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HEROIC OR HISTORICAL POEMS
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HEROIC OR HISTORICAL POEMS The Germanic tribes—Angles, Saxons, and Jutes—who migrated to Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries brought with them a storied code of heroic values, including a profound loyalty to kin and countrymen, a devotion to duty, and a mutual sense of obligation between lord and thanes, including protection and generosity on the part of the lord and service on the part of the thanes. It also incorporated a sharing of war-booty for both economic and symbolic reasons, a desire for honor and glory, and a love of oral poetry, especially that dealing with the history of their people. The Latin historian Tacitus describes the early tradition of loyalty and battlefield courage of the early Germanic tribes: On the field of battle it is a disgrace to a chief to be surpassed in courage by his followers, and to the followers not to equal the courage of their chief. And to leave a battle alive after their chief has fallen means lifelong infamy and shame. To defend and protect him, and to let him get the credit for their own acts of heroism, are the most solemn obligations of their allegiance. The chiefs fight for victory, the followers for their chief. (113) Tacitus may have had his own agenda in such overarching praise, but Alexander notes that “although there is a propaganda element in the account of the Germani, the number of correspondences between the warlike code described there and the code observed in Old English (and other northern) heroic poetry and saga is too great to allow one to dismiss Tacitus 128 | HER OI C OR HISTORI CAL POE MS as a fictionalist” (55). These heroic values were certainly modified by time and place and the powerful influence of Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England , but they are nostalgically evident in much of Old English heroic poetry, from the vows of battlefield loyalty in “The Battle of Maldon” to the importance of gift-giving in Beowulf. (For more on the warrior ethic, see Hill 2000.) THE BATTLE OF MALDON “The Battle of Maldon” is a heroic poem that gives poetic treatment to a battle that took place in 991 between Anglo-Saxons and Vikings; it was probably written in the decades after the battle. As the poet relates, the Anglo-Saxons are outmatched from the beginning, even though they hold a strategic advantage on the field. Unfortunately they give up this advantage, either out of over-eagerness or in the name of fair play. The battle is engaged and eventually most of them stand strong in the face of overwhelming odds, even as they die avenging their lord and defending their land. Though “The Battle of Maldon” recounts an actual battle, the treatment is heroic poetry, not realistic reporting. Donoghue notes that “although it draws on the specifics of the local geography and personal names, the poem clothes the action with literary conventions that create a general tone of nostalgia for a timeless heroic past” (15). Grand speeches are offered in the middle of violent battle-clashes. Arrows are suspended to give time for the making of moral judgments. Vikings blend into a horde of tormenting demons, and Byrhtnoth prays that his spirit will be “carried in peace / To the place of angels.” A little geography is necessary to explain the nature of Byrhtnoth’s controversial decision to allow the Vikings access to the mainland battlefield. Near the town of Maldon in the tidal flats is Northey Island; the river Pante (now Blackwater) flows to the north of it and Southey Creek to the south. The rivers flow into the sea. At high tide, the island is entirely cut off from the mainland to the west. At low tide, there is a causeway of stones about eight feet wide and eighty yards long that allows passage of limited numbers at a time between the island and the mainland. The Vikings have anchored their ships and set up camp on the island. They stand at the western shore waiting for the tide to go out so they can come west across the causeway or “bridge” to engage the Anglo-Saxon troops who are gathered on the mainland. At the beginning of the poem, [34.238.138.162] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 10:29 GMT) THE BATTLE OF MALDON | 129 the two sides call out their challenges and responses across the water while the tide is in and passage is blocked. When the tide goes...