ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 131 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Hrothgar’s horses: feral or thoroughbred?
jennifer neville
abstract
This article sets forth the contrast between the image of the horses in Beowulf and the image of
Anglo-Saxon horses that can be derived from archaeology, historical narratives, wills, law codes
and glossaries. It focuses particularly on the issue of colour, represented in the poem by the
difficult word fealwe and its derivative, æppelfealwe. It is argued that the horses described in Beowulf
do not match up closely with Anglo-Saxon horses recorded in any century and that they would
have struck the poem’s tenth-century audience as very strange. This strangeness has implications
for our understanding of Anglo-Saxon reception of the poem.
What the horses in Beowulf mean is clear enough. In the three main passages in
which they appear, they are signs of generosity, particularly Hrothgar’s kingly
generosity, treasures of great value exchanged to show reciprocal loyalty and
gratitude; elsewhere they indicate class and prestige. Yet what these signs might
have looked like is difficult to pin down. How can these images of treasure be
imagined? What kind of real-life animal would they have indicated to an AngloSaxon audience? The only thing that we know about the appearance of
Hrothgar’s horses is that they are fealwe, a notoriously ambiguous word. In this
article I shall juxtapose the details (and lack of details) about the appearance of
Hrothgar’s horses provided by Beowulf with the wealth of information for
Anglo-Saxon horses provided by archaeology, historical narratives, wills, law
codes and glossaries, focusing ultimately on the difficult word fealwe and its
derivative, æppelfealwe. This juxtaposition reveals a sharp disparity between the
world depicted in Beowulf and the world inhabited by the late Anglo-Saxon audience of its manuscript. In a poem composed later than the putative events of
the poem (c. 515–30),1 we might expect the horses to reflect contemporary
culture. For example, a tenth-century poet might not have known much about
horses in the sixth century and thus, despite possible antiquarian interests,2 the
1
2
This date for the events of the poem was first suggested by N. F. S. Grundtvig, ‘Om Bjovulf ’s
Drape’, Dannevirke 2 (1817), 207–89 (cited in Colin Chase, ‘Opinions on the Date of Beowulf,
1815–1980’, The Dating of Beowulf, ed. Colin Chase (Toronto, 1997), p. 3).
See, for example, J. R. R. Tolkien, ‘Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics’, PBA 22 (1936),
245–95 (repr. most recently in Michael D. C. Drout, Beowulf and the Critics by J. R. R. Tolkien,
Med. and Renaissance Texts and Stud. 248 (Tempe, AZ, 2002); A. G. Brodeur, The Art of
Beowulf (Berkeley, 1959), pp. 132–81; R. W. Hanning, ‘Beowulf as Heroic History’, Medievalia
et Humanistica ns 5 (1974), 77–102; R. Frank, ‘The Beowulf Poet’s Sense of History’, in The
131
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 132 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Jennifer Neville
horses depicted by such a poet might look more like tenth-century horses. A
similar effect could be produced by a tenth-century reviser of an earlier poem.
The horses in Beowulf, however, are not described as tenth-century horses
would be. Indeed, they contrast strongly with horses throughout the AngloSaxon period. This contrast suggests that an audience contemporary with the
Beowulf-manuscript may have found the poem’s material culture, if not its
values, alien and puzzling.
the significance of hrothgar’s horses
Horses in Beowulf appear in five well known passages: the brief description of
the Danes racing their horses in celebration of the death of Grendel (864–867a
and 916–917a), the fuller description of the horses that Hrothgar gives to
Beowulf as a reward for this killing (1035–49), and the description of the
passing on of these horses to Hygelac and Hygd (2163–2166a and
2172–2175a). I shall address the more detailed passages (1035–49, 2163–2166a,
and 2172–2175a) first.
Hrothgar’s horses first appear in the context of a public ceremony described
in some detail:
Forgeaf a Beowulfe
bearn Healfdenes
segen gyldenne
sigores to leane;
hroden hildecumbor,
helm ond byrnan,
mære maumsweord
manige gesawon
beforan beorn beran.
Beowulf geah
ful on flette;
no he ære feohgyfte
for sceotendum
scamigan orfte.
Ne gefrægn ic freondlicor
feower madmas
golde gegyrede
gummanna fela
in ealobence
orum gesellan.
Ymb æs helmes hrof
heafodbeorge
wirum bewunden
walu utan heold,
æt him fela laf
frecne ne meahton
scurheard scean,
onne scyldfreca
ongean gramum
gangan scolde.
(Beowulf 1020–35)3
3
Wisdom of Poetry: Essays in Early English Literature in honor of Morton W. Bloomfield, ed. L. D.
Benson and S. Wenzel (Kalamazoo, MI, 1982), pp. 53–65.
‘Then the son of Healfdene gave Beowulf a gilded standard as a reward for victory; many saw
the adorned war-banner, a helmet and byrnie, [and] a famous treasure-sword borne before the
man. Beowulf accepted the cup on the floor; he had no need to be ashamed of that wealthy
gift in front of the bowsmen. I have not heard of many men giving four gold-adorned treasures to another on the ale-bench in a more friendly way! Around the top of the helmet, the
head’s protection, bound with wires, [could] hold a blow out, so that many hostile leavings [i.e.
swords], hardened by striking, could not harm him, when the shield-warrior had to advance
132
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 133 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Hrothgar’s horses: feral or thoroughbred?
This passage is noteworthy for its use of heightened style. Three times the poet
emphasizes the immeasurable generosity of Hrothgar’s gifts through litotes:
‘Beowulf had no need to be ashamed’ – that is, he had reason to be very proud;
‘I have not heard of many men giving treasure in a more friendly way’ – that is,
I have never heard of any men giving treasure in such a friendly way; ‘not many
swords could harm the warrior wearing this helmet’ – that is, no sword could
pierce so great a helmet. The poet also notes the witnesses observing this transaction, for this public ceremony demonstrates to both the internal (Danish)
audience and the external (Anglo-Saxon and modern) audience the worthiness
not only of Beowulf ’s deed but also Hrothgar’s kingship: this is a god cyning ‘a
good king’ (863b), a fabulously successful and thus wealthy ruler who gives the
very best in reward for loyal service.
Immediately following this passage, the poet supplements this great act of
gift-giving with the gift of horses:
Heht a eorla hleo
eahta mearas
fætedhleore
on flet teon,
in under eoderas.
þara anum stod
sadol searwum fah,
since gewurad;
æt wæs hildesetl
heahcyninges,
onne sweorda gelac
sunu Healfdenes
efnan wolde.
Næfre on ore læg
widcues wig,
onne walu feollon.
Ond a Beowulfe
bega gehwæres
eodor Ingwina
onweald geteah,
wicga ond wæpna,
het hine wel brucan.
Swa manlice
mære eoden,
hordweard hælea,
heaoræsas geald
mearum ond madmum,
swa hy næfre man lyh,
se e secgan wile
so æfter rihte.
(1035–49)4
These horses are valuable; they would not otherwise have a place amongst
Hrothgar’s sumptuous gifts. Yet they also possess a secondary, supplementary
4
against enemies.’ All citations from Old English poetry other than Beowulf are taken from
ASPR and will be cited parenthetically by title and line reference. All translations are my own
unless otherwise noted.
‘Then [Hrothgar], the protector of earls, commanded eight horses wearing ornamented
bridles to be led onto the floor in the enclosure. On one of them stood a saddle adorned with
skilful devices, glorified with treasure; that was the high king’s war-seat whenever Healfdene’s
son wanted to play the game of swords. Never did the warfare of the widely famous one fail
at the front when the slaughter fell. And then the protector of Ing’s friends conferred on
Beowulf possession of both those things, horses and weapons, and commanded him to enjoy
them well. Thus the famous prince, the hoard-guardian, repaid the hero nobly with war-dress,
horses and treasure, so that one who wanted to speak truthfully according to right could never
find fault with them [i.e. the gifts].’
133
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 134 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Jennifer Neville
position in comparison with the first four items presented to Beowulf. Not
only do they appear after the main treasures; the horses themselves hardly
‘appear’ in the three lines devoted to them. There is, for example, no mention
of size, gender, individuality or colour, issues that, as we shall see, are important indicators of equine value. The description focuses on the treasure they
bear and, again, Hrothgar’s great worthiness, this time in war.
The passage concludes with a narratorial intrusion (1046–9) that states what
has been evident from the start: the poet’s approval of Hrothgar’s generosity.
Overall, then, the poet has lavished considerable labour on this passage, adorning the gift-giving ceremony with both litotes and direct commentary. In this
context of great wealth and considerable poetic exertion, it seems significant
that the description of the horses remains unelaborated. In fact, it could be
argued that these horses are merely walking treasure-carriers; their importance
derives from their adornment, first from the eight gilded bridles (fætedhleor),5
but most of all from the sadol searwum fah, since gewurad ‘saddle adorned with
skilful devices, glorified with treasures’, which is also the hildesetl heahcyninges
‘the war-seat of the high king’ (1038–9).6 This war-seat marks the culmination
of the gifts because it represents Hrothgar’s authority: bequeathing the warseat may represent the conveyance of that authority to Beowulf and thus be a
sign of a designated heir.7
Subsequent descriptions of these same treasures reinforce the distinctions
between the primary treasures and the secondary horses. When Beowulf
bestows his gains upon Hygelac, once again the first four treasures (the banner,
byrnie, helmet and sword) take precedence; the horses follow behind them.
This time, however, the poet provides some description of the horses themselves:
Hyrde ic æt am frætwum
feower mearas
lungre, gelice,
last weardode,
æppelfealuwe;
he him est geteah
meara ond mama.
(2163–2166a)8
5
6
7
8
Cf. the ornate bridle and associated tack found in Mound 17 at Sutton Hoo, where the ornaments are gilded bronze, in M. Carver, Sutton Hoo: Burial Ground of Kings? (London, 1998),
p. 112. Another such bridle was found in 1997 at RAF Lakenheath; see illustration on front
cover of ‘Suffolk Archaeological Service Annual Report 1998–9’, www.suffolkcc.gov.uk/eand-t/archaeology/documents/annrep98–9.pdf [accessed 30 Aug 2005].
Cf. my discussion of value in natural objects in Representations of the Natural World in Old
English Poetry, CSASE 27 (Cambridge, 1999), 30.
G. R. Owen-Crocker, ‘Hawks and Horse-Trappings: the Insignia of Rank’, The Battle of Maldon
AD 991, ed. D. G. Scragg (Oxford, 1991), pp. 220–37, at 232.
‘I heard that four horses, swift, æppelfealuwe and all alike, followed in the track of those treasures; he conferred this gift of horses and treasures on him.’
134
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 135 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Hrothgar’s horses: feral or thoroughbred?
The detail awarded to the horses in this passage is comparatively extensive.
There is, for example, what appears to be a comment on the quality of the
animals, for they are lungre ‘swift’. The previously unstated colour of the horses
given by Hrothgar is also revealed, perhaps because of the need for alliteration:
æppelfealuwe.9 What may be as important as their colour is the fact that these
horses are all alike (gelice). The gift of a collection of matching horses can be
seen as a token of Hrothgar’s good taste – or perhaps again of his wealth, in
that he can afford to select horses on the basis of their congruence with each
other. This is not the only interpretation of this point, however. I shall return
to the issues of colour and uniformity in detail later.
The final mention of these horses reconfirms the same points. Having given
four horses to Hygelac, Beowulf apparently keeps one for himself and gives
the three remaining to Hygelac’s queen, Hygd. First, and most notably,
however, he gives her the necklace that Wealhtheow had given to him:
Hyrde ic æt he one healsbeah
Hygde gesealde,
wrætlicne wundurmaum,
one e him Wealheo geaf
eodnes dohtor,
rio wicg somod
swancor ond sadolbeorht;
hyre syan wæs
æfter beahege
breost geweorod.
(2172–6)10
The respective value of these gifts is once again clear: the poet begins with
the necklace, spares two half-lines for the horses and then returns to the
necklace, noting the prestige granted by this more important gift. The
description of the horses itself ends with a reference to their adornment, not
their distinction.
Elsewhere in heroic narrative the picture is quite different. In Hartmann von
Aue’s Erec (c. 1190), Enite’s horse receives almost 500 verses of praise for its
figure, qualities, and unusual colouring.11 In the Song of Roland (c. 1100) the horses
of the main characters have names indicating their individual appearance and distinctive qualities,12 sometimes possess their own history13 and are often described
as being superior to all other horses. The description of Archbishop Turpin’s
horse provides a good example of the amount of detail that can be provided:
9
10
11
12
13
The translation of this word will be discussed below.
‘I heard that he gave to Hygd the neck-jewel, the wondrous and rare treasure that Wealhtheow,
the prince’s daughter, gave to him, and three horses with it, graceful and bright-saddled.
Afterwards her breast was honoured because of the receiving of that jewel.’
Joachim Bumke, Courtly Culture: Literature and Society in the High Middle Ages, trans. by Thomas
Dunlap (Woodstock, NY, 2000), p. 176.
Examples include Sorel ‘sorrel’ – i.e. reddish-brown or light chestnut (1379); Passecerf ‘overtake
the deer’ (1380); and Veillantif ‘valiant’ (1153, 2032, 2127, 2160 and 2167). For text see La
Chanson de Roland, ed. F. Whitehead (Oxford, 1962).
See, for example, the story of how Charles acquired Tencendur ‘ash grey’ (La Chanson de Roland
2993–5).
135
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 136 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Jennifer Neville
Li arcevesque cumencet la bataille.
Siet el cheval qu’il tolit a Grossaille,
Co ert uns reis qu’il ocist en Denemarche.
Li destrers est e curanz e aates,
Piez a coplez e les gambes ad plates,
Curte la quisse e la crupe bien large,
Lungs les costez e l’eschine ad ben halte,
Blanche la cue e la crignete jalne,
Petites les oreilles, la teste tute falve;
Beste nen est nule ki encontre lui alge.
(Chanson de Roland 1487–96)14
Similarly, in The Romance of Horn (c. 1170), King Hunlaf ’s horse is identified
specifically as mun destrier Passevent, le helzan ‘my sorrel horse, Swifter-than-theWind’, and it is said of the hero’s horse that N’ot si bon el païs plus isnel ne plus
chier ‘there was no better, faster or dearer in the land’.15 In the latter case especially, the unique superiority of the hero is complemented by the unique superiority of his horse.
The horses granted by Hrothgar stand in stark contrast with these magnificently
presented animals, despite the unique superiority of the hero who receives them.
Nevertheless, although the horses are clearly of secondary importance in the catalogue of Hrothgar’s gifts, they cannot be ignoble beasts. The poet’s depiction of
Hrothgar as ideal, generous king requires that these animals represent the very
highest standard in livestock. They are mearas, mounts for the celebrated heroes of
poetry, part of the aristocratic trappings that characterize Hrothgar and the Danes
as a noble people. Thus, earlier in the poem, when the Danes discover that Grendel
has been killed, the poet describes them riding horses in exultation:
. . . geong manig
of gomenwae
fram mere modge
mearum ridan,
beornas on blancum . . .
Hwilum heaorofe
hleapan leton,
on geflit faran
fealwe mearas
ær him foldwegas
fægere uhton,
cystum cue.
(Beowulf 854–6, 864–867a)16
14
15
16
‘The archbishop begins the battle. He mounts the horse which he took from Grossaille, who
was a king whom he killed in Denmark. The warhorse is swift and lively, hollow in the hoof
and flat in the leg, short in the thigh and large in the croup, long in the flank and well elevated in the spine; his tail is white and his mane is yellow; his ears are small; his head is completely brownish yellow. There is no animal who can go as well as he.’ Cf. discussion in R. H.
C. Davis, Medieval Warhorse: Origin, Development and Redevelopment (London 1989), p. 58.
Romance of Horn 1424a (§71) and 3076 (§148). Text is taken from The Romance of Horn, ed. M.
K. Pope, 2 vols., Anglo-Norman Texts 9–10 (Oxford, 1955). Translations are taken from The
Birth of Romance: an Anthology, trans. J. Weiss (London, 1992), pp. 33 and 71.
‘Many brave young men, warriors on (white) horses, rode steeds on the joyful journey away
from the mere . . . Sometimes those brave in battle let their fealu horses leap and run in
136
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 137 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Hrothgar’s horses: feral or thoroughbred?
An important issue in this passage is the colour of the horses. At first the poet
uses the poetic term, blanca ‘(white or shining) horses’ (856a), to describe
them.17 A few lines later, the horses are described as fealwe (865b). This colour
seems to have struck many translators as strange, as it has been rendered in a
bewildering number of ways – as ‘yellow’, ‘fallow’, ‘pale’, ‘russet’, ‘bay’,
‘dappled’, ‘brown’, ‘tawny, dusky’, ‘chestnut’, ‘dun’ and ‘red and brown and pale
yellow’.18 Sometimes it is omitted altogether.19 Critics have addressed the issue
as well. For example, it has been argued that the transformation in the appearance of the horses from blanca to fealu indicates the thematic issue of inevitable
decay and reversal in the poem.20 It has also been argued that there are two separate groups of horses: a group of prestigious white horses (blanca), of the kind
treasured, for example, by the Germanic tribes described by Tacitus, and a
group of less valuable horses, dun nags, ridden by younger warriors.21 As
Beowulf receives the latter type of horses from Hrothgar, however, this argument would have Hrothgar presenting the hero with animals inferior to those
ridden by his own nobles. Such gift would be an insult, not a reward, and antithetical to the tone of the passages in which they appear. I thus do not accept
the distinction between blanca and fealwe mearas.
17
18
19
20
21
competition, wherever the country roads seemed good and known for their excellence.’ The
translation of fealu will be discussed in detail below.
See The Dictionary of Old English: A–F on CD ROM (Toronto, 2003), s.v. blanca. This dictionary
will hereafter be cited as DOE.
‘Yellow’: J. A. Garnett, Beowulf: an Anglo-Saxon Poem (London, 1910), p. 27. ‘Fallow’: B. Thorpe,
Beowulf together with Widsith and the Fight at Finnesburg in the Benjamin Thorpe Transcription and Wordfor-Word Translation (1855; Woodbury, NY, 1962), p. 58; W. Morris and A. J. Wyatt, The Tale of
Beowulf Sometime King of the Folk of the Weder Geats (London, 1904), p. 50; M. Alexander, Beowulf:
a Verse Translation (London, 1973), p. 78; J. Porter, Beowulf: Text and Translation (Pinner, 1991),
p. 61. ‘Pale’: M. Heyne, ed. Beówulf (Paderborn, 1888), who glosses fealu as ‘fahl’ (pale) or ‘Falb’
(dun – see below); G. Bone, Beowulf in Modern Verse with an Essay and Pictures (Oxford, 1945),
p. 34; M. Alexander, ed., Beowulf (London, 1995), p. 57. ‘Russet’: J. Earle, The Deeds of Beowulf:
an English Epic of the Eighth Century Done into Modern Prose (Oxford, 1892), p. 29. ‘Bay’: Klaeber
suggests that ‘bay’ is a particular meaning of fealu which applies only to horses (Beowulf, p. 327);
see also J. R. Clark Hall, Beowulf and the Finnsburg Fragment, new ed. (London, 1940), p. 63; K.
Crossley-Holland, Beowulf (London, 1968), p. 56; A. Sullivan and T. Murphy, Beowulf (New
York, 2004). ‘Dappled’: E. Morgan, Beowulf (Berkeley, CA, 1966), p. 24. ‘Brown’: E. Talbot
Donaldson, Beowulf: the Donaldson Translation, ed. J. F. Tuso (New York, 1975), p. 16. ‘Tawny,
dusky’: B. Mitchell and F. C. Robinson, Beowulf: an Edition (Oxford, 1998), s.v. fealu, p. 257.
‘Chestnut’: S. Heaney, Beowulf (London, 1999). ‘Dun’ (German ‘Falbe’): Heyne (see above); M.
Lehnert, Beowulf: Ein altenglisches Heldenepos (Stuttgart, 2004); H.-J. Hube, Beowulf: Das
Angelsächsische Heldenepos über Nordische Könige (Wiesbaden, 2005). ‘Red and brown and pale
yellow’: B. Raffel, Beowulf (New York, 1963), p. 50.
D. Wright, Beowulf (Harmondsworth, 1957), p. 47.
R. L. Schichler, ‘As Whiteness Fades to Fallow: Riding into Time in Beowulf’, In Geardagum 14
(1993), 13–25.
C. B. McClelland, ‘Horses in Beowulf: a Horse of a Different Color’, Tennessee Stud. in Lit. 11
(1966), 177–87, at 180.
137
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 138 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Jennifer Neville
Nevertheless, the issue of the status that could be indicated by the appearance of a horse is central to the argument of this essay. Ultimately I shall argue
that, while Beowulf and Hrothgar see the fealwe horses described in the poem
as valuable and prestigious, most Anglo-Saxons would not. To understand
these disparate points of view, it is necessary to understand the nature of
horses in Anglo-Saxon England.22
horses in anglo-saxon england
Left to their own devices, horses will nourish themselves as best they can and
breed enough to sustain their population.23 There is evidence that the AngloSaxons allowed some of their horses to do precisely that: although some horses
may have been kept in the vicinity of – if not housed in – the halla ‘hall’,
Domesday Book also mentions equae silvestrae ‘forest-mares’ and equae indomitae
‘unbroken mares’, horses apparently allowed to roam relatively freely.24 This
method of raising horses is inexpensive, but the resulting population is generally
fit only to pull carts – an ‘unimproved’ animal not much different from the basic
wild horse. Such a horse stands about 110 cm high at the shoulder (the size of a
Shetland pony) and can be characterized by a basic colour, dun, which is genetically dominant; perhaps because of its consequent commonness, it was avoided
by English breeders in the later Middle Ages, at least.25 Dun horses range in
colour from dull yellow to grey; they often have black manes and tails, a dark
stripe down their backs and zebra striping on their legs.26 Such colouring is
22
23
24
25
26
For a full discussion of the horse in Anglo-Saxon England, see Kerry Cathers, ‘An
Examination of the Horse in Anglo-Saxon England’, unpubl. PhD dissertation (Reading,
2002). I was unfortunately unable to read this source until very late in the writing of this
article, so I have been unable fully to acknowledge overlap and disagreement in our arguments. However, while Cathers addresses many of the sources I have used here, sometimes
in greater detail, her purposes are quite different from my own.
Horses are not especially fertile so are unlikely to create a burgeoning population without
help; see A. Hyland, Equus: the Horse in the Roman World (London, 1990), p. 31. Cf. also Davis,
Medieval Warhorse, p. 43.
For the former, see, for example, Domesday Book fols. 288b and 359a, referring to Mildenhall in
Lackford Hundred and Long Melford in Babergh Hundred (in Domesday Book 34: Suffolk, Part
One, ed. A. Rumble (London, 1986)). For the latter, see, for example, Liber Exoniensis fols. 134
and 316 (cited in R. Lennard, Rural England 1086–1135: a Study of Social and Agrarian Conditions
(Oxford, 1959), p. 266). For discussion of these animals, see Lennard, Rural England, p. 266; H.
C. Darby and R. Welldon Finn, The Domesday Geography of South-West England (Cambridge, 1967),
pp. 206 and 337; H. C. Darby, Domesday England (Cambridge, 1977), p. 165; S. L. Keefer, ‘Hwær
Cwom Mearh? The Horse in Anglo-Saxon England’ JMH 22 (1996), 115–34, at 132–3; C.
Gladitz, Horse Breeding in the Medieval World (Dublin, 1997), pp. 143–5.
Gladitz, Horse Breeding, pp. 146 and 203.
J. Clutton-Brock, Horse Power: a History of the Horse and the Donkey in Human Societies (London,
1992), p. 62; cf. discussion in R. Lydekker, The Horse and its Relatives (London, 1912),
pp. 104–16.
138
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 139 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Hrothgar’s horses: feral or thoroughbred?
exemplified by the Tarpan and Przewalski’s Horse, types of horse thought to be
closest to the original wild horse from which all domesticated breeds descend.27
No true wild horses – as opposed to feral horses, which are animals that ‘live in
a self-sustained population after a history of domestication’28 – remain outside
captivity today. Although there may have been some genuine wild populations in
the Anglo-Saxon period, most of the horses used by the Anglo-Saxons were
probably not entirely ‘unimproved’ by human contact and interference in their
breeding;29 the equae ‘mares’ may have roamed relatively freely, but stallions
apparently did not. The populations of feral horses still surviving, for example,
in the Camargue marshlands in France and in the New Forest and Exmoor in
England may provide some indication of the appearance of the Anglo-Saxons’
equae silvestres: forest mares in thirteenth-century Wales, for example, possessed
the same dun colouring displayed today by the Exmoor ponies.30 It has been
argued that the equae indomitae and equae silvestrae were, in fact, Exmoor ponies.31
Modern investigations into current populations of feral horses can thus
offer insights into some Anglo-Saxon horses. Horses of this type could be
useful and valuable. For example, they would be perfectly adequate to pull a
cart, even a war-chariot; the Britons may have employed such horses to pull
their chariots as they resisted the Roman invasion.32 For a horse good enough
to ride, however, more investment is required. The most obvious issue is size;
a riding horse should be large enough that its rider’s feet do not drag on the
ground and strong enough that it does not tire too quickly from carrying the
rider’s weight. Luckily, greater size is not a difficult objective to achieve.
Merely feeding pregnant mares and young foals, rather than letting them
forage on their own, can make a difference. Prolonged care of this kind can
result in significant increases in height after a few generations.33 More drastic
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
Lydekker, The Horse, p. 102; M. Bongianni and C. Mori, Horses of the World, trans. S. Pleasance
(London, 1986), pp. 32–3; Clutton-Brock, Horse Power, pp. 30–3 and 61.
Clutton-Brock, Horse Power, p. 19.
For possible distinctions between horses considered ‘beasts of the forest’ as opposed to the
free ranging but owned property detailed in Domesday Book, see Gladitz, Horse Breeding, p. 144.
Note also that Romans undoubtedly imported horses during their long occupation of Britain,
so the local stock available to the Anglo-Saxons had already had the benefit of foreign blood
(Cathers, ‘Examination of the Horse’, pp. 102–3).
Gladitz, Horse Breeding, p. 163; Clutton-Brock, Horse Power, pp. 38–9.
Lennard, Rural England, p. 266. Note, however, Cathers rejection of this assumption,
‘Examination of the Horse’, pp. 73–112.
Gladitz, Horse Breeding, p. 142; A. Hyland, The Medieval Warhorse from Byzantium to the Crusades
(Stroud, 1994), p. 67; A. Dent and D. Goodall, A History of British Native Ponies from the Bronze
Age to the Present Day (London, 1988), pp. 9–31.
Hyland, Equus, pp. 43–4. Cf. also R. H. C. Davis, ‘Did the Anglo-Saxons Have Warhorses?’,
Weapons and Warfare in Anglo-Saxon England, ed. S. Chadwick Hawkes, Oxford Univ. Committee
for Archaeol. 21 (Oxford, 1989), 141–4, at 141.
139
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 140 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Jennifer Neville
differences – changes in conformation, for example – require selective breeding and may depend upon the importation of superior individuals from elsewhere.
Improving the size and quality of horses is thus relatively simple. The
problem is that such improvements are extremely expensive and are as easily
lost as gained. To keep control of prized traits like size, selected individuals
must be fed, even though feeding a horse over the winter could cost more than
buying one.34 It is also important that these selected animals do not breed
indiscriminately. Such control requires the gelding of non-selected males,
selective slaughter of unwanted individuals and, most importantly, fences,
which require even greater investments of wealth. The history of horse breeding in Europe is a story of gradual improvements over long periods of time,
which were all lost during times of economic crisis – times when people could
not afford to keep the fences fixed and the horses fed.35 In such conditions,
horses are notorious for reverting back to their basic, wild form and losing the
distinctions previously bred into them.36 The level of commitment to horse
breeding thus determines the kinds of horses that are available in a particular
culture.
Was the Anglo-Saxon horse a dun pony or a fine-bred steed? The answer, I
believe, is both, and everything in between, with different functions and
different levels of prestige attached to them. Thus there are Old English words
to describe horses fit only to pull carts (stot, crætehors),37 horses fit to carry
luggage (ealfara, seamhors),38 horses fit to ride (hors, radhors, hengest), horses fit for
breeding (stodmyre, gestedhors, stodhors), horses fit for kings and the nobility
(frihengest, steda, blanca, mearh, wicg), and perhaps even horses fit for war (eoh).39
Some of these, the blanca, mearh and wicg, are poetic terms, words that formed
34
36
37
38
39
Detailed proof of these costs is available only for a later time (1293), but see Gladitz, Horse
35
Breeding, p. 153.
Davis, Medieval Warhorse, pp. 34–7.
This process is well documented in medieval times by the history of the Welsh Powys; see
Gladitz, Horse Breeding, pp. 162–3. In modern times the process has been observed in the
American mustang and Australian Brumby; see M. Jankovich, They Rode into Europe, trans. A.
Dent (London, 1971), pp. 37–8; Bongianni and Mori, Horses of the World, p. 194; Davis,
Medieval Warhorse, pp. 133–4.
For these and the following terms, see A Thesaurus of Old English, ed. J. Roberts and C. Kay
with L. Grundy, 2 vols., King’s College London Med. Stud. 11 (London, 1995), s.v. Horse.
The demands on such an animal were greater than those upon a cart horse; see A. A. Dent,
‘The Early Horseshoe’, Antiquity 41 (1967), 61–3.
The existence of the Anglo-Saxon warhorse is not crucial to my argument, but for a very
detailed exploration of the issue, see Cathers, ‘Examination of the Horse’, pp. 259–334. Cf.
also Davis, ‘Warhorses?’, pp.141–4; idem., Medieval Warhorse, pp. 75–6; Keefer, ‘Hwær Cwom
Mearh?’, pp. 129–32; and J. Graham-Campbell, ‘Anglo-Scandinavian Equestrian Equipment in
Eleventh-Century England’, ANS XIV: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1991, ed. M. Chibnall
(Woodbridge, 1992), pp. 77–89 (at 88).
140
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 141 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Hrothgar’s horses: feral or thoroughbred?
part of the special vocabulary restricted to (and thus constitutive of) the elevated art of poetry.40
Beyond this linguistic evidence, proof of distinctions in types of horses is
fairly sparse in the early Anglo-Saxon period, but there is some evidence
from as early as the sixth century that prestige horses were available. For
example, burials at the Eriswell cemetary at RAF Lakenheath include two
sixth-century horses, the larger of which, at least, is clearly designated for
riding by its elaborate bridle. Their heights, estimated to be 140–5 cm high
and 130 cm high are not large by modern standards, but larger than that
of ‘unimproved’ horses.41 In the seventh century, a similarly prestigious
horse, a stallion or gelding approximately 140 cm high and accompanied by
a complex, ornamented harness, was buried at Sutton Hoo.42 Bede describes
a valuable equus regius ‘royal horse’ given by King Oswine (ruled 644–51) to
Bishop Aidan.43 The story of Cynewulf and Cyneheard in the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle (s.a. 755 (=757)) indicates the existence of a mounted royal guard.44
King Alfred’s entire army appears to have been mounted – for transportation, if not for combat – as he chased mounted Viking invaders across the
country.45 None of these horses could be acquired without investment in
feeding and breeding.
Later centuries provide different and more specific types of evidence for distinctions in Anglo-Saxon horses. For example, an entry in The Laws of the
Dunsæte notes different levels of compensation payable for a lost horse: ‘Hors
man sceal gyldan mid XXX scillingum oe be am ladian; myran mid XX
scillingum oe be am, & wintersteal ealswa; wilde weorf mid XII scillingum
40
41
42
43
44
For blanca and mearh, see above, p. 00 and below, p. 00. For wicg, see An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary
Based on the Manuscript Collections of the Late Joseph Bosworth, ed. J. Bosworth, ed. and enlarged by
T. N. Toller, with revised and enlarged addenda by A. Campbell, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1898–1921),
s.v. wicg; this dictionary will hereafter be cited as Bosworth–Toller. For some of the issues
associated with a distinct poetic idiom, see R. Frank, ‘Mere and Sund: Two Sea-Changes in
Beowulf’, Modes of Interpretation: Essays in honor of Stanley B. Greenfield, ed. P. Rugg Brown, G.
Ronan Crampton and F. C. Robinson (Toronto, 1986), pp. 153–72, at 153–4; and M. S.
Griffith, ‘Poetic Language and the Paris Psalter: the Decay of the Old English Tradition’, ASE
20 (1991), 167–86.
‘Suffolk Archaeological Service Annual Report 1997–8’, www.suffolkcc.gov.uk/e-and-t/
archaeology/documents/annrep97–8.pdf [accessed 30 Aug 2005]; ‘Suffolk Archaeological
Service Annual Report 1998–9’; ‘Suffolk Archaeological Service Annual Report 1999–2000’,
www.suffolkcc.gov.uk/e-and-t/archaeology/documents/annrep99–00.pdf [accessed 30 Aug
2005]; Jo Caruth with Sue Anderson, ‘RAF Lakenheath Saxon Cemetary’, CA 163 (June
1999), 244–50.
T. O’Connor, ‘A Horse Skeleton from Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, UK’, Archaeozoologia 8 (1994),
29–37.
Historia ecclesiastica III.14; for text see Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, ed. B.
Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors, OMT (Oxford, 1969), p. 258.
45
Keefer, ‘Hwær Cwom Mearh?’, p. 123.
See, for example, the entry s.a. 877 (= 876).
141
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 142 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Jennifer Neville
46
. . . ’(Laws of the Dunsæte 7). The meanings of both wintersteal and weorf are
uncertain. Wintersteal might indicate a horse kept in a stall over the winter,
perhaps one of the equi in halla listed in Domesday Book, but ‘a year old stallion’
and ‘a yearling foal (?)’ have also been suggested.47 Weorf may indicate an ass or
a generic term for beasts of burden but here probably refers to untamed horses
of low quality destined to be pack animals.48 Largely ‘unimproved’ by feeding
or selective breeding, such animals were worthy of only twelve shillings in
compensation, unlike the hors ‘horse’, myre ‘mare’ and wintersteal, which were
worthy of compensation at the level of thirty, twenty and twenty shillings
respectively. Such distinctions and rankings appear to be firmly in place by the
tenth century.49
In the tenth and eleventh centuries Anglo-Saxon wills appear increasingly
concerned with horses, perhaps in response to an increasing demand for
horses for military purposes, or perhaps under Danish influence.50 These wills
– from princes, noblemen and bishops – document the existence of stud
farms, able to produce not only large numbers of horses but also prestige
animals: black, white and dappled stallions, trained geldings and even warhorses.51 Such individuals could only be acquired from controlled breeding and
were immensely valuable. In fact, even an ordinary equus of good quality could
be as valuable as a human being:
emban urne ceapgild: hors to healfan punde, gif hit swa god sy; and gif hit mætre sy,
gilde be his wlites wyre and be am e se man hit weorige e hit age, buton he
gewitnesse habbe, æt hit swa god wære swa he secge; and habbe one ofereacan, e
we ar abiddan . . . & we cwædon be urum eowum mannum am a men hæfdon:
gif hine man forstæle, æt hine man forgulde mid healfan punde (VI Æthelstan 6, 1
and 3).52
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
‘One must compensate for a horse with thirty shillings or else clear oneself of [the offence];
for a mare [one must compensate] with twenty shillings and the same for a wintersteal; for a
wild weorf [one must compensate with] twelve shillings.’ All citations from law codes are taken
from Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, ed. F. Liebermann, 3 vols. (Halle, 1903–16).
See, respectively, Thesaurus of Old English, s.v. Horse and Bosworth–Toller, s.v. wintersteal.
See Bosworth–Toller, s.v. weorf, and discussion in A. S. Napier and W. H. Stevenson, The
Crawford Collection of Early Charters and Documents now in the Bodleian Library, Anecdota
Oxoniensia, Med. and Mod. ser. 7 (Oxford, 1895), pp. 129–30.
Liebermann dates The Laws of the Dunsæte ‘925–1000; c.935?’. P. Wormald suggests a time c.
930: The Making of English Law: King Alfred to the Twelfth Century, I: Legislation and its Limits
(Oxford, 1999), p. 382.
Graham-Campbell, ‘Anglo-Scandinavian Equestrian Equipment’, pp. 88–9.
See discussions in Davis, Medieval Warhorse, pp. 73–4; Hyland, Medieval Warhorse, pp. 76–8;
Keefer, ‘Hwær Cwom Mearh?’, pp. 125–8.
‘With regard to our prices: a horse [is to be paid for at the price of] a half pound, if it is of
sufficient quality; and if it should be smaller [or worse], let one pay according to its value,
[judging by] its appearance, and according to how much the one who owns it values it, unless
142
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 143 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Hrothgar’s horses: feral or thoroughbred?
Of interest here is not only the price of the horse in comparison with the
manservant, but also the concern expressed regarding its quality. Only a horse
of a certain quality, one which is swa god, receives the full price. A mætre animal
– for riding horses there may be little difference between ‘smaller’ and ‘worse’
– receives a price determined first by its appearance and then by the value
ascribed to it by the owner and his witnesses. This visible difference between a
god and a mætre animal determines its value.
It is important to note the emphasis on appearance: distinctions in quality
amongst horses were clearly visible. Prestige horses – like Oswine’s equus regius
in the seventh century or the hwitan horses e Leofwine . . . geaf ‘white horse that
Leofwine gave’ to Ætheling Æthelstan in the eleventh53 – would have been not
only extremely expensive but also immediately recognizable. They were the
equivalent of flashy sports cars worth a hundred thousand pounds and looking
every penny.54
hrothgar’s horses in c ontext
Awareness of this highly visible industry and the wealth associated with it provides
an important perspective for understanding horses in the elite world depicted by
Beowulf. Real Anglo-Saxon horses of recognizable types functioned as signs of
wealth and generosity in the same way as the fictional horses in Beowulf signal
Hrothgar’s exemplary lordly generosity. That is, Hrothgar’s horses possess a status
equivalent to the prestige animals detailed especially in tenth-and eleventh-century
Anglo-Saxon wills. At the same time, however, the description of Hrothgar’s
horses is strikingly unlike that of these later horses in four specific areas: size,
gender, individuality and colour. I shall address each of these areas in turn.
Size
The size of the horses given to Beowulf is not specified. This is significant
because the investment required to increase the size of a horse is substantial;
the larger the horse, the more valuable it is.55 We can assume that these horses,
with at least one saddled and the others bridled, are to be seen as riding horses,
but more could have been said: the poet of the Riming Poem, for example, characterizes its time of perfect bliss and limitless wealth with the riding of horses
mid longum leoma ‘with long limbs’ (8).
53
54
55
he has a witness [to vouch] that it is as good as he says; and let him have the additional
payment that we obtain there . . . And we say regarding our manservant which men own: if
someone should steal him, one should pay for him with a half pound.’
The will (S 1503) of Ætheling Æthelstan (Æthelred II’s son) is dated to approximately 1015.
For text see Anglo-Saxon Wills, ed. D. Whitelock (Cambridge, 1930), pp. 58–60 (no. XX).
Cf. the discussion of ‘quality’ in Gladitz, Horse Breeding, p. 211.
Cf. the discussion of the Laws of the Dunsæte above, p. 00.
143
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 144 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Jennifer Neville
Gender
The gender of Hrothgar’s gifts is not specified: the poetic term mearh, as
opposed to the prose term myre, can represent a horse of either gender; it does
not mean ‘mare’.56 This is significant because of the value assigned to stallions:
in the context of Anglo-Saxon stud farms of the tenth and eleventh centuries,
eight stallions would indeed be a generous gift, worthy of accompanying the
treasures that precede them. Anglo-Saxon wills particularly pick out stallions,
probably because of their value in the context of breeding.57 For example, the
will of Ætheling Æthelstan cited above mentions two stallions granted as separate items to different individuals, in addition to groups of horses, land,
weapons and treasures. Beowulf, of course, displays no interest in livestock, but
stallions also possessed value in the context of war: in the later Middle Ages,
at least, only stallions were used as warhorses.58 This may have been true in
Anglo-Saxon England as well. For example, Ælfgar left the following instructions sometime between 946 and 951: ‘þis is Alfgares quide at is erst at ic an
mine louerd tueye suerde fetelsade and tueye bege ayther of fifti mancusas
goldes. and re stedes. and re scheldes. and re speren . . . . (S 1483).59 The
combination of weapons and equipment appears designed to fulfil the requirements of the ‘heriot’ or death-duty; the matching number of stedes ‘stallions’,
shields and spears suggests that these horses were intended for military use.60
Such considerations are pertinent to Beowulf, as one of the horses given to
Beowulf bears Hrothgar’s war-seat: hildesetl heahcyninges, / onne sweorda gelac sunu
Healfdenes / efnan wolde ‘the high-king’s war-seat, whenever Healfdene’s son
wanted to play the game of swords’ (1039–1041a). The poem provides no
other evidence of fighting on horseback, but it is suggestive to find a saddle
designated as a place of fighting and puzzling to find an apparent warhorse
without any indication of its gender.
Individuality
The horses that Hrothgar presents to Beowulf are all gelice ‘alike’ (2164a). As
mentioned earlier, a modern audience might consider a matching set aesthetically pleasing, but other texts suggest that the value of truly expensive horses
56
57
58
59
Bosworth-Toller, s.vv. mere and mearh.
Gladitz, Horse Breeding, p. 202: ‘The influence of first class blood in a stallion may be quite
enormous.’
Gladitz, Horse Breeding, p. 158; Davis, Medieval Warhorse, p. 18; Graham-Campbell, ‘AngloScandinavian Equestrian Equipment’, p. 77.
‘This is Ælfgar’s will. First, that I grant my lord two belted swords and two rings, both of gold
worth fifty mancuses, and three stallions and three shields and three spears’. For text, see
60
Anglo-Saxon Wills, p. 6 (no. II).
Davis, Medieval Warhorse, pp. 73–5.
144
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 145 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Hrothgar’s horses: feral or thoroughbred?
derived from their individuality – their distinction from ordinary horses. I have
already mentioned some distinguished individuals. For example, Oswine contrasts the equus regius that he granted to Aidan with the ‘equos uiliores plurimos,
uel alias species quae ad pauperum dona sufficerent’ (‘many cheaper horses or
other types which would be sufficient as a gift to the poor’ (HE iii.14)). In his
will Ætheling Æthelstan picks out ‘æs horses e þurbrand me geaf & æs
hwitan horses e Leofwine me geaf ’ (‘the horse that Thurbrand gave me and
the white horse that Leofwine gave me’) for his father, anne blacne stedan (‘a black
stallion’) for the Bishop of Winchester and anes fagan stedan (‘a dappled stallion’)
for his steward (S 1503).61 As mentioned previously, other heroic narratives,
such as The Song of Roland and The Romance of Horn, also provide a telling contrast with the poverty of the description of Hrothgar’s horses. These later texts
share with Beowulf their focus on the elite world of great wealth and great feats
of courage, but they, unlike Beowulf, have horses to match.
Colour
Like gender and individuality, the issue of colour in Beowulf is significant first and
foremost for what is missing. Given what we know from tenth- and eleventhcentury Anglo-Saxon wills and later medieval texts, the horses given by Hrothgar
should include at least a few black and white individuals. Instead, the four passed
on to Hygelac, if not all eight, are æppelfealu (2165a). Æppelfealu only appears here;
its meaning is disputed. The suggestions of the major dictionaries demonstrate
the uncertainty: Bosworth–Toller suggests ‘apple-fallow, apple or reddish
yellow’; the DOE suggests ‘of uncertain meaning: the colour of a horse, variously interpreted as “reddish-yellow”, “glossy bay”, “dappled dun” ’. Translators
are similarly uncertain. Many retain the term almost untranslated; some supply
‘bay’; some combine the two options.62 I have provisionally adopted ‘dappled
dun’, despite the uncertain connection between ‘dapple’ and ‘apple’,63 because it
61
62
63
I translate fagan as ‘dappled’ following Keefer’s discussion in ‘Hwær Cwom Mearh?’, p. 127.
For virtually untranslated choices, that is, ‘apple-fallow’ or ‘fallow as apples’, see, for example,
Earle, The Deeds of Beowulf, p. 71; Morris and Wyatt, Tale of Beowulf, p. 124; Thorpe, Beowulf,
p. 145; Donaldson, Beowulf, p. 38. For ‘bay’, see, for example, Morgan, Beowulf, p. 59; Raffel,
Beowulf, p. 90; Wright, Beowulf, p. 78; Alexander, Beowulf: Verse Translation, p. 119. For combinations of these elements, see, for example, Crossley-Holland, Beowulf, p. 94 (‘bays, applebrown’); Bone, Beowulf, p. 63 (‘apple-fallow’, with a note explaining ‘The red-yellow colour of
apples; bay’).
W. W. Skeat notes that the resemblance between ‘dapple’ and ‘apple’ is coincidental; see An
Etymological Dictionary of the English Language (Oxford, 1910), s.v. dapple. As æppel can mean
‘what is round as an apple’ (Bosworth–Toller), a ‘ball’ (DOE) or even ‘anything round’ (J. R.
Clark-Hall, A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Med. Acad. Reprints for Teaching 14 (Toronto,
1960)), it is certainly possible that æppel indicates the round marks that characterize a
dappled horse. Oculus ‘eye’ describes such markings in Latin (C. P. Biggam, personal communication).
145
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 146 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Jennifer Neville
maintains an echo of the original sound.64 Although Cathers states that ‘there is
no horse [or] breed . . . in existence which is dappled and yellowish in colour’,65
there is apparently a type of horse called a ‘silver dapple’, unrelated to the usual
dapple-gray, which can result in dapples on dun animals. It is rare in most breeds
but, perhaps significantly, common in Icelandic horses.66 Although any translation of æppelfealu can only be tentative, the colour may still be significant, and it
is possible to pursue its meaning further through an investigation of the second
part of the compound, fealu, which corresponds with the colour of the horses
ridden by the Danes. It is possible that all the horses described in Beowulf share
the same colour.
Colour-words are not self-evident; while Modern English focuses almost
exclusively on hue, other languages may emphasize tone, saturation, or surface
effects instead,67 and even languages that possess equally rich vocabularies for
colour (as Modern English and Modern French do) may mark the boundaries
between individual hues in very different ways.68 Old English was not at the
same stage of development as Modern English in its vocabulary for colour;69
in addition, it may not have marked the boundaries between hues in the same
way that Modern English does.70 Although it has been argued that Old English
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
Cf. W. Ridgeway, The Origin and Influence of the Thoroughbred Horse (Cambridge, 1905), p. 120;
McClelland, ‘Horses in Beowulf ’, pp. 182–3; R. Barnes, ‘Horse Colors in Anglo-Saxon
Poetry’, PQ 39 (1960), 510–12, at 511–12; L. Bragg, ‘Color Words in Beowulf’, Proc. of the
Patristic Med. and Renaissance Conference 6 (1982), 47–55, at 47.
Cathers, ‘Examination of the Horse’, p. 100.
See discussion of the genetics underlying this colouring at greenfield.fortunecity.com/
dreams/799/hc/silverdapple.htm#; www.equinecolor.com/silver.html; specific discussion of
the colouring in Icelandic horses can be found at www.icelandichorse.is/silverdapple.html
[accessed 16 March 2006].
‘Hue’ is what Modern English speakers mean by ‘colour’: a band on the visible section of the
electromagnetic spectrum. ‘Tone’ indicates the amount of black or white mixed with a hue;
mixture with black creates dark colours, while mixture with white creates pale or light colours.
Saturation indicates the amount of grey mixed with a hue; little or no grey results in vivid or
bright colours, while increasing amounts of grey create dull or greyish colours. ‘Surface
effects’ can include, for example, ‘shininess’. These definitions are taken from C. P. Biggam,
Blue in Old English: an Interdisciplinary Semantic Study (Amsterdam, 1997), pp. 15–16.
J. Lyons, ‘Colour in Language’, Colour: Art and Science, ed. T. Lamb and J. Bourriau (Cambridge,
1995), pp. 194–224.
The original theory of Berlin and Kay proposes that, as they evolve, all languages acquire ‘basic
colour-terms’ in the following order: black, white, red, green or yellow, yellow or green, blue,
brown and then any or all of purple, pink, orange and grey: B. Berlin and P. Kay, Basic Color
Terms: their Universality and Evolution (Berkeley, CA, 1969), pp. 14–36. For discussion of this
theory in the context of Old English, and particularly for discussion of the emendations of
Berlin and Kay’s original theory, see C. P. Biggam, ‘Sociolinguistic Aspects of Old English
Colour Lexemes’, ASE 24 (1995), 51–65; idem., Blue, pp. 23–4 and 58–69. Cf. also N. F. Barley,
‘Old English Colour Classification: Where do Matters Stand?’, ASE 3 (1974), 15–28, at 17–19.
Barley, ‘Old English Colour Classification’, p. 19. See, however, Biggam’s criticism of Barley’s
chart (Blue, p. 61).
146
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 147 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Hrothgar’s horses: feral or thoroughbred?
was more concerned with ‘brightness’ than hue,71 modern scholars’ attempts
to codify this aspect of colour as the central difference between Old English
and Modern English have probably been precipitate.72 In the context of this
uncertainty, it is perhaps unsurprising that fealu has received less than straightforward translations and a significant amount of critical discussion.73 The
word describes a variety of items other than horses, even in the limited
context of Old English poetry, including waves, shields, roads, wood and
flames,74 and these other referents have suggested to some critics that its
meaning ranges from pale yellow to red to brown and even to green.75 Some
critics have been content with ‘various shades of yellow’,76 while others have
sought more particular associations – for example, Barbara Raw suggests that
the word ‘involves an implied comparison with a ploughed field or perhaps the
brown of dead leaves’.77 It is, of course, likely that the word had different
meanings in different contexts; as Carole Biggam notes, the word ‘white’ can
describe fresh snow, yellow wine and the pink to pale brown colour of a
‘white’ person’s skin.78 It has also been suggested that fealu may have originally
been a term specific to the description of horses.79 Whether or not this is true,
the variety of contexts in which the word appears in Old English poetry raises
the possibility that the term might not be solely concerned with hue, with
‘yellow’ as modern speakers of English understand it. Some critics have suggested that the main emphasis of this word is on reflectivity – glossiness or
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
L. D. Lerner, ‘Colour Words in Anglo-Saxon’, MLR 46 (1951), 246–9, at 247. Cf. W. E. Mead,
‘Color in Old English Poetry’, PMLA 14 (1899), 169–206, at 174–5; Barley, ‘Old English
Colour Classification’, p. 17; Bragg, ‘Color Words in Beowulf’, p. 47; B. C. Raw, The Art and
Background of Old English Poetry (London, 1978), p. 52.
See Biggam, Blue, p. 51, n. 2 and pp. 52–5. Note especially the ambiguity of the term ‘brightness’.
For discussion of fealu in particular, see Barnes, ‘Horse Colors in Anglo-Saxon Poetry’,
pp. 510–12; Bragg, ‘Color Words in Beowulf,’ pp. 48–50; Lerner, ‘Colour Words in AngloSaxon’, pp. 247–8; McClelland, ‘Horses in Beowulf’, pp. 180–3; Mead, ‘Color in Old English
Poetry’, pp. 198–9; Schichler, ‘As Whiteness Fades’, pp. 22–5; Raw, Art and Background,
pp. 52–3 and 55; A. E. H. Swaen, ‘Riddle XIII (XVI)’, Neophilologus 26 (1941), 228–31, at 230;
H. C. Wyld, ‘Diction and Imagery in Anglo-Saxon Poetry’, Essays and Stud. os 11 (1925),
49–91, at 59. This list is not exhaustive; see further the list in A. Cameron, A. Kingsmill and
A. C. Amos, Old English Word Studies: a Preliminary Author and Word Index, Toronto OE ser. 8
(Toronto, 1983).
For waves, see, for example, The Wanderer 46b, Andreas 421a, 1538a and 1589b, The Gifts of Men
53b, Maxims I 52a, Beowulf 1950a; for shields, see Genesis 2044b; for roads, see Beowulf 916b; for
wood, see Riddle 55.10; for flame, see The Phoenix 218a. Cf. discussion in Barley, ‘Old English
Colour Classification’, p. 24.
Mead, ‘Color in Old English Poetry’, p. 198; cf. Lerner, ‘Colour Words’, p. 247. Note that
these meanings restrict themselves to hue.
See, for example, Wyld, ‘Diction and Imagery’, p. 59.
Art and Background, p. 53. Cf. the argument of Schichler, ‘As Whiteness Fades’, pp. 23–5.
79
Biggam, Blue, p. 20.
Barley, ‘Old English Colour Classification’, p. 21.
147
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 148 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Jennifer Neville
80
luminosity – but it is equally possible that it served as a saturation word,
denoting a lack of saturation or vividness in a small range of colours, including yellow.81
A modern reader or translator is unlikely to be satisfied with ‘dull’ horses of
indeterminate hue, but the problems involved in determining a hue for fealu
should not be underestimated. The following discussion aims to sketch out
some of the problems; it does not presume to solve them. In addition to the
waves, shields, roads, wood and flames already mentioned, fealu describes blossoms (The Phoenix 74b), a bird’s feet (The Phoenix 311a) and the head of a badger
(Riddle 15.1),82 not to mention gold (Beowulf 2757b, Battle of Maldon 166b).
Although thus far I have focused on poetic contexts, the evidence from prose
does not suggest that fealu is a poetic term or possesses a special poetic
meaning. Thus fealu describes a meadow in a charter (S 495), modifies gravel in
a homily,83 and is confirmed as an attribute of blossoms in two prose medical
texts, the Herbarium of Pseudo-Apuleius and Bald’s Leechbook.84 The latter
example is especially interesting, as it specifies fealwan doccan næs a readan. This
phrase seems to suggest a contrast between two hues rather than a contrast
between saturated and unsaturated colours – ‘the yellow dock, not the red’.85
Usage here does not, of course, guarantee that usage elsewhere also indicates
hue. Regardless, it is worth noting the opposition between fealu and read posited
in this text, since elsewhere the ranges that these terms denote overlap. For
example, fulvus ‘deep or reddish yellow’ and flavus ‘golden or reddish yellow’ are
glossed by read 86 as well as by fealu.87
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
Ibid. pp. 21–4; Lerner, ‘Colour Words’, p. 247.
C. P. Biggam, personal communication. Cf. also Swaen, ‘Riddle XIII’, p. 230; McClelland,
‘Horses in Beowulf’, pp. 181–2.
For the identification of this animal as a badger, see Swaen, ‘Riddle XIII’. Cf. also the
summary in ASPR III, p. 329.
See Ælfric’s homily on St Cuthbert in Ælfric’s Catholic Homilies. The Second Series. Text, ed. M.
Godden, EETS ss 5 (London, 1979), 83.
For the Herbarium, see Leechdoms, Wortcunning and Starcraft of Early England, ed. T. O. Cockayne,
3 vols., rev. ed. (London, 1961), I, 290 (§163). For Bald’s Leechbook, see ibid. I, 122 (§49).
The reade docce can be identified as a red plant known as Rumex sanguineus (Bloody Dock, Redveined dock), and so it seems likely that a contrast in hue was indicated. See P. Bierbaumer,
Der botanische Wortschatz des Altenglischen, 3 vols. (Bern, 1975) I, 47–8.
For example, flauum fuluum read (Corpus 6.214, in An Eighth-Century Latin-Anglo-Saxon Glossary,
ed. J. H. Hessels (Cambridge, 1890)); flauum i fuluum read (I Cleopatra 2493, in ‘The Latin–Old
English Glossary in MS Cotton Cleopatra A3’, ed. W. G. Stryker, unpubl. PhD dissertation,
Stanford Univ., 1951)); flauum uel fulfum read (Epinal 262, in Old English Glosses in the
Epinal–Erfurt Glossary, ed. J. D. Pheifer (Oxford, 1974)).
For example, Aut flaua æs fealwan (I Cleopatra 17, in ‘Latin–Old English Glossary’, ed.
Stryker); Fulua sio fealwe (I Cleopatra 2320, in ibid.); fulua sio fealwe (III Cleopatra 1511, in ‘The
Minor Latin-Old English Glossaries in MS Cotton Cleopatra AIII’, ed J. J. Quinn, unpubl.
PhD. dissertation, Stanford Univ., 1956)).
148
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 149 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Hrothgar’s horses: feral or thoroughbred?
Glossaries are an important source of information regarding the meanings of
uncertain words, but the definitions they provide must be treated with caution;
the example of fealu may indicate some of the potential hazards. Thus, although
a series of different Latin words appear in glosses with fealu, the uncertainty
inherent in these Latin words’ meanings allows little certainty for the Old
English word.88 For example, the Harley Glossary contains the following entry:
‘Fuluum flauum splendidum nigrum geolu rubeum rubicundum fealu.’89 Some
of these items appear to support a straightforward meaning for fealu. For
example, the combination of fuluus ‘deep or reddish yellow’, flavus ‘golden or
reddish yellow, flaxen, or blonde’ and the Old English word geolu (the origin of
the modern word ‘yellow’) suggests that ‘yellow’ is a possible definition for fealu,
while rubeus ‘ruddy’ and rubicundus ‘red, ruddy’ suggest that the word may have
covered a range including modern orange and red. The length of this entry,
however, suggests a complicated history, and the terms within it thus demand
caution.90 The other words in this entry are less specifically connected with hue
and apparently contradictory: splendidus means ‘brilliant’, and niger means ‘black,
dark’. The latter gloss is not an isolated error: fealu also appears elsewhere as a
gloss for busius ‘dark?’.91 Geolu contains similar ambiguities; although it glosses
giluus ‘pale yellow’, crocus ‘saffron, yellow’, succinaceus ‘amber-coloured’ and flabus
‘yellow, golden’, it also glosses melinus ‘white’ and venetus ‘blue’.92
These problems are compounded when we look to compounds which incorporate fealu: musfealu, dunfalo, æscfealu and, most importantly for Beowulf,
88
89
90
91
92
Dictionary definitions for Latin words should not be taken for granted, either. Unfortunately,
due to the limitations of this study, I have had to accept them relatively unquestioningly and
without adequate investigation into the contexts in which they appear in classical or medieval
Latin literature.
Harley F969 (in The Harley Latin–Old English Glossary, Edited from British Museum MS Harley
3376, ed. R. T. Oliphant (The Hague, 1966)).
C. P. Biggam, personal communication.
Harley B427 (in Harley, ed. Oliphant). Oliphant, based on a suggestion in Bosworth–Toller,
suggests that busius is a variant of fuscus ‘dark’ (p. 37, note on line 427). See also I Cleopatra
794 (in ‘Latin–Old English Glossary’, ed. Stryker). Cf. Swaen, ‘Riddle XIII’, p. 230. Cf. also
the collocation of fulvus with aquiluus ‘dark, swarthy’ and bruun ‘brown’ in Erfurt 12 (in The
Corpus, Epinal, Erfurt and Leyden Glossaries, ed. W. M. Lindsay, Publ. of the Philol. Soc. 8
(London, 1921)).
For giluus, see Corpus 7.88 (in Eighth Century Latin–Anglo-Saxon Glossary, ed. Hessels); Epinal
317 (in Old English Glosses, ed. Pheifer); Erfurt 458 (in ibid.). For crocus, see Epinal 249 (in ibid.);
I Cleopatra 1130 (in ‘Latin–Old English Glossary’, ed. Stryker); II Cleopatra 657 (in ‘Minor
Latin–Old English Glossaries’, ed. Quinn). For succinacius, see Antwerp 1201 (in ‘The
Latin–Old English Glossaries in Plantin-Moretus MS 32 and British Museum MS Additional
32246’, ed. Lowell Kindschi, unpubl. PhD dissertation, Stanford Univ., 1955). For flabus, see
Corpus 6.219 (in Eighth Century Latin–Anglo-Saxon Glossary, ed. Hessels). For melinus, see
Antwerp 477 (in ‘Latin–Old English Glossaries’, ed. Kindschi); I Cleopatra 4207 (in
‘Latin–Old English Glossary’, ed. Stryker). For venetus, see Erfurt 1064 (in Old English Glosses,
ed. Pheifer).
149
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 150 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Jennifer Neville
æppelfealu. Musfealu appears in a gloss with myrteus ‘chestnut brown’ and bleoread
‘reddish colour’.93 Again, the relationships between these words may not be
simple, and so the three terms cannot simply be taken as equivalents of each
other. Even if they were, however, this gloss does not provide much help in
understanding the roots of the compound. Fealu, which, as we have seen, may
mean ‘yellow’, ‘pale’, ‘dull’ or even ‘dark’, is combined with mus, presumably
‘the colour of a mouse’. The colour of mice can, unfortunately, range from
dusky grey to bright yellowish brown to reddish brown, depending on the
species and the individual.94 A mouse could thus easily be myrteus ‘chestnut
brown’ or bleoread ‘reddish’, without needing modification from fealu. A similar
problem attends the compound dunfalo, which glosses ceruinus ‘deer-coloured’.95
Even if we can assume some kind of equivalence between these two words, the
range of possibility for dunfalo remains very wide, since the type of deer makes
a difference to what we might expect from the Old English compound. The
season makes a difference, too: both Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) and Red
Deer (Cervus elaphus) change from reddish brown in summer to greyish brown
in winter.96 Æscfealu and its companion æscgræg may be slightly less ambiguous,
since ‘ash’ does not change colour with the seasons. Further investigation into
these compounds reveals yet more issues, this time specifically linked to horses
and thus particularly interesting for the present discussion. Together æscfealu
and æscgræg gloss cinereus deterrimus color ‘ashy-grey, the worst colour’, a phrase
taken from Isidore of Seville’s ranking of horses based upon their colours.97
Although Isidore’s opinion was not necessarily shared by breeders and riders in
Anglo-Saxon England, it is suggestive to find fealu linked with a colour describing a less valued type of horse, and it is tempting to see in æscfealu a reference
to the dun-colouring of the ‘unimproved’ horse. It may be significant that the
Aberdeen Bestiary (c. 1200) repeats this view of ash-coloured horses.98
In general, however, it is important to remember that the dictionary
definitions of Latin words relied upon here are focused on hue. It may be that
these colour terms did not indicate one of yellow, brown or grey but rather
93
94
95
96
97
98
I Cleopatra 4122 (in ‘Latin–Old English Glossary, ed. Stryker). For definition of bleoread, see
Biggam, Blue, p. 101.
See, for example, the entries for ‘harvest mouse’ (Micromys minutus), ‘house mouse’ (Mus domesticus) and ‘field mouse’ (Apodemus sylvaticus) in Encyclopedia Britannica Online (www.eb.co.uk).
Harley C681 (in Harley, ed. Oliphant); Antwerp 1192 (in ‘Latin–Old English Glossaries’, ed.
Kindschi); I Cleopatra 1539 (in ‘Latin–Old English Glossary’, ed. Stryker).
See the entries for ‘red deer’ and ‘roe deer’ in Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Harley C911 (in Harley, ed. Oliphant). For Isidore’s comments, see Etymologiae XII.i.48 (in
Isidori Hispalensis Episcopi Etymologiarum sive Originum Libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay, 2 vols.
(Oxford, 1911)). See also C. P. Biggam, Grey in Old English: an Interdisciplinary Semantic Study
(London, 1998), p. 97.
See folio 22v of the Aberdeen Bestiary Project: www.clues.abdn.ac.uk:8080/bestiary_old/
alt/translat/trans22v.html [accessed 16 March 2006].
150
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 151 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Hrothgar’s horses: feral or thoroughbred?
degrees of saturation, and so a correct identification of the type of mouse or
deer might not actually clarify the meaning of fealu. Nevertheless, the discussion thus far suggests that neither ‘bay’ nor ‘chestnut’ are likely meanings for
fealu – nor, by extension, for æppelfealu.99 Æppelfealu appears only in Beowulf, so
there is no glossary evidence to contribute to or complicate its meaning
further.
There is a text, however, which may suggest a general hue component for
fealu specifically in the context of horses. The Prognostics ascribes meanings to
objects and events occurring in dreams. The colours of horses are significant:
Gyf mon mete, æt he hwit hors hæbbe oe on ride, æt by weormind. Gyf him
ince, æt he on blacum horse ride, æt by his goda modes eagnes. Gyf him ince,
æt he on redum horse ride, æt by his goda wanigend. Gyf him ince, æt he on
fealawan horse ride æt by god oe grægan æt by god swefn. (Prognostics 56–9)100
Here we have the fealu horse contrasted with horses of other tones and hues
– white, black and red. As it is distinct from hwit, fealu seems unlikely to mean
merely ‘pale’ in this context; as it is distinct from blæc, it also seems unlikely to
mean ‘dark’. Its combination with græg does not necessarily mean that the two
terms indicate similar hues; greyness can indicate the lack of saturation which
has been suggested for fealu.101 More important, the problematic nature of the
text here suggests that the insertion of the grey horse may have derived from
an error in manuscript transmission.102 Any interpretation of this part of the
text thus must be made with caution. Nevertheless, since fealu corresponds to
flavus ‘golden or reddish yellow’ in Latin manuscripts of the Prognostics,103 it is
worth remembering that the basic or ‘ancestral’ colour of the horse ranges
from yellowish dun to grey. This text thus may interpret a dream about a
rather ordinary, inexpensive horse – either dun or grey – as indicating good
luck.
The Prognostics’ reference to the fealawan horse is important, because it is the
only text that describes horses of this colour outside Beowulf. In conjunction
99
100
102
103
Cf. Ridgeway, The Origin and Influence, pp. 120 and 422–3, and McClelland, ‘Horses in Beowulf’,
p. 181.
‘If one dreams that he has or rides on a white horse, that indicates honour. If it seems that
he rides on a black horse, that indicates fear in the mind over property. If it seems that he
rides on a red horse, that indicates the deterioration of property. If it seems that he rides on
a fealu horse . . . or a grey horse, that is a good dream.’ The last sentence is slightly garbled;
literally it reads: ‘If it seems that he rides on a fealu horse that is good or grey that is a good
dream.’ Text is taken from M. Förster, ‘Beiträge zur mittelalterlichen Volkskunde, IX: Das
zweite altenglische Traumbuch’, Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literatur 134 (ns
101
34) (1916), 264–93.
Biggam, Grey, p. 312.
For discussion of the insertion of the grey horse (which does not appear in the original Latin
text) and the repetition of æt by god, see Biggam, Grey, pp. 59–60.
Biggam, Grey, p. 60.
151
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 152 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Jennifer Neville
with the other evidence assembled above, its ‘yellow horse’ allows an argument
to be made about fealu in the context of horses, although it does not end its
ambiguity in other contexts. I have found no conclusive evidence that fealu indicates lack of saturation (that is, the idea of ‘dullness’), but, if it does, it provides
another contrast with the esteemed black and white horses described in late
Anglo-Saxon wills. There is no support for the argument that fealu indicates
well-brushed glossiness or represents a poetic rendering of the bay colouring
prized by later medieval horse-breeders. The hue-component of fealu’s meaning,
as indicated, for example, by its collocation with fields, gravel and roads as well
as by the evidence from the Prognostics, suggests the grey to dun colour of the
wild or feral horse. I suggest that Hrothgar’s valuable horses are dun.
Translators have attempted to transform the poet’s dun horses into more
acceptable steeds, but the poet’s rendering of these horses’ colouring may
provide a clue toward the identification of a type of animal both more acceptable to Hrothgar’s reputation as a generous king and less anachronistic. The
Norwegian Fjord Pony, like and perhaps related to the Icelandic horse, is an
extremely old breed, domesticated perhaps by 2000 BC and carefully bred for
over 2000 years.104 They are thought to be the mounts used by Vikings in times
of war.105 They invariably maintain a ‘primitive’ colouring, dun with black mane,
tail and dorsal stripe; the uninstructed viewer can rarely distinguish between
them.106 This uniformity has been achieved through an absolute avoidance of
contact with outside stock, and the breed even now refuses any attempt to introduce foreign blood.107 Thus, while they are prized and carefully selected, Fjord
Ponies are ‘unimproved’ by infusions from oriental or other foreign blood and
remain fairly small (between 130 and 140 cm high) and uniform in appearance.
There is no way of proving, of course, that the horses described in Beowulf
are Fjord Ponies. Nevertheless, the example of this breed does provide a model
for both the value and the apparently poor description of the animals given by
Hrothgar. Fjord Ponies, too, could be described in terms reminiscent of feral
or wild horses, and yet they are the prized product of careful selection over
thousands of years; what they lack is the size and variety that arises from breeding with imports.108 Given the description of Hrothgar’s gift-giving, we can
104
105
107
108
See the ‘Breeds of Livestock’ webpage published by the Department of Animal Science at
Oklahoma State University (www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/horses/ [viewed 16 March 2006]),
s.v. Norwegian Fjord Pony and Icelandic.
M. Bongianni, The Macdonald Encyclopedia of Horses (London, 1988), number 131 (no page
106
number).
See the ‘Breeds of Livestock’, s.v. Norwegian Fjord Pony.
Bongianni and Mori, Horses of the World, p. 93. A similar refusal to breed with other types of
horses can be observed in Przewalski’s Horse, which also maintains the same type of colouring; see ibid. p. 33.
For example, the hybrid resulting from an Arabian crossed with any breed of a similar size
is invariably taller than either parent (Hyland, Equus, p. 26).
152
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 153 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Hrothgar’s horses: feral or thoroughbred?
probably assume that the poet intended to depict Hrothgar’s horses as the best
that were available. The image of these horses is not, however, one of horses
improved through contact with foreign blood – not, that is, an image compatible with the stud farms and special horses described in tenth- and eleventhcentury Anglo-Saxon wills, nor even, in fact, compatible with the mixture of
breeds already in England when the Anglo-Saxons arrived.109 Beowulf truly
describes another time and place.
the issue of traditional poetry
The obvious argument against this extended focus on Hrothgar’s fealwe mearas is
poetic tradition. Perhaps the poetic tradition inherited and mastered by the
Beowulf-poet bequeathed formulae in which the horses were always dun.110 Such
an argument is strongest with regard to the horses ridden by the Danes back
from Grendel’s mere. The first mention of fealwe mearas is the first half of a
frame which contains not only the ‘digressions’ about Sigmund and Heremod,
old legends apparently well known and thus only half told (874b–913a), but also
the description of the traditional oral poet (867b–874a).111 A second reference
to these horses completes the frame or envelope around an interlude focused
upon the poet’s traditional sources and methods.112 Here the horses are accompanied – but not described – by the word fealu:
Hwilum flitende
mearum mæton.
fealwe stræte
(916–917a)113
This second collocation of fealu with mearas admirably encloses what amounts
to a short exemplum on the material and method of the traditional poet, but it
109
110
111
112
113
A. Hyland, The Horse in the Middle Ages (London, 1999), pp. 3–4; idem., Medieval Warhorse, p. 66;
‘Breeds of Livestock’ webpage, s.v. Fell Pony.
For an overview of research on oral tradition, see D. H. Green, ‘Orality and Reading: the
State of Research in Medieval Studies’, Speculum 65 (1990), 267–80.
For more discussion of this passage, see N. E. Eliason, ‘The “Improvised Lay” in Beowulf’,
PQ 31 (1952), 171–9; R. E. Kaske, ‘The Sigemund–Heremod and Hama–Hygelac Passages
in Beowulf’, PMLA 74 (1959), 489–94; R. P. Creed, ‘ “ . . . Wel-Hwelc Gecwæ . . . ”: the
Singer as Architect’, Tennessee Stud. in Lit. 11 (1966), 131–43; J. Opland, ‘From Horseback to
Monastic Cell: the Impact on English Literature of the Introduction of Writing’, Old English
Literature in Context: Ten Essays, ed. J. D. Niles (Cambridge, 1980), pp. 30–43 and 161–63, at
30–3.
Cf. C. B. Hieatt, ‘On Envelope Patterns (Ancient and – Relatively – Modern) and Nonce
Formulas’, Comparative Research on Oral Traditions: a Memorial for Milman Parry, ed. J. M. Foley
(Columbus, OH, 1987), pp. 245–58; A. C. Bartlett, The Larger Rhetorical Patterns in Anglo-Saxon
Poetry, Columbia Univ. Stud. in Eng. and Comparative Lit. 122 (Morningside Heights, NY,
1935), 9–29. In the latter, see especially pp. 20–1, although the focus is slightly different from
the present argument. Cf. also the different interpretation of the envelope in Schichler, ‘As
Whiteness Fades’, p. 13.
‘Sometimes, racing, the Danes measured the dun streets with their horses.’
153
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 154 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Jennifer Neville
also raises the possibility that it is the traditional material and method that make
the horses dun. Here fealu refers to the road, not the horses, but it could be
argued that the traditional, heroic context created the expectation of such a
collocation; perhaps traditional poetry continued to celebrate fealwe mearas even
though other kinds of horses had been observed for centuries.114
The over-arching motivation of poetic tradition also renders any lingering
questions about blancas . . . fealwe ‘(white) dun horses’ (856a, 865b) easy to
dismiss: if fealwe mearas and blancas are both poetic terms with no necessary
connection to an external reality, we need not worry about a conflict between
different images of horses, or even any particular image at all. However, while
blanca does seem to be a poetic word with no requirement for whiteness, fealwe
mearas appear nowhere else. If the poetic tradition (insofar as we know it)
specified a role for fealu, it was in the context of descriptions of the sea, not
horses.115 The absence of support for a poetic tradition of dun horses does
not, of course, invalidate the existence of the envelope pattern, but it does
suggest that the fealwe mearas may indeed be an image rather than an empty
phrase chosen for alliteration. Poetic tradition cannot explain these horses
away.
horizons of expectation
A reviser or even a recopier116 of ancient legends could have added a few lines
to note, for example, the individuality of Hrothgar’s horses, in the same way as
the sword given by Hrothgar is identified as being a famous individual (mære
maumsweord (1023b)), so that these valuable horses did not create ‘cognitive
dissonance’ or disrupt an Anglo-Saxon audience’s horizon of expectations for
horses.117 This updating of the past is widespread. For example, Chaucer
recasts a Bronze Age hero as a chivalrous knight of the High Middle Ages in
his Troilus and Criseyde. In the same way, just as it is unlikely that a Trojan ever
114
115
116
117
For discussion of the conservative nature of oral-formulaic poetry, see W. Ong, Orality and
Literacy: the Technologizing of the Word (London, 1982), p. 41.
Cf. Mead, ‘Colors in Old English Poetry’, p. 198. For examples, see Andreas 421a and 1538a,
Beowulf 1950a, The Battle of Brunanburh 36a, Maxims I 53a, Gifts of Men 53b and The Wanderer
45b.
K. O’Brien O’Keeffe has argued that scribes were active performers of the texts that they
copied: Visible Song: Transitional Literacy in Old English Verse, CSASE 4 (Cambridge, 1990), 41.
According to Leon Festinger’s theory, conflicting knowledge drives people to invent or
modify beliefs so as to reduce ‘dissonance’(A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (Stanford, CA:
Stanford University Press, 1957)). For a useful overview of this theory, see Em Griffin, A
First Look at Communication Theory, 6th ed. (Boston and London, 2005), pp. 228–39. In this
case, an Anglo-Saxon audience faced ‘dissonance’ between the obviously high value of
Hrothgar’s horses and its knowledge that this kind of horse was cheap. For ‘horizon of
expectation’, see H. R. Jauss, Toward an Aesthetic of Reception, trans. Timothy Bahti, Theory and
Hist. of Lit. 2 (Minneapolis, 1981), 25.
154
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 155 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Hrothgar’s horses: feral or thoroughbred?
acted quite as Troilus does even if he were equally noble according to the
values of his own time, we may be justifiably suspicious of the details that
William of Malmesbury provides for a scene in 926. William describes how
Hugh the Great, Dux Francorum, sought the hand of Athelstan’s sister in 926
with extravagant gifts, including foreign race-horses:
Is, cum in conuentu procerum apud Abbandunam proci postulata exposuisset, protulit
munera sane amplissima, et quae cuiuslibet auarissimi cupiditatem incunctanter
explerent: odores aromatum qualia numquam antea in Anglia uisa fuerant; honores
gemmarum, presertim smaragdorum, in quorum uiriditate sol repercussus oculos
astantium gratiosa luce animaret; equos cursores plurimos cum faleris, fuluum (ut Maro
ait) mandentes sub dentibus aurum . . . . (Gesta Regum Anglorum II.135)118
William may be right about the wooing of Athelstan’s sister and the great
esteem showed to the king of England through it, but he fills in the details of
this event using the literary resources and cultural expectations of his own time
(c. 1120). The Beowulf-poet, a later reviser, or even scribe A of the Beowulf-manuscript could have done the same with Hrothgar’s horses. Although such a
poet, reviser or scribe might not have felt free to expound upon them to the
same extent as the poet of La Chanson de Roland, he or she119 might have noted
that these gifts were superior in some way – that they possessed a value greater
than ordinary horses. Yet the horses described in Beowulf show no sign of later
colouring, no indication that the horses given by Hrothgar to Beowulf are distinguished in any way other than their equipment.
It is easy to see why a historically minded poet describing the Danes racing
back from Grendel’s mere might have reproduced a pony-race based on knowledge of Germanic legend,120 but it is difficult to discern how such a poet would
118
119
120
‘This man [Adulf, son of Baldwin, count of Flanders], when he had set out the requests of
the suitor at a meeting of the leaders at Abingdon, brought forth extremely ample gifts,
which might immediately sate the desire of anyone, however greedy: odours of spices whose
like had never before been seen in England; honourable examples of gems, especially emeralds, in whose greenness the reflected sun might enliven the eyes of those standing nearby
with a charming light; many race-horses with trappings, champing the yellow gold beneath
their teeth, as Virgil says . . . ’ Text is taken from William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum
Anglorum, The History of the English Kings, ed. R. A. B. Mynors, with R. M. Thomson and M.
Winterbottom, OMT, 2 vols., (Oxford, 1998) I, 218. Cf. discussion in Keefer, ‘Hwær Cwom
Mearh?’, p. 125.
Although we traditionally assume that Anglo-Saxon scribes were always male, see M. P.
Brown, ‘Female Book-Ownership and Production in Anglo-Saxon England: the Evidence of
the Ninth-Century Prayerbooks’, Lexis and Texts in Early English: Papers in honour of Jane
Roberts, ed. C. Kay and L. Sylvester (Amsterdam, 2001), pp. 45–67.
The horse race appears in Norse texts, for example; see discussion of The Book of Settlements
‘Horse Race on Dúfunefsskei’ in H. Olafsson, ‘Indo-European Horse Sacrifice in the Book
of Settlements’, Temenos 31 (1995), 127–43. On the other hand, horse racing was practised by
the Anglo-Saxons as well; see Bede’s story of Herebald’s accident (Historia ecclesiastica V.6).
155
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 156 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Jennifer Neville
know the type of horses prized in this distant time and place well enough to
present them without anachronism or comment.121 It is even more difficult to
understand why this poet, who, as has been often noted, maintains a particular
concern with good kingship and generosity, would pass up an opportunity to
glorify Hrothgar’s generosity – and not elaborating the horses is passing up a
golden opportunity to comment on generosity. Well-bred, ‘improved’ horses
are precisely the kinds of gifts given by and to kings. As the story of Oswine
and Aidan illustrates, such gift-giving is documented in Anglo-Saxon England
from a very early date and only grew in importance over time. Although it is
tempting to propose a correspondingly early date for the composition of
Beowulf, I shall limit myself here to speculation about the impact that this
description of horses might have had on an audience late in the Anglo-Saxon
period – an audience contemporary with the manuscript, for example.
An audience of people whose wills specify exactly which precious horse
should go to whom can be expected to find the image of Hrothgar, the exemplary generous king, giving what appear to be feral horses in reward for superhuman bravery, very strange indeed. It is often assumed that, despite the
poem’s self-proclaimed focus on the past (geardagum), the world described
within it remained relatively close to the reality of Anglo-Saxon life, which
retained, for example, a similar emphasis on the loyalty between lord and thegn
and the public space of the hall.122 In comparison with these issues, the status
of horses is trivial, but it is worth considering that a late Anglo-Saxon audience
might have found this aspect of the heroic world of Beowulf as alien as a modern
audience finds its acceptance of vengeance,123 and even an early Anglo-Saxon
audience might have found it difficult to identify itself with the figures of this
poem. Beowulf may not have been a familiar restating of shared values but
rather a strange and challenging enigma, even as it is now.
Speculation aside, the evidence presented in this investigation suggests that
Beowulf presents a coherent image of a certain type of horse: relatively small,
dun animals, perhaps with dappled markings, which derive from a herd of
horses bred without the advantage of foreign blood but nevertheless considered to be objects of prestige. Equivalent to – and perhaps identifiable as –
121
122
123
Cf. B. R. Hutcheson’s recent argument against conscious metrical archaism in his ‘Kaluza’s
Law, the Dating of Beowulf, and the Old English Poetic Tradition’, JEGP 103 (2004),
297–322: ‘The tenth-century poet would have had no way of knowing which verses were
archaic and which were not.’
See, for example, P. Clemoes, Interactions of Thought and Language in Old English Poetry, CSASE
12 (Cambridge, 1995), 3–67.
Some aspects of the blood-feud at which modern readers wonder, however, may be a
product of nineteenth-century scholarship as much as genuine Anglo-Saxon custom; see S.
Jurasinski, ‘The Ecstasy of Vengeance: Legal History, Old English Scholarship, and the
“Feud” of Hengest’, RES ns 55 (2004), 643–61.
156
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 157 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069
Hrothgar’s horses: feral or thoroughbred?
Fjord Ponies, they possess the status of treasured thoroughbreds, despite their
superficial similarities with feral horses like the equae silvestrae and present-day
Exmoor ponies. They are thus worthy gifts from a king to a hero and from a
hero to a king and queen. The description of Hrothgar’s horses thus not only
locates the world of the poem in a generalized distant past (in geardagum ‘in days
of yore’ (1a)) but also accurately reveals one aspect of the material culture of
Scandinavian Denmark.124 This image could not be derived from what we
know about Anglo-Saxon horses and contrasts strongly with them. Although
this contrast may not allow us to date the composition of the poem, it is a contrast that we can expect an Anglo-Saxon audience, especially the relatively late
audience for the manuscript, to have perceived, and one that must have
coloured its reception of the poem.125
124
125
John W. Baldwin argues that circumstantial details in literary texts reveal the reality of texts’
contemporary cultures; see Aristocratic Life in Medieval France: the Romances of Jean Renart and
Gerbert de Montreuil, 1190–1230 (Baltimore, 2000), especially pp. 14, 174 and 260.
I am grateful to Carole Biggam, Peregrine Horden, Roberta Frank, Sarah Larratt Keefer,
Sean Miller and Andrew Scheil for their corrections and advice; their contributions have
greatly improved this article. Any remaining errors of fact or judgement are my own.
157
ASE 35 TEXT M/UP.qxd
18/8/06
8:50 AM
Page 158 John's G5:Users:john:Public: John's Jobs:10069