The Old English name for this was
bóc-fel, literally "book-skin," replaced in Middle English by the
French terms parchment and velin (vellum).
bóc-fel, literally "book-skin," replaced in Middle English by the
French terms parchment and velin (vellum).
Cambridge History of English Literature - 1908 - v01
Yet in the years that had passed
England had risen to literary pre-eminence in Europe. She took
kindly to the Latin and Greek culture brought her in the seventh
century by the Asian Theodore and the African Hadrian, scholars
learned in worldly, as well as in divine, lore, who "made this island,
once the nurse of tyrants, the constant home of philosophy? ” The
love of letters had been fostered in the north by English scholars;
by Bede's teacher, Benedict Biscop, foremost of all, who founded
the monasteries of Jarrow and Wearmouth, enriched them with
books collected by himself and, in his last days, prayed his pupils
to have a care over his library. Bede's disciple was Egbert of
York, the founder of its school and the decorator of its churches,
and Alcuin obtained his education in the cloister school of his
native city.
The seven liberal arts of the trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric)
and the quadrivium (astronomy, arithmetic, geometry, music) were
so ably taught and so admirably assimilated in the monastic
schools that, when Alcuin forsook York for the palace school of
Charles the Great, he appealed for leave to send French lads
to bring back "flowers of Britain” to Tours, from the “garden
of Paradise" in York, a "garden” described by him in often quoted
lines.
There came an end to all this when“ the Danish terror” made
a waste from the Humber to the Tyne. Northumbria had aided
Rome and Charles the Great in the service of letters while the rest
of Europe, save Ireland, had little to show, and now men were
too busy fighting for home and freedom to think of letters. It was
not until the days of Alfred that the tide began again to turn from
i William of Malmesbury, 1, 12.
· Poema de Pontificibus et Sanctis Ecclesiae Eboracensis.
## p. 6 (#26) ###############################################
The Beginnings
continental to English shores, becoming a flood-tide when the
second invasion of Northmen added a Norman strain to English
blood.
The literature of the beginnings in England, therefore, appears
to be the literature of its successive conquerors : English ousting
Briton, Christian suppressing Pagan, Norman over-ruling English.
For a time, the works of Englishmen have to be sought in Latin ;
for certain periods of civil struggle, of defeat, of serfdom, they
cannot be found at all. But the literary spirit revives, having
assimilated the foreign elements and conquered the conquerors.
The “natural magic" of the Celtic mind, the Christian spirit which
brought Greece and Rome in its train and “the matter of France"
have all three become part of the Englishman's intellectual
heritage.
## p. 7 (#27) ###############################################
CHAPTER II
RUNES AND MANUSCRIPTS
WHEN the English still lived in their continental homes they
shared with the neighbouring kindred tribes an alphabet which
may well be described as the national Germanic alphabet, since
there is evidence that it was used throughout the Germanic
territory, both in the outposts of Scandinavia and in the countries
watered by the Rhine and the Danube. The origin of this early
script is obscure; some writers hold that it was borrowed from
the Latin alphabet, whereas others think that it was of Greek
origin. From its wide use amongst the Germanic tribes, we must,
perforce, conclude that it was of considerable antiquity, at all
events older than the earliest Scandinavian inscriptions, which, in
all probability, go back as far as the third century of our era.
That it was used in the fourth century is proved since, at that
time, Ulfilas, bishop of the West Goths, had borrowed from it the
signs of u and o for his newly-constructed alphabet. Moreover,
there can be no doubt that the Goths must have brought the
knowledge of it from their early homes in the north before the
great wave of the Hunnish invasion swept them away from kith
and kindred, finally setting them down on the shores of the Danube
and the Black Sea.
The name of these early Germanic characters seems also to have
been the same amongst all the tribes. Its Old English form, rún,
differs little from the corresponding early German or Scandinavian
forms, and the meaning of the word (mystery, secret, secret
counsel) seems also widely spread. This word lived on through
Middle English times, and a derivative rúnian appears in Shake-
speare as roun or round (a form still retained in the expression
"to round in one's ear"). The separate letters were known as
rúnstafas and the interpretation of them as réédan, which, in
modern English, still lives on in the expression “ to read a riddle. ”
The runes were, in all probability, originally carved in wood,
and sometimes filled in with red paint to make them more dis-
tinct. The technical term for this cutting or engraving is, in Old
## p. 8 (#28) ###############################################
Runes and Manuscripts
English, writan, which, in its transferred meaning of “to write"
has survived to the present day. The wood was fashioned into
tablets or staves, as we learn from the well-known lines of
Venantius Fortunatus, a writer of the sixth century, who refers?
to the barbaric rune as being painted on tablets of ashwood
or smooth sticks. Such a tablet was originally called bóc (a
tablet of beechwood), and may be regarded as the ancestor, in a
double sense, of the modern word "book. ” Other materials used
were metal, principally in the form of weapons, coins, rings and
other ornaments, household and other implements; drinking-horns
were often adorned with runic inscriptions, and runes have also been
found on smaller objects of horn and bone. Moreover, in England
and Scandinavia there occur runic inscriptions on stone monuments,
and there are also some which have been hewn out of rocks.
Parchment seems to have been introduced at a late period, and, of
the few manuscripts remaining entirely written in runes, none go
back further than the thirteenth century.
There is considerable uncertainty as to the earliest purpose of
the runes, whether they were originally used as real characters of
writing, or, as the name suggests, as mystical signs, bearers of potent
magic. But, since the power and force of the spoken word easily
pass into the symbol for which it stands, it is not improbable that
the latter meaning is secondary, the spell becoming, so to speak,
materialised in the graven letter, and, even in this form, retaining
all its original power for good or evil. For the earliest Germanic
literature abounds in proofs of the magic nature of runes; from the
Edda poems down to the latest folk-songs of the present day there
is continuous evidence of their mystic influence over mankind.
Runes could raise the dead from their graves; they could preserve
life or take it, they could heal the sick or bring on lingering
disease; they could call forth the soft rain or the violent hailstorm;
they could break chains and shackles or bind more closely than
bonds or fetters; they could make the warrior invincible and
cause his sword to inflict none but mortal wounds; they could
produce frenzy and madness or defend from the deceit of a false
friend. Their origin was, moreover, believed to be divine, since
Odin is represented in the Edda as sacrificing himself in order
to learn their use and hidden wisdom. Odin was also the greatest
“rune-master” of the ancient Germanic world, and Saxo relates ?
how the god sometimes stooped to use them for purposes of
- personal revenge. A cold-hearted maiden who rejected his suit he
1 Carm. VII, 18, 19.
· Ed. Holder, p. 79.
## p. 9 (#29) ###############################################
Use of Runes
touched with a piece of bark, whereon spells were written. This
made her mad; but, according to Saxo, it was “a gentle revenge to
take for all the insults he had received. " Saxo also relates? a
gruesome tale how, by means of spells engraved on wood, and
placed under the tongue of a dead man, he was forced to utter
strains terrible to hear, and to reveal the no less terrible secrets
of the future. In the Icelandic Sagas, references to the super-
natural power of the runes are equally explicit. In the Saga
of Egill Skallagrímsson, who lived in the tenth century, it is told
how a maiden's illness had been increased because the would be
healer, through ignorance, cut the wrong runes, and thus
endangered her life. Egill destroys the spell by cutting off the
runes and burning the shavings in the fire; he then slips under
the maiden's pillow the staff whereon he had cut the true healing
runes. Immediately the maiden recovers.
Side by side with the early magic use of runes there is also
clear evidence that, at an earlier period, they served as a means of
communication, secret or otherwise. Saxo relates, in this respect? ,
how Amlethus (Hamlet) travelled to England accompanied by two
retainers, to whom was entrusted a secret letter graven on wood,
which, as Saxo remarks, was a kind of writing-material frequently
used in olden times. In the Egilssaga mentioned above, Egill
Skallagrímsson's daughter Thorgerðr is reported to have engraved,
on the rúnakefli or “runic staff,” the beautiful poem Sunatorrek,
in which her aged father laments the death of his son, the last of
his race.
These few instances, taken from amongst a great number, prove
that runes played an important part in the thoughts and lives of
the various Germanic tribes. The greater number of runic in-
scriptions which have come down to our times, and by far the most
important, are those engraved on stone monuments. Some of these
merely bear the name of a fallen warrior, while others commemorate
his exploits, his death, or his life as a whole. These inscriptions on
stones and rocks occur only in England and Scandinavia, from
which fact we may, perhaps, infer that this use of runes was a
comparatively late development. Some of the very earliest extant
inscriptions may be regarded as English, since they are found either
within Angeln, the ancient home of the nation, for instance, those
of Torsbjaerg,-or not far from that district.
From what has been said, it is clear that the English, on their
arrival in this island, must have been conversant with their national
1 Ed. Holder, p. 22.
? Ed. Holder, p. 92.
## p. 10 (#30) ##############################################
IO
Runes and Manuscripts
alphabet, and the various uses thereof. It may be worth while to
examine somewhat more closely its original form and the changes
which it underwent after the migration. In its early Germanic
form the runic alphabet consisted of twenty-four signs, usually
arranged in three sets of eight which, from their respective initial
· letters, bore in Old Norse the names of Freyr, Hagall and Týr.
The alphabet itself is generally known as the fupark from the first
six of its letters. Each rune had a name of its own, and a well-
defined place in the alphabet. The order is specifically Germanic,
and can be ascertained from old alphabets found on a gold coin at
Vadstena in Sweden, and on a silver-gilt clasp dug up at Charnay
in Burgundy. After the migration and subsequent isolation of the
English, it became necessary, in course of time, to modify the early
alphabet and to make it more conformable with the changing
. sounds of the language. Four new signs were added, and some of
the older ones modified in order to represent the altered value
of the sounds. Thus there arose a specifically Old English alphabet
of which not less than three specimens have been preserved. One
of these is on a small sword found in the Thames and now in the
British Museum; another is contained in the Salzburg manuscript
140 of the tenth century, now at Vienna; the third occurs in an
Old English runic song. The last two, moreover, present the
names of the runes in their Old English form. Apart from the
standard English type found in the above-mentioned three alpha-
bets, a local Norwegian variety, of a far simpler character, was
current in the Isle of Man, as appears from certain Norse inscrip-
tions there, dating from the latter half of the eleventh century.
It is, however, difficult to determine in what manner and to
what extent runes were used by the English settlers, for here the
evidence is by no means as abundant and explicit as in the far
| north. ' Christianity was introduced into England at an early
period, centuries before it was brought to distant Scandinavia, and
the new religion laboured, and laboured successfully, to eradicate
all traces of practices and beliefs that smacked of the devil, with
which potentate the heathen gods soon came to be identified.
Nevertheless, we have some evidence, which, despite its scanti-
ness, speaks eloquently enough of the tenacity of old beliefs, and
the slow lingering of superstition. Bede furnishes us with a
striking proof that the English, at a comparatively late date,
believed in the magic properties of runes. In his Historia
Ecclesiastica (IV, 22) he relates the fate of a nobleman called
Imma, who was made a prisoner in the battle between Ecgfrith,
## p. 11 (#31) ##############################################
Use of Runes.
II
king of Northumbria, and Aethelred, king of Mercia, A. D. 679,
and whose fetters fell off whenever his brother, who thought
him dead, celebrated mass for the release of his soul. His
captor, however, who knew nothing about the prayers, wondered
greatly, and inquired whether the prisoner had on him litterae
solutoriae, that is, letters which had the power of loosening bonds ? .
Again, in Beowulf (1. 591), a person who broached a theme of con-,
tention is said to "unbind the runes of war. ” In the poem called
Daniel (l. 741), the mysterious and terrible writing on the wall of
Belshazzar's palace is described as a rune. In the Dialogue of
Salomon and Saturn there is a curious travesty of an old
heathen spell. In treating of the powers and virtues of the Pater
Noster, the poet gradually inserts all the runes that serve to make
up the prayer, each, however, being accompanied by the corre-
sponding Latin capital letter. Thereupon he advises every man
to sing the Pater Noster before drawing his sword against a
hostile band of men, and also to put the fiends to flight by means
of God's word; otherwise they will stay his hand when he has
to defend his life, and bewitch his weapon by cutting on it fatal
letters and death signs. We could scarcely wish for a better
illustration of the way in which Christianity combated the old
beliefs, substituting the Pater Noster for the ancient heathen war-
spell, reading a new meaning into the old rites and shifting to
fiends and devils the power of making runes of victory or of death,
a power formerly in the hands of pagan gods.
When used as ordinary writing characters, without any taint of
magic, runes appear to have met with more tolerant treatment.
The earliest inscriptions extant in this country consist mainly
of proper names, in most cases those of the owners of the engraved
article. The Thames sword, for instance, bears, in addition to the
runic alphabet, the name of its owner, Beagnop. Again, Beowulf
is represented as finding in Grendel's cave a sword of ancient work-
manship, with rune-staves on the hilt, giving the name of the warrior
for whom the sword had first been made. Similarly, an eighth
century ring bears, partly in runic, partly in Roman, characters, the
legend “Æpred owns me, Eanred engraved me. " There are also
references in Old English literature to the use of runes as a
means of communication. We are reminded of the rúna-kefli of
the Icelandic sagas on reading the little poem called The Husband's .
* The Old English version renders this by alysendlecan rúne, “ loosening runes. "
» Ed. Kemble, pp. 14 and 99.
## p. 12 (#32) ##############################################
I 2
Runes and Manuscripts
Message (see p. 39), where a staff, inscribed with runes, is supposed
to convey to a wife the message of her lord, bidding her cross the
sea in search of the distant country where he had found gold and
land. But still more important are those inscriptions which have
actually survived and which are mainly found on stone monuments.
They are confined almost exclusively to the north, and the greater
number of them belong to the seventh and eighth centuries, for
absolutely no inscriptions have survived from the first one hundred
and fifty years subsequent to the English invasion. These inscrip-
tions are almost all due to Christian influence. Chief among these
monuments, so far as English literature is concerned, are the
Ruthwell Cross in Dumfriesshire, possibly dating back to the
eighth century? , on which are inscribed extracts from The Dream
of the Rood, and the Bewcastle Column in Cumberland, probably
erected to the memory of Alchfrith, son of the Northumbrian
king Oswy (642–670).
Runic inscriptions have, moreover, been discovered on coins
and various other objects, the most important being the beautiful
Clermont or Franks casket. The top and three of the sides are
now in the British Museum, the fourth side is in the Museo
Nazionale at Florence. The casket is made of whalebone, and
the scenes carved on it represent an episode from the Weland-
saga, the adoration of the Magi, Romulus and Remus nursed by
the she-wolf and, lastly, a fight between Titus and the Jews. The
carving on the Florence fragment is still unexplained. The legends
engraved around these episodes are intended to represent the
capture of the whale and to elucidate the carving. On linguistic
grounds it has been thought probable that the casket was made
in Northumbria at the beginning of the eighth century.
In several Old English MSS, runes are found in isolated cases,
for instance in Beowulf, and in the Durham Ritual. In the riddles
of the Exeter Book the occasional introduction of runes sometimes
helps to solve the mystery of the enigma, and sometimes increases
the obscurity of the passage. Occasionally a poet or scribe will
< record his name by means of a runic acrostic introduced into the
4. text. Thus, the poems Crist, Juliana, Elene and the Vercelli
fragment. bear the runic signature of their author, Cynewulf.
Runes went out of use during the ninth and tenth centuries.
Their place had, however, been usurped long before that period by
the Roman alphabet, which the English received from the early
1 But see A. S. Cook, The Dream of the Rood, Oxford, 1905, pp. ix ft.
? Napier, English Misc. p. 380.
## p. 13 (#33) ##############################################
Roman Alphabet in England
13
Irish missionaries. The advent of Christianity and the beginnings
of English literature are intimately connected, for the missionary
and the Roman alphabet travelled together, and it was owing to
the Christian scribe that the songs and sagas, the laws and customs,
the faith and the proverbial wisdom of our forefathers, were first
recorded and preserved. It is, indeed, difficult to realise that,
before the conversion of the English to Christianity, during the
sixth and seventh centuries, the whole, or, at all events, by far the
greater part, of the intellectual wealth of the nation was to be
sought on the lips of the people, or in the retentive memory of
the individual, and was handed down from generation to generation
by means of song and recitation. Caesar relates ? how this was the
case in Gaul, where the accumulated wisdom of the Druids, their
religion and their laws, were transmitted by oral tradition alone,
since they were forbidden to put any part of their lore into writing,
although, for other purposes, the Greek alphabet was used. What
wonder if the young Gauls who served their apprenticeship to the
Druids had, as Caesar says, to learn "a great number of verses,”
and often to stay as long as twenty years before they had exhausted
their instructors' store of learning.
Before entering, however, on the history of the Irish alphabet
in England, it may be of interest to note that an even earlier
attempt had been made to introduce Roman characters among
the English. This was due to the efforts of Augustine and his
missionaries, who established a school of handwriting in the south
of England, with Canterbury as a probable centre. A Psalter
of about A. D. 700, now in the Cottonian collection of the British
Museum, and a few early copies of charters constitute, however,
the only evidence of its existence that survives. From these we
learn that the type of alphabet taught was the Roman rustic
capital, though of a somewhat modified local character. This
paucity of records makes it seem likely that the school of the
Roman missionaries had but a brief period of existence, and
wholly failed to influence the native hand.
Not so, however, with the Irish school of writing in the north.
The Irish alphabet was founded on the Roman half-uncial hand,
manuscripts of this type having been brought over to Ireland
by missionaries, perhaps during the fifth century. Owing to the
isolated position of the island and the consequent absence of
extraneous influence, a strongly characteristic national hand de-
veloped, which ran its uninterrupted course down to the late
1 De Bello Gallico, v, 14.
## p. 14 (#34) ##############################################
14
Runes and Manuscripts
Middle Ages. This hand was at first round in character and of
great clearness, beauty and precision; but, at an early period, a
modified, pointed variety of a minuscule type developed out of it,
used for quicker and less ornamental writing.
In the seventh century Northumbria was Christianised by Irish
missionaries, who founded monasteries and religious settlements
throughout the north. What, then, more natural than that these
zealous preachers of the Word should teach their disciples not only
the Word itself, but also how to write it down in characters
pleasing to the Almighty, and not in rude and uncouth signs which
conveyed all the power and magic of the heathen gods? Thus it
came to pass that the English of the north learnt the exquisite
penmanship of the Irish, and proved themselves such apt pupils
that they soon equalled their former masters. In fact, the earliest
specimens of the Northumbrian hand can scarcely be distinguished
from their Irish models.
In course of time, moreover, the English threw off the con-
ventions and restraints which fettered the Irish hand and developed
a truly national hand, which spread throughout England, and which,
in grace of outline and correctness of stroke, even surpassed its
prototype.
As might have been expected, the English adopted both the
round and pointed varieties of their Irish teachers. One of the
earliest and most beautiful examples of the former is The Book of
Durham or The Lindisfarne Gospels', written about A. D. 700 by
Eadfrith, bishop of Lindisfarne. And, as a specimen of the latter,
may be mentioned a fine copy of Bede's Ecclesiastical History
in the University Library of Cambridge, written not long after 730,
which possesses an additional interest as preserving one of the
earliest pieces of poetry in the English language, The Hymn of
Caedmon, in the original Northumbrian dialect. The pointed
hand branched off into a number of local varieties and was
extensively used down to the tenth century, when it became
influenced by the French or Carolingian minuscule. Towards
the end of the century all Latin MSS were, as a matter of
fact, written in foreign characters, whereas the English hand
came to be exclusively used for writing in the vernacular. For
instance, a Latin charter would have the body of the text in the
French minuscule, but the English descriptions or boundaries of
the property to be conveyed would be written in the native hand.
After the conquest, the native hand gradually disappeared, the
Brit. Mus. Cotton Nero, D. 4.
## p. 15 (#35) ##############################################
Materials for Writing
15
only traces of it left being the adoption by the foreign alphabets
of the symbols P, 3, Þ (/) to express the peculiarly English sounds
for which they stood. The rune p, however, fell into disuse about
the beginning of the fourteenth century, its place having been
taken by uu (vv) or w; while 8 (th) occurs occasionally as late as
the end of the same century. Of far superior vitality were p and 3,
the former bearing a charmed life throughout Middle English
times, though, in the fifteenth century and later, þ often appeared
in the degenerated form of y, while 3 was retained in order to
represent spirant sounds, afterwards denoted by y or gh.
During the late twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the
history of English handwriting was practically that of the various
Latin hands of the French school. The fifteenth century finally
witnessed the dissolution of the medieval book-hand of the
minuscule type, the many varieties of it being apparent in the
types used by the early printers. The legal or charter-hand,
introduced with the Conquest, was, however, not superseded by
the printing-presses, but ran an undisturbed though ever varying
course down to the seventeenth century, when its place was taken
by the modern current hand, fashioned on Italian models. A late
variety still lingers on, however, in the so-called chancery-hand
seen in the engraved writing of enrolments and patents.
Turning to the materials used for writing in medieval England,
we gain at once a connecting link with the runic alphabet, since the
wooden tablet, the bóc, again appears, though in a somewhat
different fashion. A thin coating of wax was now spread over the
surface, and the writing was scratched on it with a pointed instru- -
ment of metal or bone which, in Old English, was known as graef.
and, in the later centuries, by the French term poyntel. The use -
of these tablets was widely spread in the Middle Ages ; they
served for the school-boy's exercises and for bills and memoranda
of every description, for short letters and rough copies—for any-
thing that was afterwards to be copied out, more carefully, on
vellum. In German illuminated MSS poets are represented as
writing their songs and poems on waxen tablets, and, as early as the
sixth century, The Rule of St Benet makes provision for the
distribution of tablets and styles to monks. There is, also, evidence
of the use of these tablets by Irish monks, who, it may be supposed,
would introduce them to their English pupils. And, consequently,
we find that Aldhelm, who died in 709, writes a riddle of which
the answer is “tablet”-a fact which presupposes a knowledge
of the existence of tablets among his contemporaries. Again, in
## p. 16 (#36) ##############################################
16
Runes and Manuscripts
Ethelwold's Benedictionale of the tenth century, Zacharias (Luke,
i, 3) is represented as writing on a waxen tablet?
In the twelfth century we learn concerning Anselm, archbishop
of Canterbury (+1109), that he was in the habit of making the first
sketch of his works on waxen tablets; and, in The Canterbury
Tales, Chaucer relates how the summoner's "fellow" had "a pair of
tables all of ivory, and a poyntel ypolished fetisly. ”
Far more important, practical and durable as writing material,
however, was parchment or vellum, the use of which prevailed
throughout the Middle Ages.
The Old English name for this was
bóc-fel, literally "book-skin," replaced in Middle English by the
French terms parchment and velin (vellum). These terms, origin-
ally, were not interchangeable, vellum being, as its name indicates,
prepared from calf-skins, parchment from sheep-skins.
At first, the evidence goes to show that monasteries had to
prepare their own parchment, either by the help of the monks
themselves or of laymen engaged for the purpose. Later, how-
ever, the parchment-makers took their place as ordinary crafts-
men, and supplied religious and other houses with the necessary
material. Thus we find that, in the year 1300, Ely bought five
dozen parchments and as many vellums, and, about half a century
later, no less than seventy and thirty dozen respectively, in order
to supply the want of writing material for a few years only. Vellum
was, at times, magnificently coloured, the text being, in such cases,
inscribed in letters of gold or silver. The most famous example
- is the Codec argenteus at Upsala Archbishop Wilfrid of York
(664–709) is said to have possessed the four Gospels written
on purple vellum in letters of purest gold, a fact which his
biographer records as little short of the marvellous. In the British
Museum there remains to this day an Old English MS of the
Gospels, the first leaves of which are written in golden letters on
purple vellum.
Apart from these éditions de luxe which, naturally, must have
been of enormous cost, ordinary working parchment was a very
expensive writing material, and it is small wonder if, on that
account, it gradually had to give way before a new and less costly
material. It appears that, from times immemorial, the manufac-
ture of paper from linen rags and hemp was known to the Chinese,
1 Archaeol. XXIV, pl. 27.
: From Hamlet, v, 1 it appears, however, as if Shakespeare was unaware of this
difference: “Is not parchment made of sheep-skins? ”—“Ay, my lord, and of calf-skins
too. "
• Royal, 1, E. 6.
## p. 17 (#37) ##############################################
Manuscripts and Scribes 17
who, apparently, taught their art to the Arabs, since paper was
exported by that pation at an early date. In the twelfth century,
paper was known in Spain and Italy, and thence it spread slowly
northwards, though it did not come into more general use until
the fourteenth century. In the fifteenth century, paper manuscripts
were very frequent in England, as can be assumed from the great
number still remaining in public and private libraries.
For writing, both on parchment and on paper, the quill was
used, known in Old English times as feder, in Middle English by
the French term penne. The existence of the quill as an imple-
ment of writing is proved by one of the oldest Irish MSS, where
St John the Evangelist is represented holding a quill in his hand.
Again, Aldhelm has a riddle on penna, in the same way as he had
one on the tablet. Other necessary implements for writing and
preparing a MS were a lead for ruling margins and lines, a ruler,
a pair of compasses, scissors, a puncher, an awl, a scraping-knife
and, last, but not least, ink, which was usually kept in a horn, either
held in the hand by the scribe, or placed in a specially provided
hole in his desk. In Old English times it was known, from its
colour, as blaec, but, after the Conquest, the French term enque, our
modern English ink, was adopted. The terms horne and ink-horne
are both found in old glossaries.
When the body of the text was finally ready, the sheets were
passed to the corrector, who filled the office of the modern proof-
reader, and from him to the rubricator, who inserted, in more or
less elaborate designs, and in striking colours, the rubrics and
initials for which space had been left by the scribe. The pieces
of parchment were then passed to the binder, who, as a rule,
placed four on each other and then folded them, the result being a
quire of eight leaves or sixteen pages. The binding was generally
strong and solid in character: leather was used for the back and
wooden boards for the sides, which were usually covered with
parchment or leather or velvet. Thus was established the form
and fashion of the book as we know it, whether written or printed.
Beside the book-form, parchment was also made up into rolls,
which were especially used for chronological writings and deeds of
various kinds? .
The men who wrote both roll and book, and to whose patience
and devotion we owe much of our knowledge of the times gone by,
were, at first, the monks themselves; it being held that copying,
especially of devotional books, was a work pleasing to God and one
Cf. the term "Master of the Rolls. "
E. L. I. CII. II.
2
## p. 18 (#38) ##############################################
18
Runes and Manuscripts
of the best possible ways in which men, separated from the world,
could labour.
Gradually, however, there grew up a professional class of
scribes, whose services could be hired for money, and who can be
proved to have been employed at an early period in the monasteries
of England and abroad. Nuns were also well versed in writing.
Moreover, where schools were attached to monasteries the alumni
were early pressed into service, at all events to copy out books
needed for their own instruction.
The cloister was the centre of life in the monastery, and in the
cloister was the workshop of the patient scribe. It is hard to
realise that the fair and seemly handwriting of these manuscripts
was executed by fingers which, on winter days, when the wind
howled through the cloisters, must have been numbed by the icy
cold. It is true that, occasionally, little carrells or studies in
the recesses of the windows were screened off from the main walk
of the cloister, and, sometimes, a small room or cell would be
partitioned off for the use of a single scribe. This room would
then be called the scriptorium, but it is unlikely that any save the
oldest or most learned of the community were afforded this luxury.
In these scriptoria of various kinds the earliest annals and chronicles
in the English language were penned, in the beautiful and pains-
taking forms in which we know them.
There is no evidence for the existence of buildings specially
set apart for libraries until the later Middle Ages. Books were
stored in presses, placed either in the church or in convenient
places within the monastic buildings. These presses were then
added to as need arose, or, perhaps, a small room was set apart
for the better preserving of the precious volumes. Books were
frequently lost through the widespread system of lending both
to private persons and to communities, and, though bonds were
solemnly entered into for their safe return, neither anathema
nor heavy pledges seemed sufficient to ensure the return of the
volumes.
But all losses through lending, or fire, or pillage, were as
nothing compared with the utter ruin and destruction that over-
took the literature of England, as represented by the written
remains of its past, when the monasteries were dissolved. By
what remains we can estimate what we have lost, and lost irre-
vocably; but the full significance of this event for English literary
culture will be discussed in a later chapter.
## p. 19 (#39) ##############################################
CHAPTER III
EARLY NATIONAL POETRY
ined
THE poetry of the Old English period is generally grouped in
two main divisions, national and Christian. To the former are
assigned those poems of which the subjects are drawn from
English, or rather Teutonic, tradition and history or from the
customs and conditions of English life; to the latter those which
deal with Biblical matter, ecclesiastical traditions and religious by
subjects of definitely Christian origin. The line of demarcation
is not, of course, absolutely fixed. Most of the national poems
in their present form contain Christian elements, while English
influence often makes itself felt in the presentation of Biblical
or ecclesiastical subjects. But, on the whole, the division is a
satisfactory one, in spite of the fact that there are a certain
number of poems as to the classification of which some doubt
may be entertained.
We are concerned here only with the earlier national poems.
With one or two possible exceptions they are anonymous, and we
have no means of assigning to them with certainty even an ap-
proximate date. There can be little doubt, however, that they all
belong to times anterior to the unification of England under king
Alfred (A. D. 886). The later national poetry does not begin until
the reign of Aethelstan.
With regard to the general characteristics of these poems one
or two preliminary remarks will not be out of place. First, there is
some reason for believing that, for the most part, they are the work
of minstrels rather than of literary men. In two cases, Widsith
and Deor, we have definite statements to this effect, and from
Bede's account of Caedmon we may probably infer that the early
Christian poems had a similar origin. Indeed, it is by no means
clear that any of the poems were written down very early. Scarcely
any of the MSS date from before the tenth century and, though
they are doubtless copies, they do not betray traces of very archaic
orthography. Again, it is probable that the authors were, as a rule,
attached to the courts of kings or, at all events, to the retinues of
2–2
## p. 20 (#40) ##############################################
20
Early National Poetry
persons in high position. For this statement also we have no
positive evidence except in the cases of Widsith and Deor ; but it
is favoured by the tone of the poems. Some knowledge of music
and recitation seems, indeed, to have prevailed among all classes.
Just as in Beowulf not only Hrothgar's bard but even the king
himself is said to have taken part among others in the recitation of
stories of old time, so Bede, in the passage mentioned above, relates
how the harp was passed round at a gathering of villagers, each
one of whom was expected to produce a song. But the poems
which survived, especially epic poems, are likely to have been the
work of professional minstrels, and such persons would naturally
be attracted to courts by the richer rewards—both in gold and
land—which they received for their services. It is not only in
Old English poems that professional minstrels are mentioned.
From Cassiodorus (Variarum, II, 40 f. ) we learn that Clovis begged
Theodric, king of the Ostrogoths, to send him a skilled harpist.
Again, Priscus, in the account of his visit to Attila’, describes how,
at the evening feast, two men, whom probably we may regard as
professional minstrels, came forward and sang of the king's victories
and martial deeds. Some of the warriors, he says, had their fighting
spirit roused by the melody, while others, advanced in age, burst
into tears, lamenting the loss of their strength—a passage which
bears rather a striking resemblance to Beowulf's account of the
feast in Hrothgar's hall.
1
It is customary to classify the early national poems in two
groups, epic and elegiac. The former, if we may judge from
Beowulf, ran to very considerable length, while all the extant
specimens of the latter are quite short. There are, however, one or
two poems which can hardly be brought under either of these
heads, and it is probably due to accident that most of the shorter
poems which have come down to us are of an elegiac character.
The history of our national epic poetry is rendered obscure
by the fact that there is little elsewhere with which it may be
compared. We need not doubt that it is descended ultimately
from the songs in which the ancients were wont to celebrate deeds
of famous men, such as Arminius; but, regarding the form of these
songs, we are unfortunately without information. The early national
epic poetry of Germany is represented only by a fragment of
67 lines, while the national poetry of the north, rich as it is,
1 E. Müller, Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, sv, p. 92.
* CL Tacitus, Ann. 1, 88.
## p. 21 (#41) ##############################################
Teutonic Epic Poetry
21
contains nothing which can properly be called epic. It cannot,
therefore, be determined with certainty, whether the epos was
known to the English before the invasion or whether it arose
in this country, or, again, whether it was introduced from abroad
in later times. Yet the fact is worth noting that all the poems
of which we have any remains deal with stories relating to
continental or Scandinavian lands. Indeed, in the whole of our
early national poetry, there is no reference to persons who are
known to have lived in Britain. Kögel put forward the view that
epic poetry originated among the Goths, and that its appear-
ance in the north-west of Europe is to be traced to the harpist
who was sent to Clovis by Theodric, king of the Ostrogoths.
Yet the traditions preserved in our poems speak of professional
minstrels before the time of Clovis. The explanation of the
incident referred to may be merely that minstrelsy had attained
greater perfection among the Goths than elsewhere. Unfortunately
Gothic poetry has wholly perished.
Although definite evidence is wanting, it is commonly held that
the old Teutonic poetry was entirely strophic. Such is the case
with all the extant Old Norse poems, and there is no reason for
thinking that any other form of poetry was known in the north.
Moreover, in two of the earliest Old English poems, Widsith and
Deor, the strophes may be restored practically without alteration
of the text. An attempt has even been made to reconstruct
Beowulf in strophic form ; but this can only be carried out by
dealing with the text in a somewhat arbitrary manner. In
Beowulf, as indeed in most Old English poems, new sentences
and even new subjects begin very frequently in the middle of the
verse. The effect of this is, of course, to produce a continuous
metrical narrative, which is essentially foreign to the strophic type
of poetry. Further, it is not to be overlooked that all the strophic
poems which we possess are quite short. Even Atlamál, the
longest narrative poem in the Edda, scarcely reaches one eighth
of the length of Beowulf. According to another theory epics
were derived from strophic lays, though never actually composed
in strophic form themselves. This theory is, of course, by no means
open to such serious objections. It may be noted that, in some of
the earliest Old Norse poems, e. g. Helgakviða Hundingsbana II. ·
and Helgakviða Hiörvarðssonar, the strophes contain only speeches,
while the connecting narrative is given, quite briefly, in prose.
Such pieces might very well serve as the bases of epic poems. The
greater length of the latter may, then, be accounted for by the
## p. 22 (#42) ##############################################
22
Early National Poetry
substitution of detailed descriptions for the short prose passages,
by the introduction of episodes drawn from other sources and
perhaps also by the combination of two or more lays in one poem.
In any such process, however, the original materials must have been
largely transformed.
By far the most important product of the national epos is
Beowulf, a poem of 3183 lines, which has been preserved practically
n a MS of the tenth century, now in the British Museum.
It will be convenient at the outset to give a brief summary of its
contents.
The poem opens with a short account of the victorious Danish
king Scyld Scefing, whose obsequies are described in some detail.
His body was carried on board a ship, piled up with arms and
treasures. The ship passed out to sea, and none knew what
became of it (11. 1–52). The reigns of Scyld's son and grandson,
Beowulf and Healfdene, are quickly passed over, and we are next
brought to Hrothgar, the son of Healfdene. He builds a splendid
hall, called Heorot, in which to entertain his numerous retinue
(II. 53—100). His happiness is, however, destroyed by Grendel,
a monster sprung from Cain, who attacks the hall by night and
devours as many as thirty knights at a time. No one can with-
stand him, and, in spite of sacrificial offerings, the ball has to
remain empty (ll. 101–193). When Grendel's ravages have lasted
twelve years, Beowulf, a nephew of Hygelac, king of the Geatas,
and a man of enormous strength, determines to go to Hrothgar's
assistance. He embarks with fourteen companions and, on reaching
the Danish coast, is directed by the watchman to Hrothgar's abode
(IL. 194—319). The king, on being informed of his arrival, relates
how he had known and befriended Ecgtheow, Beowulfs father.
Beowulf states the object of his coming, and the visitors are invited
to feast (11. 320—497). During the banquet Beowulf is taunted by
Hunferth (Unferth), the king's “ orator," with having failed in a
swimming contest against a certain Breca. He replies, giving a
different version of the story, according to which he was successful
(11. 498–606). Then the queen (Wealhtheow) fills Beowulf's cup,
and he announces his determination to conquer or die. As night
draws on, the king and his retinue leave the hall to the visitors
(IL 607–665). They go to sleep, and Beowulf puts off his armour,
declaring that he will not use his sword. Grendel bursts into the
hall and devours one of the knights. Beowulf, however, seizes him
by the arm, which he tears off after a desperate struggle, and the
## p. 23 (#43) ##############################################
Beowulf: Summary of the Poem
23
monster takes to flight, mortally wounded (11. 665—833) Beowulf
displays the arm, and the Danes come to express their admiration
of his achievement. They tell stories of heroes of the past, of
Sigemund and his nephew Fitela and of the Danish prince Heremod'.
Then Hrothgar himself arrives, congratulates Beowulf on his victory
and rewards him with rich gifts (11. 834–1062). During the feast
which follows, the king's minstrel recites the story of Hnaef and
Finn (11. 1063—1159), to which we shall have to return later. The
queen comes forward and, after addressing Hrothgar together
with his nephew and colleague Hrothwulf, thanks Beowulf and
presents him with a valuable necklace (1l. 1160–1232). This neck-
lace, it is stated (U. 1202—1214), was afterwards worn by Hygelac
and fell into the bands of the Franks at his death. Hrothgar and
Beowulf now retire, but a number of knights settle down to sleep
in the hall. During the night Grendel's mother appears and
carries off Aeschere, the king's chief councillor (IL. 1233—1306).
Beowulf is summoned and the king, overwhelmed with grief, tells
him what has happened and describes the place where the monsters
were believed to dwell. Beowulf promises to exact vengeance
(11. 1306—1396). They set out for the place, a pool overshadowed
with trees, but apparently connected with the sea. Beowulf
plunges into the water and reaches a cave, where he has a
desperate encounter with the monster. Eventually he succeeds in
killing her with a sword which he finds in the cave. He then
comes upon the corpse of Grendel and cuts off its head With this
he returns to his companions, who had given him up for lost
(1L. 1397–1631). The head is brought in triumph to the palace,
and Beowulf describes his adventure. The king praises his
exploit and contrasts his spirit with that of the unfortunate prince
Heremod. From this he passes to a moralising discourse on the
evils of pride (1632–1784). On the following day Beowulf bids
farewell to the king. They part affectionately, and the king
rewards him with further gifts. Beowulf and his companions
embark and return to their own land (1785–1921). The virtues
of Hygd, the young wife of Hygelac, are praised, and she is
contrasted with Thrytho, the wife of Offa, who, in her youth, had
displayed a murderous disposition (11. 1922–1962). Beowulf
greets Hygelac and gives him an account of his adventures. Part
of his speech, however, is taken up with a subject which, except for
a casual reference in 11 83—85, has not been mentioned before,
1 For these persons cf. the Old Norse poem Hyndlulió, strophe 2, Völsunga Saga
cap. 7–10, etc.
## p. 24 (#44) ##############################################
24
Early National Poetry
namely, the relations between Hrothgar and his son-in-law Ingeld,
prince of the Heathobeardan. Ingeld's father, Froda, had been
slain by the Danes and he was constantly incited by an old
warrior to take vengeance on the son of the slayer. Then Beowulf
hands over to Hygelac and Hygd the presents which Hrothgar and
Wealhtheow had given him, and Hygelac in turn rewards him with
a sword and with a large share in the kingdom (11. 1963—2199).
A long period is now supposed to elapse. Hygelac has fallen,
and his son Heardred has been slain by the Swedes. Then
Beowulf has succeeded to the throne and reigned gloriously for
fifty years (Il. 2200—2210). In his old age the land of the Geatas
is ravaged and his own home destroyed by a fire-spitting dragon
which, after brooding for three hundred years over the treasure of
men long since dead, has had its lair robbed by a runaway slave.
Beowulf, greatly angered, resolves to attack it (IL. 2210—2349).
Now comes a digression referring to Beowulfs past exploits, in the
course of which we learn that he had escaped by swimming when
Hygelac lost his life in the land of the Frisians. On his return
Hygd offered him the throne, but he refused it in favour of the
young Heardred. The latter, however, was soon slain by the
Swedish king Onela, because he had granted asylum to his nephews,
Eanmund and Eadgils, the sons of Ohthere. Vengeance was obtained
by Beowulf later, when he supported Eadgils in a campaign which
led to the king's death (1l. 2349—2396). Beowulf now approaches
the dragon's lair. He reflects on the past history of his family.
Haethcyn, king of the Geatas, had accidentally killed his brother
Herebeald, and their father, Hrethel, died of grief in consequence.
His death was followed by war with the Swedes, in which first
Haethcyn and then the Swedish king Ongentheow (Onela's father)
were slain.
England had risen to literary pre-eminence in Europe. She took
kindly to the Latin and Greek culture brought her in the seventh
century by the Asian Theodore and the African Hadrian, scholars
learned in worldly, as well as in divine, lore, who "made this island,
once the nurse of tyrants, the constant home of philosophy? ” The
love of letters had been fostered in the north by English scholars;
by Bede's teacher, Benedict Biscop, foremost of all, who founded
the monasteries of Jarrow and Wearmouth, enriched them with
books collected by himself and, in his last days, prayed his pupils
to have a care over his library. Bede's disciple was Egbert of
York, the founder of its school and the decorator of its churches,
and Alcuin obtained his education in the cloister school of his
native city.
The seven liberal arts of the trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric)
and the quadrivium (astronomy, arithmetic, geometry, music) were
so ably taught and so admirably assimilated in the monastic
schools that, when Alcuin forsook York for the palace school of
Charles the Great, he appealed for leave to send French lads
to bring back "flowers of Britain” to Tours, from the “garden
of Paradise" in York, a "garden” described by him in often quoted
lines.
There came an end to all this when“ the Danish terror” made
a waste from the Humber to the Tyne. Northumbria had aided
Rome and Charles the Great in the service of letters while the rest
of Europe, save Ireland, had little to show, and now men were
too busy fighting for home and freedom to think of letters. It was
not until the days of Alfred that the tide began again to turn from
i William of Malmesbury, 1, 12.
· Poema de Pontificibus et Sanctis Ecclesiae Eboracensis.
## p. 6 (#26) ###############################################
The Beginnings
continental to English shores, becoming a flood-tide when the
second invasion of Northmen added a Norman strain to English
blood.
The literature of the beginnings in England, therefore, appears
to be the literature of its successive conquerors : English ousting
Briton, Christian suppressing Pagan, Norman over-ruling English.
For a time, the works of Englishmen have to be sought in Latin ;
for certain periods of civil struggle, of defeat, of serfdom, they
cannot be found at all. But the literary spirit revives, having
assimilated the foreign elements and conquered the conquerors.
The “natural magic" of the Celtic mind, the Christian spirit which
brought Greece and Rome in its train and “the matter of France"
have all three become part of the Englishman's intellectual
heritage.
## p. 7 (#27) ###############################################
CHAPTER II
RUNES AND MANUSCRIPTS
WHEN the English still lived in their continental homes they
shared with the neighbouring kindred tribes an alphabet which
may well be described as the national Germanic alphabet, since
there is evidence that it was used throughout the Germanic
territory, both in the outposts of Scandinavia and in the countries
watered by the Rhine and the Danube. The origin of this early
script is obscure; some writers hold that it was borrowed from
the Latin alphabet, whereas others think that it was of Greek
origin. From its wide use amongst the Germanic tribes, we must,
perforce, conclude that it was of considerable antiquity, at all
events older than the earliest Scandinavian inscriptions, which, in
all probability, go back as far as the third century of our era.
That it was used in the fourth century is proved since, at that
time, Ulfilas, bishop of the West Goths, had borrowed from it the
signs of u and o for his newly-constructed alphabet. Moreover,
there can be no doubt that the Goths must have brought the
knowledge of it from their early homes in the north before the
great wave of the Hunnish invasion swept them away from kith
and kindred, finally setting them down on the shores of the Danube
and the Black Sea.
The name of these early Germanic characters seems also to have
been the same amongst all the tribes. Its Old English form, rún,
differs little from the corresponding early German or Scandinavian
forms, and the meaning of the word (mystery, secret, secret
counsel) seems also widely spread. This word lived on through
Middle English times, and a derivative rúnian appears in Shake-
speare as roun or round (a form still retained in the expression
"to round in one's ear"). The separate letters were known as
rúnstafas and the interpretation of them as réédan, which, in
modern English, still lives on in the expression “ to read a riddle. ”
The runes were, in all probability, originally carved in wood,
and sometimes filled in with red paint to make them more dis-
tinct. The technical term for this cutting or engraving is, in Old
## p. 8 (#28) ###############################################
Runes and Manuscripts
English, writan, which, in its transferred meaning of “to write"
has survived to the present day. The wood was fashioned into
tablets or staves, as we learn from the well-known lines of
Venantius Fortunatus, a writer of the sixth century, who refers?
to the barbaric rune as being painted on tablets of ashwood
or smooth sticks. Such a tablet was originally called bóc (a
tablet of beechwood), and may be regarded as the ancestor, in a
double sense, of the modern word "book. ” Other materials used
were metal, principally in the form of weapons, coins, rings and
other ornaments, household and other implements; drinking-horns
were often adorned with runic inscriptions, and runes have also been
found on smaller objects of horn and bone. Moreover, in England
and Scandinavia there occur runic inscriptions on stone monuments,
and there are also some which have been hewn out of rocks.
Parchment seems to have been introduced at a late period, and, of
the few manuscripts remaining entirely written in runes, none go
back further than the thirteenth century.
There is considerable uncertainty as to the earliest purpose of
the runes, whether they were originally used as real characters of
writing, or, as the name suggests, as mystical signs, bearers of potent
magic. But, since the power and force of the spoken word easily
pass into the symbol for which it stands, it is not improbable that
the latter meaning is secondary, the spell becoming, so to speak,
materialised in the graven letter, and, even in this form, retaining
all its original power for good or evil. For the earliest Germanic
literature abounds in proofs of the magic nature of runes; from the
Edda poems down to the latest folk-songs of the present day there
is continuous evidence of their mystic influence over mankind.
Runes could raise the dead from their graves; they could preserve
life or take it, they could heal the sick or bring on lingering
disease; they could call forth the soft rain or the violent hailstorm;
they could break chains and shackles or bind more closely than
bonds or fetters; they could make the warrior invincible and
cause his sword to inflict none but mortal wounds; they could
produce frenzy and madness or defend from the deceit of a false
friend. Their origin was, moreover, believed to be divine, since
Odin is represented in the Edda as sacrificing himself in order
to learn their use and hidden wisdom. Odin was also the greatest
“rune-master” of the ancient Germanic world, and Saxo relates ?
how the god sometimes stooped to use them for purposes of
- personal revenge. A cold-hearted maiden who rejected his suit he
1 Carm. VII, 18, 19.
· Ed. Holder, p. 79.
## p. 9 (#29) ###############################################
Use of Runes
touched with a piece of bark, whereon spells were written. This
made her mad; but, according to Saxo, it was “a gentle revenge to
take for all the insults he had received. " Saxo also relates? a
gruesome tale how, by means of spells engraved on wood, and
placed under the tongue of a dead man, he was forced to utter
strains terrible to hear, and to reveal the no less terrible secrets
of the future. In the Icelandic Sagas, references to the super-
natural power of the runes are equally explicit. In the Saga
of Egill Skallagrímsson, who lived in the tenth century, it is told
how a maiden's illness had been increased because the would be
healer, through ignorance, cut the wrong runes, and thus
endangered her life. Egill destroys the spell by cutting off the
runes and burning the shavings in the fire; he then slips under
the maiden's pillow the staff whereon he had cut the true healing
runes. Immediately the maiden recovers.
Side by side with the early magic use of runes there is also
clear evidence that, at an earlier period, they served as a means of
communication, secret or otherwise. Saxo relates, in this respect? ,
how Amlethus (Hamlet) travelled to England accompanied by two
retainers, to whom was entrusted a secret letter graven on wood,
which, as Saxo remarks, was a kind of writing-material frequently
used in olden times. In the Egilssaga mentioned above, Egill
Skallagrímsson's daughter Thorgerðr is reported to have engraved,
on the rúnakefli or “runic staff,” the beautiful poem Sunatorrek,
in which her aged father laments the death of his son, the last of
his race.
These few instances, taken from amongst a great number, prove
that runes played an important part in the thoughts and lives of
the various Germanic tribes. The greater number of runic in-
scriptions which have come down to our times, and by far the most
important, are those engraved on stone monuments. Some of these
merely bear the name of a fallen warrior, while others commemorate
his exploits, his death, or his life as a whole. These inscriptions on
stones and rocks occur only in England and Scandinavia, from
which fact we may, perhaps, infer that this use of runes was a
comparatively late development. Some of the very earliest extant
inscriptions may be regarded as English, since they are found either
within Angeln, the ancient home of the nation, for instance, those
of Torsbjaerg,-or not far from that district.
From what has been said, it is clear that the English, on their
arrival in this island, must have been conversant with their national
1 Ed. Holder, p. 22.
? Ed. Holder, p. 92.
## p. 10 (#30) ##############################################
IO
Runes and Manuscripts
alphabet, and the various uses thereof. It may be worth while to
examine somewhat more closely its original form and the changes
which it underwent after the migration. In its early Germanic
form the runic alphabet consisted of twenty-four signs, usually
arranged in three sets of eight which, from their respective initial
· letters, bore in Old Norse the names of Freyr, Hagall and Týr.
The alphabet itself is generally known as the fupark from the first
six of its letters. Each rune had a name of its own, and a well-
defined place in the alphabet. The order is specifically Germanic,
and can be ascertained from old alphabets found on a gold coin at
Vadstena in Sweden, and on a silver-gilt clasp dug up at Charnay
in Burgundy. After the migration and subsequent isolation of the
English, it became necessary, in course of time, to modify the early
alphabet and to make it more conformable with the changing
. sounds of the language. Four new signs were added, and some of
the older ones modified in order to represent the altered value
of the sounds. Thus there arose a specifically Old English alphabet
of which not less than three specimens have been preserved. One
of these is on a small sword found in the Thames and now in the
British Museum; another is contained in the Salzburg manuscript
140 of the tenth century, now at Vienna; the third occurs in an
Old English runic song. The last two, moreover, present the
names of the runes in their Old English form. Apart from the
standard English type found in the above-mentioned three alpha-
bets, a local Norwegian variety, of a far simpler character, was
current in the Isle of Man, as appears from certain Norse inscrip-
tions there, dating from the latter half of the eleventh century.
It is, however, difficult to determine in what manner and to
what extent runes were used by the English settlers, for here the
evidence is by no means as abundant and explicit as in the far
| north. ' Christianity was introduced into England at an early
period, centuries before it was brought to distant Scandinavia, and
the new religion laboured, and laboured successfully, to eradicate
all traces of practices and beliefs that smacked of the devil, with
which potentate the heathen gods soon came to be identified.
Nevertheless, we have some evidence, which, despite its scanti-
ness, speaks eloquently enough of the tenacity of old beliefs, and
the slow lingering of superstition. Bede furnishes us with a
striking proof that the English, at a comparatively late date,
believed in the magic properties of runes. In his Historia
Ecclesiastica (IV, 22) he relates the fate of a nobleman called
Imma, who was made a prisoner in the battle between Ecgfrith,
## p. 11 (#31) ##############################################
Use of Runes.
II
king of Northumbria, and Aethelred, king of Mercia, A. D. 679,
and whose fetters fell off whenever his brother, who thought
him dead, celebrated mass for the release of his soul. His
captor, however, who knew nothing about the prayers, wondered
greatly, and inquired whether the prisoner had on him litterae
solutoriae, that is, letters which had the power of loosening bonds ? .
Again, in Beowulf (1. 591), a person who broached a theme of con-,
tention is said to "unbind the runes of war. ” In the poem called
Daniel (l. 741), the mysterious and terrible writing on the wall of
Belshazzar's palace is described as a rune. In the Dialogue of
Salomon and Saturn there is a curious travesty of an old
heathen spell. In treating of the powers and virtues of the Pater
Noster, the poet gradually inserts all the runes that serve to make
up the prayer, each, however, being accompanied by the corre-
sponding Latin capital letter. Thereupon he advises every man
to sing the Pater Noster before drawing his sword against a
hostile band of men, and also to put the fiends to flight by means
of God's word; otherwise they will stay his hand when he has
to defend his life, and bewitch his weapon by cutting on it fatal
letters and death signs. We could scarcely wish for a better
illustration of the way in which Christianity combated the old
beliefs, substituting the Pater Noster for the ancient heathen war-
spell, reading a new meaning into the old rites and shifting to
fiends and devils the power of making runes of victory or of death,
a power formerly in the hands of pagan gods.
When used as ordinary writing characters, without any taint of
magic, runes appear to have met with more tolerant treatment.
The earliest inscriptions extant in this country consist mainly
of proper names, in most cases those of the owners of the engraved
article. The Thames sword, for instance, bears, in addition to the
runic alphabet, the name of its owner, Beagnop. Again, Beowulf
is represented as finding in Grendel's cave a sword of ancient work-
manship, with rune-staves on the hilt, giving the name of the warrior
for whom the sword had first been made. Similarly, an eighth
century ring bears, partly in runic, partly in Roman, characters, the
legend “Æpred owns me, Eanred engraved me. " There are also
references in Old English literature to the use of runes as a
means of communication. We are reminded of the rúna-kefli of
the Icelandic sagas on reading the little poem called The Husband's .
* The Old English version renders this by alysendlecan rúne, “ loosening runes. "
» Ed. Kemble, pp. 14 and 99.
## p. 12 (#32) ##############################################
I 2
Runes and Manuscripts
Message (see p. 39), where a staff, inscribed with runes, is supposed
to convey to a wife the message of her lord, bidding her cross the
sea in search of the distant country where he had found gold and
land. But still more important are those inscriptions which have
actually survived and which are mainly found on stone monuments.
They are confined almost exclusively to the north, and the greater
number of them belong to the seventh and eighth centuries, for
absolutely no inscriptions have survived from the first one hundred
and fifty years subsequent to the English invasion. These inscrip-
tions are almost all due to Christian influence. Chief among these
monuments, so far as English literature is concerned, are the
Ruthwell Cross in Dumfriesshire, possibly dating back to the
eighth century? , on which are inscribed extracts from The Dream
of the Rood, and the Bewcastle Column in Cumberland, probably
erected to the memory of Alchfrith, son of the Northumbrian
king Oswy (642–670).
Runic inscriptions have, moreover, been discovered on coins
and various other objects, the most important being the beautiful
Clermont or Franks casket. The top and three of the sides are
now in the British Museum, the fourth side is in the Museo
Nazionale at Florence. The casket is made of whalebone, and
the scenes carved on it represent an episode from the Weland-
saga, the adoration of the Magi, Romulus and Remus nursed by
the she-wolf and, lastly, a fight between Titus and the Jews. The
carving on the Florence fragment is still unexplained. The legends
engraved around these episodes are intended to represent the
capture of the whale and to elucidate the carving. On linguistic
grounds it has been thought probable that the casket was made
in Northumbria at the beginning of the eighth century.
In several Old English MSS, runes are found in isolated cases,
for instance in Beowulf, and in the Durham Ritual. In the riddles
of the Exeter Book the occasional introduction of runes sometimes
helps to solve the mystery of the enigma, and sometimes increases
the obscurity of the passage. Occasionally a poet or scribe will
< record his name by means of a runic acrostic introduced into the
4. text. Thus, the poems Crist, Juliana, Elene and the Vercelli
fragment. bear the runic signature of their author, Cynewulf.
Runes went out of use during the ninth and tenth centuries.
Their place had, however, been usurped long before that period by
the Roman alphabet, which the English received from the early
1 But see A. S. Cook, The Dream of the Rood, Oxford, 1905, pp. ix ft.
? Napier, English Misc. p. 380.
## p. 13 (#33) ##############################################
Roman Alphabet in England
13
Irish missionaries. The advent of Christianity and the beginnings
of English literature are intimately connected, for the missionary
and the Roman alphabet travelled together, and it was owing to
the Christian scribe that the songs and sagas, the laws and customs,
the faith and the proverbial wisdom of our forefathers, were first
recorded and preserved. It is, indeed, difficult to realise that,
before the conversion of the English to Christianity, during the
sixth and seventh centuries, the whole, or, at all events, by far the
greater part, of the intellectual wealth of the nation was to be
sought on the lips of the people, or in the retentive memory of
the individual, and was handed down from generation to generation
by means of song and recitation. Caesar relates ? how this was the
case in Gaul, where the accumulated wisdom of the Druids, their
religion and their laws, were transmitted by oral tradition alone,
since they were forbidden to put any part of their lore into writing,
although, for other purposes, the Greek alphabet was used. What
wonder if the young Gauls who served their apprenticeship to the
Druids had, as Caesar says, to learn "a great number of verses,”
and often to stay as long as twenty years before they had exhausted
their instructors' store of learning.
Before entering, however, on the history of the Irish alphabet
in England, it may be of interest to note that an even earlier
attempt had been made to introduce Roman characters among
the English. This was due to the efforts of Augustine and his
missionaries, who established a school of handwriting in the south
of England, with Canterbury as a probable centre. A Psalter
of about A. D. 700, now in the Cottonian collection of the British
Museum, and a few early copies of charters constitute, however,
the only evidence of its existence that survives. From these we
learn that the type of alphabet taught was the Roman rustic
capital, though of a somewhat modified local character. This
paucity of records makes it seem likely that the school of the
Roman missionaries had but a brief period of existence, and
wholly failed to influence the native hand.
Not so, however, with the Irish school of writing in the north.
The Irish alphabet was founded on the Roman half-uncial hand,
manuscripts of this type having been brought over to Ireland
by missionaries, perhaps during the fifth century. Owing to the
isolated position of the island and the consequent absence of
extraneous influence, a strongly characteristic national hand de-
veloped, which ran its uninterrupted course down to the late
1 De Bello Gallico, v, 14.
## p. 14 (#34) ##############################################
14
Runes and Manuscripts
Middle Ages. This hand was at first round in character and of
great clearness, beauty and precision; but, at an early period, a
modified, pointed variety of a minuscule type developed out of it,
used for quicker and less ornamental writing.
In the seventh century Northumbria was Christianised by Irish
missionaries, who founded monasteries and religious settlements
throughout the north. What, then, more natural than that these
zealous preachers of the Word should teach their disciples not only
the Word itself, but also how to write it down in characters
pleasing to the Almighty, and not in rude and uncouth signs which
conveyed all the power and magic of the heathen gods? Thus it
came to pass that the English of the north learnt the exquisite
penmanship of the Irish, and proved themselves such apt pupils
that they soon equalled their former masters. In fact, the earliest
specimens of the Northumbrian hand can scarcely be distinguished
from their Irish models.
In course of time, moreover, the English threw off the con-
ventions and restraints which fettered the Irish hand and developed
a truly national hand, which spread throughout England, and which,
in grace of outline and correctness of stroke, even surpassed its
prototype.
As might have been expected, the English adopted both the
round and pointed varieties of their Irish teachers. One of the
earliest and most beautiful examples of the former is The Book of
Durham or The Lindisfarne Gospels', written about A. D. 700 by
Eadfrith, bishop of Lindisfarne. And, as a specimen of the latter,
may be mentioned a fine copy of Bede's Ecclesiastical History
in the University Library of Cambridge, written not long after 730,
which possesses an additional interest as preserving one of the
earliest pieces of poetry in the English language, The Hymn of
Caedmon, in the original Northumbrian dialect. The pointed
hand branched off into a number of local varieties and was
extensively used down to the tenth century, when it became
influenced by the French or Carolingian minuscule. Towards
the end of the century all Latin MSS were, as a matter of
fact, written in foreign characters, whereas the English hand
came to be exclusively used for writing in the vernacular. For
instance, a Latin charter would have the body of the text in the
French minuscule, but the English descriptions or boundaries of
the property to be conveyed would be written in the native hand.
After the conquest, the native hand gradually disappeared, the
Brit. Mus. Cotton Nero, D. 4.
## p. 15 (#35) ##############################################
Materials for Writing
15
only traces of it left being the adoption by the foreign alphabets
of the symbols P, 3, Þ (/) to express the peculiarly English sounds
for which they stood. The rune p, however, fell into disuse about
the beginning of the fourteenth century, its place having been
taken by uu (vv) or w; while 8 (th) occurs occasionally as late as
the end of the same century. Of far superior vitality were p and 3,
the former bearing a charmed life throughout Middle English
times, though, in the fifteenth century and later, þ often appeared
in the degenerated form of y, while 3 was retained in order to
represent spirant sounds, afterwards denoted by y or gh.
During the late twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the
history of English handwriting was practically that of the various
Latin hands of the French school. The fifteenth century finally
witnessed the dissolution of the medieval book-hand of the
minuscule type, the many varieties of it being apparent in the
types used by the early printers. The legal or charter-hand,
introduced with the Conquest, was, however, not superseded by
the printing-presses, but ran an undisturbed though ever varying
course down to the seventeenth century, when its place was taken
by the modern current hand, fashioned on Italian models. A late
variety still lingers on, however, in the so-called chancery-hand
seen in the engraved writing of enrolments and patents.
Turning to the materials used for writing in medieval England,
we gain at once a connecting link with the runic alphabet, since the
wooden tablet, the bóc, again appears, though in a somewhat
different fashion. A thin coating of wax was now spread over the
surface, and the writing was scratched on it with a pointed instru- -
ment of metal or bone which, in Old English, was known as graef.
and, in the later centuries, by the French term poyntel. The use -
of these tablets was widely spread in the Middle Ages ; they
served for the school-boy's exercises and for bills and memoranda
of every description, for short letters and rough copies—for any-
thing that was afterwards to be copied out, more carefully, on
vellum. In German illuminated MSS poets are represented as
writing their songs and poems on waxen tablets, and, as early as the
sixth century, The Rule of St Benet makes provision for the
distribution of tablets and styles to monks. There is, also, evidence
of the use of these tablets by Irish monks, who, it may be supposed,
would introduce them to their English pupils. And, consequently,
we find that Aldhelm, who died in 709, writes a riddle of which
the answer is “tablet”-a fact which presupposes a knowledge
of the existence of tablets among his contemporaries. Again, in
## p. 16 (#36) ##############################################
16
Runes and Manuscripts
Ethelwold's Benedictionale of the tenth century, Zacharias (Luke,
i, 3) is represented as writing on a waxen tablet?
In the twelfth century we learn concerning Anselm, archbishop
of Canterbury (+1109), that he was in the habit of making the first
sketch of his works on waxen tablets; and, in The Canterbury
Tales, Chaucer relates how the summoner's "fellow" had "a pair of
tables all of ivory, and a poyntel ypolished fetisly. ”
Far more important, practical and durable as writing material,
however, was parchment or vellum, the use of which prevailed
throughout the Middle Ages.
The Old English name for this was
bóc-fel, literally "book-skin," replaced in Middle English by the
French terms parchment and velin (vellum). These terms, origin-
ally, were not interchangeable, vellum being, as its name indicates,
prepared from calf-skins, parchment from sheep-skins.
At first, the evidence goes to show that monasteries had to
prepare their own parchment, either by the help of the monks
themselves or of laymen engaged for the purpose. Later, how-
ever, the parchment-makers took their place as ordinary crafts-
men, and supplied religious and other houses with the necessary
material. Thus we find that, in the year 1300, Ely bought five
dozen parchments and as many vellums, and, about half a century
later, no less than seventy and thirty dozen respectively, in order
to supply the want of writing material for a few years only. Vellum
was, at times, magnificently coloured, the text being, in such cases,
inscribed in letters of gold or silver. The most famous example
- is the Codec argenteus at Upsala Archbishop Wilfrid of York
(664–709) is said to have possessed the four Gospels written
on purple vellum in letters of purest gold, a fact which his
biographer records as little short of the marvellous. In the British
Museum there remains to this day an Old English MS of the
Gospels, the first leaves of which are written in golden letters on
purple vellum.
Apart from these éditions de luxe which, naturally, must have
been of enormous cost, ordinary working parchment was a very
expensive writing material, and it is small wonder if, on that
account, it gradually had to give way before a new and less costly
material. It appears that, from times immemorial, the manufac-
ture of paper from linen rags and hemp was known to the Chinese,
1 Archaeol. XXIV, pl. 27.
: From Hamlet, v, 1 it appears, however, as if Shakespeare was unaware of this
difference: “Is not parchment made of sheep-skins? ”—“Ay, my lord, and of calf-skins
too. "
• Royal, 1, E. 6.
## p. 17 (#37) ##############################################
Manuscripts and Scribes 17
who, apparently, taught their art to the Arabs, since paper was
exported by that pation at an early date. In the twelfth century,
paper was known in Spain and Italy, and thence it spread slowly
northwards, though it did not come into more general use until
the fourteenth century. In the fifteenth century, paper manuscripts
were very frequent in England, as can be assumed from the great
number still remaining in public and private libraries.
For writing, both on parchment and on paper, the quill was
used, known in Old English times as feder, in Middle English by
the French term penne. The existence of the quill as an imple-
ment of writing is proved by one of the oldest Irish MSS, where
St John the Evangelist is represented holding a quill in his hand.
Again, Aldhelm has a riddle on penna, in the same way as he had
one on the tablet. Other necessary implements for writing and
preparing a MS were a lead for ruling margins and lines, a ruler,
a pair of compasses, scissors, a puncher, an awl, a scraping-knife
and, last, but not least, ink, which was usually kept in a horn, either
held in the hand by the scribe, or placed in a specially provided
hole in his desk. In Old English times it was known, from its
colour, as blaec, but, after the Conquest, the French term enque, our
modern English ink, was adopted. The terms horne and ink-horne
are both found in old glossaries.
When the body of the text was finally ready, the sheets were
passed to the corrector, who filled the office of the modern proof-
reader, and from him to the rubricator, who inserted, in more or
less elaborate designs, and in striking colours, the rubrics and
initials for which space had been left by the scribe. The pieces
of parchment were then passed to the binder, who, as a rule,
placed four on each other and then folded them, the result being a
quire of eight leaves or sixteen pages. The binding was generally
strong and solid in character: leather was used for the back and
wooden boards for the sides, which were usually covered with
parchment or leather or velvet. Thus was established the form
and fashion of the book as we know it, whether written or printed.
Beside the book-form, parchment was also made up into rolls,
which were especially used for chronological writings and deeds of
various kinds? .
The men who wrote both roll and book, and to whose patience
and devotion we owe much of our knowledge of the times gone by,
were, at first, the monks themselves; it being held that copying,
especially of devotional books, was a work pleasing to God and one
Cf. the term "Master of the Rolls. "
E. L. I. CII. II.
2
## p. 18 (#38) ##############################################
18
Runes and Manuscripts
of the best possible ways in which men, separated from the world,
could labour.
Gradually, however, there grew up a professional class of
scribes, whose services could be hired for money, and who can be
proved to have been employed at an early period in the monasteries
of England and abroad. Nuns were also well versed in writing.
Moreover, where schools were attached to monasteries the alumni
were early pressed into service, at all events to copy out books
needed for their own instruction.
The cloister was the centre of life in the monastery, and in the
cloister was the workshop of the patient scribe. It is hard to
realise that the fair and seemly handwriting of these manuscripts
was executed by fingers which, on winter days, when the wind
howled through the cloisters, must have been numbed by the icy
cold. It is true that, occasionally, little carrells or studies in
the recesses of the windows were screened off from the main walk
of the cloister, and, sometimes, a small room or cell would be
partitioned off for the use of a single scribe. This room would
then be called the scriptorium, but it is unlikely that any save the
oldest or most learned of the community were afforded this luxury.
In these scriptoria of various kinds the earliest annals and chronicles
in the English language were penned, in the beautiful and pains-
taking forms in which we know them.
There is no evidence for the existence of buildings specially
set apart for libraries until the later Middle Ages. Books were
stored in presses, placed either in the church or in convenient
places within the monastic buildings. These presses were then
added to as need arose, or, perhaps, a small room was set apart
for the better preserving of the precious volumes. Books were
frequently lost through the widespread system of lending both
to private persons and to communities, and, though bonds were
solemnly entered into for their safe return, neither anathema
nor heavy pledges seemed sufficient to ensure the return of the
volumes.
But all losses through lending, or fire, or pillage, were as
nothing compared with the utter ruin and destruction that over-
took the literature of England, as represented by the written
remains of its past, when the monasteries were dissolved. By
what remains we can estimate what we have lost, and lost irre-
vocably; but the full significance of this event for English literary
culture will be discussed in a later chapter.
## p. 19 (#39) ##############################################
CHAPTER III
EARLY NATIONAL POETRY
ined
THE poetry of the Old English period is generally grouped in
two main divisions, national and Christian. To the former are
assigned those poems of which the subjects are drawn from
English, or rather Teutonic, tradition and history or from the
customs and conditions of English life; to the latter those which
deal with Biblical matter, ecclesiastical traditions and religious by
subjects of definitely Christian origin. The line of demarcation
is not, of course, absolutely fixed. Most of the national poems
in their present form contain Christian elements, while English
influence often makes itself felt in the presentation of Biblical
or ecclesiastical subjects. But, on the whole, the division is a
satisfactory one, in spite of the fact that there are a certain
number of poems as to the classification of which some doubt
may be entertained.
We are concerned here only with the earlier national poems.
With one or two possible exceptions they are anonymous, and we
have no means of assigning to them with certainty even an ap-
proximate date. There can be little doubt, however, that they all
belong to times anterior to the unification of England under king
Alfred (A. D. 886). The later national poetry does not begin until
the reign of Aethelstan.
With regard to the general characteristics of these poems one
or two preliminary remarks will not be out of place. First, there is
some reason for believing that, for the most part, they are the work
of minstrels rather than of literary men. In two cases, Widsith
and Deor, we have definite statements to this effect, and from
Bede's account of Caedmon we may probably infer that the early
Christian poems had a similar origin. Indeed, it is by no means
clear that any of the poems were written down very early. Scarcely
any of the MSS date from before the tenth century and, though
they are doubtless copies, they do not betray traces of very archaic
orthography. Again, it is probable that the authors were, as a rule,
attached to the courts of kings or, at all events, to the retinues of
2–2
## p. 20 (#40) ##############################################
20
Early National Poetry
persons in high position. For this statement also we have no
positive evidence except in the cases of Widsith and Deor ; but it
is favoured by the tone of the poems. Some knowledge of music
and recitation seems, indeed, to have prevailed among all classes.
Just as in Beowulf not only Hrothgar's bard but even the king
himself is said to have taken part among others in the recitation of
stories of old time, so Bede, in the passage mentioned above, relates
how the harp was passed round at a gathering of villagers, each
one of whom was expected to produce a song. But the poems
which survived, especially epic poems, are likely to have been the
work of professional minstrels, and such persons would naturally
be attracted to courts by the richer rewards—both in gold and
land—which they received for their services. It is not only in
Old English poems that professional minstrels are mentioned.
From Cassiodorus (Variarum, II, 40 f. ) we learn that Clovis begged
Theodric, king of the Ostrogoths, to send him a skilled harpist.
Again, Priscus, in the account of his visit to Attila’, describes how,
at the evening feast, two men, whom probably we may regard as
professional minstrels, came forward and sang of the king's victories
and martial deeds. Some of the warriors, he says, had their fighting
spirit roused by the melody, while others, advanced in age, burst
into tears, lamenting the loss of their strength—a passage which
bears rather a striking resemblance to Beowulf's account of the
feast in Hrothgar's hall.
1
It is customary to classify the early national poems in two
groups, epic and elegiac. The former, if we may judge from
Beowulf, ran to very considerable length, while all the extant
specimens of the latter are quite short. There are, however, one or
two poems which can hardly be brought under either of these
heads, and it is probably due to accident that most of the shorter
poems which have come down to us are of an elegiac character.
The history of our national epic poetry is rendered obscure
by the fact that there is little elsewhere with which it may be
compared. We need not doubt that it is descended ultimately
from the songs in which the ancients were wont to celebrate deeds
of famous men, such as Arminius; but, regarding the form of these
songs, we are unfortunately without information. The early national
epic poetry of Germany is represented only by a fragment of
67 lines, while the national poetry of the north, rich as it is,
1 E. Müller, Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, sv, p. 92.
* CL Tacitus, Ann. 1, 88.
## p. 21 (#41) ##############################################
Teutonic Epic Poetry
21
contains nothing which can properly be called epic. It cannot,
therefore, be determined with certainty, whether the epos was
known to the English before the invasion or whether it arose
in this country, or, again, whether it was introduced from abroad
in later times. Yet the fact is worth noting that all the poems
of which we have any remains deal with stories relating to
continental or Scandinavian lands. Indeed, in the whole of our
early national poetry, there is no reference to persons who are
known to have lived in Britain. Kögel put forward the view that
epic poetry originated among the Goths, and that its appear-
ance in the north-west of Europe is to be traced to the harpist
who was sent to Clovis by Theodric, king of the Ostrogoths.
Yet the traditions preserved in our poems speak of professional
minstrels before the time of Clovis. The explanation of the
incident referred to may be merely that minstrelsy had attained
greater perfection among the Goths than elsewhere. Unfortunately
Gothic poetry has wholly perished.
Although definite evidence is wanting, it is commonly held that
the old Teutonic poetry was entirely strophic. Such is the case
with all the extant Old Norse poems, and there is no reason for
thinking that any other form of poetry was known in the north.
Moreover, in two of the earliest Old English poems, Widsith and
Deor, the strophes may be restored practically without alteration
of the text. An attempt has even been made to reconstruct
Beowulf in strophic form ; but this can only be carried out by
dealing with the text in a somewhat arbitrary manner. In
Beowulf, as indeed in most Old English poems, new sentences
and even new subjects begin very frequently in the middle of the
verse. The effect of this is, of course, to produce a continuous
metrical narrative, which is essentially foreign to the strophic type
of poetry. Further, it is not to be overlooked that all the strophic
poems which we possess are quite short. Even Atlamál, the
longest narrative poem in the Edda, scarcely reaches one eighth
of the length of Beowulf. According to another theory epics
were derived from strophic lays, though never actually composed
in strophic form themselves. This theory is, of course, by no means
open to such serious objections. It may be noted that, in some of
the earliest Old Norse poems, e. g. Helgakviða Hundingsbana II. ·
and Helgakviða Hiörvarðssonar, the strophes contain only speeches,
while the connecting narrative is given, quite briefly, in prose.
Such pieces might very well serve as the bases of epic poems. The
greater length of the latter may, then, be accounted for by the
## p. 22 (#42) ##############################################
22
Early National Poetry
substitution of detailed descriptions for the short prose passages,
by the introduction of episodes drawn from other sources and
perhaps also by the combination of two or more lays in one poem.
In any such process, however, the original materials must have been
largely transformed.
By far the most important product of the national epos is
Beowulf, a poem of 3183 lines, which has been preserved practically
n a MS of the tenth century, now in the British Museum.
It will be convenient at the outset to give a brief summary of its
contents.
The poem opens with a short account of the victorious Danish
king Scyld Scefing, whose obsequies are described in some detail.
His body was carried on board a ship, piled up with arms and
treasures. The ship passed out to sea, and none knew what
became of it (11. 1–52). The reigns of Scyld's son and grandson,
Beowulf and Healfdene, are quickly passed over, and we are next
brought to Hrothgar, the son of Healfdene. He builds a splendid
hall, called Heorot, in which to entertain his numerous retinue
(II. 53—100). His happiness is, however, destroyed by Grendel,
a monster sprung from Cain, who attacks the hall by night and
devours as many as thirty knights at a time. No one can with-
stand him, and, in spite of sacrificial offerings, the ball has to
remain empty (ll. 101–193). When Grendel's ravages have lasted
twelve years, Beowulf, a nephew of Hygelac, king of the Geatas,
and a man of enormous strength, determines to go to Hrothgar's
assistance. He embarks with fourteen companions and, on reaching
the Danish coast, is directed by the watchman to Hrothgar's abode
(IL. 194—319). The king, on being informed of his arrival, relates
how he had known and befriended Ecgtheow, Beowulfs father.
Beowulf states the object of his coming, and the visitors are invited
to feast (11. 320—497). During the banquet Beowulf is taunted by
Hunferth (Unferth), the king's “ orator," with having failed in a
swimming contest against a certain Breca. He replies, giving a
different version of the story, according to which he was successful
(11. 498–606). Then the queen (Wealhtheow) fills Beowulf's cup,
and he announces his determination to conquer or die. As night
draws on, the king and his retinue leave the hall to the visitors
(IL 607–665). They go to sleep, and Beowulf puts off his armour,
declaring that he will not use his sword. Grendel bursts into the
hall and devours one of the knights. Beowulf, however, seizes him
by the arm, which he tears off after a desperate struggle, and the
## p. 23 (#43) ##############################################
Beowulf: Summary of the Poem
23
monster takes to flight, mortally wounded (11. 665—833) Beowulf
displays the arm, and the Danes come to express their admiration
of his achievement. They tell stories of heroes of the past, of
Sigemund and his nephew Fitela and of the Danish prince Heremod'.
Then Hrothgar himself arrives, congratulates Beowulf on his victory
and rewards him with rich gifts (11. 834–1062). During the feast
which follows, the king's minstrel recites the story of Hnaef and
Finn (11. 1063—1159), to which we shall have to return later. The
queen comes forward and, after addressing Hrothgar together
with his nephew and colleague Hrothwulf, thanks Beowulf and
presents him with a valuable necklace (1l. 1160–1232). This neck-
lace, it is stated (U. 1202—1214), was afterwards worn by Hygelac
and fell into the bands of the Franks at his death. Hrothgar and
Beowulf now retire, but a number of knights settle down to sleep
in the hall. During the night Grendel's mother appears and
carries off Aeschere, the king's chief councillor (IL. 1233—1306).
Beowulf is summoned and the king, overwhelmed with grief, tells
him what has happened and describes the place where the monsters
were believed to dwell. Beowulf promises to exact vengeance
(11. 1306—1396). They set out for the place, a pool overshadowed
with trees, but apparently connected with the sea. Beowulf
plunges into the water and reaches a cave, where he has a
desperate encounter with the monster. Eventually he succeeds in
killing her with a sword which he finds in the cave. He then
comes upon the corpse of Grendel and cuts off its head With this
he returns to his companions, who had given him up for lost
(1L. 1397–1631). The head is brought in triumph to the palace,
and Beowulf describes his adventure. The king praises his
exploit and contrasts his spirit with that of the unfortunate prince
Heremod. From this he passes to a moralising discourse on the
evils of pride (1632–1784). On the following day Beowulf bids
farewell to the king. They part affectionately, and the king
rewards him with further gifts. Beowulf and his companions
embark and return to their own land (1785–1921). The virtues
of Hygd, the young wife of Hygelac, are praised, and she is
contrasted with Thrytho, the wife of Offa, who, in her youth, had
displayed a murderous disposition (11. 1922–1962). Beowulf
greets Hygelac and gives him an account of his adventures. Part
of his speech, however, is taken up with a subject which, except for
a casual reference in 11 83—85, has not been mentioned before,
1 For these persons cf. the Old Norse poem Hyndlulió, strophe 2, Völsunga Saga
cap. 7–10, etc.
## p. 24 (#44) ##############################################
24
Early National Poetry
namely, the relations between Hrothgar and his son-in-law Ingeld,
prince of the Heathobeardan. Ingeld's father, Froda, had been
slain by the Danes and he was constantly incited by an old
warrior to take vengeance on the son of the slayer. Then Beowulf
hands over to Hygelac and Hygd the presents which Hrothgar and
Wealhtheow had given him, and Hygelac in turn rewards him with
a sword and with a large share in the kingdom (11. 1963—2199).
A long period is now supposed to elapse. Hygelac has fallen,
and his son Heardred has been slain by the Swedes. Then
Beowulf has succeeded to the throne and reigned gloriously for
fifty years (Il. 2200—2210). In his old age the land of the Geatas
is ravaged and his own home destroyed by a fire-spitting dragon
which, after brooding for three hundred years over the treasure of
men long since dead, has had its lair robbed by a runaway slave.
Beowulf, greatly angered, resolves to attack it (IL. 2210—2349).
Now comes a digression referring to Beowulfs past exploits, in the
course of which we learn that he had escaped by swimming when
Hygelac lost his life in the land of the Frisians. On his return
Hygd offered him the throne, but he refused it in favour of the
young Heardred. The latter, however, was soon slain by the
Swedish king Onela, because he had granted asylum to his nephews,
Eanmund and Eadgils, the sons of Ohthere. Vengeance was obtained
by Beowulf later, when he supported Eadgils in a campaign which
led to the king's death (1l. 2349—2396). Beowulf now approaches
the dragon's lair. He reflects on the past history of his family.
Haethcyn, king of the Geatas, had accidentally killed his brother
Herebeald, and their father, Hrethel, died of grief in consequence.
His death was followed by war with the Swedes, in which first
Haethcyn and then the Swedish king Ongentheow (Onela's father)
were slain.
