The Waning Sword E Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in Beowulf DWARD the Waning Sword Conversion Imagery and EDWARD PETTIT P
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The Waning Sword E Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in Beowulf DWARD The Waning Sword Conversion Imagery and EDWARD PETTIT P The image of a giant sword mel� ng stands at the structural and thema� c heart of the Old ETTIT Celestial Myth in Beowulf English heroic poem Beowulf. This me� culously researched book inves� gates the nature and signifi cance of this golden-hilted weapon and its likely rela� ves within Beowulf and beyond, drawing on the fi elds of Old English and Old Norse language and literature, liturgy, archaeology, astronomy, folklore and compara� ve mythology. In Part I, Pe� t explores the complex of connota� ons surrounding this image (from icicles to candles and crosses) by examining a range of medieval sources, and argues that the giant sword may func� on as a visual mo� f in which pre-Chris� an Germanic concepts and prominent Chris� an symbols coalesce. In Part II, Pe� t inves� gates the broader Germanic background to this image, especially in rela� on to the god Ing/Yngvi-Freyr, and explores the capacity of myths to recur and endure across � me. Drawing on an eclec� c range of narra� ve and linguis� c evidence from Northern European texts, and on archaeological discoveries, Pe� t suggests that the T image of the giant sword, and the characters and events associated with it, may refl ect HE an elemental struggle between the sun and the moon, ar� culated through an underlying W myth about the the� and repossession of sunlight. ANING The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celesti al Myth in Beowulf is a welcome contribu� on to the overlapping fi elds of Beowulf-scholarship, Old Norse-Icelandic literature and Germanic philology. Not only does it present a wealth of new readings that shed light on the cra� of the Beowulf-poet and inform our understanding of the poem’s S major episodes and themes; it further highlights the merits of adop� ng an interdisciplinary WORD approach alongside a compara� ve vantage point. As such, The Waning Sword will be compelling reading for Beowulf-scholars and for a wider audience of medievalists. As with all Open Book publica� ons, this en� re book is available to read for free on the publisher’s website. Printed and digital edi� ons can also be found at www.openbookpublishers.com Cover image: Freyr, adapted from an illustrati on by Johannes Gehrts (1855-1921), public domain, htt ps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Freyr_by_Johannes_Gehrts.jpg Cover design: Anna Gatti book ebooke and OA edi� ons also available OPEN ACCESS www.openbookpublishers.com EDWARD PETTIT OBP THE WANING SWORD The Waning Sword Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in Beowulf by Edward Pettit https://www.openbookpublishers.com © 2020 Edward Pettit This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work; to adapt the work and to make commercial use of the work providing attribution is made to the authors (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information: Edward Pettit, The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in Beowulf. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2020, https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0190 In order to access detailed and updated information on the license, please visit https://doi. org/10.11647/OBP.0190#copyright Further details about CC BY licenses are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/ All external links were active at the time of publication unless otherwise stated and have been archived via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine at https://archive.org/web Digital material and resources associated with this volume are available at https://doi. org/10.11647/OBP.0190#resources Some of the images have been reproduced at 72 dpi in the digital editions of this book due to copyright restrictions. Every effort has been made to identify and contact copyright holders and any omission or error will be corrected if notification is made to the publisher. ISBN Paperback: 978-1-78374-827-3 ISBN Hardback: 978-1-78374-828-0 ISBN Digital (PDF): 978-1-78374-829-7 ISBN Digital ebook (epub): 978-1-78374-830-3 ISBN Digital ebook (mobi): 978-1-78374-831-0 ISBN Digital (XML): 978-1-78374-832-7 DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0190 Cover image: Freyr, adapted from an illustration by Johannes Gehrts (1855-1921). Wikimedia, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Freyr_by_Johannes_Gehrts.jpg Cover design by Anna Gatti. Very bright was that sword when it was made whole again; the light of the sun shone redly in it, and the light of the moon shone cold, and its edge was hard and keen. And Aragorn gave it a new name and called it Andúril, Flame of the West. J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings Grendel by Russell Marks. © Russell Marks. All rights reserved. Grendel’s mother by Russell Marks. © Russell Marks. All rights reserved. In memoriam Alan Paul Pettit 24 January 1918–15 May 1995 Hazell Macdonald Pettit 4 October 1923–16 March 2016 Robert Charles Pettit 20 June 1955–10 March 2011 ic him æfter sceal Contents Acknowledgements xvii Signs and Abbreviations xix 1. Introduction: Beowulf, an Early Anglo-Saxon Epic 1 Part I. Ice, Candle and Cross: Images of the Giant Sword 33 in Beowulf 2. The Giant Sword and the Ice 35 Prior Views on the Melting of the Giant Sword 37 Old Norse Ice-Swords 42 3. The Giant Sword and the Candle 47 Vargeisa’s Candle-Sword 51 Grýla’s Icicle-Candle 65 The Giant Sword as Solar Candle 71 Sörli and Sigrljómi ‘Victory-Light’ 79 The Giant Sword as Paschal Candle 84 4. The Giant Sword and the Cross 93 The Cross in the Lake 94 Three Old English Heavenly Candle-Crosses 98 Sword-Hilts, Sword-Blades and Crosses 100 Beowulf and Christ as Bearers of the Sword-Cross 112 The Battle-Standard and the Cross 113 Wiglaf as Sword-Bearer and Cross-Bearer 118 xii The Waning Sword Part II. Sun-Swords and Moon-Monsters: On the Theft 121 and Recovery of Sunlight in Beowulf and Other Early Northern Texts 5. Whose Sword Is it, Anyway? 123 Giant-Forged and Giant-Stolen? 124 The Giant Sword and the Theft of M llnir 129 The Cup-Thief, Grendel’s Glove and Grendel’s 131 jǫ ‘Un-Sword’: Aspects of Recurrent Thievery in Beowulf The Basis for Detecting Germanic Myth in Beowulf 137 6. Ing, Ingvi-Freyr and Hroðgar 143 The Ingwine ‘Ing-Friends’ and Ing, Son of Man 143 Ing and Ingi-/Yngvi-Freyr 145 Freyr, the Friendly God 147 Worship of Ing in England? 147 Ing in the Old English Rune Poem 148 The Inge-Peoples and the Sun-God of Psalm 112 156 Hroðgar and Danish Worship of an Unnamed Devil 158 Hroðgar, Healfdene’s ‘Firebrand’ and the Incgelaf 159 Ingunar-Freyr and Freyr’s Sword 166 Hroðgar as Frea 167 Wealhþeo’s Brosinga Mene and Freyja’s Brísingamen 168 Freawaru 169 The Danes and the ‘Life-Lord’ 169 7. Freyr, Skírnir and Gerðr 171 Fǫr Skírnis and Beowulf’s Mere-Episode 172 Lokasenna, Gylfaginning and the Gifted Sword 184 Gymir and Gerðr as Sea-Giants 185 Hjálmþér, Ýma and Margerðr 188 The Burning Candle and the Barley Isle 194 8. Lævateinn and the Maelstrom-Giantess 197 Svipdagr’s Quest for Meng ð 197 Loki’s Taking of the Twig 206 lǫ More About Lævateinn and Mistilteinn 210 Saxo’s Hotherus, Balderus and the Sword of Mimingus 212 Contents xiii Lævateinn in the Lúðr 216 The Maelstrom-Giantess in Sagas of Hjálmþér, Grettir 219 and Samson Grendel’s Mother as Maelstrom-Giantess 222 9. Freyr’s Solar Power and the Purifying Sword 225 Solar Aspects of Freyr in the Eddas 225 Skírnir as Purifier 227 Beowulf and the Giant Sword as Purifiers 230 Freyr as Thawer 232 10. Freyr, Heorot and the Hunt for the Solar Stag 235 Freyr, Beli and the Hart’s Horn 235 Heorot, the Hart-Hall 236 The ‘Hunted Hart’ Passage in Beowulf 238 The Solar Stag in Early Europe 244 The Hunt for the Sun 251 The ‘Battle-Thief/Wolf of the Sky-Shield’ 252 Sk ll and Hati 252 The Old One, the Pitchforker and Mánagarmr 255 ǫ Wolf-Snake versus Sun-Stag: Norse Myth on the 261 Gosforth Cross Hunted Stags on Other Anglo-Saxon Crosses 279 The Ovingham Stone 281 One Man (in the Moon) and His Dog 282 11. A Tale of Two Creatures: The Theft and Recovery of 287 Sunlight in Riddle 29 The Lunar Thief and Grendel 289 The Solar Repossessor and Beowulf 291 12. Another Tale of Two Creatures: The Loss and Recovery 293 of the Solar Draught-Beast in Wið Dweorh An Old English Dwarf-Horse-Deer? 298 A Headache(?)-Causing Dwarf from Denmark 304 Another Headache-Causing Dwarf and a Radiant Sword 305 The Sun as Healer, Especially in Old English Remedies 308 The Dwarf and Grendel as ‘In-Going’ Fever-Demons 309 xiv The Waning Sword 13. The Solar Antler in Sólarljóð 315 The Buried Antler and Christian Legends, 317 Especially of the Cross The Solar Antler, the Dwarf-Horse-Stag(?) and 321 a Solar Sword Svafrlami and Dvalinn 324 Dvalinn and the Deaths of Alvíss and Hrímgerðr 328 Runes of Resurrection 335 Sólarljóð and Beowulf 337 14. Grendel, His Mother and Other Moon-Monsters 339 Trees of Sun and Moon, and a Monster Called 340 Quasi Caput Luna Grendel the Wan 346 Grimm Brothers’ Fairy Tale 175: Der Mond ‘The Moon’ 351 The Dead Moon, a Blickling Homily and Beowulf 352 Nið ‘Waning/Dark Moon’(?) in Beowulf 358 Grendel and Glámr, the Monster with Moonlit Eyes 368 Grendel’s Mother and Norse Moon-Giantesses 372 Mána, Moon-Giantess and Thief 373 Mána and Brana 374 Skjaldvör, the ‘Dark-Moon Chest’ and More about the 376 Nið-Dragon Hyndla at the ‘Darkness of Darknesses’ 388 Þórgunna, Mána-Ljótur and the Half-Moon 390 The Old One and the Pitchforker, Again 391 Ýma and the Boatforker 395 Two More Male Forkers and a Sword of Lunar Waning 399 King Dagr and the Hayforker 399 Kolr the Gibbous, His Fork-Wielding Son and the 400 Sword Angrvaðill Anger, Death and the Dismembered Moon 406 The Lunar Head and the Solar Head 408 15.