Béowa 🌾

hierde cornes

Béowa is a figure we find as an ancestor in royal genealogies, euhemerized in poetry, and (perhaps) hidden in the landscape. An exploration of his scattered attestations reveals a god of barley and grain who was connected with Ing and the epic cycles of Béowulf and Hrólf kraki.

👑 The royal genealogies
❄️ Byggvir
🧺 Bountiful barley
🐺 Theophoric Béowulf
🛡️ Sheaf & Shield
🧑‍🌾 John Barleycorn
📝 A quick summary
🍂 Notes
📚 Bibliography

 

— C. Ryan Moniz
harvest mmxxiii

 

Disclaimer: This piece merely reflects my own understanding of this deity based on my research and experiences.

👑 The royal genealogies

In some of the most distant stretches into history and legend made by early English royal genealogists, we find an oft-repeated lineage tracing back to three figures: Béow/Béaw ^❦1 Chronicon Æthelweardī (Beo); Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Beaw | Bedwig); Anglian Collection T(Beaw | Bedwig); Gesta rēgum Anglōrum (Beowius | Bedweg); cf. Prose Edda (Bjáf | Beðvigr) &Landfeðgatal (Beaf | Beðvigr) son of Scyld son of Scéaf, whose names mean ‘barley,’ ‘shield,’ and ‘sheaf’ respectively. In many of these pedigrees, we see the line expanded with four or five more generations added between Scyld and Scéaf, often with Scéaf’s direct son being a certain Bedwig; the Gesta rēgum Anglōrum even duplicates Scéaf, restoring him as the father of Sceld while keeping him in the corrupted form ⟨Strephius⟩ fathering Bedweg. It is most likely that the character of Bedwig/Bedweg is rooted in a scribal misreading of *Bedwii for Beowii, as manuscript ⟨o⟩ and ⟨ꝺ⟩ are easily confused. ^❦2 Björkman 1918, p 170; cf. Fulk 2007, p 28

The earliest Old English royal pedigrees including these figures are reflected very closely at the beginning of Béowulf, wherein the Scylding line is given: Hróðgár son of Healfdene son of Béowulf son of Scyld Scéfı̇ng (where Scéfı̇ng is most often interpreted as ‘son/descendant of Scéf’). The presence of a ⟨Béowulf⟩ in the Danish Scylding line (not to be confused with the poem’s titular Geatish Béowulf) perplexed early modern readers of the poem, but this is now taken to be due to a scribal error. J.R.R. Tolkien ^❦3 2014, p 148 suggested that this error was the result of a scribe who, being unfamiliar with the figure of Béow, but knowing that the text was about a character named Béowulf, moved to ‘correct’ the name to ⟨Béowulf⟩. Neidorf (2017) ^❦4 §89-90 has argued that the meter of line 53b suggests that it should indeed read *⟨Béow⟩.

Outside of these genealogies, we also find in the poem Wídsíþ mention of a Scéafa who, according to the poet, ruled the Lombards (line 32). This connection is not directly corroborated in other Lombard historical records, though the 7th century Orīgō Gentīs Langobardōrum does mention that the origin of their people was on an “island” Scadan (= Scandza) which scholars have identified as Scandinavia, potentially placing their reported origins near that of the Danes.

In his 1909 work “Some Disputed Questions in Beowulf-Criticism,” William Witherle Lawrence stated that “Bēowa has no place in any northern version of the saga of the Scyldings, nor is there any evidence of his early presence there as a mythico-heroic figure.” ^❦5 Lawrence 1909, p 256 What Norse genealogical records of the Skjǫldungs (= Scyldings) do show us are names that seem very clearly to be loaned from, rather than cognate with, the Old English genealogies. For example, Snorri Sturluson’s Edda gives us Bjáf (← Béaw) son of Skjaldun descendent of Beðvigr (← Bedwig ← Béow) son of Seskef (← se Scéf ‘the Scéf’). Similar genealogies are given in Hversu Noregr byggðist in Flateyjarbók and in Ættartala Sturlunga, the later of which equates Skjaldun with Skjǫldr (= Scyld) and Bjáf with a figure called Bjár(r). ^❦6 Grant 2002, p 108-109; cf. Fulk & Bjork & Niles 2008, p 295 This Bjárr figure seems to appear in Snorri’s Skáldskaparmál 264, where he is paired with a figure named Bjǫrn:

A similarly named character Bjórr (← Béow ^❦7 Grant 2022, p 113-114; cf. de Vries 1977, p 554 ) appears in the early 15th century poem Bjarkarímur, which recounts a similar story to that found in Hrólfs saga kraka, with one notable difference being that the titular Bǫðvarr bjarki’s grandfather in this version is named Bjórr rather than Hringr. ^❦8 “Outside of Hrólfs saga no king of this name [Hringr] is connected to Scylding tradition, and Hringr is often used as a stock name for rulers in the Old Norse fornaldarsögur (‘legendary sagas’).” — Grant 2022, p 115; cf. Guðni Jónsson (ed) 1950, p 365 In this poem, Bjórr has an advisor named Bjǫrn, mirroring the pairing given in Snorri’s Skáldskaparmál. According to Thomas Grant (2022), these legendary connections between Bjárr/Bjórr and Hrólf kraki’s story suggest that, contrary to Lawrence’s (1909) statement, Béowa did indeed have a tradition in Scandinavia, one which survived several centuries after the latest Old English records of him, even if those English genealogical records were the source of his name.

For a genuine Norse cognate, we will have to look further back, back to a period before the perception of Béowa as a euhemerized human ancestral figure. A scholarly consensus has grown which holds that this figure was originally a deity, most likely one who was connected in some way with agriculture (given the meanings of béow ‘barley’ and scéaf ‘sheaf’). ^❦9 Fulk & Bjork & Niles 2008, p xlix-l; Grant 2022, p 107 Old English Béowa has been etymologically connected to the Norse figure Byggvir ^❦10 Probably through a Proto-Germanic form *Bewwô – Holtzmann’s law “sharpens” the double-w to ggw in North and East Germanic, giving Beggwō in Proto-Norse, also likely serving as the source of the loaned Finnish grain god Pekko; cf. Fulk & Bjork & Niles 2008, p xlix; Grant 2022, p 106-107. For a counterargument to this connection (discussed further below), see Shaw 2020, p 32 (cf. bygg ‘barley’), who only appears in the eddic poem Lokasenna.

❄️ Byggvir

In Lokasenna, Loki flings insults at the obscure character Byggvir and his wife Beyla. In stanza 43, Loki calls Byggvir it litla ‘the little one,’ ^❦11 Loki uses the neuter gender here, perhaps, as Pettit suggests, because bygg ‘barley’ is neuter (Pettit 2023, p 320 n 113); this designation of Byggvir as “little” may itself be a reference to the size of grains. and calls him a servant of Ingunar-freyr ^❦12 cf. Béowa as descended from Scéafa in Old English sources , a status which Loki mocks him for in stanza 44, saying:

Loki also says in stanza 46 that Byggvir could not be found when he was needed to fight, being í flets strái ‘[hidden] in a bed of straw.’

Of Beyla ^❦13 The etymology of Beyla is disputed. Sievers (1894, p 584) suggested a Proto-Germanic *baunilō ‘little bean’; Olsen (1960, p 36) suggested a connection with attested Old Norse baula ‘cow’; Dumézil (1973, p 102-105) suggested a Proto-Germanic *biwilō ‘little bee’ , Byggvir’s wife, Loki says in stanza 56 that she is meini blandin mjǫk ‘mixed much in misdeed’ and is ǫll deigja dritin ‘a maidservant all dirtied with excrement.’ Based on these insults Benjamin Thorpe (1851) connected Byggvir with the chaff of the mill and Beyla with manure. ^❦14 Thorpe 1851, p 198-199 Beyond this theory and the etymological connection with barley and with Old English Béowa, not much more can be said of this figure.

It seems that Byggvir (along with any connection that Old English Scéafa may have had with with the Ing) were unknown to, or forgotten by, the later scribes who compiled the Scandinavian Skjǫldung genealogies, as those sources chose instead to borrow Old English names instead of making these connections.

🧺 Bountiful barley

Apart from etymology and what little we learn of Byggvir in Lokasenna, it is difficult to find sources which could give us insight into the original divine attributes of Béowa. However, if we read what is conveyed to us in Béowulf more carefully, we may find more hints.

Béow is sent to the Danes as a deliverance in their need (13b-17b). We are told that [béow] wæs bréme· blǽd wíde sprang ‘Béow was famed; his success spread widely’ (18). As several scholars have pointed out, the diction used here is conspicuous. ^❦15 Harris 1999, p 13-14; Anderson 2008; Neidorf & Zhu 2022, p 121 The word blǽd is the result of a conflation of two different roots, one meaning ‘growth, flower’ and the other meaning ‘blast, blowing, inspiration’; in Old English usage, it most often means ‘life, glory, success, prosperity, abundance,’ and the latter two meanings are contextually what seem to be most idiomatically appropriate in this line, but, especially in the vicinity of sprang (— one of the chief meanings of springan is ‘to grow’ —), it is difficult not to be reminded of the ‘growth’ meaning. Indeed, blǽd may also be a scribal variant of another word, bléd ‘flower, fruit, harvest, crop’ — an alternate reading for the line could then be ‘Béow was famed; his harvest grew widely,’ although this is quite deviant from the typical translation. In any case, the connection between Béow and growth in this line is clear enough that Earl Anderson (2008) goes so far as to call it “an agrarian pun.” ^❦16 Anderson 2008, p 632-633

The poem also emphasizes Béow’s youth, calling him geong in geardum ‘young in yards’ (13a), and a geong guma […] on fæder bearme ‘young man […] in his father’s lap’ (20a-21b). Joseph Harris (1999) connects Béow’s youth here with the above-mentioned smallness of Byggvir, saying that

For an explanation as to why all three figures have a diminutive status, perhaps the most parsimonious solution is found in their name: individual grains of barley are indeed very small. However, in spite of this small status, these figures are inherently connected with growth as well — Béow with the prosperity of the Danes (and the English lineages that claim him as an ancestor), Byggvir with the crops in the mill and his association with Freyr, and Pekko most directly with the growth of barely itself.

There is one additional small piece of evidence related to Béowa in England. In a charter issued by King Æðelstán in 931, there is mention of béowan hammes hecgan ‘the hedges of Béowa’s field,’ which served as a boundary marker. ^❦18 Much has been made of the fact that there was also a nearby grendles mere ‘Grendel’s mere’ (cf. Kemble 1849, p 416; Müllenhoff 1895, p 282-284; Fulk & Bjork & Niles 2008, p xlviii); however, scholarship has largely leaned away from connecting these two Wiltshire locations with the characters in the poem Béowulf (cf. Lawrence 1909, p 251; Chambers 1959, p 42-43; Benson 1970, p 43-44; Shaw 2020, p 62). A hamm was often an enclosed piece of land surrounded by a river, or otherwise near a body of water. If nothing else, this appellation tells us that the name Béowa was preserved in association with at least one location in England. However, this field may not be the only English name which contains theophoric reference to the god Béowa.

🐺 Theophoric Béowulf

Since the time of Jakob Grimm, the widely reported etymology of the name of the titular hero of the epic poem Béowulf was a straightforward compound of béo ‘bee’ and wulf ‘wolf.’ Grimm himself interpeted this as meaning ‘woodpecker,’ but since his time, an interpretation of the name as a kenning for ‘bear’ has developed, especially in the wake of comparisons between the hero and Bǫðvarr bjarki, and the apparent connections (elaborated on by figures such as J.R.R. Tolkien) between Béowulf and the “bear’s son” folktale. Most recently, Philip Shaw (2020) has reasserted the interpretation of ‘bee-wolf’ for Béowulf’s name. ^❦19 Shaw 2020; Shaw also argues here that there was no connection between Béow and Byggvir, and that instead we should understand the Béowulfian and genealogical figure as Béaw ‘gadfly’ — these arguments are refuted by Neidorf & Zhu 2022, p 120.

However, a considerable current in Béowulf scholarship has flowed in a different direction, instead interpreting Béowulf as Béow + wulf. ^❦20 Harris 1999, p 15; Fulk & Harris 2002, p 98-100; Orchard 2003, p 121 n 117; Osborn 2006, p 271 n 2; Fulk 2007; Tolley 2009, p 566-567; Neidorf & Zhu 2022, p 109-126; cf. Grant 2002, p 107 Indeed, Fulk (2007) suggests that the inclusion of Béow in the poem at all, which is otherwise conspicuous given his emphasis and then sudden departure from the narrative, is likely to do with his place as the divinitity present in the titular character’s name. ^❦21 Fulk 2007, p 124

Leonard Neidorf & Zhu (2022) ^❦22 Neidorf & Zhu 2022, p 109-126 , building on Neidorf’s work in 2013 ^❦23 Neidorf 2013, p 553-573 , argue particularly strongly in favor of a theophoric origin for the name Béowulf: examining onomastic evidence comparing early Germanic dithemic names, they demonstrate the extreme unlikelihood of an insect-based name compound, much less one which is also a kenning. Conversely, dithemic names consisting of [Deity] + wulf are attested, e.g. Norse Þórulfr ‘Þórr-wolf.’ Given the evidence from Germanic naming conventions, the presence of Béow in the poem, and the likely connection between the Géats and Ing, it seems much more likely that Béowulf is a theophoric name honoring the god Béowa.

🛡️ Shief & Shield

The story about the beginning of the Scylding dynasty presented in Béowulf is not entirely isolated to the poem, particularly as concerns the presence of Scyld Scéfing amongst the Danes. The Scyld of the poem is féasceaft funden ‘found destitute’ by the Danes (7a), and when he is sent out to sea on a burial ship, he is given more riches þonne þá dydon / þe hine æt frumsceafte forð onsendon / ǽnne ofer ýðe umborwesende ‘than those did, who in the beginning sent him forth alone upon the waves as a child’ (44b-46b). The identity of the “those” who sent the child Scyld Scéfing over the sea is mysterious, but this tale of the Scylding child sent over the sea is not unique to this poem.

In Æðelweard’s late 10th century Chronicon, when giving the genealogy of King Æðelwulf, we read:

This account differs from that of Béowulf by making Scéaf the babe sent over the sea, rather than Scyld. This version is elaborated on by William of Malmesbury in his early 12th century Gesta rēgum Anglōrum, where he says:

William here provides a literal explanation for the name Scéaf, and has him ruling the Angles in Schleswig, which would explain his place in the Anglian royal genealogy. An interesting detail in both Æðelweard and William’s accounts is the emphasis on just how young (valdē recens puer – Æðelwulf; puerulus – William of Malmesbury) Scéaf was when he arrived in the boat, an emphasis which the Béowulf poet instead places on Béow. While these multiple witnesses report that one of the Scylding ancestors arrived as a lone youth over the sea with some connection to grain, it seems that the roles and attributes of Scéafa, Scyld, and Béowa were confused over time.

The youth aspect was possibly original to Béowa, given the earlier dating of Béowulf in comparison to these accounts, and the parallel with the cognates Byggvir and Pekko. If we are to identify the smallest or youngest figure with the young boy sent across the sea in a vessel, that figure might also be Béowa — the ancestral Scéafa may be identified with Ing, whose cognate is served by Byggvir in Lokasenna; perhaps it is he and his elves who constitute the þá ‘those [ones]’ who sent Scyld Scéfing to the Danes in Béowulf. Meanwhile, Snorri Sturluson gives Skjǫldr (= Scyld) as a brother of Yngvi in Ynglinga saga, perhaps evidencing a different source for the connection between Scyld and Scéafa than we find in Béowulf and the genealogies; this Scyld may have a relationship with the Scyldings analogous to that of Seaxnéat and the Saxons. There is clearly some degree of confusion about exactly how these figures are interrelated, but that they do have some connection is at least clear to us.

It is possible that the relationship between Scéafa, Scyld, and Béowa, and the nature of Béowa himself, outlived these figures (and their names) in the English folk consciousness. There is a peculiar echo of the tale of Scyld/Scéaf’s role as a babe in vessel with a sheaf of grain dating to the latter half of the 12th century in the Historia Ecclēsiae Abbendonensis. ^❦27 Cotton Claudius C IX In order to resolve a property dispute between the men of Oxfordshire and the monks at Abingdon Abbey, the monks

This account of a shield containing a sheaf, floating to a meadow surrounded by a river (cf. béowan hamm discussed above), is uncannily parallel with that of Scyld/Scéaf. Tolley (1996) even argues that the island Beri “probably means ‘barley isle.’” ^❦29 Old English bere ‘barley’ + íeg ‘island’; Tolley 1996, p 7-48; cf. Bruce 2002, p 171 n 43 Of course, the child is missing from this scenario, but the other elements are astoundingly similar, and this connection has caught the attention of many. It is unclear what to make of this account in relation to the Scéafa/Scyld/Béowa mythos, but it is possible that the story survived in a garbled sense which perhaps these monks were aware of, and it served as an inspiration for this extraordinary method for resolving the land dispute.

🧑‍🌾 John Barleycorn

Another possible echo of the figure of Béowa appears much later in folkloric records in the form of the early modern English and Scottish folk-song character named John Barleycorn. The earliest written records of the song date to the reign of Elizabeth I, though it much likely dates to much earlier. However, the rendition by Robert Burns (1782) is the most well-known. In this version, John Barleycorn is killed and comes back to life in a seasonal death and rebirth cycle, and the singer tells us that his blood can heal woes and provide the drinker with courage and joy.

James Frazer (1890) was the first to identify the titular figure in this song as a remembrance of ‘corn god’ in his extremely influential (and academically controversial) work The Golden Bough ^❦30 Frazer 1890 , positing that he was sacrificed to for a good harvest. Frazer’s overall theory of ritually sacrificed gods as an underpinning of paganism has been heavily scrutinized as relying on a priori assumptions ^❦31 cf. Leach 1982, p 279-298 , but he is not the only scholar to connect John Barleycorn with an earlier deity.

More recently, Kathleen Herbert (2007) directly identifies John Barleycorn with Béowa, emphasizing the connection with barley and seasonal death and resurrection cycles in agriculture. ^❦32 Herbert 2007, p 16; cf. Pettit 2023, p 320 n 107 It is also possible that the death and rebirth of Barleycorn may in some way relate to the youth attributed to Béow in Béowulf.

A connection between Barleycorn and Béowa is not universally accepted, especially given the gap in time between the Old English and Elizabethan periods, but it remains possible that John Barleycorn, as a personification of barley, consitutes a folkloric echo of the early English god of barley.

📝 A quick summary

Below is a quick summary of some of the key points presented in the earlier sections of this page:

• • An ancestral line of Béow son of Scyld son of Scéaf is attested in many Old English royal genealogies, as well as in Béowulf. Wídsíþ also attests to a Scéafa who ruled the Lombards.
•  
• • Later-dated Norse genealogical records appear to borrow directly from the Old English genealogies, and some pieces of literature even incorporated a Bjórr/Bjárr (← Béow/Béaw) into the already existing Hrólf kraki legend.
•  
• • An earlier Norse cognate to Old English Béowa can be found in Byggvir, who is only attested in Lokasenna, where we learn that he is “little” and is a servant of Freyr associated with barley (bygg ‘barley’) and the mill.
•  
• • Béow’s description in Béowulf relates him with agricultural prosperity and emphasizes his youth, which may be parallel with the diminutive size of Byggvir and the Finnish Pekko. There is also mention in a 10th century charter of a béowan hamm ‘Béowa’s meadow.’
•  
• • The name Béowulf is likely an example of a theophoric name referring to Béowa (cf. Þórulfr ‘Þórr-wolf’). While an interpretation of ‘bee-wolf’ for his name continues to be supported by some scholars, the onomastic research provides stronger support for a theophoric name.
•  
• • The early lines of Béowulf convey the myth of a young Scyld Scéfing floating across the sea to be found by the people he comes to rule. This myth is repeated in more detail, but transferred to Scéaf, in Æðelweard’s (10th century) Chronicon and William of Malmesbury (12th century) Gesta rēgum Anglōrum. These later sources emphasize the youth of Scéaf, an emphasis Béowulf places instead on Béow. To whom the elements of this myth are to be originally attributed to is difficult to untangle.
•  
• • An odd 12th century property dispute recorded in the Historia Ecclēsiae Abbendonensis reports monks putting a sheaf of grain and a lit candle into a shield and floating it on a river to draw a boundary, and this shield comes to a meadow, surrounded by the river Thames, called Beri (which may mean ‘barley-island’). The actions of the monks in this record curiously recalls several aspects of the Scéaf/Scyld/Béow myth.
•  
• • An English and Scottish folk-song attested to the Elizabethan period (and potentially earlier) speaks of a John Barleycorn, who seems to be a personification of barley, as he is killed and grows again in spring. Due to the time gap between our latest records of Béowa and our earliest records of John Barleycorn, a connection between the two remains controversial in scholarship, but there are at least some parallels between the two figures.

🍂 Notes

• ^❦1 Chronicon Æthelweardī (Beo); Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Beaw | Bedwig); Anglian Collection T(Beaw | Bedwig); Gesta rēgum Anglōrum (Beowius | Bedweg); cf. Prose Edda (Bjáf | Beðvigr) &Landfeðgatal (Beaf | Beðvigr)
• ^❦2 Björkman 1918, p 170; cf. Fulk 2007, p 28
• ^❦3 Tolkien 2014, p 148
• ^❦4 Neidorf 2017, §89-90
• ^❦5 Lawrence 1909, p 256
• ^❦6 Grant 2002, p 108-109; cf. Fulk & Bjork & Niles 2008, p 295
• ^❦7 Grant 2022, p 113-114; cf. de Vries 1977, p 554
• ^❦8 “Outside of Hrólfs saga no king of this name [Hringr] is connected to Scylding tradition, and Hringr is often used as a stock name for rulers in the Old Norse fornaldarsögur (‘legendary sagas’).” — Grant 2022, p 115; cf. Guðni Jónsson (ed) 1950, p 365
• ^❦9 Fulk & Bjork & Niles 2008, p xlix-l; Grant 2022, p 107
• ^❦10 Probably through a Proto-Germanic form *Bewwô – Holtzmann’s law “sharpens” the double-w to ggw in North and East Germanic, giving Beggwō in Proto-Norse, also likely serving as the source of the loaned Finnish grain god Pekko; cf. Fulk & Bjork & Niles 2008, p xlix; Grant 2022, p 106-107. For a counterargument to this connection (discussed further below), see Shaw 2020, p 32
• ^❦11 Loki uses the neuter gender here, perhaps, as Pettit suggests, because bygg ‘barley’ is neuter (Pettit 2023, p 320 n 113); this designation of Byggvir as “little” may itself be a reference to the size of grains.
• ^❦12 cf. Béowa as descended from Scéafa in Old English sources
• ^❦13 The etymology of Beyla is disputed. Sievers (1894, p 584) suggested a Proto-Germanic *baunilō ‘little bean’; Olsen (1960, p 36) suggested a connection with attested Old Norse baula ‘cow’; Dumézil (1973, p 102-105) suggested a Proto-Germanic *biwilō ‘little bee’
• ^❦14 Thorpe 1851, p 198-199
• ^❦15 Harris 1999, p 13-14; Anderson 2008; Neidorf & Zhu 2022, p 121
• ^❦16 Anderson 2008, p 632-633
• ^❦17 Harris 1999, p 13; cf. Neidorf & Zhu 2022, p 122
• ^❦18 Much has been made of the fact that there was also a nearby grendles mere ‘Grendel’s mere’ (cf. Kemble 1849, p 416; Müllenhoff 1895, p 282-284; Fulk & Bjork & Niles 2008, p xlviii); however, scholarship has largely leaned away from connecting these two Wiltshire locations with the characters in the poem Béowulf (cf. Lawrence 1909, p 251; Chambers 1959, p 42-43; Benson 1970, p 43-44; Shaw 2020, p 62).
• ^❦19 Shaw 2020; Shaw also argues here that there was no connection between Béow and Byggvir, and that instead we should understand the Béowulfian and genealogical figure as Béaw ‘gadfly’ — these arguments are refuted by Neidorf & Zhu 2022, p 120.
• ^❦20 Harris 1999, p 15; Fulk & Harris 2002, p 98-100; Orchard 2003, p 121 n 117; Osborn 2006, p 271 n 2; Fulk 2007; Tolley 2009, p 566-567; Neidorf & Zhu 2022, p 109-126; cf. Grant 2022, p 107
• ^❦21 Fulk 2007·, p 124
• ^❦22 Neidorf & Zhu 2022, p 109-126
• ^❦23 Neidorf 2013, p 553-573
• ^❦24 Æðelweard (10th c.) Chronicon III, ch. 4
• ^❦25 William of Malmesbury (c. 1100) Gesta rēgum Anglōrum II, §116
• ^❦26 Scandza – Also the homeland of the Lombards reported in Orīgō Gentīs Langobardōrum, discussed near the beginning of this article; cf. Wídsíþ (line 32): [wéold] scéafa longbeardum ‘Scéafa ruled the Lombards’
• ^❦27 Historia Ecclēsiae Abbendonensis, Cotton Claudius C IX
• ^❦28 Pettit (2020, p 196) connects this phallic symbol with Freyr, whom he also parallels with candle and sword references in Béowulf
• ^❦29 Old English bere ‘barley’ + íeg ‘island’; Tolley 1996, p 7-48; cf. Bruce 2002, p 171 n 43
• ^❦30 Frazer 1890
• ^❦31 cf. Leach 1982, p 279-298
• ^❦32 Herbert 2007, p 16; cf. Pettit 2023, p 320 n 107

📚 Bibliography

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• 🔖 Chambers, RW 1959· Beowulf: an Introduction to the Study of the Poem with a Discussion of the Stories of Offa and Finn 3rd ed.
• 🔖 de Vries, Jan 1977· Altnordisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch
• 🔖 Dumézil, G 1973· Gods of the Ancient Northmen
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• 🔖 Fulk, RD & Harris, JC 2002· “Beowulf’s name,” D Donoghue (ed) Beowulf: A verse translation: Authoritative texts, contexts, criticism
• 🔖 Frazer, J 1890· The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion
• 🔖 Grant, T 2002· Beow in Scandinavia
• 🔖 Guðni Jónsson (ed) 1950· Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda 4
• 🔖 Harris, JC 1999· “The dossier on Byggvir, god and hero: Cur deus homo,” Arv 55
• 🔖 Herbert, K 2007· Looking for the Lost Gods of England
• 🔖 Kemble, JM 1849· The Saxons in England I
• 🔖 Lawrence, WW 1909· “Some Disputed Questions in Beowulf-Criticism,” PMLA 24,2
• 🔖 Leach, E 1982· “Kingship and divinity: The unpublished Frazer Lecture,” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 1,1 (2011)
• 🔖 Müllenhoff, K 1895· Zeitschrift für deutsches Alterum 12
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