Introduction

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. List of Tables vii
4. List of Illustrations viii
5. List of Contributors ix
6. Acknowledgements x
7. Introduction 1
8. 1 Beowulf and Language History 19
9. 2 Germanic Legend, Scribal Errors, and Cultural Change 37
10. 3 Names in Beowulf and Anglo-Saxon England 58
11. 4 The Limits of Conservative Composition in Old English Poetry 79
12. 5 The Date of Composition of Beowulf and the Evidence of Metrical Evolution 97
13. 6 Beowulf and the Containment of Scyld in the West Saxon Royal Genealogy 112
14. 7 History and Fiction in the Frisian Raid 138
15. 8 “Give the People What They Want”: Historiography and Rhetorical History of the Dating of Beowulf Controversy 157
16. 9 A Note on the Other Heorot 178
17. 10 Beowulf and Conversion History 191
18. 11 Material Monsters and Semantic Shifts 202
19. 12 Scandals in Toronto: Kaluza’s Law and Transliteration Errors 219
20. 13 Afterword: Beowulf and Everything Else 235
21. Index 249