On today's episode Crofty makes a triumphant return, joining Charles to wax poetic about Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxon epic rich in historical and legendary connections, and to ask if the eponymous hero was a poet’s creation, or a figure of legend himself?

Join this channel to get access to perks:
   / @thehistocrat  

Help support us elsewhere at:
  / thehistocrat  
  / the_histocrat  
https://bsky.app/profile/thehistocrat...

Video editing by Byron Lewis. Mythillogical logo by Ettore Mazza. You can find more of Ettore's excellent artwork below:

  / ettore.mazza  
  / ettoremazza  

Sources:
The Anglo-Saxons by Marc Morris
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-...

A Guide to Old English (8th Edition) by Bruce Mitchell and Fred Robinson
https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-gu...

Introduction to Old English (3rd edition) by Peter S. Baker
https://www.waterstones.com/book/intr...

A Beowulf handbook: an indispensable guide to the old English poem by Robert B. Bjork and John D. Niles
https://archive.org/details/beowulfha...

Interpretations of Beowulf : a critical anthology, edited by R. D. Fulk
https://archive.org/details/interpret...

A Critical Companion to Beowulf by Andy Orchard
https://archive.org/details/criticalc...

Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics by J. R. R. Tolkien
https://jenniferjsnow.files.wordpress...

Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney
https://archive.org/details/beowulf00...

Beowulf: A Dual-Language Edition by Howell D. Chickering Jr
https://archive.org/details/beowulf00...

Beowulf: a translation and commentary: together with Sellic Spell by J. R. R. Tolkien
https://archive.org/details/beowulf--...

Lejre beyond the legend by Tom Christensen
https://romu.dk/wp-content/uploads/si...

The Origins of Beowulf: And the Pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia by Sam Newton
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=5...

Anglo-Latin literature, 600-899 by Michael Lapidge
https://archive.org/details/anglolati...

Liber monstrorum: A translation of the Old English text by Andy Orchard
https://web.archive.org/web/200501180...

The relation of the Hrólfs saga kraka and the Bjarkarímur to Beowulf by Oscar Ludvig Olson
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40914974

Beowulf before Beowulf: Anglo-Saxon Anthroponymy and Heroic Legend by Leonard Neidorf
https://www.medievalists.net/2017/10/...

King Hygelac of the Geats: History, Legend, and Beowulf by Leonard Neidorf
https://link.springer.com/article/10....

Legends of Lejre, Home of Kings by Marijane Osborn
https://www.researchgate.net/publicat...

Bee-Wolf and the Hand of Victory: Identifying the Heroes of Beowulf and Vǫlsunga saga by Christopher Abram
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/...

Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar and the Originality of Beowulf by Tom Grant
https://academic.oup.com/res/article-...

#Beowulf #OldEnglish #Anglosaxons

The following music was used for this media project:
Music: Suonatore di Liuto by Kevin MacLeod
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/4440-suonat...
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist website: https://incompetech.com