02821nam 2200601Ia 450 991082025890332120230922211349.01-64189-933-61-80270-055-21-80270-054-410.1515/9781802700541(MiAaPQ)EBC30160245(Au-PeEL)EBL30160245(CKB)24892753100041(OCoLC)1345581564(MdBmJHUP)musev2_101004(DE-B1597)632882(DE-B1597)9781802700541(OCoLC)1346364037(UkLoBP)BP9781641899338BMS(EXLCZ)992489275310004120230331e20222023 uy 0engurcnu||||||||txtrdacontentcrdamediacrrdacarrierBeowulf and the North Before the Vikings /Tom Shippey1st ed.Leeds :Arc Humanities Press,2022.London :Bloomsbury Publishing,2023.1 online resource (136 pages)Past ImperfectPrint version: Shippey, Tom Beowulf and the North Before the Vikings Amsterdam : Arc Humanities Press,c2022 Includes bibliographical references.Introduction : fantasy or history? -- Poetry and archaeology -- Old legend, new reality -- The bigger picture -- The non-national epic.Ever since Tolkien's famous lecture in 1936, it has been generally accepted that the poem Beowulf is a fantasy, and of no use as a witness to real history. This book challenges that view, and argues that the poem provides a plausible, detailed, and consistent vision of pre-Viking history which is most unlikely to have been the poet's invention, and which has moreover received strong corroboration from archaeology in recent years. Using the poem as a starting point, historical, archaeological, and legendary sources are combined to form a picture of events in the North in the fifth and sixth centuries: at once a Dark and a Heroic Age, and the time of the formation of nations. Among other things, this helps answer two long-unasked questions: why did the Vikings come as such a shock? And what caused the previous 250 years of security from raiders from the sea?Past Imperfect.BeowulfCriticism and interpretationCivilization, VikingMythology, NorseScandinaviaBeowulfCriticism and interpretation.Civilization, Viking.Mythology, Norse.737Shippey TomUkLoBPUkLoBPBOOK9910820258903321Beowulf and the North Before the Vikings4110717UNINA