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Deor's Lament
"Deor" (or "The Lament of Deor") is an Old English poem found on folio 100r–100v of the late- 10th-century collection the Exeter Book. The poem consists of a reflection on misfortune by a poet whom the poem is usually thought to name Deor. The poem has no title in the Exeter Book itself; the modern title has been bestowed by modern editors. In the poem, Deor's lord has replaced him with another poet. Deor mentions various figures from Germanic tradition and reconciles his own troubles with the troubles these figures faced, ending each section with the refrain "that passed away, so may this." The poem comprises forty-two alliterative lines. Genre Attempts at placing this poem within a genre have proven to be quite difficult. Some commentators attempting to characterise the work have called it an '' ubi sunt'' ("where are they?") poem because of its meditations on transience. It can also be considered a traditional lament and poem of consolation. Christian consolation poems, ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old English Poetry
Old English literature refers to poetry and prose written in Old English in early medieval England, from the 7th century to the decades after the Norman Conquest of 1066, a period often termed Anglo-Saxon England. The 7th-century work ''Cædmon's Hymn'' is often considered as the oldest surviving poem in English, as it appears in an 8th-century copy of Bede's text, the ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People''. Poetry written in the mid 12th century represents some of the latest post-Norman examples of Old English. Adherence to the grammatical rules of Old English is largely inconsistent in 12th-century work, and by the 13th century the grammar and syntax of Old English had almost completely deteriorated, giving way to the much larger Middle English corpus of literature. In descending order of quantity, Old English literature consists of: sermons and saints' lives; biblical translations; translated Latin works of the early Church Fathers; chronicles and narrative history ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Witege
Witege, Witige or Wittich ( ang, Wudga, Widia; Gotho- lat, Vidigoia) or Vidrik "Vidga" Verlandsson ( + ''Viðga'' or ''Videke'' + ''Verlandsson'', ''Vallandsson'', or ''Villandsson'') is a character in several Germanic heroic legends, poems about Dietrich von Bern, and later Scandinavian ballads.The article Vidrik Verlandsson' in ''Nordisk familjebok'' (1921). In German legends, he was one of the warriors of Dietrich von Bern, but betrayed him and took instead the side of his wicked Uncle Ermenrich. In one of the Scandinavian ballads (TSB E 119), he won particular fame in his duel with Langben Rese/Risker (the giant Etgeir in the '' Þiðrekssaga''). During the Middle Ages, he became the son of Wayland the Smith and Böðvildr, and this entitled him to carry a hammer and tongs in his coat of arms. Later the origin of his name "Wayland's son" was forgotten, but the fame of the character prevailed. During the 16th and the 17th centuries, this led to the idea that his name " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Speculum (journal)
''Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies'' is a quarterly academic journal published by University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Medieval Academy of America. Established in 1926 by Edward Kennard Rand, it is widely regarded as the most prestigious journal in medieval studies. The journal's primary focus is on the time period from 500 to 1500 in Western Europe, but also on related subjects such as Byzantine, Hebrew, Arabic, Armenian and Slavic studies. , the editor is Katherine L. Jansen. The organization and its journal were first proposed in 1921 at a meeting of the Modern Language Association, and the journal's focus was interdisciplinary from its beginning, with one reviewer noting a specific interest in Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned .... R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hjaðningavíg
Hjaðningavíg (the 'battle of the Heodenings'), the ''legend of Heðinn and Hǫgni'' or the ''Saga of Hild'' is a Germanic heroic legend about a never-ending battle which is documented in '' Sörla þáttr'', ''Ragnarsdrápa'', ''Gesta Danorum'', '' Skíðaríma'' and in ''Skáldskaparmál''. It is also held to appear on the image stone at Stora Hammar on Gotland (see illustration). Moreover, it is alluded to in the Old English poems ''Deor'' and '' Widsið'', and in the Old Norse '' Háttalykill inn forni'', and a version of it survived down to the 18th century in the traditional Norn language ballad "Hildina". An altered version of the saga is found in the Middle High German poem ''Kudrun'', as a prologue to the story of Kudrun herself. Yet another version is found in the Old Yiddish ''Dukus Horant''. Like the names ''Heðinn'' ( O.E. ''Heoden'') and '' Hǫgni'' (O.E. ''Hagena''), the legend is believed to have continental Germanic origins. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norse Mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The northernmost extension of Germanic mythology and stemming from Proto-Germanic folklore, Norse mythology consists of tales of various deities, beings, and heroes derived from numerous sources from both before and after the pagan period, including medieval manuscripts, archaeological representations, and folk tradition. The source texts mention numerous gods such as the thunder-god Thor, the raven-flanked god Odin, the goddess Freyja, and numerous other deities. Most of the surviving mythology centers on the plights of the gods and their interaction with several other beings, such as humanity and the jötnar, beings who may be friends, lovers, foes, or family members of the gods. The cosmos in Norse mythology consists of Nine Worl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goths
The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. In his book '' Getica'' (c. 551), the historian Jordanes writes that the Goths originated in southern Scandinavia, but the accuracy of this account is unclear. A people called the ''Gutones''possibly early Gothsare documented living near the lower Vistula River in the 1st century, where they are associated with the archaeological Wielbark culture. From the 2nd century, the Wielbark culture expanded southwards towards the Black Sea in what has been associated with Gothic migration, and by the late 3rd century it contributed to the formation of the Chernyakhov culture. By the 4th century at the latest, several Gothic groups were distinguishable, among whom the Thervingi and Greuthungi were the most powerful. During this time, Wulfila bega ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ermanaric
Ermanaric; la, Ermanaricus or ''Hermanaricus''; ang, Eormanrīc ; on, Jǫrmunrekkr , gmh, Ermenrîch (died 376) was a Greuthungian Gothic king who before the Hunnic invasion evidently ruled a sizable portion of Oium, the part of Scythia inhabited by the Goths at the time. He is mentioned in two Roman sources: the contemporary writings of Ammianus Marcellinus, and in ''Getica'' by the sixth-century historian Jordanes. He also appears in a fictionalized form in later Germanic heroic legends. Modern historians disagree on the size of Ermanaric's realm. Herwig Wolfram postulates that he at one point ruled a realm stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea as far eastwards as the Ural Mountains. Peter Heather is skeptical of the claim that Ermanaric ruled all Goths except the Tervingi, and furthermore points to the fact that such an enormous empire would have been larger than any known Gothic political unit, that it would have left bigger traces in the sources and that t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waldere
"Waldere" or "Waldhere" is the conventional title given to two Old English fragments, of around 32 and 31 lines, from a lost epic poem, discovered in 1860 by E. C. Werlauff, Librarian, in the Danish Royal Library at Copenhagen, where it is still preserved. The parchment pages had been reused as stiffening in the binding of an Elizabethan prayer book, which had presumably come to Europe following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in England in the 16th century. Overview The portion that was found was a part of a much larger work. What remains of the poem comes in two parts, written on two separate single leaves, usually called “fragment I” and “fragment II”, and generally dated about 1000. The date of the poem's composition is unknown. The fragments can be situated in the epic of which they formed part because the subject, adventures surrounding the hero Walter of Aquitaine, is known in other texts: a Latin epic poem ''Waltharius'' by Ekkehard of Abbey of St. Gall, dati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harpans Kraft
Harpens kraft (Danish) or Harpans kraft, meaning "The Power of the Harp", is the title of a supernatural ballad type, attested in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Icelandic variants. In ''The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad'' it is catalogued type A 50, "Man saves his bride from merman by playing his harp". The ballad type tells of a hero whose betrothed has premonitions of a fall from a bridge into the river, which despite the hero's assurances and precautions comes true. But by the power of his harp-playing, he regains his bride from the river creature, which is referred to as a "merman" in the TSB catalog: while "merman" (') occurs in a variant, it is called a troll in the older Danish text, and a " neck (nix)" in the Swedish text. The ballad of this type occur under the following titles. Danish: "Harpens kraft" (''DgF'' 40); Swedish: "Harpans kraft" ('' SMB'' 22); Norwegian: ''Villemann og Magnhild'' ('' NMB'' 26); ''Gaute og Magnild'' and ''Guðmund og Signelita'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Böðvildr
Böðvildr, Beadohild, Bodil or Badhild was a princess, the daughter of the evil king Níðuðr/Niðhad/Niðung who appears in Germanic legends, such as ''Deor'', ''Völundarkviða'' and '' Þiðrekssaga''. Initially, she appears to have been a tragic victim of Wayland the smith's revenge on her father, but in later Scandinavian versions, she becomes Wayland's wife and the mother of the hero Viðga of the ''Þiðrekssaga'' and medieval Scandinavian ballads. ''Deor'' Although preceded by the Ardre image stone, the oldest surviving textual source on her is the 10th century Anglo-Saxon poem ''Deor''. It deals with the fact that Wayland has just murdered her brothers and raped her. It is suggested by the poet that things will turn out bad for her: ''Völundarkviða'' In ''Völundarkviða'', she appears when her father Níðuðr has captured Wayland, and she receives from her father a gold ring that the smith had made for his lost Valkyrie lover. Wayland is hamstrung and put to work ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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