Károli Gáspár University, Budapest: spring term 2015 MEDIÆVAL LITERATURE (BAN 2363 e/f) (Angol-amerikai irodalomtortë netí attekinté ś 1.1: a kozë pkoŕ eś a reneszansź ) seminars on Fridays at 1200-1330 and 1400-1530 syllabus: http://www.richardmajor.com/teaching/Karoli/BAN2363.doc this handout: http://www.richardmajor.com/teaching/Karoli/BAN2363/3.pdf Dr Richard Major
[email protected] Seminar III, 6 March: Anglo-Saxon epic poetry 1. Quiz (for the 1200 group only) 2. Review of last week 3. Presentation by Fanni (1200) and Attila (1400): What is an epic? The Battle of Maldon (c. 1000) The battle was fought on 10 August 991 near Maldon beside the River Blackwater in Essex. Earl Byrhtnoth died and his army was badly defeated; Archbishop Sigeric of Canterbury and various aldermen then persuaded advised King Æthelred the Unræd (bad-counsel) to buy off the Vikings with 3300 kg of silver rather than fight on: the beginning of the custom of Danegeld. This poem was written soon afterward. One MS – British Library, MS Cotton Otho A.xii was destroyed by fire in 1731, and a 1726 edition was our only text until a transcript of the Cotton MS was found in the Bodleian. … Þa stod on stæðe, stiðlice clypode Then on the bank stood a Viking messenger, wicinga ar, wordum mælde, called out stoutly, spoke with words, se on beot boastfully, threateningly abead brimliþendra brought the seafarers’ errand ærænde to þam eorle, þær he on ofre stod: to that land’s earl where he stood on shore: “Seamen sent me quickly to you, ordered me tell you to send rings at once, wealth for defense: better for all of you that you with tribute this spear-rush forgo than that we share so bitter a war.