DESCRIPTION

Introduction to the myths and legends of the British people.

PURPOSE
By means of studying some of the foundational myths and legends that inform the British
culture, one will be better equipped to understand British literature and its culture.

PREPARATION
Before beginning this unit, just make sure you have a timeline of British History at hand so that
you can easily navigate through the information that follows. Pay special attention to the
invasions and conquests that took place in medieval England. In addition, a good English
dictionary is desirable. We suggest online Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
GOALS

SECTION 1

To describe The Seafarer and Beowulf, and the context of their creation

SECTION 2

To identify saga themes, such as The Song of the Nibelungs

SECTION 3

To recognize the importance of the Arthurian legends to British culture

SECTION 4

To identify Robin Hood as a literary tradition

WARM-UP
In this unit you will get acquainted with the foundational myths and legends that inform British
culture.
WE WILL TRAVEL BACK TO MEDIEVAL ENGLAND TO
TRACE THE INFLUENCE OF FOREIGN PEOPLE AND
TRIBES ON WHAT CAME TO BE KNOWN AS BRITAIN.

Each section thus aims at bringing awareness to how the invasions, conquests, and settlements
that shaped the British territory also informed its language and culture. British culture is, in fact,
a resultant of a multinational and multilingual medieval England. By the end of this unit, you will
be able to identify the influences of Nordic, Welsh and French cultures on the myths and
legends of the British people.

SECTION 1

 To describe The Seafarer and Beowulf, and the context of their creation

THE SEAFARER AND BEOWULF

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
 The initial page of The Peterborough Chronicle, an example of the Anglo-Saxon English

Read nowadays Anglo-Saxon poetry sounds too unfamiliar, too foreign for contemporary ears
and eyes. And, indeed, Anglo-Saxon poetry was composed by foreigners and most of its actions
happen in a foreign land. When Anglo-Saxons arrived in Britain, the territory was already
inhabited. Britons had already established a culture. Throughout Britain’s history, its language
and culture were shaped by waves of invasions and settlements, foreign raiders, and traders.
And what comes to be understood as modern English is, in fact, a byproduct of a multinational,
multilingual Britain.

Anglo-Saxon English, or old English, bears little resemblance to its modern version; its
Germanic roots make it unintelligible for English speakers. Old English is, then, a foreign
language, rich in consonants, and consonant clusters. For Anthony Burgess, speaking old
English may seem like performing an act of violence in your mouth. Interestingly enough, the
literary texts that remain from this period, which are not many, tell us of heroic deeds in foreign
lands, tell us of battles and monsters, and pagan tribes.

 The initial page of The Peterborough Chronicle, written in Anglo-Saxon English

The beginning of Beowulf, the longest epic written in old English, shows how illegible it is for
those not versed in old English:
Now, check how the verses read in modern English:

The differences are quite striking and both read and sound like two distinct languages.

THE SEAFARER

 Summer in the Greenland coast circa year 1000

Not all poetry from early medieval Britain is heroic, though. The Seafarer, which is often studied
alongside The Wanderer, falls under a different category of poem. Both poems are found in a
manuscript collection in Exeter Cathedral. This anthology of Anglo-Saxon poetry is called The
Exeter Book and it contains poems such as Widsith, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Lament
of Deor, The Fates of Men, and The Ruined City.

Both The Seafarer and The Wanderer are anonymous poems that exhibit not only similar
themes but also similar verse structures.
 COMMENTS

Remember that the poetry of that time was meant to be performed, meaning that some of these
verse structures helped create the poem’s atmosphere (rude and nervous) and also contained
mnemonic devices. Repetition and parallel constructs are quite frequent. Moreover, nouns are
often repeated in metaphoric synonyms and the poem moves slowly.

This was the beginning of poetry and even though the verses and the language may sound a bit
too crude for our contemporary sensibility, the originality and freshness of its language use may
be able to startle our poetic imagination. Fred Pattee mentions some scattered rare gems to be
found in this type of poetry:

[…] BATTLE SCENES, REALISTIC AND STIRRING;

GRAPHIC PICTURES OF THE SEA; SWIFT GLIMPSES
INTO HOME AND HALL, AND, WHAT IS BETTER, INTO
HEART AND SOUL.

(PATTEE, 1899, p.44)

The metaphorical use of nature and natural phenomena, far from being a mere poetic choice,
refers to a type of worldview.

For medieval thought, there was a real correspondence between macrocosm and microcosm.
Therefore, natural phenomena (macrocosm) illustrate truths about human existence
(microcosm).
Nature, being the macrocosm, may offer some teachings about human life.

And this is especially true for poems, which rather than offering a glimpse into some past heroic
age, provide observation and instruction.
These poems, thus, instead of being classed as epic poems, are called elegies or even
Wisdom Literature.

This is the case of The Seafarer. The poem itself may be divided into two parts, according to the
themes of the verses.

In the first part, there are thoughts and images about travelling by the sea.


In the rest of the poem, however, a more religious discourse is prominent. The second part
discusses the transitory nature of the world.

This poetic work reflects the ordinary experience and is told from a first-person perspective.


This first-person narrator shares his experience so that the hearer can sympathize with his
condition.

This speaker has some knowledge to pass on.

The narrator is a solitary outcast who relies on memory to recall some past glory.

Here the voice of everyday people talks about legends of the past that contrasts with a present
of solitude, exile, and suffering.

In the beginning, the narrator announces that he will make a song about himself and his travels:

He recounts the hardship suffered while traveling by sea and compares it with life on land. Land
dwellers are unable to fathom life at the sea: the solitude, the waves, the cold, the unbearable
silence. Living a life of comfort, those who live on land can enjoy life. That’s not his case,
though.

The poem works with contrasting binaries:

Being at the sea and on land


The past and the present
The days of all the glory of the kingdoms are gone, he says. There’s hence a clash between
past and present.

While the past represents this remembered glory...


The present is synonymous with despair.

The poem, therefore, refers to a heroic tradition (the glorious past) which will be further
discussed in the epic Beowulf. It also introduces a first-person perspective, this “I” which will be
recurrent in later literature: “The speaker – the ‘I’ of the poem – is a figure who will return again
and again in literature through the ages, described here as ‘the sage, in solitude, pondering’”
(CARTER & MCRAE, 1997, p.9).

BEOWULF

The first epic poem in English literature was written in old English. It is 3182-verses long and is
found in a 10th century manuscript. It was probably written 2 centuries before, though. And the
story is set in an even earlier period. Beowulf’s length sets it apart from the production of early
medieval Britain, as the poetry of the period was relatively shorter.

 The first folio of the heroic epic poem Beowulf, written primarily in the West Saxon dialect of
Old English.
 The first folio of the heroic epic poem Beowulf, written primarily in the West Saxon dialect of
Old English.

Ronald Carter and John McRae pin down three different subject matters for oral literature in
English, namely:

Religion

War

The trials of daily life

 An illustration (1908) of Beowulf fighting the dragon that appears at the end of the epic
poem.

The epic poem is no exception as its main character, Beowulf himself is a warrior-like hero.

He is much more than that, though. He is the classic hero that comes from a distant kingdom to
defeat a monster that terrorizes the land. The land, however, is not Britain. The epic poem
recounts deeds of a glorious past, a heroic age, Britain’s ancestors. It deals, then, with the
heroic world of the north. The first epic poem in British literature was, then, foreign. Some
scholars prefer even to ignore this period in literary history, given its prominent Germanic
influence. Beowulf deals with the Danes, the Swedes, and the Geats (Goths); it deals with a
pre-Christian world.

 An illustration (1908) of Beowulf fighting the dragon that appears at the end of the epic
poem.

THIS ADDS ANOTHER CONTRADICTION TO THE POEM:

Although it is set in a pagan world, Beowulf is pagan and so are the others…


… it depends on a Christian vehicle to be known: literacy.

Although it comes across as a literate piece…


… it comes from an illiterate culture.

Although it is the first English epic…


… its language is more akin to the languages of the north.

The past it recounts, the heroic age characterized by the migration and expansion of the
Germanic tribes, are linked, throughout the poem, with Britain’s ancestry. Beowulf is, then, not
only a celebration and praise of heroic deeds, but it also served the purpose of reinforcing the
identities of communities. And as Michael Alexander reminds us: “Dynasties take their identity
from their ancestors, and the rulers of the English kingdoms ruled by right of ancestral
conquest” (ALEXANDER, 2000, p. 27).
THE PLOT OF BEOWULF

Beowulf comes over the sea to assist Hrothgar, the king of the Danes. After twelve long years of
terrorizing the Danes, Grendel, the monster, is killed by Beowulf. Upon bringing relief to the
Danes, since the fiend no longer lives, Beowulf is then challenged by another monster:
Grendel’s mother. She seeks revenge for her son’s death. Beowulf needs to track her down in
an underwater cave and, despite being powerless at first, since his sword had no power over
her, he manages to find another one: an enormous sword, so heavy that no ordinary man could
lift it. Beowulf shows his amazing strength as he lifts the sword and defeats the second monster.

 Beowulf challenged by Grendel’s mother

 Beowulf challenged by Grendel’s mother

The poem is composed of two plots. The main one involves animals and monsters; while the
sub-plot involves human beings. The two plots intertwine, though, as seen previously. Beowulf
shows his worth by defeating the monsters and sets the example for what a hero is. Ideals such
as courage, personal glory, and loyalty should be the focus of public admiration:
Notice that it is Beowulf’s glory that should be sung. His worth should be spread all over the
world. What is more, even though in this passage there is some foreshadowing, it announces
that there is nobody else more deserving of being king; the following verses show their
allegiance to the current king: Hrothgar. Loyalty to the king was one of the highest values in the
poem, alongside courage.

Beowulf becomes king at last after King Hygelac of the Geats dies. For 50 years peace befalls
upon his kingdom.

Peace does not last, though, as a new supernatural being appears. A fire-breathing dragon
threatens to destroy his entire land. This last battle, between Beowulf and the dragon, contrasts
with those of his youth. Beowulf is older and the battle is longer, more painful, and ends up with
Beowulf being fatally wounded. He manages to kill the dragon in the end but is unable to
survive. This is how the poem ends: with a lament.

 Beowulf’s last battle.

 Beowulf’s last battle.

No wonder did Tolkien suggest that Beowulf should be read as an elegy as opposed to an epic
poem.

THE THEMES

Beowulf’s ethos and culture are associated with the age of pre-Christian tribes. It portrays the
aristocratic warrior elite of Germanic tribes and praises their heroic code.
Personal glory, courage and loyalty should be praised and valued, according to the code.


On the other hand, failure, cowardice, and treachery should be feared and averted at all costs.

Beowulf stands out, among all the other warriors in the poem, since he exemplifies all the afore-
mentioned qualities. Beowulf is the most honorable, the most notable, the worthiest of all. And
for all that, he reaps the fruits of his actions. Not only does he receive rewards for helping the
Danes, but he also rules peacefully for 50 years. In his youth he was a great warrior, and later
he turned out to be a great king. But one question remains:

WHY DOES A POEM WHOSE MAIN THEME IS THE

GRANDIOSITY OF A WARRIOR WHO DEFEATS THREE
SUPERNATURAL BEINGS END ON SUCH A NEGATIVE NOTE?
First of all, mutability is one of the key themes in Beowulf. The 100 names mentioned in the
poem help create the legendary background against which the actions unravel. The
Scandinavian tribes refer to a distant world, with which Anglo-Saxon Britain bears little
resemblance. It recounts a past that is no longer relatable to its contemporary audience.
Beowulf is about the glorious potential of a society: be it wealth, beauty, or even
happiness.

Nonetheless, they all end up being momentary, and oftentimes the poem shows how limited
human beings are. We are incapable of fully realizing society’s potential, as we are just finite
beings. Past and present collide: Beowulf’s youth and his old age, Britain’s heroic past and its
present. Nothing seems to last. And even though the supernatural beings — Grendel, Grendel’s
mother, and the dragon — can be perceived as mirroring and magnifying human flaws, meaning
that Beowulf’s victory makes him rise above these morally inferior beings, he, at last, also dies.
He too loses his youth and strength, and the heroic Scandinavian Age also disappears. There
is, however, another possibility to interpret Beowulf’s elegiac tone as well.

 An illustration of the ogre Grendel from Beowulf.

 An illustration of the ogre Grendel from Beowulf.

As mentioned before, early medieval British literature was oral. The Angles and the Saxons
were illiterate and much of what remains from this period is just part of a wider oral tradition.
This means that this heroic poetry existed in and derived from a non-literate world.

 DID YOU KNOW?

The versions available nowadays were transcribed by Christian monks. Because they could
read and write, monks and nuns were the guardians of culture.

IN GENERAL TERMS, WE COULD SAY THAT THERE IS NO

ENGLISH WRITING WHICH IS NOT CHRISTIAN. THIS DOES
NOT COME WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES, THOUGH.
Christian undertones found in Beowulf, even though it is set in a pagan land and epoch, raise
the question of how much change the original text (or texts) suffered. Beowulf is an anonymous
poem whose first performance in public probably happened centuries before it finally became a
written poem. Its Christian tones, then, may have been later additions to the poem.

THEREFORE, BEOWULF IS BETWEEN TWO WORLDS: PAGAN

AND CHRISTIAN, AND IS AT THE SAME TIME A CELEBRATION
OF THE PAST (ENGLISH ANCESTORS) AND AN ELEGY.
Some have found that Beowulf’s ending may read as a Christian judgment on a past mode of
existence. It may read, then, as a condemnation of the emptiness of pagan heroic life, in which
honor is achieved by the ethics of vengeance. This could partly explain the poem’s grim
atmosphere.

Despite its pagan origins, heroic tradition, such as the one established by Beowulf, lived on in
later Christian poems. Christian poets, however, adapted this tradition to suit their narratives
about the Bible and the lives of saints.

 Wiglaf, the single warrior who witness Beowulf's death

 Wiglaf, the single warrior who witness Beowulf's death

THE LANGUAGE

The verses in Beowulf are not rhymed and not organized in stanzas. But the verses themselves
follow strict rules, for instance:

The line is divided into halves and each half has two stressed syllables.

The number of unstressed syllables may sound odd to us nowadays but the stressed and
unstressed syllables are combined following some principles.


Firstly, at least one of the stressed syllables in the first half must be in alliteration with another in
the other half.

Head-rhyme is also used.

HEAD-RHYME

Head-rhyme is similar to alliteration in that both involve repetition. However, alliteration refers to
the repetition of letters, whereas head-rhyme refers to words starting with the same sound.

Anthony Burgess sees that the use of head-rhyme may have led to the poem’s creative use of
words. To find words beginning with the same sound, the poet oftentimes may have had to
resort to inventiveness. It is not unusual to find common words replaced by pretty uncommon
ones throughout the poem. This metaphoric use of the language is called kenning.

THUS THE SPEAR BECOMES 'THE SLAUGHTER-

SHAFT'; FIGHTING 'HAND-PLAY'; THE SWORD 'THE
LEAVINGS OF THE HAMMER' (OR 'OF THE ANVIL');
AND A SHIP 'THE FOAMY-NECKED FLOATER'. THESE
KENNINGS ADD MUCH IMAGINATIVE
SUGGESTIVENESS TO THE OTHERWISE OVER−TERSE
STYLE, AND OFTEN CONTRIBUTE TO THE GRIM
IRONY WHICH IS ANOTHER OUTSTANDING TRAIT.

(FLETCHER, 2002, p.15)

This picturesque metaphoric use of the language was allowed by Old English’s characteristics.
Words were naturally formed by a combination of existing words. Therefore, this type of
wordplay, or kenning, seems quite fitting for Old English, as it only exacerbates a quality that is
intrinsic to the language itself.

Even though Old English and Anglo-Saxon literature refer to a past that is no longer relatable to
contemporary readers, the traditions they establish, be it the heroic poetry or the first-person
narrative in solitude, live on in more modern texts and even in contemporary ones. Furthermore,
Beowulf and The Seafarer, as they deal with a glorious heroic past, help create a sense of
identity as they connect England’s ancestry to its Germanic roots.

 Beowulf helps create a sense of identity as it connects England’s ancestry to its Germanic
roots.

 Beowulf helps to create a sense of identity as they connect England’s ancestry to its
Germanic roots.
THE SEAFARER AND BEOWULF

Let’s follow this magical path in the video below.

LEARNING CHECK

SECTION 2

 To identify saga themes, such as The Song of the Nibelungs

ICELANDIC SAGA AND THE SONG OF THE

NIBELUNGS

INTRODUCTION

One of Beowulf’s main concerns is to trace Britain’s ancestry back to its Germanic roots. It
presents its listeners with tales of heroic deeds in a faraway land. It recounts Britain’s heroic
past and heroic code. Beowulf is not the only literary piece to portray Britain’s pagan ancestors
and, similarly, old English was not the only language used to do it so.
SOME OTHER LITERARY PIECES ALSO HELPED SHAPE
BRITAIN’S IMAGINARY RESERVOIR OF MYTHS AND LEGENDS
AND SENSE OF IDENTITY.
And, curiously, these tales are also set in faraway lands and are told in a language other than
English. In this section, we will discuss the importance of the Icelandic saga. Moreover, we will
discuss a correlated epic poem – The Song of the Nibelungs – written in Middle High German
and which presents parallel stories to the sagas.

ICELANDIC SAGA

Much of the difficulty that we have, while discussing medieval literature, stems from the fact that
written records from early medieval periods are scarce and, also, nations, as we modernly
conceive them, were inexistent. Kingdoms were susceptible to invasions and raids, and
subsequent settlements, which meant that oral traditions from different ethnic groups traveled
and were performed, reinterpreted, changed. Some legends may be found in different literary
traditions: Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic, for instance, raising questions of anteriority and influence.
 FRIENDLY REMINDER

You may remember that Beowulf, to defeat Grendel’s mother, had to go to an underwater
cave and use a magical sword to kill her.

The recovery of swords and treasures from inside a gravemound is characteristic, however, of
another type of story, namely Icelandic adventure stories. Although other similarities may also
be found between these two traditions – Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic, we cannot state for sure
how one might have influenced the other.
 COMMENTS

One thing, nonetheless, is certain: both Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon literature, despite their
foreign settings and languages, have found their way into the British imaginary.

BEOWULF, TO DEFEAT GRENDEL’S MOTHER

 Beowulf challenged by Grendel’s mother

The book The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien, for example, along with his popular trilogy The Lord of
the Rings, presents a world in which we can find figures from Norse mythology such as dwarves
and elves. The dwarves’ names also point to its Norse influence. The story of The Hobbit,
however, mixes both cultures:
Anglo-Saxon


Norse

Even though it revolves around the assault on a gold-guarding dragon, which resembles
Beowulf’s encounter with the dragon; when Bilbo Baggins, the hero, confronts Smaug, the
dragon, the novel’s Norse influence becomes quite apparent. The confrontation seems like a
reinterpretation of Sigurd’s (Norse hero) conversation with the dragon Fáfnir. Much of the local
color of the novel also stems from Norse sources. Tolkien’s case is by far an exception, though.

Although Tolkien’s specialization in both Old English and Old Norse may make it easier to find
both cultures so intertwined in his novels, other writers, with no such specialization, also shared
his interest in Norse literature. Interestingly enough, the influence of Old-Norse Icelandic
literature on English literature is much higher from the eighteenth century onwards and
comparatively small in the medieval period. Icelandic saga was primordially conceived to be
read and told in Old Norse. Translations to other European languages began to appear after the
18th century, making the sagas, therefore, accessible to a wider readership from this period on.

The reasons why William Blake and Walter Scott, for instance, approach the sagas vary and
depend on the issues that were prevalent in each epoch.

WILLIAM BLAKE

William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and
printmaker. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure
in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age.

 William Blake, Thomas Philips, 1807.

WALTER SCOTT

Sir Walter Scott, (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832) was a Scottish historical novelist, poet,
playwright, and historian. Many of his works remain classics of both English-language literature
and Scottish literature.
 Portrait of Sir Walter Scott and his deerhound, John Watson Gordon, 1830.

While Icelandic literature appealed to Blake’s fashion for the sublime…


Walter Scott’s appeal was majorly propelled by identitarian concerns. Scott’s characters are
aware of their Norse identity, their Viking heritage.

And, curiously, Scott’s interest resonates with what the sagas are majorly concerned with:
issues of identity.
Iceland is a land with no human pre-history. No indigenous people inhabited it before the
Vikings arrived.

The first reference to human activity in the land dates back to the 9th century. The island was
until then a destination sought out by Irish monks looking for isolated places to retreat.
The monks’ stay did not last, as they were not settlers, and the place remained uninhabited until
the first Viking settlers arrived. Norse settlers seem to have driven the monks away.

Icelandic saga, then, was a product of the Viking expansion. And much more than that, it was a
product of a nation that occupied a unique place in the European scenario.

To start with, differently from other countries, there are records of Iceland’s origins. During the
period encompassed by the beginning of the settlement and a few decades after Christianity,
that is, between 870 and 1030, Iceland established itself as a nation, with a strong
parliamentary and legal system. It elected judges and legislators and there were no kings.
Politically speaking, then, Iceland constituted a precocious democracy.

THIS IS THE PERIOD IN WHICH MOST OF THE SAGAS ARE

SET, THE SO-CALLED SAGA AGE, WHEN PIONEER SETTLERS
ESTABLISHED A NEW NATION WITH SOPHISTICATED
POLITICAL STRUCTURES THAT REPLACED MONARCHY AND
THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. THE SAGAS ARE, IN THIS ASPECT, A
REFLECTION OF ICELAND’S UNIQUE POSITION IN THE
EUROPEAN SCENARIO. THE SAGA AGE, HOWEVER, DOES
NOT COINCIDE WITH WHEN THEY WERE ACTUALLY WRITTEN.
The first manuscripts would only appear in the 13th century, meaning that the sagas presented,
in fact, a retrospective look into what was then considered to be a golden age.

KINDS OF SAGAS AND THEMES

 DID YOU KNOW?

The word saga in Icelandic refers to the verb “to say”, “to speak”, “to tell” in Old Norse. The
word, however, does not distinguish fictional narratives from historical ones and refers to a wide
variety of narratives.

Even in modern Icelandic, the word saga can refer to novels as well as historical writings. Even
though the Saga of the Icelanders or family sagas are the most celebrated types, the genre
entails different types of stories that range from legendary sagas to kings’ sagas. They all have,
nonetheless, a common denominator: they entail prose narratives about the past.

The Saga of the Icelanders revolves around the lives of people from certain Icelandic families.

The tales are set in the period between the years 870 and 1030 and most of the narrative takes
place in Iceland, although the saga heroes may travel to foreign lands such as Scandinavia and
the British Isles.

Some sagas, however, don’t follow this rule. The Vinland sagas take place in either Greenland
or North America and Egil’s saga depicts conflicts in Norway and England, even though its hero
was born in Iceland.
 ATTENTION

The word conflict is not used here by chance since the family sagas’ substances are conflicts or
feuds. In other words, the sagas portray how conflicts were resolved through the operation of
the judicial system.

Sagas, thus, explore personal and social relationships, showing how alliances were formed and
feuds started; they explored ways in which families, after generations, became strong kin
groups or, conversely, how they fragmented under pressure:

WHAT IS CELEBRATED IN THE SAGAS IS NOT THE

TRIUMPH OF THE PHYSICALLY STRONG, BUT THE
INTELLECTUAL ABILITY AND GOODWILL OF THOSE
WHO STRIVE TO MAINTAIN SOCIAL ORDER.

(O’DONOGHUE, 2004, p.24)

Honor or life can be at stake in these feuds. Whatever the origin of the feud may be, it usually
compromises the honor of those involved. The plot, then, unfolds as the victim, or the family of
the victim tries to reclaim their honor. Conflicts derive from property issues, social influence, and
relationships between a woman and a man.

Many sagas deal with more than one feud and present their backgrounds, developments, and
resolutions.

 EXAMPLE

The examples of this type of saga are the Njal’s saga and Hrafnkel’s saga.

Other sagas, on the other hand, have, as the backbone, the life of one protagonist.

Ancestors and the settlement of Iceland function as the introduction to the story and the
protagonist’s deeds and life are exploited up until he dies. Egil’s saga and Gretti’s saga
exemplify this type of saga. Biographical sagas usually present poets or outlaws as the main
characters, whereas the main characters, in the first group, are respected members of society.

 Egill Skallagrímsson in a seventeenth-century manuscript of Egil's Saga

 Egill Skallagrímsson in a seventeenth-century manuscript of Egil's Saga

 IMPORTANT

Feuds, involving individuals, are important elements in the sagas’ plots. There are other
important elements as well, such as travels abroad, “heroic exploits in Viking raids, and honours
and riches earned from foreign kings or princes in return for valour in battle or the composition
of praise-poetry” (ÓLASON, 2005, p. 103).
Family sagas are written in a naturalistic way, telling the story as if it were history. It is no
wonder, then, that comparisons with realist novels were made. This matter-of-fact way of
narrating the story does not exclude, though, the presence of magic.

 ATTENTION

Just remember that this is a pre-modern conception of the world that did not contrast the natural
with the supernatural. What is modernly conceived as supernatural belonged to the natural
realm in pre-modern ways of thinking.

Demons and magic rather than belonging to the supernatural sphere were, actually, part of the
natural phenomena. This explains why there is no contradiction between a realistic narrative,
one which seems to be recording history, and the existence of magical situations. What comes
across as implausible for contemporary readers, read as believable, and was accepted as real
by the medieval audience.
Magic curses…

Being haunted by the undead…

And prophecies existed alongside respected members of the society, killings, and legal
procedures.

There are other types of saga, though. Family sagas may have become the most popular
Icelandic type of saga due to their historical appeal, straightforward narrative, the blurring
between fictional and historical. However, the genre also encompasses different types of
narratives that describe either the lives of kings (kings’ sagas), the lives of bishops (bishops’
sagas), or the lives of non-Icelandic saints (saints’ sagas). Some sagas are set in a distant past,
before the settlement of Iceland.

THESE ARE CALLED SAGAS OF ANCIENT TIMES OR

LEGENDARY SAGAS AND THEY CENTER ON THE LEGENDARY
HISTORY OF SCANDINAVIA.
 Haakon IV of Norway, as portrayed in Flateyjarbók. A key patron of knight’s saga

The sagas of knights may include both translations (from French) and original texts that follow
the same tradition. Contemporary sagas deal, differently from family sagas, with a more
contemporary time (13th century, for instance) and provide valuable information about the time
the sagas were actually written.

 Haakon IV of Norway, as portrayed in Flateyjarbók. A key patron of knight’s saga

THE SONG OF THE NIBELUNGS

In 1882, American writer James Baldwin published a book called The story of Siegfried.
Between 1882 and 1959, the book had many reprints and editions, which is more than enough
to show its popularity at that time. The book aimed at introducing children to Nordic myths and
legends by narrating the life of Siegfried in twenty adventures. His adaptation combined
elements of Edda and Volsunga Saga, as well as passages of The Song of the Nibelungs.
Baldwin’s effort – to introduce children to the world of Siegfried – brings to light how these two
literary cultures were intertwined: Norse and German. Siegfried is a hero that appears both in
Norse and German traditions.

 Nibelungenlied Manuscript ca. 1220-1250

 DID YOU KNOW?

When William Morris, an English poet, produced his Sigurd the Volsung, considered to be his
greatest poetic achievement, he also combined the Volsunga Saga with information derived
from The Song of the Nibelungs. The poem focuses on the life and death of Sigurd or Siegfried.

The Song of the Nibelungs, as we can see, as an epic poem, provides a parallel story to both
Icelandic poetry and prose. The poem is written in Middle High German and its manuscript
dates from about the year 1200. It is based on oral tradition and it is set in previous centuries:
5th and 6th centuries. It is the first heroic epic poem to be written in German.

 Sigmunds Schwert, Johannes Gehrts, 1889.

 Sigmunds Schwert, Johannes Gehrts, 1889.

Like Beowulf, the epic poem relates to the deeds of great heroes. It established the heroic
poetry tradition in German. And like The Saga of the Icelanders, it refers to a heroic age, the
period of the Migrations (from 400 to 600). Moreover, similarly to the sagas, the epic poem also
has a historic component to it, since it is based on a historic event: the overthrow of the
Burgundian kingdom by the Huns in the year 437. The history here is entangled with myth
and the myth of Siegfried is enmeshed in historic events. Even though many scholars claim that
the poem is composed of two parts — a historic and a mythical one, we will follow here Hugo
Bekker’s intuition that the epic poem should be read as a unified piece. At least that seems to
be the narrator’s intention. Since the beginning of the poem, foreshadowing techniques are
used:

The second stanza already anticipates that many men would die because of Kriemhild. Some
stanzas later we learn about the Burgundian’s fate: that they will travel and die as a
consequence of an argument between two women. A bit later we also learn, through Kriemhild’s
dream and her conversation with her mother, that Siegfried will die. According to Hekker,
however, Siegfried’s death is only predicted after the basic outline of the epic is provided,
showing the poem’s effort to avoid any attempt to break the epic into two parts.

Great importance is placed on conflicts, throughout the poem, as was also the case with its
Icelandic counterpart. The types of conflict, however, vary:

AMONG THE MANY CONFLICTS PRESENTED ARE

THOSE OF PERSONAL RIVALRY, MARITAL STRIFE,
ETHICAL DILEMMAS POSED BY CONTRADICTORY
LOYALTIES, THE COMPETITION FOR POLITICAL
POWER, ASSERTIONS OF SOCIAL SUPERIORITY
THROUGH THE CONSPICUOUS DISPLAY OF WEALTH,
CONTESTS OF PHYSICAL MIGHT, TESTS OF
BATTLEFIELD VALOR, AND ATTACKS BY ONE NATION
ON ANOTHER'S SOVEREIGNTY.

(GENTRY et al., 2011, p.145)

As conflicts unfold and are resolved, one basic structural component stands out: the concept of
Triuwe, which means loyalty, fidelity, love, allegiance. Triuwe is placed as the ethical foundation
of the characters. Relationships in the epic poem are defined by a sense of loyalty and/or
allegiance.

THE GERMAN SOCIETY, DIFFERENTLY FROM THE ICELANDIC

ONE, WAS ROOTED IN FEUDAL ASSOCIATIONS. TRIUWE WAS
EXACTLY WHAT HELD THE FEUDAL SOCIETY TOGETHER.

 Sigfried’s dead scene from the movie Die Nibelungen I, 1924.

Whenever the vassal and the lord performed their duties according to what was expected; that
is, the vassal offered protective aid to the lord and the lord treated his vassal justly, rewarding
him for his services, they embodied the concept of Triuwe. The absence of Triuwe, however,
could have fatal consequences, as exemplified by Siegfried’s death. The hero’s death is
described as being an act of unparalleled faithlessness.

 Sigfried’s dead scene from the movie Die Nibelungen I, 1924.

The story of Kriemhild and Siegfried, thus, aside from presenting the magical creatures that
permeated the medieval sagas – dragons, dwarves, and elves – provides an ethical framework
on which to base human associations, namely the concept of Triuwe.

As long as this concept was fully realized, the other qualities would follow. It is no wonder, then,
that breach of faith would constitute one of the major recurring motifs in the poem.
Betrayals could be both political and personal. Siegfried’s murder functions as a central betrayal
that would eventually lead to the destruction of the empire.

The poem as a whole is filled with parallelisms, and other episodes of betrayals, occurring at
critical junctures, appear to mirror this major one.

In this section, we have seen narratives that deal with heroic ages. The founding of a new
nation, in the case of Iceland, may have been the great propeller for the impetus behind saga
writing: the need for a textual foundation for this new nation.
Icelandic literature has influenced a great number of British writers. Their naturalistic writing, as
in the case of family sagas, and their impulse to record history explain why realist novelists and
historic novelists, such as Walter Scott, may have approached this type of literature. What’s
more, the sagas not only provided a glimpse into the British ancestry – Scandinavian and
especially Icelandic have been claimed ancestry of the British –, but also records of the British
life at that time.

ICELAND AND BRITAIN SHARE NOT ONLY A SIMILAR

GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION: “ON THE FRINGES OF BOTH
WESTERN CHRISTENDOM AND CELTIC CULTURE”, BUT ALSO
“BOTH HAD AN INDIGENOUS LITERARY CULTURE WITH A
SIMILAR HISTORY: A GERMANIC, ORAL LITERATURE
TRANSFORMED, IN COMPLEX BUT PARALLEL WAYS, BY THE
COMING OF CHRISTIANITY” (DONOGHUE, 2004, P. 135).
The fact that Icelandic literature and The Song of the Nibelungs present similar characters is a
great indicator that both shared a common mythical background. In the German epic poem,
though, these characters are embedded in feudal associations that rely on the concept of
Triuwe to be held together. The feuds and conflicts that emerge, though, instead of being
resolved with the assistance of a sophisticated judicial system, exemplify cases of loyalty or
betrayal. The ultimate betrayal, the murder of Siegfried, set the tone for the decline of the
Burgundian Empire.

ICELANDIC SAGA AND THE SONG OF THE

NIBELUNGS.

Let’s review the main points about this section watching the video below.
LEARNING CHECK

SECTION 3

 To recognize the importance of the Arthurian legends to British culture

KING ARTHUR
So far, we have been introduced to a world of battles and warriors. A gloomy and grim world in
which the individual, whenever he/she lacked the protection of a lord, felt isolated and doomed
to face harsh situations. Do you remember The Seafarer? The narrator was an outcast who had
struggled to survive at the sea. Oftentimes he compared his plight with the lives of the ones who
lived comfortably on the land.

THE SEAFARER
 Summer in the Greenland coast circa year 1000

WITH THE COMING OF THE NORMANS, HOWEVER, NOT ONLY

WOULD THE LANGUAGE CHANGE, BUT ALSO THE
LITERATURE.
New themes and legends would emerge and Anglo-Saxon literature would eventually sink into
oblivion.
NEW THEMES AND FORMS

The year 1066 marked the Norman Conquest. After winning the Battle of Hastings, the Normans
took over the kingdom of England and William the Conqueror became the king. They brought
with them a new set of traditions and a different outlook on life.

 Chronicle of the English/Norman battle, The Bayeux Tapestry, 11th century

 Chronicle of the English/Norman battle, The Bayeux Tapestry, 11th century

After the initial shock, French influence permeated the Anglo-Saxon world and new themes and
literary forms emerged. The differences between these two kinds of literature – Old English and
Old French – were huge, according to Anthony Burgess (1974).

While Old English verse was grey and gloomy…


… Old French verse was “drenched in sunlight

The themes would still be warlike, in Old French literature, the verses, however, were more
colorful and lighter, with the preference to end-rhyme as opposed to the head-rhyme of Anglo-
Saxon Literature.

AFTER THE PERIOD OF CONSOLIDATION, THE ENCOUNTER

OF THESE TWO CULTURES WOULD LEAD TO A CHANGE IN
THE LITERARY SCENARIO. EPICS AND ELEGIES WOULD
EVENTUALLY GIVE WAY TO ROMANCES AND LYRICS.
Moreover, before the Norman Conquest, there was no literary interest in love as a theme.
Exceptions to the rule were the Old English poems The Wife’s Lament and Wulf and Eadwacer.
It is hard to tell, though, how many more early medieval love poems were lost. What we can
surely say, however, is that a new conception of love entered British territory.

 DID YOU KNOW?

The novelty came from the southeast of France, from a region called Provence, and what the
troubadours sang would then be known as courtly love.

The warrior could now rest his sword, pick up a musical instrument, and sing of love. The love
he sang bore the mark of unfulfillment. This was not an earthly bound love driven by the desires
of the flesh, quite the opposite. It was a pious love, filled with religious undertones. It was a
passionate, but chaste love. Two important factors underlie this idealized view on love, though.
Firstly, one of the first books written in this period was called Domesday Book. It served as an
inventory for William the Conqueror. He saw himself as the owner of the land and of everything
it could offer. Below him, there were the nobles who had helped him conquer England. Lands
were granted to these nobles and a feudal system was set up in Norman England. The king was
at the top of the pyramid of power, and below him, there were the landowners. The humblest
members of the society, those who worked the land, occupied the lowest ranks. Responsibility
in this type of societal organization was a two-way street. Whereas the nobles were responsible
for the king, the king was also responsible for the nobles. A vassal was responsible for his lord,
and, at the same time, there was a reciprocal responsibility on the part of the lord. There was,
thus, a hierarchical structure to feudalism that established a code of behavior.
Secondly, around the year 1100, soldiers began to go off on to the Holy Crusades to recapture
Jerusalem. Women at that time did not take part in the Crusades and while men were abroad,
fighting the good cause, they were expected to wait patiently at home. The woman should thus
embody some ideals, such as patience, beauty, and ideal virtue. Note that this ideal fidelity also
entailed a code of behavior, assigning a subordinate role to women.

Courtly love, then, was as hierarchical as feudalism, since it established a similar vassal-lord
relationship. The woman was the lord, and the man, as her vassal, should be at her service.
The woman in this view is worshipped, idealized and, at the same time, placed in a subordinate
position. She was the chaste woman for whom the man would overcome obstacles and endure
suffering. He would win battles to honor her name. Glory and courage were at the service of the
woman. This woman, however, was not just anyone. She belonged to the higher ranks of
society. Courtly love is an aristocratic love, as the name shows. Here the warrior meets the
religious man. The knight is the resultant of these two fronts. He searches for glory and honor,
but his ambition is not empty, as it serves a purpose. He serves God, firstly; his king, secondly;
and his lord, lastly. His love is as devotional as religious love.
 A lady doing a courtly love gesture to a knight about to go out to battle.

 The Arming and Departure of the Knights, one of the Holy Grail-themed 19th-century
tapestries

Knights were not only warriors but also religious men, as said before. Chivalry was an
expression of the rise of feudalism as it entailed a code of conduct. A knight served God and
the king. Honorable conduct meant military service to God and the king, as well as protection of
the weak. This system of ethical beliefs combined Christian virtues with military ones and
gained full expression in the Arthurian legend. Wace, in Roman de Brut, provides an Arthurian
description filled with courtly terminology:

I WILL TELL YOU WHAT ARTHUR WAS LIKE AND NOT

LIE TO YOU. HE WAS A MOST MIGHTY KNIGHT,
ADMIRABLE AND RENOWNED, PROUD TO THE
HAUGHTY AND GENTLE AND COMPASSIONATE TO
THE HUMBLE. HE WAS STRONG, BOLD AND
INVINCIBLE, A GENEROUS GIVER AND SPENDER, AND
IF HE COULD HELP SOMEONE IN NEED, HE WOULD
NOT REFUSE HIM. HE GREATLY LOVED RENOWN AND
GLORY, HE GREATLY WISHED HIS DEEDS TO BE
REMEMBERED. HE BEHAVED MOST NOBLY AND SAW
TO IT THAT HE WAS SERVED WITH COURTESY. FOR
AS LONG AS HE LIVED AND REIGNED, HE
SURPASSED ALL OTHER MONARCHS IN COURTESY
AND NOBILITY, GENEROSITY AND POWER.

(WACE apud FIELD, 2010, p. 309)

The use of the word “courtesy” is quite striking, as it refers to a restrained temper, to friendliness
and generosity. Knights were not only measured by their prowess, but also by their manners,
their compassion, by the appropriate use of violence. Arthur was strong but gentle; invincible,
but, at the same time, never refused help to those in need. Arthur was the epitome of chivalry.

KING ARTHUR: THE LEGEND

Interestingly enough, it was only after the Norman Conquest that the stories of King Arthur and
the Round Table became more accessible. King Arthur belongs to the mythology of the Welsh
race or the Britons, the ones that had been forced to leave England by the Anglo-Saxons. And
after the Anglo-Saxons were turned into a second-rate race, the myth emerged with full force.

 Art tapestry of King Arthur wearing a coat of arms, usually assigned to his figure.

 Art tapestry of King Arthur wearing a coat of arms, usually assigned to his figure.

We can only speculate about possible reasons:

POSSIBILITY 1
Maybe the Anglo-Saxons, after being defeated by the Normans, might have been drawn closer
to the Welsh.

POSSIBILITY 2
Or perhaps the Anglo-Saxons might have become interested in the Welsh culture after invading
Wales.

No matter the reasons for the spread of the Arthurian stories, one pivotal event should be
considered: Layamon’s Brut. This was the first national epic in English that owed its existence to
two other pieces: Roman de Brut by Wace and Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum
Britanniae. Even though Wace’s importance cannot be minimized – Wace’s translation of
Geoffrey of Monmouth helped romance writers get familiarized with Arthur’s reign, Chrétien
included – Layamon’s Brut was a conscious attempt in English to emulate classical epics.
 Manuscript of the opening of Roman de Brut, by Wace, dating from the 12th century.

National identity was at stake at that moment. The Norman invasion jeopardized English identity
by subordinating English culture to the French one. Layamon’s attempt was not to let it happen.
French culture should be incorporated but through assimilation. French should be a subordinate
culture and not the dominant one. His aim is made clear since the beginning. In the prologue of
Brut, he announces that he will talk about the noble people of England: what they were called
and where they came from. The search for “Englishness” is his driving force.

As its predecessors, Brut traces England’s foundation back to Brutus, a great-grandson of

Aeneas, the hero of the epic The Aeneid. There are some recurring ideas in Brut. England is
seen, for instance, as:

[…] A LAND WHERE PEACE BRINGS ITS OWN

REWARDS AND WRONGDOING IS PUNISHED; A LAND
WHERE JUSTICE (RIHT) IS UPHELD; A LAND WHERE
COUNSEL (RÆD) IS RESPECTED.

(PERRY, 2010, 225)

The king’s role, in this new kingdom, is to make sure these laws are respected and maintained.
A king is seen as the fabric of society. And in his manifesto for kingship, King Arthur stands out.

Arthur is the noblest of the kings and his reign should be set as an example not only for the
Britons but also for the English. According to Layamon, there is an innate sense of nobility in the
English that is granted by their noble ancestors, Arthur being one of them. Even after Arthur’s
death, he remains the role model for kinship.

WHY?
KING ARTHUR’S BODY
Firstly, because the Britons do not believe Arthur is dead. According to Briton belief, Arthur’s
body would have been taken to Avalon, by elf ladies, to heal, and then, return. Britons still wait
for his return.

KING ARTHUR’S NOBILITY

Secondly, in Layamon’s text, he explains that all we can know from Merlin’s prophecy is that one
like Arthur should come in aid of the English. Not Arthur himself, but one as noble as he was.

KING ARTHUR: LITERARY EXPRESSION

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT

This story is based on two folk tales that were put together in the form of an Arthurian romance.
Its poet probably lived after Layamon, a century or more, and little before Chaucer. Although it is
a crafted work, its authorship is unknown. It is pretty clear, though, that the author sympathized
with knightly feeling since the romance brings out all the better sides of it. The romance is found
in a manuscript containing other three poems: Patience, Cleanness, and Pearl, probably by the
same unknown author.

 Original text of Sir Gawain Manuscript

 Original text of Sir Gawain Manuscript

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight starts with a typical romance challenge: knights at King
Arthur’s court are challenged. Upon the acceptance of the challenge, a knight goes on his quest
and returns to Camelot a year later. The romance is a combination of two traditions: clerical and
romance, as it combines prowess with the search for the Grail and chastity.

The Green Knight pays an expected visit to King Arthur’s court. He then challenges anyone in
the court to strike him with his own axe. There was a catch, though. Accepting the challenge
meant that the knight would have to suffer a strike too a year later. Arthur’s hesitation at first is
followed by the Green Knight’s mockery. Arthur decides to accept the challenge at last, but Sir
Gawain steps in to take on the challenge in his place. Gawain beheads the Green Knight. To
everyone’s amazement, though, the knight picks up his head and reminds Gawain of his pact:
they should meet in a year at the Green Chapel.

The following year Gawain leaves Camelot in search of the Green Knight. After enduring a
handful of hardships, Gawain’s prayers are answered as he is welcomed into a castle. The host
(whose name at first is unknown) strikes a deal with the knight: in the evenings they should
exchange their winnings. The host would exchange anything he would have acquired in his
hunts for anything Gawain had acquired by staying in the castle. The deal is not broken in the
first two days and both act as was expected of them. On the third day, nonetheless, Gawain fails
to mention a very important winning to his host: a green silk girdle that would make its wearer
invincible. Gawain is unaware, however, that his host is, in fact, the Green Knight.
On New Year’s morning, the Green Knight and Gawain meet at the Green Chapel. On this
occasion, the Green Knight feigns two heavy blows on Gawain’s neck only to slightly cut it in the
third one. The cut is a punishment for Gawain’s dishonesty. He failed to disclose an important
winning: the green silk girdle. It had been a test all along. When Gawain comes back to
Camelot, he confesses his fault. Ashamed of his weakness, Gawain wears the girdle around his
arm, as a reminder of his moment of weakness. To support the knight, the court as a whole
wears girdles on their arms as well.

Integrity, in private sexual matters as well as in social ones, was a matter of life or death.
Gawain is a human hero, aware of his own weaknesses. The romance as a whole, even though
it brings human weaknesses to the foreground, reinforces belief in human capacities. The mark
of Gawain’s failure – the green girdle – is worn by the court as a mark of honor.

LE MORTE D’ARTHUR

Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur was completed in 1470, published in 1485, and combines,
under one title, eight romances about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table that had
been around since the earliest times. His aim was to arrange the whole body of important
Arthurian romances in one continuous history about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round
Table. It was the first imaginative work to achieve wider circulation due to the new techniques of
printing.
Le Morte D’Arthur is the climax of a tradition of writing that combines myth and history and
emphasizes chivalry as an ethical system of moral conduct. Unlike Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight, in Le Morte D’Arthur the magical and fantastic elements of the narrative are less
prominent, whereas political aspects, such as firm government and virtue take center stage.

 Le Morte d'Arthur, John Garrick, 1862

 Le Morte d'Arthur, John Garrick, 1862

 SUM UP

As a result of the Norman Conquest new literary forms and themes entered British territory.
These changes were the consequence of a new societal regime, namely feudalism, and the
influence of themes that traveled from Provence. Before 1066, love was rarely thematized in
either poetry or prose in British literature. The new literary genre that emerged in the period,
romance, was the literary expression of chivalry.

Romances were originally written in vernacular French and, as a genre, entailed stories
containing marvelous elements. The romances, therefore, combined both new themes – courtly
love and chivalry – and the spread of a myth that recounted the foundation of Britain: King
Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

If Arthur was, in fact, a historical figure, he might have defeated the pagan Saxons in battle at
Mons Badonicus (c.510).


The literary Arthur, on the other hand, belongs to the age of the Holy Crusades and of chivalry.

King Arthur embodied chivalry as an ethical code of conduct, being, at the same time, a valiant
warrior and a pious Christian.

KING ARTHUR

Let’s watch the summary about King Arthur in the following video.
LEARNING CHECK

SECTION 4

 To identify Robin Hood as a literary tradition

ROBIN HOOD
Medieval literature may have seemed by now peopled with noble characters, whose ancestry
confirms their innate nobility. Beowulf’s ancestry was of the noble kind and King Arthur’s nobility
was hyperbolized time and again. He was, indeed, the noblest of the kings. And even though
King Arthur’s stories emerged from Norman England, it establishes, in a curious way, a sense of
“Englishness” that resorted to Welsh mythology.

ANOTHER MYTH, HOWEVER, ALSO EMERGED AT THIS TIME:

THE MYTH OF ROBIN HOOD AND HIS FOLLOWERS.
Robin Hood may not be as powerful a myth as King Arthur, but all the same, its appearance
may be seen as an opposition to the Norman Conquest. In this section, we will study the myth of
the outlaw and understand the context in which it made its first literary appearances.
BALLADS
Robin Hood’s first appearance in the literary scenario is owed to a popular genre called ballads.
English and Scottish ballads were popular throughout the 15th century. The production of
popular ballads slowly declined as printed press allowed for wider circulation of the production
of cheap London writers, and reading, eventually, substituted verbal memory, the basis for the
ballads.
 LEARN MORE

Even though the transmission of ballads relied on verbal memory, some of them, mysteriously,
have been preserved and were recovered by 18th and 19th-century collectors and/or simple
men and women. Ballads, however, still live on and might be found, even nowadays, in the
outskirts of civilization.

Some of the elements of popular ballads set them apart from the 16th century imitations.

They are considered to be simple expressions of crude and unaffected emotions.

Repetitions of phrases resemble those that naturally occur in conversations, and no literary
adornment is observed.

They are simple and straightforward, presenting no complexity to the plot or the characterization
of the characters.

They reflect the natural manner of the common man, being all about action, vivid scenes, and
simple feelings.


They reflect the ordinary conversations among common men, leaving much to be implied.

ISN’T IT WHAT HAPPENS IN DAILY CONVERSATIONS? WHEN

GESTURES AND FACIAL EXPRESSIONS HELP CONVEY
MEANINGS?
The morals and emotions of the ballads are pre-Christian: “vengeance on one's enemies is as
much a virtue as loyalty to one's friends; the most shameful sins are cowardice and treachery in
war or love; and the love is often lawless” (FLETCHER, 2002, p.33).

The ballad traditionally tells a character-based story in memorable rhythmic verses and the
ending is usually unhappy. Verbally speaking, the ballads are usually simple and unpolished.
Nonetheless, it is hard to say how much was changed throughout the centuries. It is safe to say,
nonetheless, that current versions are probably more imperfect than the original ones, having
been corrupted by generations of oral repetitions.

The ballads’ popular appeal makes sure they are not restrained by boundaries, nations, or even
race. They spread all over. The ballads that deal with Robin Hood and his followers, however,
are purely English. They depict heroes of Saxon common people in their struggle against feudal
lords.

 Elizabethan song of Robin Hood

 Elizabethan song of Robin Hood

A MARGINAL VOICE
While some literary texts gain recognition and are canonized, studied, analyzed; others remain
on the margins of what is considered to be literature. Especially late medieval texts and those
deemed popular fall under this category.

THIS IS THE CASE OF TEXTS FOCUSING ON THE ROBIN

HOOD LEGEND.
The Robin Hood legend owes its existence to popular ballads that were produced in the late
medieval period. It is no wonder then that only recently did these texts and legends start to be
reappraised and could finally gain new critical interest. Robin Hood’s marginal existence could
then be studied through a different perspective that deals with its political implications, by
offering socio-cultural readings able to rehabilitate the texts and the legend. Only then could the
Robin Hood tradition be read as an expression of cultural anxiety.

 Image from the broadside of Robin Hood and Maid Marion

 Image from the broadside of Robin Hood and Maid Marion

Lack of critical attention may also be due to, as Stephen Knight suggests, the great biographical
and historical interest that the figure of Robin Hood has attracted. The impulse to find the real
“Robin Hood”, the historical one, the one that existed in medieval England, may have hindered
critical perspectives. Social historians may have created a myth of their own, he implies.

HOWEVER, ACCORDING TO KNIGHT, ROBIN HOOD’S LEGEND

IS MORE VARIABLE THAN THE ARTHURIAN MATTER, SINCE
ITS RECEPTION AND INTERPRETATIONS DEPEND ON THE
CULTURAL AND POLITICAL CLIMATE OF THE PERIOD.

BEGINNING OF A LITERARY TRADITION

Robin Hood’s literary tradition is inaugurated in the mid-fifteenth century with Robin Hood and
the Monk. Its first printed version, though, would only appear in 1806 thanks to Robert Jamieson
and his Popular Ballads and Songs. Even though this first appearance may derive its
importance from antiquity, its influence on the centuries to come was not strong.

 An illustration from Robin Hood and the Monk

 An illustration from Robin Hood and the Monk

THE TALE GOES AS FOLLOWS:

After ignoring Little John’s advice, Robin Hood leaves the forest in order to go to Nottingham.
He would pray to Virgin Mary. The monk, however, upon recognizing Robin Hood, turns him
over. Before the monk has time to tell the King the good news — that he had captured Robin
Hood — Little John and Much manage to kill him. Robin’s men, then, disguised as the monk
and his assistant and can deceive the king. As they tell the King that Robin was captured, they
receive titles and money as a reward. Robin, Little John and Much manage to return to the
forest, with the forgiveness of the king. In Robin Hood and the Monk, the monk is the true villain,
as he violated the sanctity of the church by turning Robin over to the sheriff.

Even if this first literary appearance may not have had the influence expected, the ballad
provides good examples of recurring themes of the outlaw myth, such as:

[…] THE NATURAL SETTING WHICH HAS AN IMPLIED

VALUE, A FULL STATEMENT OF THE DANGER OF
CONFLICT WITHIN THE BAND AND THE CONSEQUENT
DANGERS OF ISOLATION, A STRONGLY DEVELOPED
REPRESENTATION OF ROBIN'S DEVOTION TO OUR
LADY, THE HOSTILITY BETWEEN THE OUTLAWS AND
THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH, A BRIEF STATEMENT OF
THE DANGERS OF THE TOWN (REDUCED BY THE
LOSS OF MATERIAL), A MISSION IN DISGUISE (JOHN
AND MUCH), THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE KING, THE
FRUSTRATION OF THE SHERIFF, THE RE-FORMING OF
THE OUTLAW BAND, THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE
TRUE VALUES HELD BY THE BAND AND THEIR
RECOGNITION BY THE KING (JOHN'S FIDELITY IN
PARTICULAR).

(KNIGHT and OHLGREN, 1997)

In these earlier texts, this ballad included, it is clear that Robin Hood’s leadership is granted by
consent. Throughout the ballad, his leadership is tested and reaffirmed. Institutions of religion
and commerce, towns, cash, and royal seals are confronted and a dream of constructing a
community aligned with a natural world is fictionally enacted.

Among the earlier appearances of the legend, Gest of Robin Hood is the best known. Although
the ballad opens with two good stories: Robin’s restoration to the dignity of an impoverished
knight and the robbery and humiliation of the sheriff, it has, nonetheless, little influence on the
tradition and it provides material for only two other ballads. Its importance resides in transmitting
“The Robin and the King” motif to the gentrified side of the tradition. Its other events, though,
have hardly made it to the extensive narratives and films that followed.

 A sixteenth-century printed edition of the Middle English ballad Gest of Robin Hood
 A sixteenth-century printed edition of the Middle English ballad Gest of Robin Hood

The legend of Robin Hood precedes the ballads, though, as references point to the existence of
a tradition that dates back to the mid-fourteenth century. Although these references may not be
literary, they refer to a tradition of Robin in the forest with others, resisting authority.

BY 1450 THUS THERE IS A POPULAR ROBIN HOOD TRADITION

BASED ON ORAL TRANSMISSION.
There is a reference to a popular proverb, which dates back to 1405, that says: “many men
speak of Robin Hood that never shot his bow”, which reinforces the power and the popularity
of the myth. Many of the references point to Robin Hood’s resistance to authority in an effort to
set values other than the predominant ones. Robin’s values would go against the established
order. This anti-authoritarian side of Robin Hood may have been triggered by the troubles faced
in fourteenth-century England.

Since the beginning of the 14th century, England had suffered from bad weather. There was
also massive population loss caused by disease and great expenses with an overseas war.

The political response was to prevent the value of work from rising and the traditional bonds of
servility from weakening.


As a consequence of this repressive environment, resistance to authority, in the form of
peasants’ revolts and other manifestations, followed.
At the same time, war with France enabled the emergence of a class of freemen who had
military skills and awareness of a lateral organization, that is, the band. Robin Hood’s legend
first appearing in the 14th century resonates with England’s political and social context. And it
also explains why conservative times may see a renewal of the legend.

ROBIN HOOD: THE LEGEND

Robin Hood occupies a special place amongst the medieval myths and legends.

First of all, it springs from the late medieval period, unlike Beowulf, Siegfried, and even King
Arthur.

Moreover, Robin Hood is just a man. He is neither the noblest of men nor the mightiest warrior.

He does not carry a magical sword either, only his longbow. Robin Hood does not descend from
a noble lineage of men.

He does not embody the principles of chivalry, nor does he belong to the courtly environment.

In his first literary appearances, he is portrayed as just a yeoman. He belongs, this way, neither
to the lowest ranks of society nor to the highest.

He is “one of us”, a normal person. He is just Robin Hood.

He is as human and as relatable as any other human being. Maybe that is the allure of the
legend: potentially anyone can be Robin Hood. Or perhaps the in-between space occupied by
the myth may be the source of its potency.

NOTHING IN ROBIN HOOD’S LEGEND IS EXACERBATED.

Even though he does not live in a town, he lives just in the outskirts. He is not a hermit who lives
in the wilderness and negates all human contact and urban experience; he lives in the forest,
just outside the town.

Notice that there is a sense of proximity in Robin’s legend. As a man he is not too superior to
others, his military skills are not phenomenal and he lives on the margins of the town.
The term margins is here to emphasize his marginal state, to highlight the mix of similarity and
difference he embodies. In this way, he is not completely distant from society and its norms, but
his proximity to them creates this friction, this in-between space, in which he can challenge
societal norms without the need to negate them altogether. Robin is the outlaw “representing
localized natural justice and ideals of equity, a politics of hope against the disappointments and
degradations of law and law-keeping that too many people experience” (KNIGHT, 2011, xi).

The beginning of Gest of Robin Hood also points to relations of similarity and difference. The
poem opens with reference to heroic poetry. The verb listen followed by a vocative is part of the
chanson de geste’s tradition. The ballad’s title Gest also points towards this direction. However,
the ballad as a whole contradicts initial expectations, as the protagonist is not a noble or a hero,
but an outlaw instead. The terminology of the romances is also being resignified:

The word courteous is a direct reference to courtly romances. Since it was removed from its
initial context: that of chivalry and knighthood, it acquires a new meaning in the ballad. It
removes the courtesy terminology from its aristocratic usage to grant it to an outlaw. The word
may be the same, but the context of its use was moved down a social notch. “So courteous an
outlaw” that was the essence of Robin Hood, inhabiting an in-between space, between the
forest and the town, the space of personal freedoms and urban oppression, giving expression
thus to experiences of alterity.

ROBIN HOOD

Let's watch this summary about Robin Hood prepared by Professor Tatiana Massuno.
LEARNING CHECK

CONCLUSION

FINAL ISSUES
We have studied different myths and legends that shaped medieval England. While early
medieval England was greatly influenced by Nordic myths and literary forms, Norman England
saw the rise of a different societal organization and code of conduct. Moreover, French literary
forms and language also shaped the literary expressions of that time, by revitalizing themes and
genres. At the same, however, Welsh myths gained prominence and were adapted to the new
literary genre, that is, romance.

By now, you may have gotten acquainted with Nordic, French, and Welsh myths that found their
way into the British imaginary. You may also have learned that these myths, aside from being
part of the History of Britain, are from time to time recovered and gain new literary expressions
and meanings.

 PODCAST
Let’s hear this interview with professor Tatiana Massuno about myths and legends of the British
people.
 UNIT RATING:

REFERENCES
ALEXANDER, Michael. A History of English Literature. London: Macmillan, 2000.

BURGESS, Anthony. English Literature. London: Longman Publishing group, 1974.

CARTER, Ronald & MCRAE, John. The Routledge History of Literature in English. London:
Routledge, 1997.

FIELD, Rosalind. Arthurian and Courtly Romance. In: SAUNDERS, Corinne (ed.). A
companion to Medieval Poetry. Malden: Blackwell, 2010.

FLETCHER, Robert. A History of English Literature. Blackmaskonline, 2002.

GENTRY, Francis et al. (ed.) The Nibelungen Tradition An Encyclopedia. New York:
Routledge, 2011.

KNIGHT, Stephen & OHLGREN, Thomas H. Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales.
Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, 1997.

O’DONOGHUE. Heather. Old Norse-Icelandic Literature: a short introduction. Malden:

Blackwell, 2004.

ÓLASON, Vésteinn. Family Sagas. In: McTURK, Rory (ed.). A companion to Old Norse-
Icelandic literature and culture. Malden: Blackwell, 2005.

PATTEE, Fred. The foundations of English Literature. Boston: Silver, Burdett and Co, 1899.

PERRY, Lucy. Legendary History and Chronicle: Layamon’s Brut and the Chronicle Tradition.
In: SAUNDERS, Corinne (ed.). A companion to Medieval Poetry. Malden: Blackwell, 2010.

EXPLORE+
For more information on Middle English Literature, check the Middle English Text Series on
the internet.

Look for a translation of The Seafarer. You can find one on the page of Old English Poetry
Project, of Rutgers University.

Project Gutenberg also provides a translated version of Beowulf. Access their website!

CONTENT AUTHOR
Tatiana de Freitas Massuno

 CURRÍCULO LATTES