-Caveat Lector-
http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/nation10.htm
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The Early History of Man
Part 4 - cont'd
BEOWULF AND THE DINOSAURS
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But first, we must dispel one particular and erroneous notion that has
bedevilled studies in this field for years. Since the poem's
"rediscovery" in the early 18th century (although it was brought to
the more general attention of scholars in the year 1815 when it was
first printed), scholars have insisted on depicting the creatures in
their translations of the poems as 'trolls'. 29 The monster Grendel
was a troll, and the older female who was assumed by the Danes to have
been his mother, is likewise called a troll-wife.
The word 'troll' is of Nordic origin and in the fairy-tales of
Northern Europe it is supposed to have been a human-like, mischievous
and hairy dwarf who swaps troll children for human children in the
middle of the night. For good measure, trolls are sometimes depicted
as equally mischievous and hairy giants, some of whom lived under
bridges or in caves.
Now, this would be all well and good but for the singular observation
that the word 'troll' is entirely absent from the original Anglo-Saxon
text of Beowulf! The poem is full of expressions that we would call
zoological terms, and these relate to all kinds of creatures (see
Table 4.) But none of them have anything to do with dwarves, giants,
trolls or fairies, mischievous or otherwise. And whilst we are on the
subject, the monster Grendel preyed on the Danes for twelve long years
(AD 503 - 515.) Are we seriously to believe that these Danish Vikings,
whose berserker-warriors struck such fear into the hearts of their
neighbours, were for twelve years rendered helpless with terror by a
hairy dwarf, even a 'giant' one? For that is what certain of today's
mistranslations of the poem would have us believe.
By the time of his slaying the monster Grendel in AD 515, Beowulf
himself had already become something of a seasoned dinosaur hunter. He
was renowned amongst the Danes at Hrothgar's court for having cleared
the local sea lanes of monstrous animals whose predatory natures had
been making life hazardous for the open boats of the Vikings.
Fortunately, the Anglo-Saxon poem, written in pure celebration of his
heroism, has preserved for us not just the physical descriptions of
some of the monsters that Beowulf encountered, but even the names
under which certain species of dinosaur were known to the Saxons and
Danes.
However, in order to understand exactly what it is that we are reading
when we examine these names, we must appreciate the nature of the
Anglo-Saxon language. The Anglo-Saxons (like the modern Germans and
Dutch) had a very simple method of word construction, and their names
for everyday objects can sometimes sound amusing to our modern ears. A
body, for example, was simply a bone-house (banhus,) and a joint a
bone-lock (banloca). When Beowulf speaks to his Danish interrogator,
he is said quite literally to have unlocked his word-hoard (wordhord
onleoc.) Beowulf's own name means bear, and it is constructed in the
following way. The Beoelement is the Saxon word for bee, and his name
means literally a bee-wolf. The bear has a dog-like face and was seen
by those who wisely kept their distance to apparently be eating bees
when it raided their hives for honey. So they simply called the bear a
bee-wolf. Likewise, the sun was called woruldcandel, literally the
world-candle. It was thus an intensely literal but at the same time
highly poetic language, possessing great and unambiguous powers of
description.
The slaying of Grendel is the most famous of Beowulf's encounters with
monsters, of course, and we shall come to look closely at this
animal's physical description as it is given in the Beowulf epic. But
in Grendel's lair, a large swampy lake, there lived other reptilian
species that were collectively known by the Saxons as wyrmcynnes
(literally wormkind, a race of monsters and serpents.) Beowulf and his
men came across them as they were tracking the female of Grendel's
species back to her lair after she had killed and eaten King
Hrothgar's minister, Asshere. (The unfortunate man's half-eaten head
was found on the cliff-top overlooking the lake.)
Amongst them were creatures that were known to the Saxons and Danes as
giant saedracan (sea-drakes and sea-dragons,) and these were seen from
the cliff-top suddenly swerving through the deep waters of the lake.
Perhaps they were aware of the arrival of humans. Other creatures were
lying in the sun when Beowulf's men first saw them, but at the sound
of the battle-horn they scurried back to the water and slithered
beneath the waves.
These other creatures included one species known to the Saxons as a
nicor (plural niceras,) and the word has important connotations for
our present study inasmuch as it later developed into knucker, a
Middle English word for a water-dwelling monster or dragon. The
monster at Lyminster in Sussex (see Table I) was a knucker, as were
several of the other reported sightings of dinosaurs in that country.
The pool where the Lyminster dragon lived is known to this day as the
Knucker's Hole. The Orkney Isles, whose inhabitants, significantly,
are Viking, not Scots, likewise have their Nuckelavee, as do also the
Shetland Islanders. On the Isle of Man, they have a Nykir.
However, amongst the more generally named wyrmas (serpents) and
wildeor (wild beasts) that were present at the lake on this occasion,
there was one in particular that was called an ythgewinnes. 30
Intrigued by it, Beowulf shot an arrow into the creature, and the
animal was then harpooned by Beowulf's men using eoferspreotum
(modified boar-spears.) Once the monster was dead, Beowulf and his men
then dragged the ythgowinnes out of the water and laid its body out
for examination. They had, after all, a somewhat professional interest
in the animals that they were up against. However, of the monstrous
reptiles that they had encountered at the lake, it was said that they
were such creatures as would sally out at mid-morning time to create
havoc amongst the ships in the sea lanes, and one particular success
of Beowulf's, as we have already seen, was clearing the sea lanes
between Denmark and Sweden of certain sea-monsters which he called
merefixa and niceras. Following that operation the carcases of nine
such creatures (niceras nigne - Alexander mistakenly translates nigene
as seven) were laid out on the beaches for display and further
inspection, and it is these niceras that are the creatures so
consistently portrayed on the figureheads of Viking ships (see figures
6 and 7.)
INTRODUCTION TO TABLES 2 AND 3.
Virtually every edition of the Beowulf epic and virtually every
commentary on the poem, will take pains to assure the reader that what
he is reading is NOT an historically accurate account of events or
personages. Beowulf is described as a moral tale composed several
centuries after the times of which it treats, a good yarn, and so on
and so forth. What it does not do is embody real history. However the
best test for historicity that can be applied to any document from the
past, be it chronicle, epic poem or prose narrative, is the test of
its genealogies and personal names. Are the men and women mentioned in
the work characters who are known to us from other contemporary
sources? Can the genealogies be verified? If they can, then we are
dealing with an account that we can rely on as history. If their
information is demonstrably wrong or fictitious, and if it is seen to
contradict other accepted historical sources, then clearly the rest of
the matter can be dismissed as mere fiction. Thus, and in the light of
the persistent modernist assertion that Beowulf is merely fiction, we
shall examine the complex genealogies that are embodied within the
poem in the sure knowledge no compiler of fairy-stories ever went to
such enormous lengths to add circumstantial verisimilitude to his tale
as we find in the Beowulf. The following evidence will speak for
itself.
I have relied on Klaeber (third edition, reference 20) for much of the
information contained in the notes, and for the dates which, as he
points out, are estimated as closely as the poem and its external
corroborative sources will allow. The pivtotal date on which most of
the others depend and are calculated, is AD 521, the year in which
King Hygelac was slain by the Franks as depicted in Gregory of Tour's
Historiae Francorum. However, having verified Beowulf's extraordinary
historical accuracy on almost all points of the narrative, even those
minor insignificant and insubstantial points only an authentic
historical narrative can yield, Klaeber still denies the essential
authenticity of the narrative. It is a peculiar position in which many
a modernist scholar has found himself...
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*(1) Swerting
|
*(2) Hrethel===Daughter (3) *(4) Waymunding
| |
-------------Ä|---------------- ------------------
| | | | | |
*(5)Herebeald *(6)Haethcyn | (7) Daughter===Ecgtheow*(8) *(9)Weoxstan
| | |
| *(10) BEOWULF *(11) Wiglaf
|
| *(12) Heareth
| |
| -------------------
| |
*(13)Wonred (14) Wife===Hygelac===Hygd(16) *(17)Hereric
------------ | *(15) |
| | | ----------
Wulf Eofar===Daughter *(21)Heardred *Male
*(18) *(19) (20)
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Table 2. THE GEATISH ROYAL HOUSE.
Notes to Table 2.
(1) Swerting: This is Hrethel's father-in-law's surname, not his
fore-name. Swerting would have flourished from about AD 425 onwards.
He was defeated by Frotho, whom we met earlier killing a dragon. His
daughter, unnamed, married Hrethel. Swerting planned to put Frotho to
death but in the ensuing battle both men slew each other.
(2) Hrethel: AD445 - 503. Having reigned over the Geats of southern
Sweden, Hrethel died of grief a year after his eldest son's tragic
death. (See 5 and 6.)
(3) Swerting's daughter, name unknown.
(4) Waymunding: This is the surname of Beowulf's grandfather. He would
have lived during the latter half of the 5th century.
(5) Herebeald: AD 470 - 502. He was killed by his younger brother of
Haethcyn in a hunting accident.
(6) Haethcyn: AD 472 - 510. Haethcyn came to the throne in AD 503.
From that time war broke out between the Geats and the neighbouring
Swedes culminating in the famous Battle of Ravenswood (Hrefnawudu) in
the year AD 510. Just before this battle, Haethcyn was killed by
Ongentheow (see Table 3, person 1) after having captured the Swedish
queen.
(7) Daughter: name unknown.
(8) Ecgtheow: Beowilf's father, otherwise unknown.
(9) Weoxstan: Paternal uncle to Beowulf, he surprisingly helped Onela
gain the throne of Sweden (see Table 3, person 4.) He and his son,
Wiglaf (11) are henceforth known as Scylfingas, or Swedes, to denote
their treacherously aiding the Swedish king.
(10) BEOWULF: AD 495 - 583. The subject of the epic that bears his
name.
(11) Wiglat: Beowulf's cousin. Otherwise unknown from external
sources, Beowulf adopted him as his heir. (See also Weoxstan [9]).
(12) Heareth: Father of Queen Hygd (16).
(13) Wonred: Father of Eofor and Wulf.
(14) Wife: name unknown.
(15) Hygelac: AD 475 - 521. The pivotal date, AD 521, and from which
all other dates are here calculated, is provided by Gregory of Tour's
Historiae Francorum, where he mentions Hygelac's raid on the Franks.
During this raid, Hygelac was slain by Theodebert, the son of
Theodoric, the Merovingian king of the Franks.
(16) Hygd: Hygelac's queen.
(17) Hereric: Queen Hygd's brother, he was uncle to prince Heardred.
(18) Wulf: Eofor's elder brother.
(19) Eofor: In the year AD 510, Eofor slew Ongentheow king of the
Swedes (see Table 3, person 1).
(20) Daughter name unknown.
(21) Heardred: AD 511 - 533. In AD 532, diplomatic relations between
the Geats and the Swedes were ruptured by Heardred's granting asylum
to Onela of Sweden's rebellious nephews. Heardred was killed the
following year by Onela's forces.
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SWEDISH ROYAL HOUSE DANISH ROYAL HOUSE
*(1)Ongentheow *(2)Healfdene
| |
---------------- ---------------------Ä|---------------------
| | | | | |
Ohthere Onela===Ursula Heorogar Hrothgar===Wealhtheow Halga
*(3) *(4) (5) *(6) *(7) | (8) (9)
| | | |
| *(10) Heoroweard | *(11) Hrothulf
| |
-----------| -----------------
---------------- | * Male
*(12)Eanmund *(13)Eadgils |
|
----------------Ä|------------- *(14)Froda
*(15)Hrethric *(16)Hrothmund (17)Freawaru===*(18)Ingeld
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Table 3. THE SWEDISH AND DANISH ROYAL HOUSES.
Notes to Table 3.
(1) Ongentheow: AD 450 - 510. King of Sweden, he has been identified
as Angeltheow of the early (pre-migration) Mercian genealogies (see
CEN Tech. J., 5(1):21). In other early Nordic sources his name is also
given as Angantyr and Egill. His queen was taken captive by Haethcyn
and Hygaelac (see Table 2. person 6 and person 14) and he was killed
in the ensuing battle of Ravenswood by Eofor and Wulf (see Table 2,
person 18 and person 19 respectively.)
(2) Healfdene: AD 445 - 498. Otherwise known as Halfdan, he is
celebrated in other sources as the father of Hrothgar (Hroarr) and
Halga (Helgi). According to the Skjoldungasaga, his mother was the
daughter of Jomundus, king of Sweden. His seat of power, which Beowulf
tells us was called Heorot, is today marked by the village of Lejre on
the island of Zealand.
(3) Ohthere: AD 478 - 532. His name is rendered Ottar in early West
Nordic sources. His burial mound containing his ashes is still known
as Ottarshogen.
(4) Onela: AD 480 - 535. Otherwise Ali in old West Nordic sources,
namely the Skaldskaparmal; the Ynglingasaga; the Ynglingatal; and the
Skjoldungasaga.
(5) Ursula: Originally Yrsa. In the Hrolfssaga and Skoldungasaga, she
is depicted as Healfdene's eldest child, not his youngest as given in
the Beowulf.
(6) Heorogar: AD 470 - 500. According to the Beowulf, he died within
two years of inheriting his fathers crown at 28 years of age. His is
one of only two names of the Danish Royal house that are not attested
in other records (see also 16.)
(7) Hrothgar: AD 473 - 525. Otherwise Hroarr he was king of Denmark.
(8) Wealhtheow: She was a descendant of the Helmingas, and was
renowned for her tactful and diplomatic ways. Intriguingly, her name
means Celtic Servant.
(9) Halga: AD 475 - 503. He is known as Helgi in other Scandinavian
sources and as Halgi Hundingsbani in the Eddic poems.
(10) Heoroweard: Born AD 490. Heoroweard did not inherit the crown on
his father Heorogar's death. This may have been due to his minority
(he was 10 when his father died), although other young lads have taken
the crown at even earlier ages. Lines 2155 ff of the Beowulf may hold
the clue to this. His father refused to pass on to him the royal
standard, helmet, sword, and breastplate, an extraordinary act that
normally denotes the son has lost his father's respect. How he lost it
we are left to imagine.
(11) Hrothulf: AD 495 - 545. Renowned in other Scandinavian records as
the son of Halga, he was, according to the Skjoldungasaga (cap. XII)
and the Ynglingasaga (cap. XXIX), orphaned as a boy of 8. But he was
adopted by Hrothgar and his queen at the Danish royal court. He was
counted as one of the suhtergefaederan (close relatives of the king)
and occupied the seat of honour next to Hrothgar. However, he later
attempted (AD 525) to usurp the throne from his cousins Hrethric and
Hrothmund (see 15 and 16.)
(12) Eanmund: AD 503 - 533. He was known as Eymundr in the Hyndluljoth
(cap. XV) and as Aun in the Ynglingasaga. Saxo latinised his name as
Homothus. He was slain by Weoxstan (see Table 2, person 9.)
(13) Eadgils: Born AD 510. He became king in AD 535, and was known as
Athils in other Nordic sources.
(14) Froda: King of the Heathobard's (a Danish people,) his lineage
(not given in the Beowulf) is of great interest to us. We have already
seen how the pre-Christian Saxons, Irish and early Britons all traced
their royal descents through various lines from Japheth. Froda's line
is likewise given as beginning with: Japhet Noa sun, fadir Japhans...
Sescef [Sceaf], Bedwig, Athra, Itermann, Heremotr, Scealdna (otherwise
Skjoldr - the founder of the Skjoldungas or Scyldings), Beaf, Eat,
Godulfi, Ginn, Frealaf, Voden. Allowing for natural spelling
variations and for omissions, this almost exactly corresponds with the
Anglo-Saxon lineage of Woden we have already seen (CEN Tech.J., 5
(1):21). And then appears Froda's own line from Woden: Skioldr,
Fridleifr, Fridefrode, (14 in the above Table,) Ingialdr Starkadar
(see 18) and so on. (This information is preserved in the
Langfethgatal [i.e. Vetustissima Regum Septentrionis Series
Langfethgatal dicta, 12th century manuscript copy of a much earlier
original source. Thus, we can now add the Danes to the list of those
ancient (pre-Christian) peoples who independently traced their lineage
back to the Genesis patriarches.
(15) Hrethric: Born AD 499. Known in other records (the Bjarkamal and
Saxo [ii]) as Hroerekr and Roricus respectively, he was slain by
Hrothulf (see 11) in AD 525.
(16) Hrothmund: Born 500. His is one of the only two names in this
genealogy that can not be verified from other surviving sources. (See
also 6.)
(17) Freawaru: Born AD 501. She married Ingeld of Sweden in AD 518.
(18) Ingeld: Identical with Ingjaldr of Ynglingasaga fame, his prowess
was sung for ages in the halls of Scandinavia. Indeed, his fame is
referred to in a somewhat indignant letter written in AD 797 by Alcuin
to Bishop Speratus of Lindisfarne: 'Quid enim Hinieldus cum Christo?'
- What has Ingeld to do with Christ? This was written in rebuke of the
monks of Lindisfarne who loved to hear the old pagan sagas retold in
cloisters. Yet it is to such monks we owe the often clandestine
preservation of works like the Beowulf and the old pagan genealogies
which have in turn yielded such vital information concerning our
forebears unexpected knowledge of the Genesis patriarches. Ingeld
himself married Hrothgar's daughter, Freawaru, in the year AD 518. In
the Langfethgatal (roll of ancestors) he is listed as Ingialdr
Starkadar fostri.
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SAXON TERM LITERAL MEANING LINE CREATURE DENOTED
1. aelwiht....................alien monster...1500.. Grendel (female)
2. atol aglaeca.....the terrifying ugly one....732.... Grendel (male)
3. andsaca........................adversary...1682.... Grendel (male)
4. angenga..................solitary walker....449.... Grendel (male)
5. atol............................terrible....165.... Grendel (male)
6. atelic..........................horrible....784.... Grendel (male)
7. attorsceatha................venomous foe...2839.... Flying reptile
8. brimwylf............she-wolf of the lake...1506.. Grendel (female)
9. cwealm cuma................death visitor....792.... Grendel (male)
10. daedfruma.......................evildoer...2090.... Grendel (male)
11. deathscua...................death shadow....160.... Grendel (male)
12. deofl..............................devil...2088.... Grendel (male)
13. draca.............................dragon...2290.... Flying reptile
14. eacen craeftig......exceedingly powerful...3051.... Flying reptile
15. ealdorgewinna ................life enemy...2903.... Flying reptile
16. ellengaest ...............powerful demon.....86.... Grendel (male)
17. ellorgaest...................alien spirt....807.... Grendel (male)
18. ent................................giant...2717.... Flying reptile
19. feond.......................fiend, enemy....101.... Grendel (male)
20. feondscatha ....................dire foe....554.... Grendel (male)
21. feorhbealu..............life destruction...2077.... Grendel (male)
22. ferhthgenithla................deadly foe...2881.... Flying reptile
23. fifelcyn................race of monsters....104. Grendel (species)
24. gastbona.....................soul slayer....177.... Grendel (male)
25. geoscaftgast .........demon sent by fate...1266.... Grendel (male)
26. gesaca.........................adversary...1773.... Grendel (male)
27. gaedig..................greedy, ravenous....121.... Grendel (male)
28. grimlic.................fierce, terrible...3041.... Flying reptile
29. gromheort ...............hostile hearted...1682.. Grendel (female)
30. grundwyrgen..............hellish monster...1518.... Grendel (male)
31. gryrefah....terrible,variegated coloring...3041.... Flying reptile
32. guthsceatha.............enemy, destroyer...2318.... Flying reptile
33. haethstapa..................heath salker...1368.............. Stag
34. heorowearh..............accursed outcast...1267.... Grendel (male)
35. hordweard..............treasure guardian...2293.... Flying reptile
36. hringboga...coiled (or wrapped) creature...2561.... Flying reptile
37. idese inlicness..the likeness of a woman...1351.. Grendel (female)
38. inwitgaest.................malicious foe...2670.... Flying reptile
39. lathgeteona..............loathly spoiler....974.... Grendel (male)
40. ligdraca.....................fire dragon...2333.... Flying reptile
41. ligegesa.....................fire terror...2780.... Flying reptile
42. lyftfloga.................air flier...2315..Flying reptile species
43. manfordaedla............wicked destroyer....563....... Sea monster
44. manscatha.................wicked ravager....712.... Grendel (male)
45. mearcstapa................ march stalker....103.... Grendel (male)
46. meredeor...................... sea beast....558....... Sea monster
47. muthbona....................mouth slayer...2079.... Grendel (male)
48. nearofah.................cruelly hostile...2317.... Flying reptile
49. nicor......................water monster....845...... Lake monster
50. nihtbealu.....................night evil....193.....Grendel (male)
51. nithdraca.................hostile dragon...2273.... Flying reptile
52. nithgaest..................malicious foe...2699.... Flying reptile
53. orcneas.........................monsters....112.. Monsters general
54. saedeor....................... sea beast...1510....... Sea monster
55. saedraca......................sea dragon...1426....... Sea monster
56. sceadugenga...........walker in darkness....703.... Grendel (male)
57. scinna.............................demon....939.... Grendel (male)
58. scucca.............................demon....939.... Grendel (male)
59. scynscatha................ hostile demon....707.... Grendel (male)
60. searogrim.............. fierce in battle....594.... Grendel (male)
61. theodsceatha.......... waster of peoples...2278.... Flying reptile
62. thyrs............................. giant....426.... Grendel (male)
63. weres waestmum........the shape of a man...1352.... Grendel (male)
84. widfloga..................... wide flyer...2346.... Flying reptile
65. wiht unhaelo............. unholy monster....120.... Grendel (male)
66. wildeor.......................wild beast...1430...... Lake monster
67. wohbogan... coiled (or wrapped) creature...2827.... Flying reptile
68. wrecend..........................avenger...1256.. Grendel (female)
69. wyrm.............................serpent...1430...... Lake monster
70. wyrmcynn................race of serpents...1425... Monster species
71. ythgewinnes................wave-thrasher...1434...... Lake monster
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 4. ZOOLOGICALLY APPLIED TERMS IN THE BEOWULF.
FLYING REPTILES
The last monster to be destroyed by Beowulf (and from which encounter
Beowulf also died in the year AD 583) was a flying reptile which lived
on a promontory overlooking the sea at Hronesness on the southern
coast of Sweden. Now, the Saxons (and presumably the Danes) knew
flying reptiles in general as lyftlogas (air-fliers,) but this
particular species of flying reptile, the specimen from Hronesnes, was
known to them as a widfloga, literally, a wide (or far-ranging) flyer,
and the description that they have left us fits that of a giant
Pteranodon. Interestingly, the Saxons also described this creature a
ligdraca, literally fire-dragon, and he is described as fifty feet in
length (or perhaps wing-span?) and about 300 years of age. (Great age
is a common feature even among todays's non-giant reptiles.) Moreover,
and of particular interest to us, the name widfloga would have
distinguished this particular species of flying reptile from another
similar species which was capable of making only short flights. Modern
palaeontologists have named such a creature Pterodactyl.
But what of another reptilian monster that was surely the most
fiercesome of all the dinosaurs encountered by Beowulf?
GRENDEL
It is too often and mistakenly thought that the name Grendel was
merely a personal name by which the Danes knew this particular animal.
In much the same way as a horse is called Dobbin, or a dog Fido, this
monster, it is assumed, was called Grendel. But, in fact, Grendel was
the name that our forebears gave to a particular species of giant
reptile. This is evidenced in the fact that in the year AD 931, King
Athelstan of Wessex issued a charter in which a certain lake in
Wiltshire (England) is called (as in Denmark) a grendles mere. 31, 32
Other place-names mentioned in old charters, Grindles bec and
Grendeles pyt, for example, were likewise places that were (or had
been) the habitats of a particular species of animal. Grindelwald,
literally Grendelwood, in Switzerland is another such place. But where
does the name Grendel itself come from? What was its origin, and what
information does it convey? Well, there are several Anglo-Saxon words
that share the same root as Grendel. The Old English word grindan, for
example, and from which we derive our word grind, used to denote a
destroyer. But the most likely origin of the name is simply the fact
that Grendel is an onomatopoeic term derived from the Old Norse
grindill, meaning a storm or grenja, meaning to bellow. The word
Grendel is strongly reminiscent of the deep-throated growl that would
be emitted by a very large animal and it came into Middle English
usage as grindel, meaning angry.
To the hapless Danes who were the victims of his predatory raids,
however, Grendel was not just an animal. To them he was demon-like,
one who was synnum beswenced (afflicted with sins). He was godes
ansaca (God's adversary,) the synscatha (evil-doer) who was wonsaeli
(damned,) a very feond on helle (devil in hell)! He was one of the
grundwyrgen, accursed and murderous monsters who were said by the
Danes to be descended from Cain himself. And it is descriptions such
as these of Grendel's nature that convey something of the horror with
which the men of those times anticipated his raids on their homesteads.
But as for Grendel's far more interesting physical description, his
habits and the geography of his haunts, they are as follows.
Between lines 1345 - 1355 of the poem, Hrothgar relates to Beowulf the
following information when describing Grendel and one of the monster's
companions:
"Ic thaet londbuend leode mine seleraedende secgam hyrde thate
hie gesawon swylce twegen micle mearcstapan moras healdan
ellorgaestas. Thaera other waes thaes the hie gewislicost gewitan
meahton idese onlicnes, other earm-sceapen on weres waestmum
sraeclastas traed naefne he waes mara thonne aenig man other
thone on geardagum Grendel nemdon foldbuende..." (emphases mine.)
...the best translation of which is Alexander's:-
"I have heard it said by subjects of mine who live in the
country, counsellors in this hall, that they have seen such a
pair of huge wayfarers haunting the moors, otherworldly ones; and
one of them, so far as they might make it out, was in woman's
shape; but the shape of a man, though twisted, trod also the
tracks of exile - save that he was more huge than a human being.
The country people have called him from of old by the name of
Grendel..." 33
The key words from this passage, and from which we gain important
information concerning the physical appearance of Grendel, are idese
onlicnes when referring to the female monster, and wereswaestmum when
referring to the mate. Those Danes who had seen the monsters thought
that the female was the older of the two and supposed that she was
Grendel's mother, but what exactly do the descriptive terms tell us
that is of such importance? Simply this: that the female was in the
shape of a woman (idese onlicnes) and the mate was in the shape of a
man (weres waestmum.) In other words, they were both bipedal, but
larger than any human.
Further important detail is added elsewhere in the poem concerning
Grendel's appearance when the monster attacked the Danes for what was
to prove the last time. In lines 815 - 818, where we are told in the
most graphic detail how Beowulf inflicted a fatal injury on the
monster (Beowulf held the creature in an armlock, which he then
twisted - 'wrythan' - line 964,) the following information is derived:
"Licsar gebad atol aeglaeca him on eaxle wearth syndolh sweatol
seonowe onspungon burston banlocan.'
Which may be translated thus:
"Searing pain seized the terrifying ugly one as a gaping wound
appeared in his shoulder. The sinews snapped and the (arm)-joint
burst asunder" (my translation.)
For twelve years, the Danes had themselves attempted to kill Grendel
with conventional weapons - knives, swords, arrows and the like. Yet
his impenetrable hide had defied them all, and Grendel was able to
attack the Danes with impunity. Beowulf considered all this and
decided that the only way to tackle the monster was to get to grips
with him at close quarters. The monster's forelimbs, which the Saxons
called eorms (arms) and which some translate as claws, were small and
comparatively puny. They were the monster's one weak spot, and Beowulf
went straight for them. He was already renowned for his prodigious
strength of grip, and he used this to literally tear off one of
Grendel's small arms.
Grendel, however, is also described, in line 2079 of the poem, as a
muthbona, that is, one who slays with his mouth or jaws, and the speed
with which he was able to devour his human prey tells us something of
the size of his jaws and teeth. Yet, it is the very size of Grendel's
jaws that would have aided Beowulf in going for the forelimbs, because
pushing himself hard into the animal's chest between those forelimbs
would have placed Beowulf tightly underneath those jaws and would thus
have sheltered him from Grendel's terrible teeth. We are told that as
soon as Beowulf gripped the monster's claws (and we must remember that
Grendel was only a youngster, and not by all accounts a fully mature
adult male of his species), the startled animal tried to pull away
instead of attacking Beowulf. The animal instinctively knew the danger
he was now in, and he wanted to escape the clutches of the man who now
posed such an unexpected threat and who was inflicting such alarming
pain. However, it was this action of trying to pull away that left
Grendel wide open to Beowulf's strategy. Thus, Beowulf was able in the
ensuing struggle eventually to wrench off one of the animal's arms, as
so graphically described in the poem. As a result of this appalling
injury, the young dinosaur returned to his lair and simply bled to
death (see figure 9 and caption.)
As for his haunts and habits, Grendel hunted alone, being known by the
understandably frightened locals who sometimes saw his moonlit shape
coming down from the mist-laden moors as the atol angengea, the
terrifying solitary one. He was a mearcstapa (literally a
march-stepper,) one who stalked the marches or outlying regions
('haunting the moors,' as Alexander renders it.) He hunted by night,
approaching human settlements and waiting silently in the darkness for
his prey to fall asleep before he descended on them as a sceadugenga
(literally a shadow-goer, a nightwalker.) Gliding silently along the
fenhlith (the waste and desolate tract of the marshes,) he would
emerge from the dense black of night as the deathscua (death's
shadow.) The Danes employed an eotanweard (literally a giant-ward, a
watcher for monsters) to warn of Grendel's appearance, but often in
vain. So silent was Grendel's approach when he was hunting in the
darkness of the night that sometimes the eotanweard himself was
surprised and eaten. On one particular and long-remembered night, no
less than thirty Danish warriors were killed by Grendel. Little wonder
then that Beowulf was rewarded so richly and was so famed for having
killed the monster.
In all, a comprehensive and somewhat horrifying picture of Grendel
emerges from the pages of Beowulf, and I doubt that the reader needs
to be guided by me as to which particular species of predatory
dinosaur the details of his physical description fit best. Modern
commentators who have been brought up on evolutionary ideas are
compelled to suggest that monsters like Grendel are primitive
personifications of death or disease, and other such nonsense. (It had
even once been suggested that he was a personification of the North
Sea!!) But really, the evidence will not support such claims.
One modern and refreshingly honest publication on the poem makes a far
more telling comment:-
"In spite of allusions to the devil and abstract concepts of
evil, the monsters are very tangible creatures in Beowulf. They
have no supernatural tricks, other than exceptional strength, and
they are vulnerable and mortal. The early medieval audience would
have accepted these monsters as monsters, not as symbols of
plague or war, for such creatures were a definite reality." 34
CONCLUSION
The study of living dinosaurs from the ancient records is a
fascinating one, and we have here examined only a few of the surviving
examples. One or two of the accounts (not dealt with here) that have
come down to us could, arguably, be dismissed either on the grounds
that they are plainly fanciful or that they are so hopelessly muddled
that no accurate knowledge can be gleaned from them. But the vast
majority of the accounts, such as these that we have examined, are
sober and detailed reports of the not always malevolent creatures that
our forebears encountered. The flying reptiles of Wales (see Appendix)
that survived until very recent times are just one further example.
Those of the North American Indians are another. 35 The reports are
surprisingly consistent, and together they give the lie to those
scurrilous charges that are so often laid by modernist scholars at our
ancestors' proverbial door. 36 You can only say so often that records
and traditions are fake, and that their authors are either habitual
and unscrupulous liars and fraudsters, or else the most gullible fools
in history. There comes a point when either it has to be acknowledged
that there is substance to the reports, or the reports themselves are
ignored. Modernists have chosen the latter course.
REFERENCES
1. The New Bible Dictionary, Inter-Varsity Press, London. 1972. p.
138, s.v. Behemouth.
2. The New Bible Dictionary., Ref. 1. pp. 729-730. s.v. Leviathan.
3. Pfeiffer, C. F., 1960. Lotan and Leviathan. Evangelical Quarterly.
XXXII:208ff.
4. Cooper, W. R., The early history of man - part 5, in preparation.
5. Thorpe, Lewis., (tr.) 1982. The History of the Kings of Britain.
Geoffrey of Monmouth. Guild Publishing, London. pp. 101-102.
6. Jones, G. and Jones. T. (tr.). 1974 and 1989. The Mabinogion.
Revised edition. Everyman's Library. J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd. pp.
209-212 and 217.
7. Westwood. J., 1985. Albion Granada, London. pp. 270, 275, 289.
8. This chronicle was begun by John de Trokelow and finished by Henry
de Blaneford. It was translated and reproduced in the Rolls Series, H.
G. Riley. (ed.). IV,in 1866.
9. Simpson. J., 1980. British Dragons, B. T. Batsford Ltd. London.
p.60.
10. Simpson, Ref.9. p. 118.
11. The fighting dragons of Little Cornard. In: Folklore, Myths and
Legends of Britain, Reader's Digest, 1973, p. 241.
12. True and Wonderful: A Discourse Relating to a Strange and
Monstrous Serpent (or Dragon) lately discovered, and yet living, to
the great Annoyance and divers Slaughters of both Men and Cattell, by
his strong and violent Poison: in Sussex, two Miles from Horsham, in a
Woode called St Leonard's Forrest, and thirtie Miles from London, this
present month of August 1614. With the true Generation of Serpents.
Cited in: Harleian Miscellany. III, 1745. pp. 106-109.
13. Simpson, Ref.9.p. 118.
14. Simpson, Ref.9.p.35.
15. Simpson, Ref.9.p.21.
16. Gregory., Lady, l920. Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland
(reprinted 1976.)
17. Simpson, Ref.9.pp.42-43
18. Steiger, B., 1980. Worlds Before Our Own, W. & J. Mackay Ltd.,
Chatham (England.) pp. 41-66. (Steiger is by no means a creationist.)
19. Morris, W., 1923. Volsangassaga: The Story of Sigurd the Volsung
and the Fall of the Niblings. Longmans, London.
20. Elton's translation cited by Klaeber. Fr., 1950. Beowulf and the
Fight at Finnsburg. 3rd edition. D.C. Heath & Co.,Boston, p. 259.
21. The Anglo-Saxon text relied on in this study is that of Klaeber's
Ref. 20.
22. Alexander, Michael. 1973. Beowulf, Penguin Classics,
Harmondsworth, pp. 112-113.
23. Cooper, W. R., 1991. The early history of man - Part 2. The
Irish-Celtic, British and Saxon chronicles. CEN Tech. J., 5(1):21.
24. It also verifies the pre-Christian origin of the Mercian (and
other) pedigrees, proving that the early genealogies were in existence
before the Saxons migrated to England, modernist assertions of late
monkish forgeries notwithstanding.
25. Historiae Francorum, Book III, chapter 3.
26. Thorpe, Lewis (tr.). 1974. Gregory of Tours: The History of the
Franks, Penguin Classics, Harmondsworth, p. 163.
27. Cited by Klaeber, Ref. 20, p.xli.
28. Klaeber, Ref. 20, p.xli.
29. This is the one flaw that mars Michael Alexander's otherwise
excellent translation of Beowulf, Penguin Classics (Ref. 22). Klaeber
(Ref.20) also, and surprisingly, makes the same mistranslation.
30. Ythgewinnes=literlly a wave-thrasher, evidently a surface-swimming
monster rather than a creature that swam at depth like the saedracan.
This would explain the ease with which the ythgewinnes was harpooned
from the shore of the mere.
31. Cartularium Saxonicum, W. de Gray Birch (ed.,) ii., p. 363 ff.
32. Cited also by Klaeber, Ref. 20, p. xxiv.
33. Alexander, Ref. 22, p. 93.
34. Longman Literature Guides. (York Notes series.) Beowulf, p. 65.
35. Steiger, Ref. 18, pp 41-66.
36. Sceptics on this subject are no new thing. Three hundred years
ago, their often stultifying academic presence led a 17th century
scholar to pen the following:
"To save a maid, St. George a dragon slew,
A pretty tale if all that's told be true.
Most say there are no dragons, and 'tis said,
There was no George...let's hope there was a maid!"
(John Aubrey)
37. Trevelyan, M., 1909. Folklore and Folk Stories of Wales.
38. Cited also in Simpson, Ref. 9, pp. 34-35.
39. Whitlock, R., 1983. Here Be Dragons, George Allen & Unwin, Boston,
pp. 133-134.
APPENDIX
THE FLYING REPTILES AND OTHER DINOSAURS OF WALES
Flying reptiles were a feature of Welsh life, a more common feature
than many might think, until surprisingly recent times. Indeed, as
late as the beginning of this present century, elderly folk at Penllin
(Glamorgan) used to tell of a colony of winged serpents that lived in
the woods around Penllin Castle. As Marie Trevelyan tells us:
'The woods round Penllyne Castle, Glamorgan, had the reputation
of being frequented by winged serpents, and these were the terror
of old and young alike. An aged inhabitant of Penllyne, who died
a few years ago [around the turn of the century], said that in
his boyhood the winged serpents were described as very beautiful.
They were coiled when in repose, and looked as if they were
covered with jewels of all sorts. Some of them had crests
sparkling with all the colours of the rainbow." When disturbed
they glided swiftly, "sparkling all over," to their hiding
places. When angry, they "flew over people's heads, with
outspread wings bright, and sometimes with eyes too, like the
feathers in a peacock's tail." He said it was "no old story
invented to frighten children," but a real fact. His father and
uncle had killed some of them, for they were as bad as foxes for
poultry." The old man attributed the extinction of the winged
serpents to the fact that they were "terrors in the farmyards and
coverts."
An old woman, whose parents in her early childhood took her to
visit Penmark Place, Glamorgan, said she often heard people
talking about the ravages of the winged serpents in that
neighbourhood. She described them in the same way as the man of
Penllyne. There was a "king and queen" of winged serpents, she
said, in the woods round Bewper.... Her grandfather told her of
an encounter with a winged serpent in the woods near Porthkerry
Park, not far from Penmark. He and his brother "made up their
minds to catch one, and watched a whole day for the serpent to
rise. Then they shot at it, and the creature fell wounded, only
to rise and attack my uncle, beating him about the head with its
wings. She said a fierce fight ensued between the men and the
serpent, which was at last killed. She had seen its skin and
feathers, but after the grandfather's death they were thrown
away. That serpent was as notorious "as any fox" in the farmyards
and coverts around Penmark.' 37, 38
The authenticity of the above account is enhanced in many points, not
the least of which is the fact that it is not a typical account. The
creatures concerned were not solitary and monstrous dragons, but small
creatures who lived in colonies. They had to be exterminated,
unfortunately, because of their predilection for the local poultry,
but they were not large animals. We must bear in mind that many
"dinosaurs" known to us from the fossil record were, in fact, quite
small, some no bigger than birds. The old folk who remembered the
Welsh serpents agreed that they were very beautiful creatures to look
at, especially when they were in flight.
A different kind of winged reptile nested on an ancient burial mound,
or tumulus, at Trellech a'r Betws in the Welsh county of Dyfed. It
seems, though, to have been a larger species than those of Penmark and
Penllin.
But whilst we are in Wales it is worth noting that at
Llanbadarn-y-Garrag, Powys (is Garrag a corruption of carrog, or vice
versa?) the church contains a carving of a local giant reptile whose
features may be familiar to some of us. They include large paddle-like
flippers, a long neck and a small head. We would call it a Plesiosaur.
Apart from those Welsh locations mentioned in the main body of this
article, Glaslyn (Snowdon) is another lake where afancs have been
spoken of and sighted, one as recently as the 1930's. On this
occasion, two climbers on the side of the mountain looked down onto
the surface of Glaslyn and they saw the afanc, which they described as
having a long grey body, rise from the depths of the lake to the
surface, raise his head, and then submerge again. 39
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Other references that were useful for compilation of the text are:-
Alexander, Marc, 1982. British Folklore, Myths and Legends, Weidenfeld
and Nicholson. London.
Bord. J. and Bord. C., 1987. Ancient Mysteries of Britain, Paladin.
London.
Topsett, E., 1608. The History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents,
printed also by G. Sawbridge, T. Williams and T. Johnson, London. 1658.
Bill Cooper is a keen student of Bible history, archaeology and
paleontology. He first introduced he subject of living dinosaurs
in early records in Anglo-Saxon Dinosaurs As Described in Early
Historical Records, Creation Science Movement (England), Pamphlet
Series #280. This article is reproduced by permission of the author
and the editor of the "Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal"
(PO Box 302, Sunnybank, Qld. AUSTRALIA 4109.)
Bill Cooper, 87 Convent Rd., Ashford, MIDDX TW15 2HW, England
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