A Comment on Beowulf : Gutarnas Nationalepos by Tore Gannholm
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A comment on Beowulf : gutarnas nationalepos by Tore Gannholm Rausing, Gad Fornvännen 1995:1, 50-53 http://kulturarvsdata.se/raa/fornvannen/html/1995_050 Ingår i: samla.raa.se 50 Debatt A Comment on Beowulf- Gutarnas nationalepos by Tore Gannholm Together with Widsid the Lay of Beowulf is the his ancestors' gestae alive in a society depend- oldest of the surviving Norse poems. Even ing on the spöken word for its history. It is though translated several times it has long been extremely unlikely that any 9th-century Norse- out of print, as has the Gutasaga. Since they are man or Anglosaxon wrote "historical fiction", both important to our understanding of Norse fiction in the sense that the characters and the society in the Migration Age the new edition, events described were the produets of the "au- prepared by Tore Gannholm, is welcome in thor's" imagination. Having been composed for deed. Tore Gannholm is to be congratulated for a definite purpose the Sagas must be taken having achieved this, the following comments seriously and read critically. Their factual in in no way detracting from the importance of his formation must be taken seriously. Doing so, work. Tore Gannholm attempts to fit the Lay of Beo It seems that the Norse royal families and wulf and the heroes' actions into the history of also those of the local magnates each had a Gotland and Denmark. "family saga", listing the ancestors and their In his introduction Gannholm reminds us most important deeds, and that each of these that we still suffer badly from earlier genera sagas may have formed a "register" to a series tions' "Swedish-centered" historical research. of sagas recording the deeds and fätes of indi History was always written by the victors, the vidual heroes. One such saga, one of the very "history" of the defeated and that of conquered few to have survived, is the Lay of Beowulf. Set territories usually being ignored or even misin- in the 6th century, it has survived in one ver terpreted. This is true, not only of Gotland but sion only, in an Anglosaxon manuscript of the ofall those landscapes which were conquered in 9th century. Like every other Norse saga Beo the 17th century and also, mutatis mutandis, of wulf has been very severely criticized by histori those parts of the old Sweden which were löst. ans, being usually considered to be nothing but Who now knows anything about the Middle "historical fiction of the 9th century". Ages of Karelia or of Ingermanland or, for that The historical novd has a long tradition in matter, of Finland? Gannholm reminds us that Europé, flourishing already in the Middle Ages. Gotland's history must be seen as that of Got In the nineteenth century sir Walter Scott land and of the "gutar", the people of Gotland, turned fiction into literature, popularizing the not as part of Sweden's, at least not until after genre. Today we are so used to "historical fic 1645. tion", presented in paper-backs and on the TV One expression of the "Swedish-centered in simply to amuse the reader without the author terpretation of history" is that the period from having any ambition to be taken seriously, that the "treaty of Aivar Strabein" to the Danish we find it difficult to imagine a time when conquest of 1361 is usually interpreted as being "fiction" was an unknown concept, when daily one when Gotland "was Swedish, formed part life was so full of dangers and of opportunities of the Swedish realm". Even though the Swed that fiction was not necessary to satisfy the ish king at times exerted great influence in local public demand for thrills, and when legal as politics, Gotland remained an independent well as moral restraint was so limited that the "state", paying tribute to the Swedish king in men and women of each generation were more exchange for certain trade privileges. Not until than likely to witness "deeds of arms" and, 1361 did Gotland lose its independence, did the perhaps all too often, to take personal part in people of Gotland become the subjects of a such or to suffer from them. We also tend to "foreign" king. underestimate the importance of annalistic sa When considering Gotland, and devdop gas as families' and individuals' political and ments in Gotland, we must always keep the social legitimation in society, we do not under island's unique geographical position in mind stand every man's need to keep the memory of as well as its consequences for the islanders' Fornvännen 90 11995) Debatt 51 economy. As Gannholm reminds us, Gotland on Gotland, one who probably knew how to was a very important trading centre in prehis prize his services. This would automaticafly toric and early historie times, one through which lead to a great part, or the greater part, of the trade flowed. The abundant archaeological ma trade between these coasts and the continent terial from Gotland must not make us forget passing by way of Gotland—which made the that a great part of the goods imported into the men of Gotland wealthy. island, perhaps the greater part, was reexport- Gannholm suggests that Beowulfs "real ed, and that this transit trade was one of the name" may have been Alfhere (Alvar, Avair) sources of Gotland's wealth. A great proportion and that he may have been the last king of of this trade may have been in the hands of independent Gotland. This may be true, but Gotlandic merchants and skippers, but Gotland quite literally the name, Beowulf, means 'bee- is unique in one respect, one which has prob wolf, i.e. one who devours the nests of bees, i.e. ably contributed to its position as a mercantile 'bear'. His parents probably called the boy centre until the compass was introduced and something like rs.s, that forgotten Norse word reasonably accurate pilots' directions became for bear which was replaced by the present noa- available: in being accessible. The coasts of name, (which really means 'the brown one'). Sweden and Finland shelter behind an extreme 'Bee-wolf was another noa-name. There is ly complex labyrinth of islands, islets and rocks. nothing in the Beowulf epic to suggest that its In the sailing season the prevailing winds are hero may have been the last king of indepen from the sea towards the land, which means dent Gotland—indeed, had such been the case that the breakers fall away from the navigatör he would have had no successors interested in of a ship approaching those coasts, being thus perpetuating his story! Neither is there any extremely difficult to see. By the time the mari thing in the poem to suggest that Beowulf con- ner can see them it is too late, his ship is already cluded a peace with the king of the Svear. among the rocks, being pounded to piéces. The Gannholm stresses the intimate connections land and the islands are of the same height, and between the Goths on the continent and the of the same colour. From the sea it is almost Gauts of Gotland, as well as the military and impossible to discern the discrete islands and to political consequences of the Heruls' return to spöt the leading marks, if any. Only very expe- Sweden. However, the archaeological material rienced pilots, such as are thouroughly familiar suggests that "Sweden" formed one polity al with the particular stretch of coast ahead, can ready in the Roman Iron Age, long before the find their way in. This is true not only for the time when Herul power collapsed on the Conti coasts of Finland and of Sweden—also the en nent in the late Sth century. Beowulf leaves little trance to the Bay of Riga, the Irbensund, is an doubt that the Gauts of Gotland were involved exceedingly dangerous one, winding between in the wars against Clovis' Franks, those which sandbanks far out of sight of any landmarks and ended with the collapse of the Visigothic king around the infamous Domesnäs, and equally dom in France. According to Procopios the the mouth of the Neva shelters behind a maze Heruls returned to Seandinavia after the col of shallows. lapse of the Herul state in Hungary. Gannholm The coast of Gotland is quite different, being suggests that they settled in the Mälar valley in open and easily accessible. The coastal shelf is the 6th century as "Svear", founding a Swedish dangerous, but leading marks are easy to see state, one whose rulers imitated Roman dress and to identify. In summertime the clouds över and used Roman coins. He also believes that Gotland can be seen all över the Baltic, from the surviving Ostrogoths joined them after the Poland to Äland. Long before the compass final collapse of the Ostrogothic kingdom in came into general use, ever since man first Italy. sailed the Baltic, anyone could find his way to There may of course have been an immigra Gotland and land on Gotland—and anyone tion to Seandinavia at this time, but the Roman sailing to Sweden, Finland, the mouth of the influence was very strong already several hun Neva or into the Riga Bay had to pick up a pilot dred years earlier, and the great import of East- Fornvännen 90 (1995) 52 Debatt Roman currency seems to coindde with the seem to have been fortified settlement sites, time of the Hun Empire in Europé. Byzantine dating from the end of the Sth and the early 6th records tell of very large payments to the Huns century.