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The genesis of The Battle of Maldon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

N. F. Blake
N. F. Blake
Affiliation:
The University of Sheffield
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Extract

The Battle of Maldon is usually taken by modern scholars to be a reasonably accurate account of the way in which the battle developed. While not everyone today would necessarily agree with Gordon's statement, ‘the account of the battle in the poem, in so far as its statements can be checked, is accurate in every particular’, it nevertheless remains indicative of a not uncommon attitude. This attitude has been accentuated both by such fantasies as that of the late Professor Tolkien, who invented a poetic aftermath for the poem, and by attempts to localize the site of the battle following the indications provided in the poem. Reviews of Byrhtnoth's generalship also presuppose that the poem presents a realistic account of the battle, so that tactical decision can be evaluated. Some voices have been raised against taking the poem's account too literally, and many commentators now tend to assume a general, if not a detailed, accuracy. Most would perhaps agree with Professor Cross when he writes ‘the poet has selected from, elaborated on, and presumably omitted from a knowledge (not necessarily detailed) of the real events to suit his own purpose as distinguished in the poem’. Even this presupposes that the author was using historical evidence as the basis of his poem.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anglo-Saxon England , Volume 7 , December 1978 , pp. 119 - 129
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

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References

page 119 note 1 The Battle of Maldon, ed. Gordon, E. V. (London, 1937), p. 4Google Scholar. Repr. with supplement by D. G. Scragg (Manchester, 1976).

page 119 note 2 Tolkien, J. R. R., ‘The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son‘, E&S n.s. 6 (1953), 1–18Google Scholar. A recent review of the terrain is Macrae-Gibson, O. D., ‘How Historical Is The Battle of Maldon?’ MAElig; 39 (1970), 89–107.Google Scholar

page 119 note 3 Samouce, W. A., ‘General Byrhtnoth’, JEGP 62 (1963), 129–35.Google Scholar

page 119 note 4 Particularly J. B. Bessinger, ‘Maldon and the Óláfsdrápa: an Historical Caveat’, Studies in Old English Literature in honor of Arthur G. Brodeur, ed. S. B. Greenfield (Eugene, Oregon, 1963), pp. 23–35. See also Clark, G., ‘The Battle of Maldon: a Heroic Poem‘,Speculum 43 (1968), 52–71CrossRefGoogle Scholar. In ‘The Ideal of Men Dying with their Lord in the Germania and in The Battle of Maldon’, ASE 5 (1976), 63–81Google Scholar, Rosemary Woolf points to the thematic parallels between Maldon and Bjarkamál; the latter, she suggests, may have been the source of the former. While she does not discuss the historicity of the Old English poem, there is the implication that a man borrowing literary themes from elsewhere is not composing a historical record.

page 119 note 5 Cross, J. E., ‘Mainly on Philology and the Interpretative Criticism of Maldon’,Old English Studies in honour of John C. Pope, ed. Burlin, Robert B. and Irving, Edward B. Jr. (Toronto, 1974), p. 240.Google Scholar

page 120 note 1 McKinnell, J., ‘On the Date of The Baltle of Maldon’, MÆ 44 (1975), 121–36.Google Scholar

page 120 note 2 Nordal, S. (trans. Thomas, R. G.), Hrafnkels Saga Freysgoða (Cardiff, 1958)Google Scholar. See also Macrae-Gibson, O. D., ‘The Topography of Hrafnkels Saga’, SBVS 49 (1974–1976), 239–63.Google Scholar

page 121 note 1 Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel, ed. Plummer, C. and Earle, J., with bibliographical supplement by Dorothy Whitelock (Oxford, 1952), p. 126.Google Scholar

page 121 note 2 Gordon, , Battle of Maldon, pp. 5–6Google Scholar. For the identification of Byrhtferth as the author of the Vita Oswaldi see Lapidge, Michael, ‘The Hermeneutic Style in Tenth-Century Anglo-Latin Literature’, ASE 4 (1975), 90–5.Google Scholar

page 122 note 1 The Historians of the Church of York and its Archbishops, ed. Raine, J., Rolls Ser. (1879–1894), 1, 456Google Scholar. (‘When not many months had passed another violent battle took place in the east of this famous region. The glorious leader Byrhtnoth together with his retainers was in the forefront of the battle. Who by relying on elegance alone could portray how gloriously, how manfully and how bravely he urged on his warlords to the front ? There he himself stood tall in stature, towering above the others, whose hand was supported not by Aaron and Hur, but it was assisted by the multifarious piety of God. He also struck fiercely on the right without concern for the white hair of his head since he was comforted by alms and holy masses. He protected himself on the left forgetful of the infirmity of his body which prayers and good deeds kept erect. When the peerless leader of the battle saw his enemies rush forward, bravely fight his men and kill many of them, he began to fight for his country with his whole strength. An enormous number of their men and ours fell in battle, Byrhtnoth himself was killed, and the rest fled. The Danes however were so extensively mauled that they hardly had enough men to man their ships.’)

page 124 note 1 Cf. Besinger, ‘Maldon and the Óláfsdrápa’, p. 31.

page 124 note 2 For an edition and translation see The Poetic Edda, ed. Dronke, Ursula 1 (Oxford, 1969), 3–74.Google Scholar

page 124 note 3 On the nature of heroes see Bowra, C. M., Heroic Poetry (London, 1952),Google Scholar ch. 3.

page 125 note 1 Most recently expounded in Cross, ‘Philology and the Interpretative Criticism of Maldon’. In view of the later date now suggested for Maldon, which allows for greater Scandinavian influence in the poem, linguistic investigation of key words and phrases will have to pay more attention to Scandinavian parallels than hitherto.

page 125 note 2 Ibid. p. 243.

page 125 note 3 See Dronke, , Poetic Edda i, 14Google Scholar: ‘The invitation is no longer an invitation but a challenge. Now that danger is certain, Gunnarr cannot refuse. Their sister's warning, her officious fears, have forced them to accept.’.

page 126 note 1 Battle of Maldon, pp. 84–5

page 127 note 1 Laborde, E. D., Byrbinotb and Maldon (London, 1936), p. 36.Google Scholar

page 127 note 2 Blake, N. F., ‘The Battle of Maldon’, Neopbilologus 49 (1965), 332–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 128 note 1 ASE 5 (1976), 65–81.Google Scholar

page 129 note 1 Cf. Bessinger, , ‘Maldon and the Óláfsdrápa’, p. 28,Google Scholar and Blake, N. F., ‘The Flyting in The Battle of Maldon’, ELN 13 (1976), 242–5.Google Scholar