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The Sigemund-Heremod and Hama-Hygelac Passages in Beowulf

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

R. E. Kaske
R. E. Kaske*
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
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Extract

The four-hundred-odd lines of Beowulf1 between the defeat of Grendel and the attack by Grendel's mother contain two brief digressive passages, set with some appearance of symmetry on either side of the longer Finn Episode (1071—1159): a lay by one of HroSgar's thanes, contrasting the glorious deeds of Sigemund with the downfall of Heremod (874-915); and a pair of allusions introduced by the poet through the device of the torque given to Beowulf, concerning a mysterious exploit of Hama and the fatal expedition of Hygelac (1197-1214). The four basic references which make up these two passages seem designed as piecemeal allusions to stories more or less lost to us—a fact that must necessarily deprive us of much that the lines were meant to convey. Yet even allusion, if it is developed at all, is normally developed in the direction of its intended meaning, so that its general drift can sometimes be understood without a full knowledge of its underlying story. In this paper I will try to show that the Sigemund-Heremod and Hama-Hygelac passages are each organized around a clear thematic contrast, closely related to its context in the narrative; that they are meaningfully related to one another, and together express a theme of importance in this part of the poem; and that their significance grows naturally out of the great heroic ideal of sapientia et fortitudo which I believe lies at the heart of Beowulf? Section I will analyze the two passages themselves and their immediate contexts; Section II will explore their relation to the poem and its governing ideal.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 74 , Issue 5 , December 1959 , pp. 489 - 494
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1959

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References

1 Quotations and citations from Beowulf are from Elliott V. K. Dobbie, ed., Beowulf and Judith (Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, iv, New York, 1953).

2 “Sapientia et Fortitudo as the Controlling Theme of Beowulf.” SP, lv (1958), 423–456; hereafter SF.

3 It is conventional to suggest a connection between geceas ecne ræd and a story preserved only in the piörekssaga, in which Heimir enters a monastery and turns over his sizeable treasure to the monks. See for example Johannes Hoops, Kommentar zum Beowulf (Heidelberg, 1932), p. 150; Howard W. Hintz, “The ‘Hama’ Reference in Beowulf,” JEGP, xxxiii (1934), 98–102; Friedrich Klaeber, ed., Beowulf (3rd ed., Boston, 1936), pp. 178–179; and C. L. Wrenn, ed., Beowulf (London, 1953), pp. 208–209. As it is always made, however, the suggestion is false to the context of the episode in the pidrekssaga, Jed. Henrik Bertelsen, pidreks Saga af Bern (Samfund til Udgivelse af Gammel Nordisk Litteratur, Copenhagen, 1905–11), n, 377–391: after entering the monastery, giving his treasure to the monks, and fighting a giant in their defense, Heimir is induced to come back out of the monastery into the service of pitSrekr, later plunders it of his original treasure, and is eventually killed fighting another giant. If the story in the ptdrekssaga is to be considered pertinent, a more likely point of connection would seem to be Heimir's prudence where wealth is concerned—though obviously not governed by the same ethic in both works.

4 SF, pp. 434–435, together with the interpretation of the sermon as a whole, pp. 432–435.

5 The sword is used as a similar emblematic device to introduce the Weohstan passage (2610-25) on good retainer-ship; see my note “Weohstan's Sword,” to appear in MLN.

6 As a dutiful retainer, Beowulf later turns the treasure over to Hygelac and Hygd (2148-76); but his exploits and their material rewards have in effect assured him of wealth, even if not the same concrete objects, and Hygelac gives him material wealth in return (2190-96).

7 After the completion of the present article, I discovered that this interpretation of the Sigemund-Heremod passage is anticipated by some years in the excellent dissertation of James R. Gaskin, “Structural Principle and Device in Beowulf (Univ. of North Carolina, 1952, typescript), pp. 54–55.

8 For this and the following references to my interpretation of Hrogar's sermon, see SF, pp. 432–435.

9 Gregory, Mar alia in Job (39:25), xxxi, XLV, 89, PL, 76, 621–622. Superhia, the beginning of all sin, produces inanis gloria, which in turn, “dum oppressam mentem cor-ruperit, mox invidiam gignit, quia nimirum dum vani nominis potentiam appétit, ne quis hanc alius adipisci valeat tabescit. Invidia quoque iram generat, quia quanto interno livoris vulnere animus sauciatur, tanto etiam mansuetudo tranquillitatis amittitur; et quia quasi dolens membrum tangitur, idcirco oppositae actionis manus velut gravius pressa sentitur. Ex ira quoque tristitia oritur, quia turbata mens quo se inordinate concutit, eo addicendo confundit: et cum dulcedinem tranquillitatis amiserit, nihil hanc nisi ex perturbatione subsequens moeror pascit. Tristitia quoque ad avaritiam derivatur, quia dum confusum cor bonum laetitiae in semetipso intus amiserit, unde consolari debeat foris quœrit; et tanto magis exteriora bona adipisci desiderat, quanto gaudium non habet ad quod intrinsecus recurrat.” The series ends with the two carnal vices of ventris ingluvies and luxuria. The foundation of patristic psychology in the whole of HroSgar's sermon will be presented in detail in a separate study.

10 Note the implicit contrast with the munificence of Scyld's son (20-25) and with that of the wise Hrotgar throughout.

11 On œfler dome in the sense of “so that he might gain glory,” see Hoops, Kommentar, p. 189; Klaeber, Beowulf, p. 191; and J. R. C. Hall, tr., Beowulf, rev. C. L. Wrenn and J. R. R. Tolkien (London, 1950), p. 109.

12 Not the usual rendering of siS here, but there seems to be no reason against it. Dobbie, Beowulf, p. 161: “… may it not simply mean ‘way (of doing things),‘ as apparently in 11. 2532, 2541? That is, it was Heremod's conduct which was lamented by his followers.” See also Klaeber's glossary, p. 399, on Beowulf 2541 and 3058.

13 For its acceptance by earlier scholars, see Dobbie, Beowulf, p. 160; it is also treated favorably by C. L. Wrenn, Beowulf, p. 201.

14 The best presentation is that of Adrien Bonjour, The Digressions in Beowulf (Oxford, 1950), pp. 46–48.

15 See for example the several references to Gregory in SF, p. 451 and notes 79–80. Bonjour, Digressions, p. 47, assumes that to the original audience Sigemund's dragon-fight would immediately have suggested that of Beowulf.

16 Of two respected modern editors, for example, Klaeber (pp. 160–161) favors Sigmundr; Wrenn (p. 200), SigurSr. For whatever the evidence of later Scandinavian story may be worth in determining the traditional wisdom of the two heroes, the theme of the reception of wisdom is prominently attached to SigurSr in the Gripisspd, Fdfnismâl, and Sigrdri-fomdl among the Eddie poems; in the Gripisspd, str. 7, ed. Gustav Neckel, Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten DenkmSlern (Germanische Bibliothek, 2nd Abt., ix; 2nd ed.; Heidelberg, 1927), I, 161, he is described by an approximation of the sapientia et fortitudo ideal. In the Vql-sungasaga, Ch. vin, ed. Ernst Wilken, Die Prosaische Edda im Auszuge, nebst Vqlsunga-saga und Nornagests-P&llr (Pa-derborn, 1912), I, 162, Sigmundr is vitr oh stôrrSSr; in Ch. xxv (i, 195), he predicts the birth of Sigurr, ok var par spa spaks geta. The end of Ch. XXII (i, 191) elaborates on the sapientia et fortitudo of Sigurr. But the parts of the Vqlsungasaga in which these references occur seem generally quite late; see Per Wieselgren, “Quellenstudien zur Vqlsungasaga,” Acta et Commentationes Universitatis Tartuensis (Dorpatensis), B, Humaniora, xxxvn (1936), 177, 220222.

17 Gustav Neckel, “Sigmunds Drachenkampf,” Edda: Nordisi Tiàsskrift for Litteraturforskning, xiii (1920), 128–130; also p. 134: “In Sigmunds Schwertstoss, wie ihn der Beowulf deutlich erkennen làsst, wirkt dreierlei zusammen: des Helden Unerschrockenheit und Stârke, des Schwertes wunderbare Kraft, und des Gottes weiser Rat.”

18 See note 5 above.