SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

Introduction: the poem Beowulf
FOR many years a critical climate has existed in which
Beowulf has been seen as a tragedy of the fall of the
Geats; Beowulf's people are destroyed by the Swedes, their
neighbours to the north, shortly after Beowulf is killed by
the dragon. The purpose of this study is to re-examine
the background of the poem, in the light of what is known
about Scandinavia before the Viking Age from history,
archaeology and legend. Two presumptions are basic.
The first is that the Geatas are the Gautar, the inhabitants
of south central Sweden, the area below the lakes Vanern
and Vattern.! The second is that Beowulf is a work of
heroic history, i.e. a poem in which facts and chronology
are subservient to the poet's interest in heroic deeds and
their value in representing the ethics of an heroic civilization.
A poet writing in this mode does not disregard
absolute historical fact, history, that is, as we know it.
He rather sees it as less important than other considerations,
if he uses it at all. 2 He will be reasonably
consistent - but within his own limits, and with his own
priorities. His account will sometimes mesh reasonably
well with history, as in the episode of Hygelac's raid
on the Frisian shore. But more often, his work will be
a freely-woven structure in which the characters and
actions of the past will be part of an ethically satisfying
narrative." In this paper, then, the aim is not to examine
1 In this paper, unless specific indications to the contrary are given, the term
'Swedes' means the ancient inhabitants of central Sweden, with their centre
at Old Uppsala in Uppland. On the difficulty of precise location, see below,
PP·258-62.
• The question may well be raised whether the poet had the means to know
history in a more modern sense.
S As Jan de Vries pointed out. the Germanic epic gives the fullest evidence
regarding the transmutation of historic fact into heroic history. After surveying
a number of traditions, he concluded: '[In heroic poety] it is to be expected
that in the course of the oral tradition the historical facts change out of all
recognition.' Heroic Song and Heroic Legend (I963), I94-209, quotation
203·