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38-626: Scholars have proposed various interpretations of Wiglaf's role in the poem, but agree that he is important, and that he was Beowulf's nephew, a key relationship in heroic tales of the period. Wiglaf has a counterpart in Scandinavian sources named Hjalti who serves as a side-kick to Beowulf's counterpart Bödvar Bjarki , and in Bjarkamál , Hjalti makes speeches comparable to those made by Wiglaf in Beowulf . Wiglaf first appears in Beowulf at line 2602, as

76-815: A Latin translation of the poem is found but it probably does not closely follow the original. The following example may illustrate the difference between the original terse Old Norse and Saxo's elaborate translation. Vekka yðr at víni né at vífs rúnum, heldr vekk yðr at hörðum Hildar leiki. I wake you not to wine nor to women’s converse, but rather to the hard game of Hild . Non ego virgineos iubeo cognoscere ludos nec teneras tractare genas aut dulcia nuptis oscula conferre et tenues astringere mammas, non liquidum captare merum tenerumve fricare femen et in niveos oculum iactare lacertos. Evoco vos ad amara magis certamina Martis. Bello opus est nec amore levi, nihil hic quoque facti mollities enervis habet; res proelia poscit. I do not now bid ye learn

114-405: A hypertext dictionary, as well as four early transcriptions and a modern one, plus an edition of the text; the early transcriptions are the two made for and by Thorkelin (late 1780s), John Josias Conybeare (1817), and Frederic Madden (1824). Comparison between the transcriptions shows the ongoing deterioration of the charred and brittle edges of the manuscript. A reviewer of the third edition for

152-498: A member of the band of thanes who go with Beowulf to seek out the dragon that has attacked Geat-Land . This is the first time Wiglaf has gone to war at Beowulf's side. He is called a "praise-worthy shield-warrior", a "prince of the Scylfings", and mæg ælfheres , "kinsman of Ælfhere." When Beowulf damages his sword wounding the dragon and is burned by the dragon's fire, Wiglaf is the only man of Beowulf's band to overcome his fear of

190-523: A memorial to King Beornwulf , at the same time presenting himself as successor; he had been an ealdorman , not the King's son, so the succession could have been in doubt. He notes the resemblance of the names (Beornwulf, Wiglaf) to the heroes in the poem, claiming that Wiglaf cannot be traced to any Scandinavian source. The scholar Kevin Kiernan likens the survival of the Beowulf manuscript to Wiglaf's survival of

228-428: A monograph which attracted much attention, scholars have emended the manuscript too easily and have thus place too little faith in its readings. Theories of lengthy oral transmission of the poem have caused scholars to emend individual readings, even filling up what they perceived as lacunae in the text if they deemed that the metrics or the contents were faulty. Kiernan argued that the poem (whose sole surviving manuscript

266-496: A reason for the overwhelming interest in the Danish throne displayed in the poem. In addition, he claimed that the language used in the poem was very much a contemporary language rather than the archaic language claimed by earlier editors and critics. The latter point was supported by a linguistic analysis done by Joseph Tuso, who compared the poem's diction with three important contemporary texts. Kiernan's proposed 11th-century origin of

304-502: Is an Old Norse poem from around the year 1000. Only a few lines have survived in the Old Norse version, the rest is known from Saxo's version in Latin . The latter consists of 298 hexameters , and tells the tale of Rolf Krake's downfall at Lejre on the isle of Sjælland , described in a dialogue between two of Rolf Krake's twelve berserkers , Bodvar Bjarke (hence the name of the poem),

342-535: Is an American scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature . Kiernan is the editor of the Electronic Beowulf and an acknowledged expert on the Beowulf manuscript . Kiernan is the T. Marshall Hahn Sr. Professor of Arts and Sciences Emeritus at the University of Kentucky . He was inducted into the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame in 2015. Kiernan is active in the study of Beowulf and

380-422: Is at line 3120, where he chooses seven thanes to help him push the dragon's corpse over the cliff into the sea, loot the lair, and lay the treasure on Beowulf's funeral pyre. R. R. Lumiansky notes that while a common interpretation is that Wiglaf is the only one of Beowulf's companions who does not flee, Wiglaf actually flees along with the cowardly companions, as he must be far away from the fight when he addresses

418-452: Is larger; he is present in the film from the first introduction of Beowulf and the Geats to the end when Beowulf vanquishes the dragon and dies. The film makes Wiglaf into a sidekick, the second-in-command and the best friend of the epic hero. This list shows the parts of the Beowulf poem under discussion. Bjarkam%C3%A1l Bjarkamál ( Bjarkemål in modern Norwegian and Danish )

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456-514: Is now "the last of the Wægmundings." The other eleven men that came with Beowulf gather around the body, and Wiglaf condemns them for their failure of duty and declares that he will order them exiled . He sends a messenger to tell the other Geats what has happened. When the Geats have gathered, Wiglaf addresses them, mourning Beowulf's death and expressing dismay at the bleak future of the Geats without Beowulf to guard them. Wiglaf's last appearance

494-515: Is reliably dated to around 1000 CE) is most likely from the early 11th century, rather than the late 10th century, and may well have been contemporary. That is to say, its scribes, rather than slavish and sometimes sloppy copyists of an earlier text, could have been close to a contemporary poet who created or recreated the poem. Kiernan sees the conquest of the English by Danish prince Cnut the Great in 1016 as

532-465: Is the will of the gods themselves (that is, Jupiter , Juno , Minerva and Neptune ) that Troy shall fall, and so he can honourably flee. Correspondingly, Rolf Krake's sister Hrut shows Bjarke the war god Odin , albeit the sight of Odin constitutes the moment when Bjarke and Hjalte die. In Axel Olrik's rewrite of Bjarkemål, the mortally wounded Bjarke calls on Hrut to show him Odin, only to say that if Odin shows himself, Bjarke will take revenge (for

570-464: Is unnecessary to argue that one discernible element within a name submerges another as all interpretations are collectively useful in the pursuit of deep analysis. In the 1981 animated film Grendel Grendel Grendel , Wiglaf (voiced by Ernie Bourne) is portrayed as one of Hrothgar 's thanes rather than an ally of Beowulf, and is killed by Grendel . In the 2007 film Beowulf (directed by Robert Zemeckis ), Wiglaf's role (played by Brendan Gleeson )

608-494: The Digital Medievalist noted that while "this new update offers Old English researchers and students a wealth of resources—and beautiful new high-resolution images", its interface, using HTML and JavaScript code and Java applets is "rather dated", a critique already offered for the second edition by William Kilbride of the University of York . Nonetheless, Kilbride noted, "the effort to achieve this has been phenomenal, but

646-514: The Beowulf manuscript , and in the digital humanities , which combined in his Electronic Beowulf . From early on in his academic career, Kiernan expressed doubt in received theory on the poem and the manuscript, and at this time, the early 1980s, the dating of the Beowulf manuscript was an important topic in Anglo-Saxon scholarship. In general, Kiernan argued in Beowulf and the Beowulf manuscript ,

684-577: The Swedes enough to make them pay him tax. Instead, they destroy his court at Lejre with a trick reminding us of Homer 's Trojan horse : The wagons, bringing the valuables to Lejre, are filled with hidden weapons instead. When the Swedes, led by Hjartvar, arrive at Lejre, they are invited to a party, but unlike the Danes, they make sure to stay sober. Saxo has combined motives from the original Danish poem with motives from

722-523: The archaeology of the Georgia coast, in particular on WPA archaeologist Preston Holder . Electronic Beowulf is a digital facsimile edition of the poem, and the project was started by Kiernan and Paul Szarmach (of Western Michigan University ) as part of the effort of the British Library , which holds the manuscript, of increasing access to its holdings. It uses fiber optics and an electronic camera;

760-401: The cowards. In this interpretation, Wiglaf then remembers his duty of kinship and the bravery of his father Weohstan . This brings a feeling of remorse, and he tries without success to persuade the companions; he returns to the fight alone. He then feels moved to encourage Beowulf, an action that could be seen as surprising from a youth facing his first fight to a heroic King, and at last to join

798-462: The death of Rolf). He then lies down next to his dead king, because it is appropriate of a king's man to honour him so, when the king has been mild and just ("dådherlig"). The postscript of Roar Skovmand emphasises the rejection of Odin and that the king is honoured with loyalty, even after he is dead. A well-known example of the old Norse faith in fylgjur , is Bjarke in Bjarkamál lying fast asleep in

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836-438: The dragon. He rebukes the other thanes and goes to Beowulf's aid crying words of encouragement. Wiglaf does not retreat, though his shield is consumed by fire. When Beowulf wounds the dragon a second time, striking so hard his sword shatters, Wiglaf strikes at the open wound with his own sword, tearing at the dragon's throat so it can no longer breathe fire. His hand is badly burned, but his attack allows Beowulf to close and kill

874-422: The dragon. The poet says of Wiglaf, "So should a man be, a thane at need!" At Beowulf's command, Wiglaf gathers treasure from the dragon's lair and piles it where Beowulf can see it. The dying Beowulf tells Wiglaf to "watch his people's needs" (by which he means that Wiglaf is to become the next king.) He tells Wiglaf to build him a funeral mound and gives Wiglaf his rings, helm, and mail-shirt. He says that Wiglaf

912-540: The elements of the name in the manuscript suggest that the name "Wiglaf" signifies "the inheritor of strength" or "one that is fulfilled through battle", according to the scholars Patrick J. Gallacher and Helen Damico. An alternate understanding of the name in the context of a typical dithematic name, where the two elements may be as independent in meaning as separate names, "laf" could be read as "one who remains, one who survives or endures". Gallacher and Damico have acknowledged this alternative interpretation but feel that it

950-481: The fight against the dragon. Norman E. Eliason notes that Wiglaf is a member of the Waegmundings , a Swedish clan. In his view, this is "of crucial significance". As he dies, Beowulf gives Wiglaf his armour and torque, which Eliason glosses as "very likely a royal emblem he had worn about his neck", noting that if he had had a son, he would have given this emblem to him. However, the poet, at this crucial moment, leaves

988-506: The goal of these technologies was to render visible the many letters and parts of letters obscured by the damage done to the manuscript in the 1731 fire. Ultra-violet light is used to verify erasures by scribes. Kiernan edited the electronic edition, published by the British Library and available on CD-ROM since the second and third editions (2011); the first was published in 1999 as a free download. It contains high-definition images and

1026-533: The hall, while his fylgja ( doppelgänger in animal shape), the bear , is fighting on his behalf outside. When eventually Bjarke gets up and starts fighting, the bear has disappeared. The hymn "Sol er oppe" (= Sun is up) from 1817 is Grundtvig 's version of the poem. Most of the poem is lost. Only fragments of it are preserved in Skáldskaparmál and in Heimskringla . In Saxo Grammaticus ' Gesta Danorum

1064-469: The last fight of Beowulf the hero, noting however that while Wiglaf's efforts were all in vain, the manuscript somehow limped on. Wiglaf's name appears to be an example of etymological refraction. The name is composed of two Old English elements, namely wig (fight, battle, war) and laf (what or who is left). When Wiglaf first enters battle alongside his lord, the poem is structured to reflect greater significance on his name. The separation and reversal of

1102-611: The manuscript in the British Museum . The received history had been Kemp Malone 's, who had criticized the first of these two transcriptions, made by a clerk of the museum in 1787; according to Malone, that clerk (James Matthews, identified by Kiernan) had made many errors. Kiernan, however, after extensive research in the Danish National Archives in Copenhagen , argued that Matthews's lack of knowledge of Old English in fact

1140-496: The most famous warrior at the court of the legendary Danish king Rolf Krake, and Hjalte (= hilt). The poem opens with Hjalte waking up his fellow berserkers, having realized they are under attack. In 1030, King Olav had the bard Tormod Kolbrunarskald recite the Bjarkamál to rouse his outnumbered army in the morning before the start of the Battle of Stiklestad , according to Fóstbrœðra saga . In Bjarkamál , Rolf Krake has subdued

1178-518: The ongoing deterioration of the manuscript, whose edges had been charred during the 1731 fire at the Cotton library , then in the Ashburnham House . Tom Shippey , in a review of Kiernan's book, called it "an essential tool, now, for the study of the poem". Since his retirement, Kiernan has lived on St. Simons Island , Georgia . In addition to continuing his work on medieval topics he has published on

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1216-707: The poem did not go unchallenged, but even critics such as Joseph Trahern who didn't accept this proposition praised Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript as "an impressive and valuable book that provides a wealth of paleographic and codicological information, [which] corrects a good deal of earlier scholarship, and clarifies a number of questions concerning the manuscript through a new and first-hand description of it". Reviewing Kiernan's monograph together with The Dating of Beowulf (a collection of essays including one by Kiernan, edited by Colin Chase , 1981), Trahern concluded that

1254-539: The poet "makes it clear that as a Geat Beowulf had to take vengeance on Onela and that as a Waegmunding he was entitled to Onela's favour". This leads Eliason to suggest that Beowulf's sister married Weohstan the Waegmunding, so Wiglaf is Beowulf's nephew after all. Richard North revisits the old hypothesis that the Beowulf Wiglaf, and indeed the whole poem, was commissioned by the historical King Wiglaf of Mercia as

1292-434: The relationship between the two men vague, rather than doing the conventional thing in heroic verse of making it an uncle-nephew relationship, as scholars like Larry Benson have assumed, and like that of Beowulf and Hygelac . Eliason however disagrees with the widespread scholarly interpretation that Beowulf, too, was a Waegmunding, finding the suggestion that he was half-Swedish "unthinkable or even ridiculous". But, he writes,

1330-566: The second song in the Æneid , known as the nyktomakhi , where Æneas tells Dido about the battle between the Greeks and the Trojans in Troy . The nyktomakhi is of about the same length as Bjarkamál , and containing the same elements: The Trojan horse/the smuggling of Swedish weapons; Danes/Trojans are sound asleep when Swedes/Greeks attack them; plus the climax: The goddess Venus informs Æneas that it

1368-411: The sports of maidens, nor stroke soft cheeks, nor give sweet kisses to the bride and press the slender breasts, nor desire the flowing wine and chafe the soft thigh and cast eyes upon snowy arms. I call you out to the sterner fray of War. We need the battle, and not light love; nerveless languor has no business here: our need calls for battles. Kevin Kiernan (scholar) Kevin Kiernan

1406-455: The two books narrowed the dating for Beowulf and pushed it closer to the actual production of the manuscript. A further critique of accepted scholarship on the manuscript came with The Thorkelin Transcripts of Beowulf in 1986, which challenged the traditional account of the transcriptions made for and by Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin , an Icelandic-Danish scholar who was the first to transcribe

1444-447: Was a bonus: since he came to the manuscript without prejudice, he copied what he saw, and any errors he made were systematic misreadings. Thorkelin, however, had a knack of attempting to read (that is, interpret) what he saw, thereby silently amending what he considered to be faulty readings. Thorkelin A (as Matthews's version is now called) is therefore much more reliable than Thorkelin B, and in addition comparison between A and B indicates

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