The Dating of Beowulf

by Chase, Colin; University of Toronto Centre for Medieval Studies

• ISBN13: 9780802078797
• ISBN10: 0802078796
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-06-01
• Publisher: Univ of Toronto Pr

Summary

The date of Beowulf, debated for almost a century, is a small question with large ramifications. This collection of essays by leading scholars has become a standard reference for scholarship in the area.

Author Biography

COLIN CHASE (1935-1984), the editor of this volume, was a member of the department of English and of the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto. NICHOLAS HOWE is the Director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Ohio State University, Columbus.

Table of Contents

Editor's Preface
Abbreviations
The Dating of Beowulf	p. 1
Opinions on the Date of Beowulf, 1815-1980	p. 3
The Eleventh-Century Origin of Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript	p. 9
The Nowell Codex and the Poem of Beowulf	p. 23
A Reconsideration of the Language of Beowulf	p. 33
Metrical Style as Evidence for the Date of Beowulf	p. 77
Hetware and Hugas: Datable Anachronisms in Beowulf	p. 83
Beowulf, the Danish Invasions, and Royal Genealogy	p. 101
The Audience of Beowulf and the Vikings	p. 113
Skaldic Verse and the Date of Beowulf	p. 123
Variation in Beowulf and the Poetic Edda: A Chronological Experiment	p. 141
Saints' Lives, Royal Lives, and the Date of Beowulf	p. 161
Style as the Criterion for Dating the Composition of Beowulf	p. 173
On the Date of Composition of Beowulf	p. 187
The Date of Beowulf: Some Doubts and No Conclusions	p. 197
Afterword: The Uses of Uncertainty: On the Dating of Beowulf	p. 213
Index	p. 221
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