Daniel Donoghue, writing on Beowulf, observes that, even though oaths were precarious, “everyone, excluding the monsters, holds them solemn” ( 2004: 26). Green writes with specific reference to Alfred’s law code that “all social intercourse depended finally on an ability to accept the sworn word at face value” ( 1999: 62). What is of interest, for this paper, is that the breaking of trust is not overtly criticized but, rather, the results of that action are. It is in the subsequent lines that the true source of her emotions is revealed: “beloren leofum|æt þam lindplegan/bearnum ond broðrum … þæt wæs geomuru ides” (deprived of dear ones at the shield-play/sons and brothers … that was a sorrowful lady), ll. That is, just as the emotion felt is alluded to indirectly, so also the source of that emotion is also alluded to indirectly. Pointing to the Jutes shifts attention away from the source of her emotions-the dead members of her family-just as the word “herian” shifts attention away from the real feelings expressed. Hildeburh is much more likely to be reacting to the deaths of her brother and her offspring rather than the Jutes’ breaking of faith alone. In Graham’s reading, ne þurfan is used to indicate, indirectly, the expected emotion that should arise from a given situation. However, Stephan Graham has argued that the phrase ne þurfan suggests that for the Anglo-Saxon’s emotions were “produced by social situations” (Graham 2015: 85). “Ne… herian þorfte” could be read as insisting that the opposite of praising (i.e. Whether that is the intent of the Beowulf poet is another matter. As it is possible that the two Hengests are the same, any positive reading of his character recovered in Beowulf would then reflect positively on the historic figure as well. See also Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Colgrave and Mynors 1969: 52). The question of whether Hengest is the same Hengest who led the fifth-century invasion of Britain, according to Bede, is still unresolved (Fulk et al. Hengest appears in the fragment as a retainer to Hnæf and later emerges as the battle-field promoted leader of the Danes after Hnæf’s death in the Finn Episode in Beowulf. In the “Fight at Finnsburg,” a band of Danish warriors makes a desperate stand when attacked by the Frisian king Finn. The fragmentary poem relates events that take place before the episode as it is found in Beowulf.

The Finn Episode is related to the fragmentary “Fight at Finnsburg” poem (Fulk et al. Unless indicated otherwise, all translations into modern English are my own. All citations from Anglo-Saxon law codes and the Quadripartitus are from Libermann. All citations of Beowulf are from Klaeber’s fourth (Fulk, Bjork, and Niles).

Finn and hengest