1 May 2009
Beowulf and his men return home to Geatland and Hygelac’s court. We are introduced to Hygd, Hygelac’s young queen, who meditates on Thryth, a queen who as a young princess took offense at men lusting after her and had them killed—most unladylike behavior. Thryth is eventually “reformed” through marriage and becomes a model queen.
The Geats’ journey home is another great descriptive passage (lines 1903b-1913):
Ġewāt him on naca
drēfan dēop wæter, Dena land ofġeaf.
Þā wæs be mæste merehræġla sum,
seġl sāle fæst; sundwudu þunede;
nō þær wēġflotan wind ofer yðum
sīðes ġetwæfde; sægenġa fōr,
flēat famiġheals orð ofer yðe,
bundenstefna ofer brimstrēamas,
þæt hīe Ġēata clifu onġitan meahton,
cūþe næssas; ċēol up ġeþrang,
lyftġeswenċed on lande stōd.( They went on the ship
driven through deep water, gave up the Danish land.
There was by the mast one of the sails,
a sail made fast by rope; the sea-wood groaned;
The wind over the waves not at all the wave-floater
its journey hindered; the sea-goer went on,
floated foamy-necked forth over the waves,
the ship with bound-prow over the ocean-streams,
Until they the cliffs of the Geats might see,
familiar headlands; the keel pressed up,
impelled by the wind and stood on the land.)
But the really interesting passage is the one about Thryth, who some editors name Modthryth. It’s a “taming of the shrew” story, only unlike Shakespeare’s Katherine, Thryth is murderous. Sort of Katherine meets Lady Macbeth. The passage figures prominently in feminist criticism of the poem, for obvious reasons (lines 1931b-1953):
Mōd Þryðo wæġ,
fremu folces cwēn, firen’ ondrysne;
næniġ þæt dorste dēor ġenēþan
swæsra ġesīða, nefne sinfrea,
þæt hire an dæges ēagum starede,
ac him wælbende weotode tealde
handġewriþene; hraþe seoþðan wæs
æfter mundgripe mēċe ġeþinġed,
þæt hit sceādenmæl scyran mōste,
cwealmbealu cyðan. Ne bið swylċ cwēnliċ þēaw
idese tō efnanne, þēah ðe hīo ænlicu sy,
þætte freoðuwebbe fēores onsæċe
æfter liġetorne lēofne mannan.
Hūru þæt onhohsnod[e] Hemminges mæġ:
ealodrincende ōðer sædan,
þæt hīo lēodbealewa læs ġefremede,
inwitnīða, (s)yððan ærest wearð
ġyfen goldhroden ġeongum cempan,
æðelum diore, syððan hio Offan flet
ofer fealone flōd be fæder lare
sīðe ġesōhte; ðær hīo syððan well
in gumstōle, gōde mære.( [Hygd] pondered Thryth’s pride,
the famous folk-queen, and her terrible crime;
not any brave one of her retainers
dared to venture, except her great lord
by day into her eyes to gaze
for him he reckoned the deadly bond was ordained
twisted by hand; quickly then was
after the hand-grip the sword appointed
the pattern-welded sword it had to settle,
to reveal the mortal attack. It is not such a queenly custom
for a lady to perform, though she may be beautiful
that a peace-weaver should deprive of life
because of pretended injury a dear man.
However, the kinsman of Hemming stopped that:
ale-drinkers said another thing
that she harm to her people performed less
[fewer] hostile acts, after she first happened
to be given gold-adorned to the young champion,
the noble warrior, since she to Offa’s hall
over the fallow flood at her father’s instruction
sought journey; there she afterwards well
on the throne, for good things [became] famous.)
The syntax of the passage is hard to follow, especially in the opening lines. It would be much easier to translate this passage into prose, rather than attempt to retain the poetic structure. You’ll note that I’ve moved around some words in the translation—otherwise it would make no sense in modern English at all.
Here’s the translation in prose, which will give you better sense of the narrative and the descriptions:
(Hygd pondered Thryth’s pride, the famous folk-queen, and her terrible crime; by day not any brave one of her retainers, except her great lord, dared to venture to gaze into her eyes. For he who did so reckoned the deadly bond, twisted by hand, was ordained for him. Quickly he would be seized and then the sword, the pattern-welded sword, was appointed to settle the affair, to make the mortal attack. It is not such a queenly custom for a lady to perform, though she may be beautiful, that a peace-weaver should deprive a dear man of life because of pretended injury. However, the kinsman of Hemming stopped this. Ale-drinkers said yet another thing, that she caused less harm to her people and performed fewer hostile acts after she was given, gold-adorned, to the young champion, the noble warrior, after she went, at her father’s instruction, to Offa’s hall, over the fallow flood. There she did well on the throne and became famous for good things.)
Freoðuwebbe is an important term in Old English poetry. It literally means peace-weaver and is used to denote the proper role for noble women in court. It refers to both the giving of daughters in marriage as peace pledges and to create diplomatic alliances as well as the ceremonial role of women the court in reinforcing the social structure among the king’s retainers. In this passage it is contrasted with the deadly, woven bonds of murder.
So we’re told a tale of a sociopathic woman who has any man murdered who even looks upon her. She’s married off to Offa, where we are told by men in their cups—not the most reliable of sources—that she is reformed. It is a fascinating digression that tells us a lot about the status of noble women in Anglo-Saxon society.
And there may be some sort of historical basis for the story. There are two Offa’s, one legendary and one historical. The first was a prehistoric king of the Angles who married a strong-willed woman. The second was a king of Mercia (757-96) who had a wife name Cynethryth. We know nothing about Cynethryth beyond her name and it’s unlikely she was a sociopath. So there seems to be a lot of conflation and exaggeration going on here.
