The Battle of Maldon
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Maldon is the name given to an Old English poem of uncertain date celebrating the real Battle of Maldon
of 991
, at which the Anglo-Saxons failed to prevent a Viking
invasion. Only 325 lines of the poem are extant; both the beginning and the ending are lost.
, with many individual and, Mitchell and Robinson believe, real Englishmen named.
Mitchell and Robinson conjecture that the lost opening of the poem must have related how Byrhtnoth
, the Anglo-Saxon leader, hearing of the Viking invasion, raises his troops and leads them to the shore.
The poem as we have it begins with the Anglo-Saxon warriors dismounting to prepare for battle. A Viking messenger offers the English ealdorman
Byrhtnoth
peace if he will consent to pay tribute
. Byrhtnoth angrily refuses, telling the messenger that he will fight the heathen Vikings in defence of his land, and the land of his king, Æthelred. However, due to his "ofermōde"*, Byrhtnoth allows the Vikings entry to the mainland, giving them room in which to do battle, rather than keeping them penned in on the more easily-defended causeway that links the mainland to the small island where the Vikings have landed.
Individual episodes from the ensuing carnage are described, and the fates of several Anglo-Saxon warriors depicted – notably that of Byrthtnoth himself, who dies urging his soldiers forward and commending his soul to God
. Not all the English are portrayed as heroic however: one, Godric the son of Odda (there are two Godrics in the poem), flees the battle with his brothers and, most improperly, does so on Byrhtnoth's horse. Several lines later the English lord Offa claims that the sight of Byrhtnoth's horse (easily recognisable from its trappings) fleeing, and so Byrhtnoth, as it would appear from a distance, has bred panic in the ranks and left the English army in danger of defeat. There follow several passages in which English warriors voice their defiance and their determination to die with their lord, and descriptions of how they are then killed by the un-personified "sea-wanderers". The poem as it has come down to us ends with another Godric disappearing from view. This time it is Godric the son of Æthelgar, advancing into a body of Vikings and being killed.
that also damaged and destroyed several other works in the Cotton library
. The poem has come down to us thanks to the transcription of it made c.1724, which was published by Thomas Hearne
in 1726. After being lost, the original transcription was found in the Bodleian Library
in the 1930s. Who made this original transcription is still unclear, some favouring John Elphinstone, others David Casley.
Niles in his essay “Maldon and Mythopoesis” also argues for an early composition date. He states that the three direct references to Æthelred the Unready necessitate an early composition date, before Æthelred had achieved his reputation for ineffectiveness.. This argument hinges upon Byrhtnoth’s, and the poet’s, knowledge of Aethelred’s ill reputation. If Byrhtnoth had known of Aethelred’s nature, he would have been willingly sacrificing himself for an undeserving king, effectively throwing away his and his men’s lives. Niles indicates that this does not appear to be supportable through the actions and statements of Byrhtnoth throughout the poem. Therefore, this indicates that Byrhtnoth did not know of the king’s nature, which seemingly indicates that the poet himself did not know of the king’s nature either. For if the poet had known about this nature, he would likely have mentioned it in an aside, similar to the way he treats the coward Godric when he is first introduced within the poem.
On the other hand, some scholars hold that the poem must have been written at a later date. Clark argues against an early composition date, refuting the arguments espoused by Irving. Clark states that the detail and specificity found in the poem do not necessarily necessitate an early composition date . Clark argues that if one accepts the detail and specificity as indicators that the events were related to the poet by a witness or close descendant, then that means this presenter must have either been “one of the cowards or a retainer who missed the battle by legitimate accident and later chatted with one or more of the men who abandoned his lord” . While this argument seems to make sense, it is based more upon opinion than upon fact.
However, there are better arguments for a late composition date. Specifically, when looking at the vocabulary and spelling found within the text, there are significant indicators that the poem had its origins in the eleventh century in western England, rather than from the tenth century in eastern England (where Maldon is located) . These arguments are not based upon one or two spellings which may have been transcribed poorly, but rather upon the uniform spelling of specific indicative words in Old English which are often associated with dialectical writing, such as “sunu” and “swurd” . Clark further argues against an early composition date by exposing the contradictory descriptions of Byrhtnoth, both within the poem and against historical record. According to Clark, the poet of Maldon describes Byrhtnoth as an old warrior, but able-bodied (paraphrased); however, later in the poem Byrhtnoth is disarmed easily by a Viking. Clark argues that these two events are conflicting and therefore demonstrate the lack of historical accuracy within the poem . Clark also argues that the poet never mentions the great height of Byrhtnoth, nor does he mention Byrhtnoth “enfeebled by age” , which indicates that the poet was removed from the event, for the historical records show that Byrhtnoth was tall, which the poet would not have left out due to its indicative nature .
is not so specific, writing that this "last great poem before the Norman Conquest ... was apparently written very soon after the battle", while Michael J. Alexander speculates that the poet may even have fought at Maldon.
S.A.J. Bradley
reads the poem as a celebration of pure heroism – nothing was gained by the battle, rather the reverse: not only did Byrhtnoth, "so distinguished a servant of the Crown and protector and benefactor of the Church," die alongside many of his men in the defeat, but the Danegeld
was paid shortly after – and sees in it an assertion of national spirit and unity, and in the contrasting acts of the two Godrics the heart of the Anglo-Saxon heroic ethos. Mitchell and Robinson are more succinct: "The poem is about how men bear up when things go wrong". Several critics have commented on the poem's preservation of a centuries-old Germanic
ideal of heroism:
was inspired by the poem to write The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son
, an alliterative dialogue
between two characters at the end of the battle. In publishing the work, Tolkien included alongside it an essay on the original poem and another on the word "ofermōde".
Battle of Maldon
The Battle of Maldon took place on 10 August 991 near Maldon beside the River Blackwater in Essex, England, during the reign of Aethelred the Unready. Earl Byrhtnoth and his thegns led the English against a Viking invasion. The battle ended in an Anglo-Saxon defeat...
of 991
991
Year 991 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* Battle of Maldon: The Anglo-Saxons are defeated by Viking invaders led by Olaf Tryggvason, later Olaf I of Norway....
, at which the Anglo-Saxons failed to prevent a Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
invasion. Only 325 lines of the poem are extant; both the beginning and the ending are lost.
The poem
The poem is told entirely from the perspective of the EnglishEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, with many individual and, Mitchell and Robinson believe, real Englishmen named.
Mitchell and Robinson conjecture that the lost opening of the poem must have related how Byrhtnoth
Byrhtnoth
Byrhtnoth was a 10th century Ealdorman of Essex. His name is composed of Old English beorht and noth ....
, the Anglo-Saxon leader, hearing of the Viking invasion, raises his troops and leads them to the shore.
The poem as we have it begins with the Anglo-Saxon warriors dismounting to prepare for battle. A Viking messenger offers the English ealdorman
Ealdorman
An ealdorman is the term used for a high-ranking royal official and prior magistrate of an Anglo-Saxon shire or group of shires from about the ninth century to the time of King Cnut...
Byrhtnoth
Byrhtnoth
Byrhtnoth was a 10th century Ealdorman of Essex. His name is composed of Old English beorht and noth ....
peace if he will consent to pay tribute
Tribute
A tribute is wealth, often in kind, that one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often the case in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance. Various ancient states, which could be called suzerains, exacted tribute from areas they had conquered or threatened to conquer...
. Byrhtnoth angrily refuses, telling the messenger that he will fight the heathen Vikings in defence of his land, and the land of his king, Æthelred. However, due to his "ofermōde"*, Byrhtnoth allows the Vikings entry to the mainland, giving them room in which to do battle, rather than keeping them penned in on the more easily-defended causeway that links the mainland to the small island where the Vikings have landed.
Individual episodes from the ensuing carnage are described, and the fates of several Anglo-Saxon warriors depicted – notably that of Byrthtnoth himself, who dies urging his soldiers forward and commending his soul to God
God in Christianity
In Christianity, God is the eternal being that created and preserves the universe. God is believed by most Christians to be immanent , while others believe the plan of redemption show he will be immanent later...
. Not all the English are portrayed as heroic however: one, Godric the son of Odda (there are two Godrics in the poem), flees the battle with his brothers and, most improperly, does so on Byrhtnoth's horse. Several lines later the English lord Offa claims that the sight of Byrhtnoth's horse (easily recognisable from its trappings) fleeing, and so Byrhtnoth, as it would appear from a distance, has bred panic in the ranks and left the English army in danger of defeat. There follow several passages in which English warriors voice their defiance and their determination to die with their lord, and descriptions of how they are then killed by the un-personified "sea-wanderers". The poem as it has come down to us ends with another Godric disappearing from view. This time it is Godric the son of Æthelgar, advancing into a body of Vikings and being killed.
- "ofermōde," occurring in line 89, has caused much discussion. Literally "high spirits" or "overconfidence", "ofermōde" is usually translated as "pride", and occurs in Anglo-Saxon Genesis poems when referring to LuciferLuciferTraditionally, Lucifer is a name that in English generally refers to the devil or Satan before being cast from Heaven, although this is not the original meaning of the term. In Latin, from which the English word is derived, Lucifer means "light-bearer"...
. Both Glenn and Alexander translate it as "arrogance" and Bradley as "extravagant spirit".
History of the text
In 1731, the only known manuscript of the poem (which, as with the modern version, was missing its beginning and ending) was destroyed in the fire at Ashburnham HouseAshburnham House
Ashburnham House is an extended seventeenth-century house on Little Dean's Yard in Westminster, London, United Kingdom, and since 1882 has been part of Westminster School...
that also damaged and destroyed several other works in the Cotton library
Cotton library
The Cotton or Cottonian library was collected privately by Sir Robert Bruce Cotton M.P. , an antiquarian and bibliophile, and was the basis of the British Library...
. The poem has come down to us thanks to the transcription of it made c.1724, which was published by Thomas Hearne
Thomas Hearne
Thomas Hearne or Hearn , English antiquary, was born at Littlefield Green in the parish of White Waltham, Berkshire.-Life:...
in 1726. After being lost, the original transcription was found in the Bodleian Library
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
in the 1930s. Who made this original transcription is still unclear, some favouring John Elphinstone, others David Casley.
Date of Composition
While the Battle of Maldon took place in the August of the year 991 AD, modern scholars still debate about when the poem itself was actually written. According to some scholars, the poem must have been written close to the events that it depicts. The basis for this train of thought lies in the historical concreteness and specificity of the events depicted in the poem . According to Irving, the specific events told with such clarity could only have been composed shortly after the events had taken place, and before legend had been introduced into the poem . While this may seem strange to a modern audience, who are used to “realistic fiction,” this is in fact a fairly strong argument for an early composition date. The lack of legendary elements seems to indicate that this poem was written at a time when witnesses or close descendants of witnesses would have been able to attest to the validity and accuracy of the facts.Niles in his essay “Maldon and Mythopoesis” also argues for an early composition date. He states that the three direct references to Æthelred the Unready necessitate an early composition date, before Æthelred had achieved his reputation for ineffectiveness.. This argument hinges upon Byrhtnoth’s, and the poet’s, knowledge of Aethelred’s ill reputation. If Byrhtnoth had known of Aethelred’s nature, he would have been willingly sacrificing himself for an undeserving king, effectively throwing away his and his men’s lives. Niles indicates that this does not appear to be supportable through the actions and statements of Byrhtnoth throughout the poem. Therefore, this indicates that Byrhtnoth did not know of the king’s nature, which seemingly indicates that the poet himself did not know of the king’s nature either. For if the poet had known about this nature, he would likely have mentioned it in an aside, similar to the way he treats the coward Godric when he is first introduced within the poem.
On the other hand, some scholars hold that the poem must have been written at a later date. Clark argues against an early composition date, refuting the arguments espoused by Irving. Clark states that the detail and specificity found in the poem do not necessarily necessitate an early composition date . Clark argues that if one accepts the detail and specificity as indicators that the events were related to the poet by a witness or close descendant, then that means this presenter must have either been “one of the cowards or a retainer who missed the battle by legitimate accident and later chatted with one or more of the men who abandoned his lord” . While this argument seems to make sense, it is based more upon opinion than upon fact.
However, there are better arguments for a late composition date. Specifically, when looking at the vocabulary and spelling found within the text, there are significant indicators that the poem had its origins in the eleventh century in western England, rather than from the tenth century in eastern England (where Maldon is located) . These arguments are not based upon one or two spellings which may have been transcribed poorly, but rather upon the uniform spelling of specific indicative words in Old English which are often associated with dialectical writing, such as “sunu” and “swurd” . Clark further argues against an early composition date by exposing the contradictory descriptions of Byrhtnoth, both within the poem and against historical record. According to Clark, the poet of Maldon describes Byrhtnoth as an old warrior, but able-bodied (paraphrased); however, later in the poem Byrhtnoth is disarmed easily by a Viking. Clark argues that these two events are conflicting and therefore demonstrate the lack of historical accuracy within the poem . Clark also argues that the poet never mentions the great height of Byrhtnoth, nor does he mention Byrhtnoth “enfeebled by age” , which indicates that the poet was removed from the event, for the historical records show that Byrhtnoth was tall, which the poet would not have left out due to its indicative nature .
Scholarship
George K. Anderson dated The Battle of Maldon to the 10th century and felt that it was unlikely that much was missing. R.K. GordonR.K. Gordon
Robert Kay Gordon was an English scholar of medieval and early modern English literature and administrator at the University of Alberta in Canada....
is not so specific, writing that this "last great poem before the Norman Conquest ... was apparently written very soon after the battle", while Michael J. Alexander speculates that the poet may even have fought at Maldon.
S.A.J. Bradley
Sid Bradley
Sid Bradley is an academic, author and specialist in Anglo-Saxon literature.In his best known publication, Anglo-Saxon Poetry, Bradley has translated into modern English prose virtually the entire corpus of extant Anglo-Saxon poetry....
reads the poem as a celebration of pure heroism – nothing was gained by the battle, rather the reverse: not only did Byrhtnoth, "so distinguished a servant of the Crown and protector and benefactor of the Church," die alongside many of his men in the defeat, but the Danegeld
Danegeld
The Danegeld was a tax raised to pay tribute to the Viking raiders to save a land from being ravaged. It was called the geld or gafol in eleventh-century sources; the term Danegeld did not appear until the early twelfth century...
was paid shortly after – and sees in it an assertion of national spirit and unity, and in the contrasting acts of the two Godrics the heart of the Anglo-Saxon heroic ethos. Mitchell and Robinson are more succinct: "The poem is about how men bear up when things go wrong". Several critics have commented on the poem's preservation of a centuries-old Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
ideal of heroism:
In popular culture
The Anglo-Saxon scholar and writer J. R. R. TolkienJ. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
was inspired by the poem to write The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son
The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son
The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son is the title of a work by J. R. R. Tolkien that was originally published in 1953 in volume 6 of the scholarly journal Essays and Studies by Members of the English Association. It is a work of historical fiction, inspired by the Old English poem The...
, an alliterative dialogue
Dialogue
Dialogue is a literary and theatrical form consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people....
between two characters at the end of the battle. In publishing the work, Tolkien included alongside it an essay on the original poem and another on the word "ofermōde".
See also
- Anglo-Saxon ChronicleAnglo-Saxon ChronicleThe Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
– records the battle and the paying of the Danegeld. - Liber EliensisLiber EliensisThe Liber Eliensis is a 12th-century English chronicle and history, written in Latin. Composed in three books, it was written at Ely Abbey on the island of Ely in the fenlands of eastern Cambridgeshire. Ely Abbey became the cathedral of a newly formed bishopric in 1109...
– or the Book of Ely; features another retelling of the battle. - Sermo Lupi ad AnglosSermo Lupi ad AnglosThe Sermo Lupi ad Anglos is the title given to a homily composed in England between 1010-1016 by Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York , who commonly styled himself Lupus, or 'wolf' after the first element in his name [wulf-stan = 'wolf-stone']. Though the title is Latin, the work itself is written in...
– or The Sermon of the Wolf to the English; in which this and other Viking raids are seen as punishment for England's lax morals. - ByrhtferthByrhtferthByrhtferth was a priest and monk who lived at Ramsey Abbey. He had a deep impact on the intellectual life of later Anglo-Saxon England and wrote many computistic, hagiographic, and historical works. He was a leading man of science and best known as the author of many different works...
– whose Life of Oswald also features the battle and the death of Byrthtnoth.
Further reading
- The Return of the Vikings: The Battle of Maldon 991 by Donald Scragg, Tempus PublishingTempus PublishingTempus Publishing was an England-based publishing company. It was founded in 1993, as The Chalford Publishing Company, by Alan Sutton and others. Tempus were part of the Nonsuch Publishing Group. Tempus mainly published history books and had bases in Germany, France, Belgium and the United States...
, 2006, ISBN 9780752428338
External links
- Hypertext version of the poem with translations and commentary
- The poem in original Anglo-Saxon
- The poem in original Anglo-Saxon
- Read aloud in Anglo-Saxon
- The poem translated into modern English by Jonathan A. Glenn
- The poem translated into modern English by Wilfrid Berridge
- Bartleby Essay from The Cambridge History of English and American LiteratureThe Cambridge History of English and American LiteratureThe Cambridge History of English and American Literature was originally published by Cambridge University Press in 1907–1921. The 18 volumes include 303 chapters and more than 11,000 pages edited and written by a worldwide panel of 171 leading scholars and thinkers of the early twentieth century...
- Review of an edition and translation of the text
- Article on Tolkien and The Battle of Maldon