The Historical Side of the Old English Poem of 'Widsith' Author(s): Alfred Anscombe Source: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Vol. 9 (1915), pp. 123-165 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal Historical Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3678298 Accessed: 28-06-2016 01:39 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Royal Historical Society, Cambridge University Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Transactions of the Royal Historical Society This content downloaded from 139.184.14.159 on Tue, 28 Jun 2016 01:39:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE HISTORICAL SIDE OF THE OLD ENGLISH POEM OF 'WIDSITH' BY ALFRED ANSCOMBE, F.R.Hist.S. Read June 17, 1915 I.-THE EDITIONS OF THE POEM NEARLY ninety years have passed away since J. J. Cony- beare prepared the first edition of the Old English poem of 'Widsith,' or 'The Traveller's Song,' for inclusion among his ' Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry,' a work published in 1826. 'Widsith' is the oldest Germanic poem we have and its imprint excited immediate attention.