The image of a giant sword melting stands at the structural and thematic heart of the Old English heroic poem 'Beowulf'. This meticulously researched book investigates the nature and significance of this golden-hilted weapon and its likely relatives within 'Beowulf' and beyond, drawing on the fields of Old English and Old Norse language and literature, liturgy, archaeology, astronomy, folklore and comparative mythology.
In Part I, Pettit explores the complex of connotations surrounding this image (from icicles to candles and crosses) by examining a range of medieval sources, and argues that the giant sword may function as a visual motif in which pre-Christian Germanic concepts and prominent Christian symbols coalesce.
In Part II, Pettit investigates the broader Germanic background to this image, especially in relation to the god Ing/Yngvi-Freyr, and explores the capacity of myths to recur and endure across time. Drawing on an eclectic range of narrative and linguistic evidence from Northern European texts, and on archaeological discoveries, Pettit suggests that the image of the giant sword, and the characters and events associated with it, may reflect an elemental struggle between the sun and the moon, articulated through an underlying myth about the theft and repossession of sunlight.
'The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in 'Beowulf'' is a welcome contribution to the overlapping fields of 'Beowulf'-scholarship, Old Norse-Icelandic literature and Germanic philology. Not only does it present a wealth of new readings that shed light on the craft of the 'Beowulf'-poet and inform our understanding of the poem’s major episodes and themes; it further highlights the merits of adopting an interdisciplinary approach alongside a comparative vantage point. As such, 'The Waning Sword' will be compelling reading for 'Beowulf'-scholars and for a wider audience of medievalists.
Author(s): Edward Pettit
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: XXII+540
City: Cambridge
Acknowledgements xvii
Signs and Abbreviations xix
1. Introduction: 'Beowulf', an Early Anglo-Saxon Epic 1
Part I. Ice, Candle and Cross: Images of the Giant Sword in 'Beowulf' 33
2. The Giant Sword and the Ice 35
Prior Views on the Melting of the Giant Sword 37
Old Norse Ice-Swords 42
3. The Giant Sword and the Candle 47
Vargeisa’s Candle-Sword 51
Grýla’s Icicle-Candle 65
The Giant Sword as Solar Candle 71
Sörli and 'Sigrljómi' 'Victory-Light' 79
The Giant Sword as Paschal Candle 84
4. The Giant Sword and the Cross 93
The Cross in the Lake 94
Three Old English Heavenly Candle-Crosses 98
Sword-Hilts, Sword-Blades and Crosses 100
Beowulf and Christ as Bearers of the Sword-Cross 112
The Battle-Standard and the Cross 113
Wiglaf as Sword-Bearer and Cross-Bearer 118
Part II. Sun-Swords and Moon-Monsters: On the Theft and Recovery of Sunlight in 'Beowulf' and Other Early Northern Texts 121
5. Whose Sword Is it, Anyway? 123
Giant-Forged and Giant-Stolen? 124
The Giant Sword and the Theft of Mjǫllnir 129
The Cup-Thief, Grendel’s Glove and Grendel’s 'Un-Sword': Aspects of Recurrent Thievery in 'Beowulf' 131
The Basis for Detecting Germanic Myth in 'Beowulf' 137
6. Ing, Ingvi-Freyr and Hroðgar 143
The 'Ingwine' 'Ing-Friends' and Ing, Son of Man 143
Ing and Ingi-/Yngvi-Freyr 145
Freyr, the Friendly God 147
Worship of Ing in England? 147
Ing in the 'Old English Rune Poem' 148
The 'Inge'-Peoples and the Sun-God of 'Psalm 112' 156
Hroðgar and Danish Worship of an Unnamed Devil 158
Hroðgar, Healfdene’s 'Firebrand' and the 'Incgelaf' 159
Ingunar-Freyr and Freyr’s Sword 166
Hroðgar as 'Frea' 167
Wealhþeo’s 'Brosinga Mene' and Freyja’s 'Brísingamen' 168
Freawaru 169
The Danes and the 'Life-Lord' 169
7. Freyr, Skírnir and Gerðr 171
'Fǫr Skírnis' and 'Beowulf’s' Mere-Episode 172
'Lokasenna', 'Gylfaginning' and the Gifted Sword 184
Gymir and Gerðr as Sea-Giants 185
Hjálmþér, Ýma and Margerðr 188
The Burning Candle and the Barley Isle 194
8. Lævateinn and the Maelstrom-Giantess 197
Svipdagr’s Quest for Menglǫð 197
Loki’s Taking of the Twig 206
More About Lævateinn and Mistilteinn 210
Saxo’s Hotherus, Balderus and the Sword of Mimingus 212
Lævateinn in the 'Lúðr' 216
The Maelstrom-Giantess in Sagas of Hjálmþér, Grettir and Samson 219
Grendel’s Mother as Maelstrom-Giantess 222
9. Freyr’s Solar Power and the Purifying Sword 225
Solar Aspects of Freyr in the 'Eddas' 225
Skírnir as Purifier 227
Beowulf and the Giant Sword as Purifiers 230
Freyr as Thawer 232
10. Freyr, Heorot and the Hunt for the Solar Stag 235
Freyr, Beli and the Hart’s Horn 235
Heorot, the Hart-Hall 236
The 'Hunted Hart' Passage in 'Beowulf' 238
The Solar Stag in Early Europe 244
The Hunt for the Sun 251
The 'Battle-Thief/Wolf of the Sky-Shield' 252
Skǫll and Hati 252
The Old One, the Pitchforker and Mánagarmr 255
Wolf-Snake versus Sun-Stag: Norse Myth on the Gosforth Cross 261
Hunted Stags on Other Anglo-Saxon Crosses 279
The Ovingham Stone 281
One Man (in the Moon) and His Dog 282
11. A Tale of Two Creatures: The Theft and Recovery of Sunlight in 'Riddle 29' 287
The Lunar Thief and Grendel 289
The Solar Repossessor and Beowulf 291
12. Another Tale of Two Creatures: The Loss and Recovery of the Solar Draught-Beast in 'Wið Dweorh' 293
An Old English Dwarf-Horse-Deer? 298
A Headache(?)-Causing Dwarf from Denmark 304
Another Headache-Causing Dwarf and a Radiant Sword 305
The Sun as Healer, Especially in Old English Remedies 308
The Dwarf and Grendel as 'In-Going' Fever-Demons 309
13. The Solar Antler in 'Sólarljóð' 315
The Buried Antler and Christian Legends, Especially of the Cross 317
The Solar Antler, the Dwarf-Horse-Stag(?) and a Solar Sword 321
Svafrlami and Dvalinn 324
Dvalinn and the Deaths of Alvíss and Hrímgerðr 328
Runes of Resurrection 335
'Sólarljóð' and 'Beowulf' 337
14. Grendel, His Mother and Other Moon‑Monsters 339
Trees of Sun and Moon, and a Monster Called 'Quasi Caput Luna' 340
Grendel the 'Wan' 346
Grimm Brothers’ Fairy Tale 175: 'Der Mond' 'The Moon' 351
'The Dead Moon', a Blickling Homily and 'Beowulf' 352
Nið 'Waning/Dark Moon'(?) in 'Beowulf' 358
Grendel and Glámr, the Monster with Moonlit Eyes 368
Grendel’s Mother and Norse Moon-Giantesses 372
Mána, Moon-Giantess and Thief 373
Mána and Brana 374
Skjaldvör, the 'Dark-Moon Chest' and More about the 'Nið'‑Dragon 376
Hyndla at the 'Darkness of Darknesses' 388
Þórgunna, Mána-Ljótur and the Half-Moon 390
The Old One and the Pitchforker, Again 391
Ýma and the Boatforker 395
Two More Male Forkers and a Sword of Lunar Waning 399
King Dagr and the Hayforker 399
Kolr the Gibbous, His Fork-Wielding Son and the Sword Angrvaðill 400
Anger, Death and the Dismembered Moon 406
The Lunar Head and the Solar Head 408
15. The Sun in the Pike 411
Three Golden Eggs, a Fallen Spark and a Pike 412
Tyrfingr and the Pike 413
Mistilteinn and the Pike 414
Hrómundr Gripsson, Þráinn and Mistilteinn 415
Grendel’s Mother as Pike 418
16. Conclusion: 'Beowulf', an Anglo-Saxon Song of Ice and Fire 425
Bibliography 471
Supplementary Note 519
List of Illustrations 521
Index 523
