isa-normaladvance-1914-00170

Description:	170THE NORMAL ADVANCEW)t Pattle of ilalbonTRANSLATION BY MARJORIE CUPPYTHE later period of Old English litera¬ ture produced at least two great poems, Judith, and the fragment known as the Bat¬ tle of Maldon, or Byrhtnoths Death. The only manuscript copy of this poem was de¬ stroyed by the Cottonian fire in 1731, but Hearne had transcribed and published it in 1726. The text is incomplete, both at the be¬ ginning and at the end, but it is probable that not more than a few lines have thus been lost.The historical incident upon which the poem is based falls in the year 991 during the disas¬ trous reign of Aethelred when the supremacy of the West Saxon kings was broken by the Northmen who invaded England anew and ulti¬ mately placed a Danish king on the English throne. In 991 a Norwegian expedition led by Justin and Guthmund, sons of Steitan, and probably by Olaf Tryggverson himself, at¬ tacked the eastern coast of England, seemingly with the intention of making a settlement. They first plundered Ipswich and then pro¬ ceeded into Essex where they were met by the East Saxon overlord, Brihtnoth, with a hastily gathered force, and a fierce battle was fought on the shores of the Blackwater, then known as the Panta, near the town of Maldon. Brihtnoth was slain and his head carried off by the enemy as a trophy. But his body was carried to Ely and there buried with a ball of wax in place of the missing head. In the poem he stands out as the ideal leader of men, admirable alike in his devotion to his king, his simple sense of piety and his sense of responsibility towards his followers.In dramatic incident and patriotic fervor this poem is unsurpassed in Anglo-Saxon liter¬ ature. A translation gives a very inadequate  idea of the great interest of the poem, whose every word is filled with deep hatred againstthe marauding foe and with dignified sorrow for the loss of beloved friends. The verse is as noble as the deed and instinct with dramatic life. In it we see the heroic feeling of the earlier national poetry, full of the Teutonic theme of loyal friendship and warlike courage. And not until many hundreds of years have elapsed do we find its equal in tragic strength. In the translation the aim has been simply to give a fairly smooth, literal English version of the original, retaining to some slight degree the childlike repetition, the warlike words and the simple constructions. The rugged, ringing meter and the constantly recurring alliteration are, of course, entirely lost. It was destroyed. Then thecommanded a certain young warrior to forsake his steed, to hasten afar off, and to go forth active and of good courage. When the kins¬ man of Offa first discovered that the earl would suffer no cowardice, he let his favorite hawk fly from his hands into the forest, and advanced into battle by that one might per¬ ceive that the youth desired not to waver in the conflict, when he took up his weapons. So also Eadric desired to serve his lord, his chief in the battle he went forth armed to war: he was firmly resolved so long as he was able, to hold with his hands the shield and broad¬ sword he made the boast that he should fight in front of his lord.Then Brihtnoth began to exhort the heroes, and advised an attack. He taught the men how they should stand, and hold the field of battle, and bade that they hold their shields aright, fast in their hands, and fear naught. When he had well instructed the folk, he dis¬ mounted among the troops which were most dear to him, where- he knew his retainers to be the most faithful. Then there stood upon the■
Source:	http://indstate.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/isuarchive/id/32630
Collection:	Indiana State University Archives

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