“A man who means to avenge his lord
Cannot flee. He must keep courage,
Fight keenly, and have no care for his life.” 260
Then the men surged forward—they feared nothing
For their lives. The troops and retainers,
The grim spear-bearers, fought fiercely,
Praying for God’s help in avenging their lord
By fighting the fiends, bringing death to the foe. 265
Then even a hostage began to help—
Æscferth, son of Ecglaf, a hard Northumbrian.
He shot all his arrows without flinching,
Threw every spear without wavering once
From the war-play. Sometimes he hit a shield; 270
Sometimes he pierced through a man’s skin.
As long as he stood, he slew someone,
Handing out wounds while he wielded weapons.
Eadweard the Tall held his place in the battle-line,
Ready and eager to meet the enemy. 275
He vowed he’d never flee from the Vikings,
Give one foot of land to the foreign fiends,
Or turn back now that his better lord lay dead.
He broke through the shield-wall, fighting the foe
Until he avenged the death of his dear lord, 280
His treasure-giver, on the deadly Danes,
Before he lay down in the bed of slaughter.
So did Ætheric, brother of Sibyrht—
Wading eagerly into battle, with many others
Defending their homeland keenly with courage. 285
[Then one of the slaughter-wolves attacked Offa,
The second-in-command of Byrhtnoth’s Saxons—
The seafarer shoved a spear at his chest.]
His shield-rim broke and his mail-shirt sang
A song of horror. Offa slew his attacker, 290
Then fell to the ground--the kinsman of Gadd
Was quickly cut down in that cruel fray.
He had kept both his courage and his vow
To his lord in the hall, his good ring-giver,
That they should ride home whole together 295
Or fall side by side, wasted by wounds,
Comrades together in the field of corpses.
Then shields were shattered and seamen came through
In a rage of battle. The ravenous spear
Often thrust through a man’s bone-house. 300
Wistan went forward, Thurstan’s son,
Fought against seamen, the slayer of three
In a battle-throng, before he lay down
In a heap of slaughter, the son of Wigelm.
That was a murderous meeting, a savage struggle. 305
Warriors clashed, fought without yielding,
Killed without wavering. The field filled with corpses.
All through the battle, Oswold and Eadwold,
Brothers fighting together, encouraged the troops
With strong battle-words, telling them all 310
To stand firm against savage seafarers,
Wield their weapons without weakening.
Then Byrhtwold spoke, raising his shield—
Byrhtnoth’s old retainer urged on the others,
Boldly instructing the last of the troop: 315
“The spirit must be stronger, the heart fiercer,
The courage keener, as our strength slips away.
Here lies our lord, savagely slain,
A great leader on the ground. Ever may a man mourn
Who thinks to flee from this fierce war-play. 320
I am old in winters, weary with years,
But I will not leave this field. I mean to lie down
Beside my dear lord, the leader I love.”
So also Godric, Æthelgar’s son,
Urged them all, battle-comrades together, 325
To keep their courage, continue fighting.
Often he let his slaughter-spear fly
Against the Vikings; he was first in the front,
Striking and slaying till he fell in battle.
That was not the Godric who fled 330
* * *
THE POEMS OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of interrelated texts, which, as Swanton says, “have a similar core, but considerable local variations; each [with] its own intricate textual history” (xxi). Some of the texts begin as early as the time of Julius Caesar, but most of the entries range from the fifth century to the eleventh or twelfth. Swanton notes that “this is the first continuous national history of any western people in their own language; at this time no other European nation apparently felt confident enough in its own language to record its own history” (xx). The Chronicle not only records history—it shapes history as well by building connections and articulating a national consciousness. Thormann argues: “The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle makes history as it records events [because] through the effort of arranging lists of events in a chronology, maintaining those records over a period of time in various manuscripts, and combining and rewriting those manuscripts in various combinations, the writing of the Chronicle produces the idea of a nation, an Anglo-Saxon England that may legitimately lay claim to power [so] the textual records produced in the manner constitute a national past [and] they support the conviction of the nation’s persistence in time” (60). Smith adds that “in this view, the poems function as political texts which continue the Chronicle’s ideological work of championing the West Saxon dynasty” (2010b, 180). All of the poems in the Chronicle occur at relatively late dates from the tenth century on. They mix elements of OE meter, often in more flexible forms than traditional verse, with forms of rhyme (perfect rhyme and slant rhyme), especially in the later poems. They are embedded in the prose lines of the manuscripts and not set off, so there has been some debate over time about when conventional OE prose turns to rhythmical prose and when this becomes formalized enough to be considered poetry. The six poems included here are the ones accepted by Dobbie (1942, 16–26), but a number of other poems have been identified in the Chronicle and are included in the “Additional Poems” section of this book. The year of the entry in the Chronicle for each poem is indicated in parentheses in the title.
1. THE BATTLE OF BRUNANBURG (937)
This poem appears in four of the Chronicle texts. Pope summarizes the historical situation of the battle: “The victory of the English forces at Brunanburh under the command of Athelstan and his brother Edmund was the climax of a movement by which Alfred the Great and his immediate successors, having first freed their hereditary West Saxon kingdom from the threat of Danish conquest, gradually gained power over the whole of England and made themselves secure against their enemies abroad” (58). Thormann notes that in this poem, “the authority of poetic language represents the battle as the continuation of a tradition of heroic action [as] the West-Saxon leaders, Athelstan and his brother Edmund, are cast as actors in a heroic role they inherit through their genealogy,” and points to Irvine’s analysis of the poem’s “traditional language and genre” (65). Irvine says: “The traditional form was used to create an image of unbroken tradition of national and racial heroic glory extending from the earlier kings in the Anglo-Saxon royal genealogy to the house of Alfred: the poetic medium for representing the heroic past was appropriated for representing a new ‘heroism’ of the English kings in the creation of a national kingdom” (202).
The Battle of Brunanburg
In this year King Æthelstan, ruler of earls,
Ring-giver of men, and his brother Edmund,
A proud prince, won lifelong glory
At a fierce battle near Brunanburg—
Bold brothers wielding sharp, bitter swords, 5
Offering their enemies the edge of destruction.
The sons of Edward gave no respite—
They hacked through the shield-wall,
Splintering the hand-held, sheltering wood,
Bro
ught death with the gift the forge-hammer left, 10
A whistling steel, a deadly strike.
Their family legacy was firm: fight the foe,
Protect the heritage of land and treasure,
Hoard and home. Enemies perished—
Scots and seafarers, Viking pirates. 15
The battlefield was flattened with heavy bodies
And saturated with blood from the day’s dawn—
When the star-fire sun knifed through the dark,
God’s bright candle lifting its light,
Gliding high over earth’s broad plains— 20
To the day’s darkening down at long last,
As the shaping radiance slipped to its rest.
Warriors lay wounded, a multitude of men,
Their unshielded flesh in unwaking sleep.
Norsemen and Scots lay dead on the field, 25
Gutted by spears thrust over the shield-wall,
All of them battle-weary, sated with slaughter.
The warriors of Wessex dogged the enemy
All day long, hacking and hewing from behind
The hostile heathens with whetted swords. 30
Nor did the Mercians make any concessions.
They refused no hard hand-play of swords
With the savage Vikings who landed in hordes
With their leader Anlaf from across the ocean.
They rode in the belly of wood over rough waves, 35
A sea-steed stuffed with daring warriors
Doomed in battle. Five young kings
Were camped on the battlefield, all cold,
Tucked into a final rest with ravaging swords,
A blade’s quick kiss, an unseen swipe. 40
Seven of Anlaf’s earls, countless Scots,
And seafaring Vikings shared that bed,
Broken bodies in unbroken sleep.
Then the Norse leader was forced to flee,
Seeking protection at the ship’s prow 45
With his paltry remnant. The sea-floater
Set sail, angling on the ocean, driven out
On the dusky waves, saving the king.
Crafty Constantine, king of the Scots,
Also fled north to his native land. 50
The gray-haired warrior had no need to boast
Of sword-strike and blade-play
Since his kinsmen were cut down
In the fiercest of battles. He lost many friends,
Left them sleeping in the field of slaughter. 55
Also his young son, savagely undone,
Went weary to bed with bitter wounds.
The crafty old king had no cause to brag
Or have sung the story of great battle-deeds.
Anlaf also sailed home, humbled. 60
His scop was silent, his song unsung.
With the small remnant left, they had no need
To laugh or exult over their accomplishments
In the spear-clash and battle-crush,
In that savage meeting of men and standards, 65
The sword-conflict with the sons of Edward.
The Norsemen sailed off in their nailed ships,
Skulking home on the sea with their battle-shame,
A hacked host of what the Saxon swords left.
They sailed on the waves of Dingesmere Sea, 70
Over deep water home to Dublin, humiliated.
The victorious brothers, both king and prince,
Went home to Wessex, exulting in triumph.
They left behind them a feast of corpses,
Carrion comfort for the savage scavengers, 75
The dark-feathered raven, his horny beak
Ravenous, the gray-feathered eagle
With his white tail, a greedy war-hawk,
And that gray stalker, the wolf in the wood.
Books tell us that never before on this island 80
Has there ever been such a slaughter
Of warriors struck down by the sword’s edge—
Never since the Angles and Saxons came sailing
Across the broad sea, seeking Britain,
Proud warriors and battle-craftsmen 85
Who overcame the Welshmen, conquering their country.
They were bold in battle, eager for fame.
2. THE CAPTURE OF THE FIVE BOROUGHS (942)
In this poem King Edward fights as a Christ-like warrior to rid Mercia of its heathen Norse invaders and free the enslaved Danes who had earlier settled there and had come to consider themselves natives. Thormann (66 ff.) argues that politics, religion, and poetry here come together to shape the sense of a nation. Just as religious figures like Christ and Elene are often portrayed in partly heroic terms, so history is poetically shaped here in partly religious terms. Edmund is both a great battle-warrior like Beowulf and a redeemer of those in bondage like Christ. The power of poetic words is used here and elsewhere in the Chronicle to shape a sense of national cohesion and purpose. As Thormann argues, “Power is inserted into history by being written as the continuation of poetic convention” (66).
The Capture of the Five Boroughs (942)
In this year King Edmund, lord of the English,
Beloved protector of people, famous for great deeds,
Conquered Mercia, overran all the boundaries,
From Dore to Whitwell Gap and the River Humber,
That broad stream, seizing the five boroughs— 5
Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, and Stamford.
The Danes living there had long been held
In cruel captivity, heathen bondage,
By the fierce Norsemen until finally freed
By the brave deeds of Edmund, son of Edward, 10
The worthy protector of warriors, the conquering,
Righteous king who rescued and released them.
3. THE CORONATION OF EDGAR (973)
We know from the Chronicle entry for 957 that Edgar came to the throne of Mercia. In 959, when his brother Eadwig passed away, he also became king of Wessex and Northumbria at the age of sixteen. Why, then, was he crowned at Bath some fifteen years later? Nelson argues that the event was a second consecration meant to inaugurate him “in his later years as ruler of a British Empire, tenth-century style” (303). Thormann points out that “thirty was the earliest age at which a man could be ordained, because thirty was the age of Christ when he began his ministry and at the same time the age at which entry into the priesthood was allowed in Old Testament practice” (69). The poem typically combines religious and heroic language, and also the interests of both church and state. Thormann notes that “the representation of the scene draws on the traditional heroic figuration of the leader surrounded by his retainers,” noting that “monks take the place of thegns to compose a sort of ecclesiastical comitatus to function as witnesses for the spectacle” (1986, 69). Smith argues that “Edgar becomes a sign underwriting the ascendancy of the Benedictine reform and his consecration represents the confluence of royal and ecclesiastical authority in a single figure” (2010a, 106).
The Coronation of Edgar (973)
In this year Edgar, the renowned English ruler,
Was consecrated king with a great company
In the ancient city of Acemannesceaster,
Also called Bath by the inhabitants of this island.
There was great joy on that blessed day, 5
Which was called Pentecost by all people.
I’ve heard that there was a band of priests
And a host of monks, a troop of wise men,
Gathered together in great bliss.
As dates are reckoned and documents record, 10
Ten hundred years less twenty-seven
Had passed since the blessed birth of the Lord,
Our creator and commander, champion of victories,
Prince and protector, guardian of the light.
Edmund’s son had spent twenty-nine years 15
In this world
when the coronation came about.
In his thirtieth year he was consecrated king.
4. THE DEATH OF EDGAR (975)
Thormann points out that this Chronicle poem reports a sequence of discrete events: the death of King Edgar, the succession of his son Edward to the throne, the departure of Bishop Cyneweard of Wells from the country, the exile of ealdorman Osric of Northumbria, the appearance of a comet, widespread famine, and God’s restoration of a fruitful land (73), but she argues that “the consecutive elements are directed by an overriding design, that is, by a logic and narrative meaning … [that] is God’s purpose and will, an intention and motivation manifested as what happens in time” (74). Smith argues that the poem “rolls out an imagistic panorama of misfortunes beginning in Edgar’s death” (2010a, 122) and points to similar dire events predicted in Beowulf after the hero’s death (123).
The Death of Edgar (975)
In this year ended all the earthly joys
Of King Edgar of England, who chose the light
Of another life, radiant and rewarding,
Blessed and beautiful, and gave up this weak
And worldly, troubled and transitory, life. 5
All men everywhere, from our native land
To beyond the sea-road, who read calendars
And are skilled with numbers, say that Edgar,
The young king and ring-giver, left this life
On the eighth day of the month of July. 10
His young son Edward, an untested child,
Assumed the throne, becoming king,
Lord and leader of England’s earls.
Ten days before, a good and glorious bishop
Departed from Britain. His name was Cyneweard. 15
Then I heard men say that in Mercia
Far and wide, the love of the Lord,
People’s praise of the Prince and Protector,
Their firm faith, was cast to the ground,
So that many wise servants of God were scattered. 20
That caused great grief and hard suffering
To those whose hearts and minds were alight
With love for their Lord. Then the Ruler of heaven
Was rejected, the Prince of people despised,
The Lord of victories mocked and scorned, 25
And his laws reviled. Oslac the earl,
Famous for his brave heart, was also banished
Across the sea-swarm, the gannet’s bath.
The Complete Old English Poems Page 105
