Beowulf is the great epic of the English language and one of its earliest texts.  The text can no longer be read in its original language because our language has changed so much over time from Anglo Saxon, which is a Germanic language, to the hybrid language it is today with a Germanic core but over half of the vocabulary has Latin origins.  This is due, almost entirely, to the influence of French after the Norman invasion in 1066.

History of Beowulf

The origins of Beowulf are not known well.  It is still widely debated as to when the text was first written down.  Like most of the great epic poems, it was almost certainly recounted orally before having been set down on paper.  The identity of the poet is also unknown and there are no good theories to identify him/her.  The modern text of Beowulf is actually only known by one manuscript, the Nowell Codex.  The Nowell Codex itself dates to the 12th century but Beowulf was almost certainly composed much early, possibly during the 8th century or earlier.

The Story of Beowulf

Beowulf is the name of the protagonist, a warrior hero of the Geat tribe.  The Geats were a people living in what is today Modern Sweden and Beowulf travels to Geatland (Modern Sweden) after each of his victories and at which point he is crowned King of the Geats, save the final fight in which he is mortally wounded and is buried in Geatland.

As mentioned, the story centers largely around the principle struggles of Beowulf against Grendel, Grendel’s Mother and a dragon.  Grendel is one of the main antagonists who begins the story harrassing the people of Heorot, the Great Hall of Hrothgar, King of the Danes.  The nature of Grendel is never explicitly described although it is widely accepted that Grendel is some type of monster, possibly a type of troll or some other fearsome creature.  Grendel is also immune to human weapons which sets up the first battle scene.

Beowulf spends the night in Heorot in hopes of defeating Grendel.  During the night, Grendel comes and devours one of Beowulf’s men and Beowulf grabs Grendel’s arms.  As they are struggling, Beowulf’s men attack with their swords but to no avail as Grendel’s skin is impervious to their weapons.  Beowulf manages to rip Grendel’s arm off and the creature runs away to die.

The next night, Grendel’s mother comes to avenge her son’s death.  Hrothgar’s primary aid, AEchere is killed.  Beowulf’s men pursue the creature to its lair and Beowulf is given Hrunting, a magical sword.  Beowulf dives into a lake to find Grendel’s mother and is dragged to the bottom by her to a cave which contains the corpse of Grendel.  Hrunting did not help against his opponent but Beowulf manages to find a sword of giants which was too heavy for a lesser man to wield and beheads her.  He also finds Grendel’s corpse in the cavern and beheads it as well, for good measure.

The final battle takes place 50 years later.  The dragon is awakened or becomes a threat because a slave from Beowulf’s kingdom steals a cup from the dragon.  Beowulf finds himself having to settle the matter and during a prolonged and epic fight, Beowulf is aided by a friend, Wiglaf.  Beowulf, after slaying the dragon, is mortally wounded and his body is buried in Geatland.

Download Beowulf

We will soon be releasing an ebook version of Beowulf in Anglo-Saxon with the English translation.  For now, use these links to download Beowulf:

Modern Translation from Project Gutenberg

Another Translation of Beowulf from Archive.org