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Widsith
"Widsith" (, "far-traveller", lit. "wide-journey"), also known as "The Traveller's Song", is an Old English poem of 143 lines. It survives only in the '' Exeter Book'' (''pages 84v–87r''), a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late-10th century, which contains approximately one-sixth of all surviving Old English poetry. "Widsith" is located between the poems " Vainglory" and " The Fortunes of Men". Since the donation of the ''Exeter Book'' in 1076, it has been housed in Exeter Cathedral in southwestern England. The poem is for the most part a survey of the people, kings, and heroes of Europe in the Heroic Age of Northern Europe. Date of composition There is some controversy as to when "Widsith" was first composed. Some historians, such as John Niles, argue that the work was invented after King Alfred's rule to present "a common glorious past", while others, such as Kemp Malone, have argued that the piece is an authentic transcription of old heroic songs. Among ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hroðgar
Hrothgar ( ; ) was a semi-legendary Danish king living around the early sixth century AD. Hrothgar appears in the Anglo-Saxon epics ''Beowulf'' and ''Widsith'', in Norse sagas and poems, and in medieval Danish chronicles. In both Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian tradition, Hrothgar is a Scylding, the son of Halfdan, the brother of Halga, and the uncle of Hrólfr Kraki. Moreover, in both traditions, the mentioned characters were the contemporaries of the Swedish king Eadgils; and both traditions also mention a feud with men named Fróði and Ingeld. The consensus view is that Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian traditions describe the same person. Names Hrothgar, also rendered ''Hrōðgār'', is an Old English form attested in ''Beowulf'' and ''Widsith'', the earliest sources to mention the character. In non-English sources, the name appears in more or less corresponding Old Icelandic, Old Danish, and Latinized versions. He appears as ''Hróarr'', ''Hroar'', etc., in sagas and poetry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myrging
The Myrgings were a clan and people of Saxon origin who, together with their king Eadgils, are only mentioned in the Old English poem ''Widsith''. They are mentioned as the people of the scop Widsith. They appear to have been the neighbours of the Angles and Offa of Angel, who was involved in a war against them. Perhaps they were a dynasty or clan competing for power with Offa over the rule of the Angles, though Offa slew two Myrging princes, probably the sons of Eadgils (not to be confused with the Swedish king Eadgils); this Eadgils was later killed by Ket and Wig, the sons of Freawine, a governor of Schleswig who challenged Eadgils to combat while he was pillaging in the Angle lands. Freawine was killed in combat and the Myrgings may then have overrun Schleswig, as they are said to have settled or had holdings at Schleswig, though they were eventually defeated by Offa, who extended the boundary with them to Fifeldor. Although the Myrgings only appear in the Old English poem Wids ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ingeld
Ingeld or Ingjaldr (Old Norse: ) was a legendary warrior who appears in early English and Norse legends. Ingeld was so well known that, in 797, Alcuin wrote a letter to Bishop Higbald of Lindisfarne questioning the monks' interest in heroic legends with: 'Quid enim Hinieldus cum Christo?' - What has Ingeld to do with Christ? The legends that survive tell of Ingeld as an enemy of Hroðgar, Halga and Hroðulf. The conflict between the Scyldings Hroðgar and Hroðulf on one side, and the Heaðobards Froda and Ingeld on the other, appears both in ''Beowulf'' and in ''Widsith''. Scholars generally agree that these characters appear in both Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon (''Beowulf'') and Scandinavian tradition (Norse sagas and Danish chronicles). However, in the Norse tradition the Heaðobards had apparently been forgotten and the conflict is instead rendered as a family feud, or as a conflict with the Saxons, where the Danes take the place of the Heaðobards. Attestations ''Beowulf'' In ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viking
Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9–22. They also voyaged as far as the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, North Africa, the Middle East, Greenland, and Vinland (present-day Newfoundland in Canada, North America). In their countries of origin, and some of the countries they raided and settled in, this period is popularly known as the Viking Age, and the term "Viking" also commonly includes the inhabitants of the Scandinavian homelands as a whole. The Vikings had a profound impact on the Early Middle Ages, early medieval history of Northern Europe, northern and Eastern Europe, including the political and social development of England (and the English language) and parts of France, and established the embryo of Russia in Kievan Rus'. Expert sailors and navigators of their cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thula (poetic Genre)
The thula (; pl. thulas, from pl. ''þulur'') is an ancient poetic genre in the Germanic literatures. Thulas are metrical name-lists or lists of poetic synonyms compiled, mainly, for oral recitation. The main function of thulas is thought to be mnemonic. The Old Norse term was first applied to an English poem, the Old English " Widsith", by Andreas Heusler and Wilhelm Ranisch in 1903. Thulas occur as parts of longer poems, too; Old Norse examples are found in various passages of the poetic and the prose '' Edda'' (esp. ''Skáldskaparmál'' with the '' Nafnaþulur'', '' Grímnismál'', '' Alvíssmál''), the ''Rígsþula'' as well as in the '' Völuspá''. Thulas can be considered as sources of once canonic knowledge, rooted in prehistoric beliefs and rituals. They generally preserve mythological and cosmogonical knowledge, often proper names and toponyms, but also the names of semi-legendary or historical persons. Their language is usually highly formalized, and they make exte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leonard Neidorf
Leonard Neidorf (born ) is an American Philology, philologist who is Distinguished Professor of English language, English at Shenzhen University. Neidorf specializes in the study of Old English literature, Old English and Middle English literature, and is a known authority on ''Beowulf''. Biography Raised in Voorhees Township, New Jersey, Neidorf graduated from Eastern Regional High School in 2006. He gained a bachelor's degree, BA, ''summa cum laude'', in English language, English from New York University in 2010, and a PhD in English from Harvard University in 2014. Upon gaining his PhD, Neidorf became a member of the Harvard Society of Fellows (2014-2016). Admittance to the Harvard Society of Fellows is considered one of the greatest academic achievements possible in the United States. From 2016 to 2024, Neidorf was Professor of English at Nanjing University. He is currently Distinguished Professor of English at Shenzhen University. He is an Associate Editor of ''English Studi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Huns
The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part of Scythia at the time. By 370 AD, the Huns had arrived on the Volga, causing the westwards movement of Goths and Alans. By 430, they had established a vast, but short-lived, empire on the Danubian frontier of the Roman empire in Europe. Either under Hunnic hegemony, or fleeing from it, several central and eastern European peoples established kingdoms in the region, including not only Goths and Alans, but also Vandals, Gepids, Heruli, Suebians and Rugians. The Huns, especially under their King Attila, made frequent and devastating raids into the Eastern Roman Empire. In 451, they invaded the Western Roman province of Gaul, where they fought a combined army of Romans and Visigoths at the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields, and in 452, they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old English Poetry
Old English literature refers to poetry (alliterative verse) and prose written in Old English in early medieval England, from the 7th century to the decades after the Norman conquest of England, 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 literature, Middle English corpus of literature. In descending order of quantity, Old English literature consists of: sermons and saints' lives; biblical translations; translat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hlöðskviða
Hlöðskviða (also Hlǫðskviða and Hlǫðsqviða), known in English as The Battle of the Goths and Huns and occasionally known by its German name Hunnenschlachtlied, is an Old Norse heroic poem found in '' Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks''. Many attempts have been made to try to fit it with known history, but it is an epic poem, telescoping and fictionalising history to a large extent; some verifiable historical information from the time are place names, surviving in Old Norse forms from the period 750–850, but it was probably collected later in Västergötland. Most scholars place the tale sometime in the 4th and 5th centuries AD, with the battle taking place somewhere either in Central Europe near the Carpathian Mountains, or further east in European Russia. Texts, historicity, and analysis There are two main sources for the saga, "H", from the ''Hauksbók'' (A.M. 544) early 14th century; and "R", a 15th-century parchment (MS 2845). The final parts of the saga including ''Hl� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kemp Malone
Kemp Malone (March 14, 1889 – October 13, 1971) was an American medievalist, etymology, etymologist, philologist, and specialist in Geoffrey Chaucer, Chaucer. He was a lecturer and then professor of English literature at Johns Hopkins University from 1924 to 1956. Life and career Born in Minter City, Mississippi, to an academic family, Kemp Malone graduated from Emory University, Emory College (as it then was) in 1907, with the ambition of mastering all the languages that impinged upon the development of Middle English. He spent several years in Germany, Denmark and Iceland. When World War I broke out, he served two years in the United States Army and was discharged with the rank of captain. Malone was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1945. He served as president of the Modern Language Association, and other philological associations and was etymology editor of the ''American College Dictionary'', 1947. With Louise Pound and Arthur G. Kennedy, he founded the j ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weaving (mythology)
Mention of textiles in folklore is ancient, and its lost mythic lore probably accompanied the early spread of this art. Textiles have also been associated in several cultures with spiders in mythology. Weaving begins with spinning. Until the spinning wheel was invented in the 14th century, all spinning was done with distaff and spindle. In English the "distaff side" indicates relatives through one's mother, and thereby denotes a woman's role in the household economy. In Scandinavia, the stars of Orion's belt are known as ''Friggjar rockr'', "Frigg’s distaff". The spindle, essential to the weaving art, is recognizable as an emblem of security and settled times in a ruler's eighth-century BCE inscription at Karatepe: "In those places which were formerly feared, where a man fears... to go on the road, in my days even women walked with spindles" In the adjacent region of North Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angeln
Angeln (; ) is a peninsula on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of Jutland, in the Bay of Kiel. It forms part of Southern Schleswig, the northernmost region of Germany. The peninsula is bounded on the north by the Flensburg Firth, which separates it from Sundeved and the island of Als (island), Als in Denmark, and on the south by the Schlei, which separates it from Schwansen. The landscape is hilly, dotted with numerous lakes. The largest towns are Flensburg, Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein, Schleswig and Kappeln. Angeln is notable for being the putative home of the Angles (tribe), Angles, a Germanic tribe that migrated to Great Britain during the Age of Migrations and founded the kingdoms of Mercia, Northumbria and Kingdom of East Anglia, East Anglia. The Angles would ultimately give their name to England. Glücksburg Castle in Glücksburg and Gottorf Castle in Schleswig were the original seats of two historically important dynasties, the House of Glücksburg and the House of Holstei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
