Beowulf and the North Before the Vikings

Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-1-80270-013-8
Verlag: ARC Humanities Press

Buch, Englisch, 136 Seiten, Format (B × H): 112 mm x 173 mm, Gewicht: 136 g

Reihe: Past Imperfect

Ever since Tolkien’s famous lecture in 1936, it has been generally accepted that the poem Beowulf is a fantasy, and of no use as a witness to real history. This book challenges that view, and argues that the poem provides a plausible, detailed, and consistent vision of pre-Viking history which is most unlikely to have been the poet’s invention, and which has moreover received strong corroboration from archaeology in recent years. Using the poem as a starting point, historical, archaeological, and legendary sources are combined to form a picture of events in the North in the fifth and sixth centuries: at once a Dark and a Heroic Age, and the time of the formation of nations. Among other things, this helps answer two long-unasked questions: why did the Vikings come as such a shock? And what caused the previous 250 years of security from raiders from the sea?

Autoren/Hrsg.

Shippey, Tom

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Vor- und Frühgeschichte, prähistorische Archäologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturgeschichte und Literaturkritik
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte Alteuropäische Religionen: Kelten, Germanen, Slawen, Balten
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface and Acknowledgements

Introduction: Fantasy or History?

Chapter 1: Poetry and Archaeology

Chapter 2: Old Legend, New Reality

Chapter 3: The Bigger Picture

Chapter 4: The Non-National Epic?

Further Reading

Über Autor(innen)

Shippey, Tom
Tom Shippey has published extensively on Tolkien and on early medieval literature. His last book is Laughing Shall I Die: Lives and Deaths of the Great Vikings (2018).