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Manuscript: British Library, MS Cotton Otho A.xii (destroyed by fire in 1731). The printed
text of Thomas Hearne (1726) remained until recently the only known source for the poem.
Ca. 1935, a transcript of the Cotton MS by John Elphinston was found in Oxford, Bodleian
MS Rawlinson B 203. The date of the composition is uncertain, but on linguistic evidence
Scragg places the poem as we have it in the late tenth or early eleventh century (28). Editions:
Dobbie, Elliot Van Kirk, ed. The Anglo-Saxon Minor Poems. ASPR 6. New York: Columbia
UP, 1942. Scragg, D. G., ed. The Battle of Maldon. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1981. For
the purpose of reviewing earlier criticism of the poem, E. V. Gordon's 1937 edition,
republished in 1976 with a supplement by Scragg, is most helpful.
Hyperlinks to annotations are added in-line in the text, in bolded brackets. See also my notes
on The Battle of Maldon.
Text
would be broken. [ 1 ]
Then he commanded each young man
To leave his horse, to drive it far off,
and to go forth, with mind turned
to strong hands and good thoughts.5
Then Offas kinsman first discovered
that the great earl suffered no slackness;
he let from his hand, then, loved one fly,
hawk to the holt, and he stepped to battle. [ 2 ]
So one could know that the lad wished not10
to weaken in war, when he seized weapons.
And as for him, Eadric would follow his prince,
his lord to the fight; he bore forth, then,
spear to the battle. He had good thought
as long as he with hands could hold [ 3 ]15
board [ 4 ] and bright sword: his boast he performed
when to the fight he came with his lord. [ 5 ]
Then Byrhtnoth began to array men there,
rode and gave counsel, taught warriors
how they must stand and that stead [ 6 ] hold,20
bade them their round-shields rightly hold
fast with hands, not at all frightened.
When he had fairly arrayed that folk,
he dismounted among them where it most pleased him,
where he knew his hearth-band [ 7 ] most loyal.25
Then on the bank stood a Viking messenger,
called out stoutly, spoke with words,
boastfully [ 8 ] brought the seafarers errand
to that lands earl where he stood on shore:
Seamen sent me quickly to you,30
Annotations
[ 1 ] We are missing up to three leaves at the beginning of the poem and something like one
leaf at the end. [Return to text]
[ 2 ] battle. The poem uses a variety of words some evidently full synonyms, others
indicating shades of meaning for war/battle/fight: beadu, beadurs, (ge)feoht, garrs,
guplega, hild, wig, wigplega, (ge)win. Clearly NE does not offer this range of sound and
subtle meaning difference. [Return to text]
[ 3 ] as long hold. This formula (and variations of it) functions throughout the poem,
indicating the warriors complete devotion to lord and land. [Return to text]
[ 4 ] board. OE bord is one of several words used in the poem for shield. [Return to text]
[ 5 ] when lord. Literally, when he had to fight before his lord, i.e., was required by law
to perform military service. [Return to text]
[ 6 ] stead. As in homestead; the word means place. [Return to text]
[ 7 ] hearth-band. OE heorwerod the body of household retainers, i.e., his personal
followers as distinguished from the folc (see Scragg 2122 for a qualification of the
importance of this distinction). [Return to text]
[ 8 ] boastfully. OE on beot may also mean threateningly. [Return to text]
[ 9 ] forgo. OE forgyldon foryield (for which see the OED) or buy off. [Return to text]
[ 10 ] good. This translates OE unforcu reputable, honorable, noble, brave, undisgraced.
[Return to text]
[ 11 ] fold. OE folde earth, land. [Return to text]
[ 12 ] tumult. Scragg glosses this array, military force. [Return to text]
[ 13 ] ash-army. Of the OE schere, here translated literally, Gordon notes: the here or
raiding force from the scas, distinctively Scandinavian ships built of ash wood. The OE
word is an anglicization of ON askr. The askr was the usual Scandinavian warship. In OE
poetry the word sc most frequently means ash(-spear). [Return to text]
[ 14 ] flane-flight. OE flanes flyht flight of an arrow. [Return to text]
[ 35 ] Fail his beginning. OE abreoe his angin may his beginning fail, i.e., may his
conduct have an evil end (Gordon). [Return to text]
[ 36 ] fell. OE gecranc, a much better (at least stronger) word than NE fell for disaster in
battle. [Return to text]
[ 37 ] churl. OE ceorl freeman, yeoman, peasant. [Return to text]
[ 38 ] fall. OE fyl fall, death, destruction. [Return to text]
[ 39 ] earnestly. OE eornoste earnestly, courageously. [Return to text]
[ 40 ] cellod. Nobody knows what this word means. Bosworth-Toller glosses it shaped like a
shield. [Return to text]
[ 41 ] a terrible song. OE gryreleoe sum a certain one of terrible songs. [Return to text]
[ 42 ] burg. OE burh. Probably Byrhtnoths chief residence; possibly Maldon itself (Gordon).
[Return to text]
[ 43 ] hale. An adjective, as in hale and hearty. [Return to text]
[ 44 ] clash. OE gebrc, possibly breaking. [Return to text]
[ 45 ] Thought lessens. Probably the most famous lines in OE and, thus, even more
difficult than others to translate satisfactorily. The OE text reads: Hige sceal e heardra,
heorte e cenre, / mod sceal e mare, e ure mgen lytla. [Return to text]
[ 46 ] My life is old. Lit. I am old of (or as regards) life. [Return to text]
[ 47 ] humbled. OE hynde crushed, felled, insulted, humbled. [Return to text]