Anglo Saxon Warriors

The most common way the Anglo Saxon’s would fight and attack was a sneak attack. Anglo Saxon’s would attack the enemies resource and living areas. They would destroy their enemies’ homes and all their resources usually by burning them. Since the Anglo Saxon’s are from Viking descendant, they would raid the opposing people, destroy everything that they had, and would leave

Anglo-Saxon also deemed it acceptable to extract a man-price for a person's death. The price could be paid for with the life of a person or even treasure. One of the first acts of revenge occurs when Grendel dies. His mother, the "She-Wolf," becomes enraged when she learns of her son's death and is drove "from her den on the/dangerous/Pathway of revenge," (l. 1277-1297, 63). In response to her son's death, she murders King Hrothgar's closest companion. When the king learns of his friend's death, he pleads with Beowulf to hunt the "she-wolf" down and kill her, and if Beowulf succeeds, he will receive an reward of "heaped-up ancient treasure," (l. 1381, 66). Beowulf takes revenge on the monster and kills her. Later in the poem, revenge once again surfaces in the Finn digression. Finn is a past ruler who attacks the Danish people, proceeding to kill most of the Danish tribe. After slaughtering many of the Danish tribe, Finn offers peace to Hengest,

Another example of weapons in Beowulf references to arms and armor, very accurate to the Anglo-Saxons’ traditional shields and weapons. “Then Hrothgar's thane leaped onto his horse and, brandishing a spear, galloped down to the shore; there, he asked at once: 'Warriors! Who are you, in your coats of mail, who have steered your tall ship over the sea-lanes to these shores? .... Never have warriors, carrying their shields, come to this country in a more open manner. Nor were you assured of my leader's approval, my kinsmen's consent. I've never set eyes on a more noble man, a warrior in armour, than one among your band; he's no mere retainer, so ennobled by his weapons.’... The boar crest, brightly gleaming, stood over their helmets: superbly tempered, plated with glowing gold, it guarded the lives of those grim warriors. ... Their byrnies were gleaming, the strong links of shining chain-mail chinked together. When the sea-stained travelers had reached the hall itself in their fearsome armour, they placed their broad shields (worked so skillfully) against Heorot's wall. Then they sat on a bench; the brave men's armour sang. The seafarer's gear stood all together, a grey tipped forest of ash spears; that armed troop was well equipped with weapons. .... in common we all share sword, helmet, byrnie, the trappings of war.” (Levick, 1)

Beowulf is an epic poem written with many acts of vengeance. Many times, these acts are to show courage, or in pursuit of fame, wealth, and even glory. The Anglo-Saxon culture valued these ideal traits along with heroism, and loyalty to the tribe leaders. They even had a common tradition to celebrate heroes and told their legendary stories. The value of vengeance is to prove who you are and what you can be while avenging an event or death. For the Anglo-Saxons, this was a very sustainable value to have.

Anglo-Saxon culture consisted of receiving fame, glory, and wealth through acts of vengeance and courage. “Beowulf” portrays these parts in great detail and shows how destabilizing it can be. Through acts of vengeance, a never ending war occurs.

While today revenge is regarded as an impolite and impractical practice, in times past it was normalized, even celebrated. Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant and the acclaimed Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf describe vengeance as a ceremonious cornerstone of British, Saxon, Geat, and Danish society. In these societies partaking in revenge was widely regarded as noble and morally upright, though from a modern perspective these acts of vengeance would be regarded a petty and unjust. While characters in both The Buried Giant and Beowulf liberally practice and celebrate revenge, Ishiguro and Beowulf’s Anglo-Saxon author seem to critique the medium which their characters observe.

Beowulf’s portrayal of death and violence may be a reflection of the violence in war, more thoroughly derived from, “And he fell as fate ordained the first to perish, rigged out for combat. A comrade from our ranks had come to grief in Grendel’s maw: He ate up the entire body. There was blood on his teeth, he was bloated and furious…” (2077-2081). Given that, the poem is littered with multiple other examples of brothers in arms fighting for the same noble cause; they faced tragedies and utterly gruesome violence as soldiers would. The audience of the time frame can relate to action scenes of war making them that more prideful of their own victories in battle. Consequently, Beowulf’s action would quickly engulf the Anglo-Saxon troops with excitement, and then war would be the demise of an enemy courageous enough to challenge such rallied

Although viewed as ruthless savages, the Anglo-Saxon culture was not founded on the sole idea of barbaric brutality. The Anglo-Saxon beliefs were established by loyalty, generosity, and valor. As a result, the people of the Anglo-Saxon culture lived life by these ideals which created a great thirst for fame in being the best version of themselves. If one was decent at fighting, they would train to be the best fighter they could be, or if someone was intelligent they would devise complex riddles to boast of their intelligence. In order to fulfill their beliefs, there were many aspects of the Anglo-Saxon culture that were not only prevalent in their day to day life, they were expressed through their literature as well. In Beowulf, the

What exactly makes one honorable, and how is it shown through their behavior? According to the Anglo-Saxons, a tribal society ruled by warrior kings who led their men into battle, honor is a quality that is possessed by the highest of heroes. Beowulf was transcribed in the year 725; however, it was brought with the Anglo-Saxons when they began to invade England and is believed to be based upon events that occurred in the year 520. In Beowulf, the poet writes that the hero, Beowulf himself, demonstrates an incredible amount of honorability through his heroic actions. As the reader scans through the poem, they begin to understand the warrior society and what characteristics Beowulf possesses to make him considerably honorable. Three different traits that Beowulf vividly demonstrates

Pride is a common theme throughout English Literature, but it impacted each time period in different ways, as shown by comparing “Beowulf” from the Anglo-Saxon time period and Hamlet from the English Renaissance. In the Anglo-Saxon time period, pride is shown through code of the warriors. Warriors were expected to fight under any circumstance and were praised regardless if it ended in death. Within the epic poem of “Beowulf”, the main character Beowulf potrayed the perfect Anglo-Saxon hero in that he never ran away from a challenge, even to the extent of a dragon, which resulted in the death of Beowulf. For people within the English Renaissance, pride was much subtler.

In the early 410-1066 there was a group of people named the Anglo-Saxons they were a group whose main priority was to protect their king and protect their land. The Anglo-Saxons idea of a hero is not much different than our current day idea of one, Strong, intelligent, and courageous. A warrior had to be able to stand up and fight no matter the odds or who the enemy was. Such as in the story “Beowulf”, Beowulf old in his age is threatened by a menace that is terrorizing his kingdom, a dragon. Beowulf, no longer being in his youth takes seven of his best soldiers including himself to go and kill the dragon.

From the beginning, we English were vastly outnumbered and out-manned. Harold had but 5,000 men, while William's Normans were 15,000 strong (Ibeji 2011). The battle saw a clash of the two fighting systems of the different armies. We Saxons fought as part of our fyrds, wedge-shaped battalions of troops led by our best warriors armed with their battle axes, followed with peasants brandishing sundry spears and whatever weapons they could find (Battle of Hastings, 2013, British Battles).

The Anglo-Saxon’s glorify excessive violence. In the 6th Century it was a brutal struggle for survival. In Beowulf while killing Grendel, Beowulf in a cruel way rips his arm off his body and throws it into the rafters for everyone to see. Beowulf is sending a message to show what happens if you take what is his. Just like when Beowulf cut Grendel’s

These three men were some of the fiercest warriors of the Middle Ages. Three determined warriors conquered many cities. Through their many trials and battles, Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, and Frederick Barbarossa were extoled for their many victories and achievements. Conquering any city or land that rebelled, these three had moved through Europe with vast power at their hands. Additionally, Barbarossa gratefully received the honor of leading some of the ever-famous crusades. Charlemagne, Alfred, and Barbarossa were powerful and courageous warriors of the Middle Ages who conquered cities, lands, and led the crusades. These three men were able to do great things in their time and leave a lasting impression on the people of the Middle Ages

The Anglo-Saxon hero slew monsters. Of course, monsters exist only in fantasy. But a monster may be a symbol for a broader problem or challenge a society face. Some challenges of Anglo-Saxon life are represented by the monsters Beowulf face are Beowulf vs. Grendel, Beowulf vs. Grendel’s mother, and Beowulf and his men vs. the dragon.