who lived between them in southern Sweden, the Geats. The name Beowulf is not
recorded in history, but the political and dynastic events of the poem are consistent
with history. Beowulf is the nephew of Hygelac, king of the Geats, who died in a raid
on the northern fringe of the Frankish empire. This key event of the poem is
recorded in two Latin histories as having happened in about 521.
Hygelac fell in a raid in search of booty. In attacking the Frisians on the Frankish
border, Beowulf ’s uncle was asking for trouble, says the poem. The Franks took from
Hygelac’s body a necklace of precious stones, a treasure previously bestowed on
Beowulf by the Queen of the Danes as a reward for having killed the monster,
Grendel (see below). On his return from Denmark, Beowulf had presented this prize
to his lord, Hygelac, but the necklace was lost in this needless attack. Beowulf
stopped the enemy champion, Dayraven, from taking Hygelac’s armour by crushing
him to death with his bare hands. Beowulf returned with the armour of thirty
soldiers, and declined the throne, preferring to serve Hygelac’s young son. But when
this son is killed for harbouring an exiled Swedish prince, Beowulf became king and
ruled the Geats for ‘fifty years’.
The poem has a mysterious overture in the arrival of Scyld as a foundling child,
sent by God to protect the lordless Danes, his victorious life and his burial in a ship.
His great-grandson Hrothgar inherits the Danish empire and builds the great hall of
Heorot, where he rewards his followers with gifts. At a banquet, Hrothgar’s poet
sings the story of the creation of the world. The sound of music, laughter and feast-
ing is resented by the monster Grendel, who comes from the fens to attack Heorot30 1 · OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE: TO 1100
The opening of Beowulfin the manuscript of c.1010 in the British Library:
H W Æ T W E G A R D E
na in gear dagum theod cyninga
thrym ge frunon hu tha æthelingas ellen
fremedon ...Word-for-word:
Listen! We of the Spear-Danes
in days of yore, of the kings of the people
the glory have heard, how those princes deeds of valour
performedThe irregular outline of the leaf is due to fire-damage in 1731.