BEOWULF, an Anglo-Saxon epic poem, which is one of the greatest literary and philo logical curiosities, and one of the most remarkable historical monuments in existence. The date of the events described is probably about the middle of the 5th c.; and as the legends refer to the Teutonic races which afterwards peopled England, it is believed that the poem, in its original shape, was brought by the Anglo-Saxous from their original seats on the continent. Only one MS. of the poem is known to exist; that, namely, in the Cottonian library, which was seriously injured by the fire of 1731. This MS. con sists of two portions, written at different times and by different hands, and is manifestly a copy, executed perhaps about the beginning of the 8th c., from an older and far completer version of the poem. But, even in the form in which it came from the hands of its last recaster, B. is the oldest monument of conside:able size of German national poetry, and notwithstanding the Christian allusions which fix the existing text at a period subsequent to 597 A.D., a general heathen chnracter pervades it, which leaves little doubt as to the authentic nature of the pictures which it presents of Teutonic life in ante Christian times. Much learned labor has been bestowed on this strange relic by Sharon Turner (Hist. of Anglo-Saxons, vol. iii.); Conybeare (Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry): Dr. G. J. Thorkelin of Copenhagen, who first. published the entire work in 1815; and above all, by Mr. Kemble, whose beautiful edition was published by Pickering in 1833, and was followed in 1837 by a translation, with glossary, preface, and philological notes.
At first Mr. Kemble was disposed to regard 13. as an historical epic, but his view of it latterly came to be, that though to some extent historical, it must be regarded, in so far as the legends are concerned, as mainly mythological; and this remark he conceived to apply to the hero not less than to the incidents related. But Beowulf, the god, if such Ile was, occupies only a small space in the poem, and seems to be introduced chiefly for the purpose of connecting Hrothgar, king of Denmark, whom Beowulf, the hero, comes to deliver from the attacks of the monster Grendel, ti, ith Seef or Sceaf, one of the ances tors of Woden, and the common father of the whole mythical gods and heroes of the north. Sceaf is traditionally reported to have been set afloat as a child on the waters, in
a small boat or ark, having a sheaf (Ang.-Sax. sceaf) of corn under his head; whence his name. The child was carried to the shores of Slesvig. and being regarded as a prodigy, was educated and brought up as king. Between Sceaf and Beowulf, Scyld intervened, according to the opening canto of the poem; but when compared with kindred traditions, the whole genealogy becomes involved in extreme obscurity, and Scyld seems sometimes to be identified with Sceaf, and sometimes with Woden. But the view of the counec tion between Beowulf and Sceaf is strengthened by the following considerations. The old Saxons, and most likely the other conterminal tribes, called their harvest month (probably part of Aug, and Sept.) by the name Beo or Beowod, in all probability their god of agriculture or fertility. Whether, or to what extent, this divinity is identical with the mythical hero of the poem, Mr. Kemble does not venture to determine, though he indicates a strong leaning to the affirmative.
But in so far as the main points of historical interest are concerned—viz., the of the legends, and the race and regions to which they belong—the results of the historical and of the mythological view seem to be pretty nearly the same. The poem falls entirely out of the circle of the northern sagas, and probably belongs to Slesvig. All the proper names are Anglo-Saxon in form, but not the slightest mention is made of Britain. the Ongle mentioned being manifestly Angela (see ANGLES), and not Anglia. From these and many other considerations, the learned editor infers that B. records the mythical beliefs of our and in so far as it is historical commemorates their exploits at a period not far removed in point of time from the coming of Hengest and Horsa, and that in all probability the poem was brought over by some of the Anglo-Saxons who accompanied Cerdie and Cynerie, 495.