The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son Read online

  We have two poets that study at length the heroic and chivalrous, with both art and thought, in the older ages: one near the beginning in Beowulf; one near the end in Sir Gawain. And probably a third, more near the middle, in Maldon, if we had all his work. It is not surprising that any consideration of the work of one of these leads to the others. Sir Gawain, the latest, is the most fully conscious, and is in plain intention a criticism or valuation of a whole code of sentiment and conduct, in which heroic courage is only a part, with different loyalties to serve. Yet it is a poem with many inner likenesses to Beowulf, deeper than the use of the old "alliterative"[7] metre, which is none the less significant. Sir Gawain, as the exemplar of chivalry, is of course shown to be deeply concerned for his own honour, and though the things considered honourable may have shifted or been enlarged, loyalty to word and to allegiance, and unflinching courage remain. These are tested in adventures no nearer to ordinary life than Grendel or the dragon; but Gawain's conduct is made more worthy, and more worth considering, again because he is a subordinate. He is involved in peril and the certain prospect of death simply by loyalty, and._the desire to secure the safety _and dignity of his lord, King Arthur. And upon him; depends in his quest the honour of his lord and of his heorðwerod, the Round Table. It is no accident that in this poem, as in Maldon and in Beowulf, we have criticism of the lord, of the owner of the allegiance. , The words are striking, though less so than the small part they have played in criticism of the poem (as also in Maldon). Yet thus spoke the court of the great King Arthur, when Sir Gawain rode away:

  Before God 'tis a shame

  that thou, lord, must be lost, who art in life so noble!

  To meet his match among men. Marry, 'tis not easy!

  To behave with more heed would have behoved one of sense,

  and that dear lord duly a duke to have made,

  illustrious leader of liegemen in this land as befits him;

  and that better would have been than to be butchered to death,

  beheaded by an elvish man for an arrogant vaunt.

  Who ever heard tell of a king such courses taking,

  as knights quibbling at court at their Christmas games!

  Beowulf is a rich poem; there are of course many other sides to the description of the manner of the hero's death; and the consideration (sketched above) of the changing values of chivalry in youth and in age and responsibility is only an ingredient. Yet it is plainly there; and though the author's main imagination was moving in wider ways, criticism of the lord and owner of the allegiance is touched on.

  Thus the lord may indeed receive credit from the deeds of his knights, but he must not use their loyalty or imperil them simply for that purpose. It was not Hygelac that sent Beowulf to Denmark through any boast or rash vow. His words to Beowulf on his return are no doubt an alteration of the older story (which peeps rather through in the egging of the snotere ceorlas, 202-4); but they are the more significant for that. We hear, 1992-7, that Hygelac had tried to restrain Beowulf from a rash adventure. Very properly. But at the end the situation is reversed. We learn, 3076-83, that Wiglaf and the Geatas regarded any attack on the dragon as rash, and had tried to restrain the king from the perilous enterprise, with words very like those used by Hygelac long before. But the king wished for glory, or for a glorious death, and courted disaster. There could be no more pungent criticism in a few words of "chivalry" in one of responsibility than Wiglaf's exclamation: oft sceall eorl monig anes willan wraec adreogan, "by one man's will many must woe endure". These words the poet of Maldon might have inscribed at the head of his work.

  1

  According to one estimate 6 foot 9 inches tall. This estimate was based on the length and size of his bones when examined, in his tomb at Ely, in a.d. 1769.

  2

  That Olaf Tryggvason was actually present at Maldon is now thought to be doubtful. But his name was known to Englishmen. He had been in Britain before, and was certainly here again in 994.

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  3

  According to the views of E. D. Laborde, now generally accepted. The causeway or "hard" between Northey and the mainland is still there.

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  4

  It was indeed plainly intended as a recitation for two persons, two shapes in "dim shadow", with the help of a few gleams of light and appropriate noises and a chant at the end. It has, of course, never been performed.

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  5

  Cf. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 2127-31.

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  6

  To fela means in Old English idiom that no ground at all should have been conceded. And ofermod does not mean "overboldness", not even if we give full value to the ofer, remembering how strongly the taste and wisdom of the English (whatever their actions) rejected "excess". Whita scal geþyldig … ne næfre gielpes to georn, ær he geare cunne. Bur mod, though it may contain or imply courage, does not mean "boldness" any more than Middle English corage. It means "spirit", or when unqualified "high spirit", of which the most usual manifestation is pride. But in ofer-mod it is qualified, with disapproval: ofermod is in fact always a word of condemnation. In verse the noun occurs only twice, once applied to Beorhtnoth, and once to Lucifer.

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  7

  It is probably the first work to apply the word "letters" to this metre, which has in fact never regarded them.

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