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The Battle of Maldon: War and Peace in Tenth-Century England
The Battle of Maldon is an Old English poem depicting a bloody skirmish along the banks of the tidal river Blackwater in 991 and poignantly conjures the lore and language of a nation with its collective back to the wall when faced by the depredations of a ruthless and relentless enemy. But, as Mark Atherton reveals, this poem is more than a heroic tale designed to inspire courage and rather, it was a pioneering event which determined wider culture and polity in England.
Using his own vivid translations from Old English, The Battle of War and Peace in Tenth Century England evokes the chaotic ebb and flow of the battle while also placing Maldon in the context of its age. Seeking to reconstruct the culture and worldview of the original audience, Atherton examines how and why the poem encouraged readers to relive and experience the battle – from its brutal hand-to-hand fighting to the slaying of Byrthnoth – for themselves in order to impact the destiny of England.
With this study, Mark Atherton provides the authoritative treatment of this iconic text, its history and its legacy. As such, this book will be a vital resource for all scholars of Old English literature, the Anglo-Saxons and early medieval history more generally.
Using his own vivid translations from Old English, The Battle of War and Peace in Tenth Century England evokes the chaotic ebb and flow of the battle while also placing Maldon in the context of its age. Seeking to reconstruct the culture and worldview of the original audience, Atherton examines how and why the poem encouraged readers to relive and experience the battle – from its brutal hand-to-hand fighting to the slaying of Byrthnoth – for themselves in order to impact the destiny of England.
With this study, Mark Atherton provides the authoritative treatment of this iconic text, its history and its legacy. As such, this book will be a vital resource for all scholars of Old English literature, the Anglo-Saxons and early medieval history more generally.
- GenresHistory
256 pages, Hardcover
Published December 24, 2020
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May 11, 2021
The Battle of Maldon – war and peace in 10th century England, by Mark Atherton, 2021, 170 pages, or 239 with appendices, notes and index, etc
The sub-heading war and peace in 10th century England led me to expect a different book to this. I was anticipating one that concentrated on Maldon, but then went on to examine the wider questions concerning war and peace, such as how well armed and armoured the Anglo-Saxons were (ref the ideas of Brooks), or perhaps placing the paying of Danegeld in a wider context.
Instead, what I got was an analysis of the poem and other contemporary (ish) documents that either referred to Maldon or had stylistic links to the poem. So whilst for students of the poem this is an essential book, for students of late 10th century history, the narrow scope will limit their interest in it.
Chapters include:
Part One Approaches to the battle
The grounds of Maldon,
Horse and hawk,
Hearth and home,
Here stands an earl,
Blessed is the man,
From a great kindred in Mercia,
Feud and friendship,
The battle of the Holme,
Beowulf and Maldon,
Part Two After the battle
The account in the ASC,
Byrhtferth of Ramsey's Life of St Oswald,
Maldon in the book of Ely,
Appendices
The Battle of Maldon, text and translation,
The Battle of the Holme, text and translation,
The case of Aethelric of Bocking, text and translation,
The will of Leofwine, text and translation,
Atherton has written a few books on Old English and so it's no surprise that OE features largely in this book. You get subjunctives, lots of different meanings for OE words used in the poem, a section on Old English metre (a few years ago I'd have asked if they meant yard), with talk of lifts that went straight over my head. The paragraph on the rules of pronunciation was very valuable, as the g as a y under certain circumstances has puzzled the life out of me for a while. In fact I learnt more about OE than I did the battle in much of this book. With all of the OE quotes and the many examples of its use in the text, you come away with the impression that if the publishers had asked him to write the whole lot in Old English, then he'd have been quite delighted.
There's a lot of decent stuff in this book. Feud and Friendship was an especially good chapter. However, the chapter on the 902 battle of the Holme, whilst I can see why he included it, so as to compare the prose of the ASC account of it to the Maldon poem, still felt tenuous. The similarities in style and themes between Beowulf and the Maldon poem are examined and Atherton finds several. There's no way that I'm qualified to comment on the validity of his OE analysis, but I do suspect that it's a thin line between ingenious ideas and reading too much into it. This could be said of much of Atherton's examination of the OE wording of the poem.
For anyone who wants to look more deeply into the poem, this is a cracking book. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't what I was expecting from the sub-heading.
The sub-heading war and peace in 10th century England led me to expect a different book to this. I was anticipating one that concentrated on Maldon, but then went on to examine the wider questions concerning war and peace, such as how well armed and armoured the Anglo-Saxons were (ref the ideas of Brooks), or perhaps placing the paying of Danegeld in a wider context.
Instead, what I got was an analysis of the poem and other contemporary (ish) documents that either referred to Maldon or had stylistic links to the poem. So whilst for students of the poem this is an essential book, for students of late 10th century history, the narrow scope will limit their interest in it.
Chapters include:
Part One Approaches to the battle
The grounds of Maldon,
Horse and hawk,
Hearth and home,
Here stands an earl,
Blessed is the man,
From a great kindred in Mercia,
Feud and friendship,
The battle of the Holme,
Beowulf and Maldon,
Part Two After the battle
The account in the ASC,
Byrhtferth of Ramsey's Life of St Oswald,
Maldon in the book of Ely,
Appendices
The Battle of Maldon, text and translation,
The Battle of the Holme, text and translation,
The case of Aethelric of Bocking, text and translation,
The will of Leofwine, text and translation,
Atherton has written a few books on Old English and so it's no surprise that OE features largely in this book. You get subjunctives, lots of different meanings for OE words used in the poem, a section on Old English metre (a few years ago I'd have asked if they meant yard), with talk of lifts that went straight over my head. The paragraph on the rules of pronunciation was very valuable, as the g as a y under certain circumstances has puzzled the life out of me for a while. In fact I learnt more about OE than I did the battle in much of this book. With all of the OE quotes and the many examples of its use in the text, you come away with the impression that if the publishers had asked him to write the whole lot in Old English, then he'd have been quite delighted.
There's a lot of decent stuff in this book. Feud and Friendship was an especially good chapter. However, the chapter on the 902 battle of the Holme, whilst I can see why he included it, so as to compare the prose of the ASC account of it to the Maldon poem, still felt tenuous. The similarities in style and themes between Beowulf and the Maldon poem are examined and Atherton finds several. There's no way that I'm qualified to comment on the validity of his OE analysis, but I do suspect that it's a thin line between ingenious ideas and reading too much into it. This could be said of much of Atherton's examination of the OE wording of the poem.
For anyone who wants to look more deeply into the poem, this is a cracking book. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't what I was expecting from the sub-heading.
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