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Marking Boundaries in Beowulf: Ęschere's Head, Grendel's Arm And Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik 77 (�0�7) 5��–540 brill.com/abag Marking Boundaries in Beowulf: Æschere’s Head, Grendel’s Arm and the Dragon’s Corpse Thijs Porck Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society, Universiteit Leiden, Niederlande [email protected] Sander Stolk Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society, Universiteit Leiden, Niederlande [email protected] Abstract In the Old English poem Beowulf, several body parts are put on display, including Grendel’s arm at Heorot and Æschere’s head on top of a cliff. The first instance has been widely discussed by various scholars, who have tried to find out why and where the arm was hung. By contrast, scholarly treatments of the second instance are rela- tively scarce. This article places the exhibition of Æschere’s head by Grendel’s mother in the context of similar practices of decapitation and display in Anglo-Saxon England. It will be argued that the placement of the head of Æschere on top of the cliff towering over Grendel’s mere resembles the Anglo-Saxon heafod stoccan, ‘head stakes’, which acted as boundary markers. The monster’s act, therefore, would not strike as foreign to the Anglo-Saxon audience, but would be familiar. As we will show, the identification of Æschere’s head as a boundary marker, placed at the edge of the monsters’ domain, also has some bearing on the interpretation of other potential boundary markers in the poem, including Grendel’s arm and the dragon’s corpse. Lastly, we will argue for a new reading of two textual cruces in Beowulf’s speech prior to his fight with Grendel. Keywords Beowulf – Æschere’s head – decapitation – boundary markers – textual cruces © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi �0.��63/�87567�9-��340090Downloaded from Brill.com09/28/2021 03:03:40AM via free access 522 Porck Und Stolk Introduction Þæt wæs tacen sweotol syþðan hildedeor hond alegde, earm ond eaxle (þær wæs eal geador Grendles grape) under geapne hrof. Beowulf, ll. 833b–8361 [That was a clear sign, after the one brave in battle placed the hand, arm and shoulder (there all of Grendel’s grip was together) under the vaulted roof.] Many scholars of Beowulf have grappled with Grendel’s arm. The prominent display of this monster’s limb inside or outside Heorot has given rise to vary- ing interpretations. There are those who would see this display as a symbol of victory, a ‘clear sign’ of Beowulf’s triumph over the monstrous threat to Heorot, hung inside the hall as a trophy (e.g., Kiernan 2010). Other scholars have linked the display of Grendel’s arm to judicial practices in England. Just like the hand of a counterfeit coiner would be cut off and placed on top of the perpetra- tor’s mint shop under the laws of King Æthelstan (d. 939),2 the arm of Grendel was hung outside the hall to act as a warning for other potential transgressors (Bremmer 1996; Lockett 2010, 375–377). Beowulf scholars have been inclined to extend the conclusion drawn on Grendel’s arm to also cover the second prominent exhibition of a body part in the Old English poem: that of Æschere’s head by Grendel’s mother. Those who interpret the display of Grendel’s arm as a sign of triumph also consid- er Æschere’s head a trophy (Kiernan 2010; Cavell 2014, 169); similarly, schol- ars who place Grendel’s arm in a judicial context also interpret the display of Æschere’s head in light of legal procedures surrounding feuds (Lockett 2010, 372). In this article, we aim to reverse the order of analysis, by first interpreting the display of Æschere’s head in its own right, supporting the recent claim by Helen Appleton (2017) that the head functions as a boundary marker.3 Next, we review how this interpretation of Æschere’s head problematizes the role and 1 All quotations from Beowulf are taken from Fulk et al. 2008; all translations from Old English are our own, unless otherwise noted. 2 On this law, first recorded in the 920s, see O’Gorman 2014. 3 We were only made aware of the appearance of the article by Helen Appleton (2017) during the writing of this article. Our original argument was similar to hers, but we have now rewrit- ten our article so that it builds on her interpretation. Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren GermanistikDownloaded from 77 Brill.com09/28/2021(2017) 521–540 03:03:40AM via free access Marking Boundaries in Beowulf 523 representation of other potential boundary markers in the poem, including Grendel’s arm and the dragon’s corpse. We end our article by speculating about two textual cruces in Beowulf which can be solved by accepting the notion that Æschere’s head may have functioned as a boundary marker. 1 A Sign at the Border: Æschere’s Head as a Boundary Marker In her search for vengeance, Grendel’s mother kills Hrothgar’s chief counsellor, Æschere.4 This murder leaves Hrothgar deeply distraught. Only after Beowulf has reminded the old king that it is better to avenge his friend than mourn for a long time does Hrothgar come to his senses. The old king jumps on a horse and leads Beowulf, the Geats and a group of Danes to Grendel’s mere. On their way, the company is confronted with a sight that intensifies their distress: the decapitated head of Æschere, on a cliff near the mere: he feara sum beforan gengde wisra monna wong sceawian, oþ þæt he færinga fyrgenbeamas ofer harne stan hleonian funde, wynleasne wudu; wæter under stod dreorig ond gedrefed. Denum eallum wæs, winum Scyldinga, weorce on mode to geþolianne, ðegne monegum, oncyð eorla gehwæm, syðþan Æscheres on þam holmclife hafelan metton. Beowulf, ll. 1414–1421 [he (Hrothgar) went ahead with a few of the wiser men to examine the place, until he suddenly found mountain trees leaning over a grey stone—a joyless forest; water stood below, blood-stained and disturbed. To all the Danes, to the friends of the Scyldings, to many a thane, it was painful to suffer in the heart, a grief to each of the warriors, after they met Æschere’s head on the water-cliff.] The shocking nature of this discovery is emphasized by the poet, who delayed the phrase “hafelan metton” to the end of the passage (see Fulk et al. 2008, xcvi; 4 On the importance of Æschere, see Biggs 2003. Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik 77Downloaded (2017) from521–540 Brill.com09/28/2021 03:03:40AM via free access 524 Porck Und Stolk Orchard 2003a, 82–83). Like Grendel’s mother, the poet has separated Æschere from his “hafelan” by inserting the phrase “on þam holmclife”. Grendel’s mother’s actions have often been interpreted in the context of a rightful retribution for the murder of her son. In avenging her son’s death, Grendel’s mother acts as would be expected of a grieved party in a feud. Her display of Æschere’s head in this context is usually seen as mimicking the exhi- bition of Grendel’s arm. This view is exemplified by Kevin Kiernan, who inter- prets Grendel’s mother’s actions as follows: At first glance it may seem particularly monstrous that she singles out as a victim Hrothgar’s favorite thane and then leaves his head, as a tro- phy, floating in the mere. But Hrothgar used her boy’s arm as a trophy in his hall, and because she retrieved it, Beowulf returned from the mere with Grendel’s severed head as a gruesome replacement. Her grief seems as real as Hrothgar’s, and her response, swift life-for-life vengeance, is (mutatis mutandis) as heroic as Beowulf’s. kiernan 2010 In Kiernan’s view, both Grendel’s arm and Æschere’s head are trophies, dis- played to exhibit the heroism of their slayers. By contrast, Leslie Lockett (2010) interprets the display of Grendel’s arm not as a trophy but as a public claim to the legitimacy of Beowulf’s murder of Grendel. She assumes that Grendel’s mother’s exhibition of Æschere’s head served a similar purpose: Although the killings committed by her son are without just cause and are therefore kept concealed, her slaying of Æschere is—at least from her perspective—a legitimate requital of her own son’s death, for which rea- son she prominently displays the head at the entrance of her own home, on high ground at the edge of the mere. lockett 2010, 372 Their differing opinions on the purpose of the displays notwithstand- ing, Kiernan and Lockett see the fate of Æschere’s head as mirroring that of Grendel’s arm. In addition to offering distinct readings of the function of the displayed body parts, Kiernan and Lockett also suggest different locations for the head of Æschere. Kiernan’s suggestion that the head is “floating in the mere”, however, has no basis in the text, which makes clear that the head is “on þam holmclife” [on the water-cliff] (Beowulf, l. 1421a). As Lockett correctly identifies, this wa- ter-cliff is an elevated area at the edge of the mere; in fact, the cliff is possibly Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren GermanistikDownloaded from 77 Brill.com09/28/2021(2017) 521–540 03:03:40AM via free access Marking Boundaries in Beowulf 525 mentioned earlier as the “harne stan” [the grey stone] (Beowulf, l. 1417a) loom- ing over Grendel’s mere. William Cooke (2003) identifies this grey stone as a boundary marker: “it marks the boundary between the world of men and the ogres’ domain” (298).5 Indeed, by placing Æschere’s head on this elevated ground at the edge of her domain, Grendel’s mother appears to mark her terri- tory with the decapitated head.
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