When was beowulf likely composed

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Heardred Despite Beowulf's support, the young king, son of Hygelac and Hygd, is killed in a feud. Beowulf then becomes king of the Geats. Grendel A descendant of the biblical Cain, the enormous ogre despises mankind's joy. He menaces Hrothgar and the Danes for 12 years before facing Beowulf in battle. It is safe to place Beowulf's age at around eighty-five at his death , since this would give him time to gain a reputation before fighting Grendel, and then allow him the fifty years of rule over the Geats.

The anonymous poet is referred to by scholars as the " Beowulf poet". The story is set in Scandinavia. Beowulf , a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall in Heorot has been under attack by a monster known as Grendel. Grendel , fictional character, a monstrous creature defeated by Beowulf in the Old English poem Beowulf composed between and ce. Descended from the biblical Cain, Grendel is an outcast, doomed to wander the face of the earth.

Studying Beowulf is important and beneficial for many reasons. English Old English. The most likely time for Beowulf to have been copied is the early 11th century, which makes the manuscript approximately 1, years old. After Grendel is killed, Grendel's mother attacks Heorot in revenge. Beowulf then ventures into her cave under a lake, and engages in fierce combat with Grendel's mother. She nearly kills him until he sees an ancient sword, with which he kills her, and beheads the dead Grendel.

This etymology is mirrored in recorded instances of similar names. If you glance at a copy of Beowulf , you will likely see a name on the cover. However, the name you see does not belong to the author of Beowulf ; rather, it belongs to the translator a few of whom include Seamus Heaney, Francis B. Gummere, and J. The reason for this is that historians are not sure who wrote the original Beowulf manuscript. Thus, sadly, the author of one of the greatest works of English literature remains anonymous.

However, historians do know about the author of Beowulf , even if they do not know who the author was. This map illustrates where each of the tribes mentioned in Beowulf resides. Although historians cannot identify the individual author of Beowulf , they can provide information about the type of poet who crafted this epic. First, let us consider when the poet lived. The most heroic events in Beowulf --the protagonists fights with the monsters--are clearly fictional, but many of the poem's characters are historical figures who lived during the late 5th century AD.

Consequently, the narrative must have been written after that date. The oldest surviving Beowulf manuscript was written c.

According to J. Tolkien--best known for his Lord of the Rings saga but also a respected literary scholar-- Beowulf was almost certainly written by an 8th-century Anglo-Saxon poet shortly after England's conversion to Christianity. The Anglo-Saxons were not indigenous to England; the Angle and Saxon tribes had emigrated from Europe, invaded England, conquered the native Britons, and settled there themselves. Thus the Anglo-Saxons had a similar heritage to the Geats, Swedes, and Danes--a few of the tribes who appear in the Beowulf narrative.

This context explains why the author of Beowulf --himself a resident of England--chose Scandinavian and not English events as the basis for his poem. Since Beowulf was most likely written shortly after England converted to Christianity, the Anglo-Saxon poet would have been familiar with both paganism and Christianity. This theory helps explain why the poem's characters at times appear to waver between pagan and Christian beliefs and practices.

Some historians and literary critics go even further, alleging the story of Beowulf may have existed before England's Christian conversion, perhaps as an oral narrative or poem. They suggest a Christian monk may have heard the poem and "Christianized" it by reducing the pagan elements and adding references to the Christian God.