Attila's and Beowulf's Funeral

By way of caution a sub-title should be added: “A Set of Questions”—questions, that is, to which I do not presume to return a positive answer.The classical parallels (Vergil, Homer) of Beowulf's obsequies as well as the Jordanes parallel are well known to students of Old English literature (cf. Klaeber's edition, pp. 209, 213, 216). It is especially the latter which has commonly been considered of very great value as illustrating the authentic character of the notable closing scene of Beowulf. “The accuracy [of the Beowulfian funeral],” says Chadwick1—to cite an English authority—“is confirmed in every point by archeological or contemporary literary evidence. We may refer especially to the account of Attila's funeral given by Jordanes.” Again, “the agreement between the two versions could not possibly be greater; here [i.e., in the recital of Attila's obsequies] everything is Germanic”—this was the verdict of Kögel,2 who regarded that 49th chapter of Jordanes' history3 as a most precious source of information on ancient Germanic poetry. It is true, certain differences between the sixth century and the eighth century version did not escape observation, as may be seen from Chambers' Introduction to Beowulf, p. 124, or from Klaeber's Edition, p. 216. But it remained for Edward Schröder's incisive article (ZfdA. LIX, 240-44) to aim a deadly blow at the famous account of Attila's funeral as currently interpreted.

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What has Ingeld to do with Lindisfarne?

Anglo-Saxon England ◽

10.1017/s0263675100004336 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 22 ◽

pp. 93-125 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Donald A. Bullough

Keyword(s):

Old English ◽

Home Country ◽

English Literature ◽

Eighth Century ◽

Actual Practice ◽

Old English Literature ◽

Vernacular Literature ◽

Cultural Importance ◽

History Of ◽

Germanic Legend

In the course of a long letter written in 797 to Speratus, bishop of an unnamed English see, Alcuin declares:Verba Dei legantur in sacerdotali convivio: ibi decet lectorem audiri, non citharistam, sermones patrum, non carmina gentilium. Quid Hinieldus cum Christo?Nowhere else in the substantial corpus of his letters does Alcuin name a known figure in early Germanic legend and literature – the Ingeld ofBeowulfandWidsith– or refer specifically to the vernacular literature of his home country. Unsurprisingly, since the publication of the first complete and correct text of the letter in 1873, this passage has been quotedin toto(in varying translations) or alluded to in virtually every history of Old English literature and every commentary onBeowulf. Jaffé, however, in the notes he left with his transcript when he died prematurely in 1870, had proposed an identification of the addressee, Speratus, with Bishop Hygbald of Lindisfarne, recorded from 780 to 803. Dümmler adopted Jaffé's view in his editions of the letter: and he has been followed without demur by every subsequent scholar who has quoted or referred to it. Furthermore, for most of the century it has been tacitly assumed that the letter was directed not merely to the bishop in person but also to the community of which he was head – a monastic one, even after the disasters of 793; and that Alcuin's exhortations, whether or not they were a response to the actual practice of Lindisfarne and other Northumbrian houses, are evidence of the acceptability (and indeed, cultural importance) of secular vernacular verse in eighth-century English monasteries.

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Caesarius of Arles and Old English literature: some contributions and a recapitulation

Anglo-Saxon England ◽

10.1017/s0263675100000806 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. 105-119 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Joseph B. Trahern

Keyword(s):

Old English ◽

English Literature ◽

Sixth Century ◽

Old English Literature ◽

New Evidence

Several studies in recent years have contributed to the discovery that the early-sixth-century sermons of Caesarius of Arles had considerably more influence on Old English literature than had been realized. The extent of that influence may not be fully apparent even now, partly because many of the recent studies discuss examples in isolation, each in its own context, and partly because many of the earlier studies cited certain anonymous Latin sermons which have been only later identified as the work of Caesarius. My aim here is to offer new evidence for Caesarius's influence on five Old English texts and to recapitulate the evidence for his influence upon the corpus of Old English literature as a whole.

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