which comes upon one suddenly, and is applied, e.g. to the Day of Judgement (twice) or some unexpected flood (three times). In compounds fǣr conveys an idea of suddenness: "fǣr-dēað, repentina mors."

[466] Volksepos, 69.

[467] It has been surmounted in two ways. (1) By altering eaferum to eaferan (a very slight change) and then making fǣr refer to the final attack upon Finn, in which he certainly was on the defensive (Lawrence, 397 etc., Ayres, 284, Trautmann, BB. II, Klaeber, Anglia, XXVIII, 443, Holthausen). (2) By making hīē refer to hæleð Healf-Dena which follows (Green in Pub. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. XXXI, 759-97); but this is forced. See also below, p. 284.

[468] Cf. Tacitus, Germania, XIV.

[469] For examples of this see pp. 278-82 below.

[470] Fragment, 40-1.

[471] See above, p. 30.

[472] Book II (ed. Holder, p. 67).

[473] P.B.B. XII, 34.

[474] For a discussion of the interpretation of the difficult forþringan, see Carlton Brown in M.L.N. XXXIV, 181-3.

[475] J.E.G.Ph. XVI, 291-2.

[476] Ib. 293-4.

[477] I wish I could feel convinced, with Ayres, that the person whom Guthlaf and Oslaf blame for their woes is Hengest rather than Finn. Such an interpretation renders the story so much more coherent; but if the poet really meant this, he assuredly did not make his meaning quite clear.

[478] See below, pp. 276, 288-9.

[479] Ne hūru Hildeburh herian þorfte Eotena trēowe.

[480] Ayres, in J.E.G.Ph. XVI, 286. So Lawrence in a private communication.

[481] ll. 2910, etc.

[482] We can construct the situation from such historical information as we can get from Gregory of Tours and other sources. The author of Beowulf may not have been clear as to the exact relation of the different tribes. We cannot tell, from the vague way he speaks, how much he knew.

[483] I have argued this at some length below, but I do not think anyone would deny it. Bugge recognized it to be true (P.B.B. XII, 29-30) as does Lawrence (392). See below, pp. 288-9.

[484] We can never argue that words are synonymous because they are parallel. Compare Psalm cxiv; in the first verse the parallel words are synonymous, but in the second and third not:

"When Israel came out of Egypt and the house of Jacob from among the strange people" [Israel = house of Jacob: Egypt = strange people].

"Judah was His sanctuary and Israel His dominion." [Judah is only one of the tribes of Israel.]

"The sea saw that and fled: Jordan was driven back." [The Red Sea and Jordan are distinct, though parallel, examples.]

[485] J.E.G.Ph. XVI, 288.

[486] Pub. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. XXX, 430.

[487] Plummer, Two Saxon Chronicles Parallel, II, 47.

[488] Njáls Saga, cap. 45.

[489] Pauls Grdr. (2), II, 524.

[490] Helmhold.

[491] I know of only one parallel for such assumed adoption of a name: that also concerns the Jutes. The Angles, says Bede, dwelt between the Saxons and Jutes: the Jutes must, then, according to Bede, have dwelt north of the Angles, since the Saxons dwelt south. But the people north of the Angles are now, and have been from early times, Scandinavian in speech, whilst the Jutes who settled Kent obviously were not. The best way of harmonizing known linguistic facts with Bede's statement is, then, to assume that Scandinavians settled in the old continental home of these Jutes and took over their name, whilst introducing the Scandinavian speech.

Now many scholars have regarded this as so forced and unlikely an explanation that they reject it, and refuse to believe that the Jutes who settled Kent can have dwelt north of the Angles, in spite of Bede's statement. If we are asked to reject the "Scandinavian-Jute" theory, as too unlikely on a priori grounds, although it is demanded by the express evidence of Bede, it is surely absurd to put forward a precisely similar theory in favour of "Frisian-Jutes" upon no evidence at all.

[492] Koegel (164), Lawrence (382).

[493] Björkman (Eigennamen im Beowulf, 23) interprets the Eotenas as Jutist subjects of Finn. This suggestion was made quite independently of anything I had written, and confirms me in my belief that it is a reasonable interpretation.

[494] Ayres in J.E.G.Ph. XVI, 288.

[495] e.g. Njáls Saga, cap. 144: Laxdæla Saga, cap. 51.

[496] Of course a primitive stage can be conceived at which homicide is regarded as worse than murder. Your brother shoots A intentionally: he must therefore have had good reasons, and you fraternally support him. But you may feel legitimate annoyance if he aims at a stag, and shooting A by mere misadventure, involves you in a blood-feud.

[497] Heimskringla, Ól. Tryggv. K. 111; Saga Olafs Tryggvasonar, K. 70 (Fornmanna Sǫgur, 1835, X.)

[498] Saxo Grammaticus (ed. Holder, p. 67).

[499] Heimskringla, Ól. Tryggv. K. 41.

[500] lýsti vígi á hendr sér. Laxdæla Saga, cap. 49.

[501] Cap. 55.

[502] Cap. 85.

[503] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, anno 755.

[504] Njáls Saga, cap. 158.

[505] Fragment, ll. 40-1.

[506] p. 213 (ed. Holder).

[507] Finn may perhaps be holding a meeting of chieftains. For similar meetings of chieftains, compare Sǫrla þáttr, cap. 4; Laxdæla Saga, cap. 12; Skáldskaparmál, cap. 47 (50).

[508] There is assuredly a considerable likeness between the Finn story and the Nibelungen story: this has been noted often enough. It is more open to dispute whether the likeness is so great as to justify us in believing that the Nibelungen story is copied from the Finn story, and may therefore safely be used as an indication how gaps in our existing versions of that story may be filled. See Boer in Z.f.d.A. XLVII, 125 etc.

[509] The fact that both sides have suffered about equally facilitates a settlement in the Teutonic feud, just as it does among the Afridis or the Albanians at the present day.

[510] The situation would then be parallel to that in Laxdæla Saga, cap. 60-5, where the boy Thorleik, aged fifteen, is nominally in command of the expedition which avenges his father Bolli, but is only able to accomplish his revenge by enlisting the great warrior Thorgils, who is the real leader of the raid.

[511] Bugge (P.B.B. XII, 36) interpreted this swylce as meaning that sword-bale came upon Finn in like manner as it had previously come upon Hnæf. But this is to make swylce in l. 1146 refer back to the death of Hnæf mentioned (72 lines previously) in l. 1074. Möller (Volksepos, 67) tries to explain swylce by supposing the passage it introduces to be a fragment detached from its context.

[512] f, r, s, þ, w, p (Old English Letters), all letters involving a long down stroke, are constantly confused. For examples, see above, p. 245, and cf. e.g. Beowulf, l. 2882 (fergendra for wergendra); Crist, 12 (cræstga for cræftga); Phoenix, 15 (fnæft for fnæst); Riddles III (IV), 18 (þyran for þywan); XL (XLI), 63 (þyrre for þyrse); XLII (XLIII), 4 (speop for spēow), 11 (wæs for þæs); LVII (LVIII), 3 (rope for rōfe or rōwe), etc.

[513] p. 392.

[514] p. 431.

[515] Nennius Interpretatus, ed. Mommsen (Chronica Minora, III, 179, in Mon. Germ. Hist.)

[516] "De norske oldsager synes at vidne om, at temmelig livlige handelsforbindelser i den ældre jernalder har fundet sted mellem Norge og de sydlige Nordsøkyster." Undset, Fra Norges ældre Jernalder in the Aarbøger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, 1880, 89-184, esp. p. 173. See also Chadwick, Origin, 93. I am indebted to Chadwick's note for this reference to Undset.

[517] Ravennatis anonymi cosmographia, ed. Pinder et Parthey, Berolini, 1860, pp. 27, 28 (§ I, 11).

[518] The modern Wijk bij Duurstede, not far from Utrecht, on the Lower Rhine.

[519] An account of the numerous coins found among the ruins of the old town will be found in the Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, IV (1864), pp. 301-303. They testify to its commercial importance.

[520] So Adam of Bremen, following Alcuin. Concerning "Heiligland" Adam says: "Hanc in vita Sancti Willebrordi Fosetisland appellari discimus, quae sita est in confinio Danorum et Fresonum." Adam of Bremen in Pertz, Scriptores, VII, 1846, p. 369.

[521] Alcuin's Life of Willibrord in Migne (1851)—Alcuini Opera, vol. II, 699-702.

[522] See above, pp. 199-200.

[523] It had been disputed by Skeat, Earle, Boer, and others, but never with such strong reasons.

[524] I use below the form "Beow," which I believe to be the correct one. "Beaw" is the form in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. But as the name of Sceldwa, Beaw's father, is there given in a form which is not West-Saxon (sceld, not scield or scyld), it may well be that "Beaw" is also the Anglian dialect form, if it be not indeed a mere error: and this is confirmed by Beo (Ethelwerd), Beowius (William of Malmesbury), Boerinus (for Beowinus: Chronicle Roll), perhaps too by Beowa (Charter of 931) and Beowi, (MS Cott. Tib. B. IV). For the significance of this last, see pp. 303-4, below, and Björkman in Engl. Stud. LII, 171, Anglia, Beiblatt, XXX, 23.

[525] Vol. LXXXI, p. 517.

[526] It has indeed been so argued by Brandl: "Beowulf ... ist nur der Erlöser seines Volkes ... und dankt es schliesslich dem Himmel, in einer an den Heiland gemahnenden Weise, dass er die Seinen um den Preis des eigenen Lebens mit Schätzen beglücken konnte." Pauls Grdr. (2), II, l. 1002.

[527] Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edit., III, 760-1.

[528] l. 2039, where a capital O occurs, but without a section number.

[529] Moore, Namur, Cotton.

[530] Cotton Tiberius B. XI.

[531] Hatton, 20.

[532] See above, pp. 92-7.

[533] See above, pp. 43-4.

[534] Ethelwerd.

[535] Chronicle.

[536] Boer, Beowulf, 135, 143: Arkiv f. nord. Filologi, XIX, 29.

[537] Heroic Age, 126.

[538] Postscript to Preface, p. ix.

[539] Postscript, pp. xi, xiv.

[540] See Lokasenna in Die Lieder der Edda, herausg. von Sijmons u. Gering, I, 134.

[541] Lines corresponding to these of Burns are found both in the Scotch ballad recorded by Jamieson, and in the English ballad (Pepys Collection). See Jamieson, Popular Ballads and Songs, 1806, II, 241, 256.

[543] Jamieson, II, 239. So Burns: "John Barleycorn was a hero bold," and the ballad