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  1. Home
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  3. Beowulf and the North before the Vikings
  • Cited by 1
Publisher:
Amsterdam University Press
Online publication date:
December 2022
Print publication year:
2022
Online ISBN:
9781802700541
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781802700541
Series:
Past Imperfect
Subjects:
Sociology: General Interest, Sociology
Information

Book description

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?

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