Beowulf and Grendel (book)

Infobox Book
name = Beowulf & Grendel: The Truth Behind England's Oldest Legend


image_caption =
author = John Grigsby
country = England
language = English
genre = Non-Fiction
publisher = Watkins (Sterling Publishers, distributer)
release_date = 2005 (reprint 2006)
isbn = ISBN-13: 978-1-84293-153-0
ISBN-10:1-84293--153-9

In "Beowulf & Grendel: The Truth Behind England's Oldest Legend" (2005), British author John Grigsby interprets "Beowulf" as "the recounting in poetic form of a religious conflict between two pagan cults in Denmark around AD 500" (p. 5). Joining scholars such as Catherine M. Hills, Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, University of Cambridge "Beowulf and Archaeology", 1997 [Hills C.M. (1997b). "Beowulf and archaeology." In: R.E. Bjork and J.D. Niles (eds.), " [http://www.unm.edu/~aobermei/Scholarship/BeowulfReview.html?type=HTML&byte=11533204&collection=TMR&fontstyle=byte&q1=bjork&q2=&q3= A Beowulf Handbook] ", pp. 291–310. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press] Grigsby applied the findings of archaeology to literary myth. [The spate of interest in Beowulf occasioned by the discoveries at Sutton Hoo were concentrated upon Beowulf and the warrior culture he represented, while Grendel continued a figure of folklore. Grigsby asserts "To scholars, the monsters are either allegories or borrowings from folktake; the one thing they are not is real" (p. 5).] Referring to the modern tradition initiated by Heinrich Schliemann at Hissarlik, Grigsby argues that the Old English poem, set in the Anglo-Saxon homeland of Denmark, was based upon events, which in "Beowulf"'s case occurred during the Age of Migration in Denmark. In particular, he argues, the poem reflects the violent ending of the native fertility religion of Nerthus, "a goddess in whose sacred lakes human victims were drowned in secret rites" (p. 5) and her divine spouse by followers of the cult of Odin.

For clarity, Grigsby divides the presentation of his argument, which is directed to the lay audience, into four parts: I. Old England; II. Gods and Monsters; III.To Kill a King; IV. Barleywolf.

ummary of text

Fertility cults

The poem "Beowulf" tells of Beowulf the Geat, a warrior from Sweden, who travels to Denmark to end the twelve-year reign of terror of Grendel and Grendel's mother. Long thought to be a folk story, "Beowulf" Grigsby argues, is rooted in an historical event: the subjugation and destruction of an older fertility cult, with roots in the megalithic past, by an incoming warrior cult.

He draws this conclusion through a study of Norse myth (an examination which discusses the way in which the old cult of the Vanir was replaced by the new one of the Aesir). If the Vanir were "fertility spirits," (equivalent to Osiris, Dionysos and Demeter and Persephone) linked to the ‘alfar’ – ‘elves’, ancestral and elemental spirits associated with megalithic structures, the Aesir were associated with a type of shamanic practice called Siethr.

These attributes of Sheaf are shared by the Norse god Yngvi-Freyr who in Norse mythology dies and is reborn as a child in a ship. His myth is akin to that of the folk-hero John Barleycorn – the ever-dying fertility spirit reborn each year – whose passion reflects the waxing and waning of the vegetal world and the solar year. Yngvi-Freyr, Grigsby assumes, was a solar/vegetal god akin to Osiris, Dionysos and other cereal deities whose cults originated in the farming practices of the Neolithic that spread to North West Europe with the arrival of farming from the Near East around 4000BC.

Grendel's mother and Nerthus

According to Grigsby, the Aesir-Vanir war describes the battle between Odin and the old gods. Grigsby argues that the "Beowulf" legend originated in the clash between these two pagan Germanic cults. Grigsby also argues that there is a link between Grendel's mother and the Vanir goddess Nerthus whom the Roman writer Tacitus records as being worshipped by the tribes of prehistoric Denmark (the ancestors of the English peoples), and in whose sacred lakes human victims were drowned.

Grigsby also argues that as as a goddess of the Vanir, Nerthus would be connected to myths in which the older fertility gods possessed a sacred brew –‘mead of inspiration’ that the new warrior gods attempted to steal when they defeat the older cult. Furthermore, Grigsby suggests that her victims, such as Tollund man, have been found by modern archaeologists preserved in peat bogs in Denmark; they are usually naked and have been strangled and/or stabbed and their stomach contents reveal they had eaten a barley meal before their deaths contaminated by a hallucinogenic fungus named ergot.

Beowulf and Barley-Wolf

If, Grigsby argues, the Aesir-Vanir war is about theft of the Vanir mead of immortality by Odin and his Aesir gods, and if the poem, "Beowulf", is also based on on this theft, there might be evidence of barley cult in the poem.

Grigsby cites evidence by Alby Stone [http://www.indigogroup.co.uk/edge/hellhnds.htm] which would support the idea that the name "Beowulf" means "Barley Wolf." Grigsby then argues that this suggests a link with the hallucinogenic barley potion eaten by the bog-men - for ergot which creates the hallucination of turning into an animal (there are stories of Odin's warriors having the ability to transform themselves into wolves (they were known as ulfhednar – wolf heads).

Grigsby suggests that "Beowulf" refers to the stealing of the Vanir cult drink and its use as a battle drug. Ergot was known in Germany as the ‘tooth of the wolf’ and in England as ‘the strangulation of the mother’ – names suggestive of both the wolf cult of Odin and the strangled bog men. Therefore, Grigsby argues, Beowulf enacts the role of the god Odin who kills off the old cult and steals the mead of knowledge – just as Indra does in Indian lore – stealing the soma from the demons.

Based on history

Grigsby suggests that "Beowulf" is based upon historical events through a discussion of the story recorded by Bede concerning the conversion of the English to Christianity. In this story, the Northumbrian pagan priest Coifi desecrates his shrine of the old gods by mounting a horse and casting a spear into it and setting it alight. But, Grigsby states, Coifi – ‘hooded one’ – is a name of Odin, and the act of spear-casting and burning directly mirrors Odin’s actions in the war with the Vanir. Thus, according to Grigsby there is a level of ambiguity as to whether "Beowulf" reflects myth or history. He attempts to resolve this ambiguity by arguing that it is a combination of both by stating that Coifi bridges that gap between myth and history. This, according to Grigsby, is the kernel of historical ‘truth’ behind "Beowulf".

See also

* Beowulf
* Grendel's mother
* Grendel

Notes

External references

* [http://www.sterlingpublishing.com/catalog?isbn=9781842931530 Official website]
* [http://arts.independent.co.uk/film/features/article3146405.ece Article from The Independent Online]
* [http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:X3oQ4k1HOOMJ:graycrane.net/Ethan/beowulf%2520story.pdf+grigsby+gilsdorf&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=uk Ethan Gilsdorf's interview with John Grigsby on "Beowulf & Grendel" in "The Common Review"]