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Beowulf and the North before the Vikings (Past Imperfect)

Tom Shippey

4.72/5 (42 ratings)

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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?

Format:

Pages:: pages

Publication:

Publisher:

Edition:: New

Language:

ISBN10:: 1802700137

ISBN13:: 9781802700138

kindle Asin:: B0BLJZR3YX

Beowulf and the North before the Vikings (Past Imperfect)

Tom Shippey

4.72/5 (42 ratings)

Read Download

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?

Format:

Pages:: pages

Publication:

Publisher:

Edition:: New

Language:

ISBN10:: 1802700137

ISBN13:: 9781802700138

kindle Asin:: B0BLJZR3YX

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