Beowulf and the North before the Vikings / / Tom Shippey.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Amsterdam University Press Complete eBook-Package 2022
• VerfasserIn: Shippey, Tom,
• Place / Publishing House: Leeds : : ARC Humanities Press, , [2022]; ©2022
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: Past Imperfect
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (136 p.)
• Other title: Frontmatter --; Contents --; Preface and Acknowledgements --; Introduction: Fantasy or History? --; Chapter 1 Poetry and Archaeology --; Chapter 2 Old Legend, New Reality --; Chapter 3 The Bigger Picture --; Chapter 4 The Non-National Epic --; Further Reading
• Format: Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
• ISBN: 9781802700541; 9783110767094; 9783110767001; 9783110993899; 9783110994810; 9783110993752; 9783110993738
• DOI: 10.1515/9781802700541?locatt=mode:legacy
• Access: restricted access
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Tom Shippey.

Ever since Tolkien’s famous lecture in 1936, it has been generally accepted that the poem Beowulf is a fantasy, and of no use as a witness to real history. This book challenges that view, and argues that the poem provides a plausible, detailed, and consistent vision of pre-Viking history which is most unlikely to have been the poet’s invention, and which has moreover received strong corroboration from archaeology in recent years. Using the poem as a starting point, historical, archaeological, and legendary sources are combined to form a picture of events in the North in the fifth and sixth centuries: at once a Dark and a Heroic Age, and the time of the formation of nations. Among other things, this helps answer two long-unasked questions: why did the Vikings come as such a shock? And what caused the previous 250 years of security from raiders from the sea?