The Anglo-Saxon Warrior Ethic: Reconstructing Lordship in Early English Literature by John H. Hill (review)

Abstract

Il8ARTHURIANA language. In particular, Zaerr has a remarkable gift for expression and gesture. The passages describing the loathly lady or the various answers to the riddle ofwomen's desire are wonderfully delivered. In short, Zaerr demonstrates the lost art ofstorytelling that is necessarily banished from the print pages of a text. Of course the storytelling here is not a purely aural in that all is not left to the imagination. There are changes in costume and setting, although these are kept at a minimum so that they are instructive rather than intrusive. Camera cuts are helpful in reproducing the effect of dialogue. And although many might find Zaetr's expressions and gestures interesting enough to capture their attention, the shifts in costume and scenery add a visual variety that today's video-oriented audiences may demand. However, such visual variety may well have its drawbacks. Some scenes are strikingly cast in shadows in order to make the presentation more visually interesting. This might make understanding the text more difficult for those who rely on visual clues in order to follow the poem's unfamiliar language. Similarly, the musical background sometimes intrudes into the foreground. This too may be a disttaction to students who are trying to pick up on the nuances ofa foreign tongue. In recent years, the Chaucer Studio has done much to retrieve Chaucer's English from the undramatic monotone in which it was often delivered. In many ways, this goal has been achieved by rediscovering the aural (as opposed to the purely intellectual) dramatic high points ofChaucer's texts. Language is, however, also a visual medium— half the fun here is watching the resourceful Zaerr—so the move to videotape is a logical and welcome extention of the Studio's efforts. JULIAN WAS S ERM ? N Loyola University, New Orleans JOHN H. hill, TheAnglo-Saxon WarriorEthic: ReconstructingLordship in Early English Literature. Gainesville: University Press ofFlorida, 2000. Pp. 175. isbn: 0-8130—1769— 6. $55. In The Anglo-Saxon Warrior Ethic, John M. Hill follows up on his earlier study of Anglo-Saxon society in The Cultural World in Beowulf (University ofToronto Press, 1995). The current wotk offers five chapters, with notes, bibliography, and index, concentrating on Old English heroic narratives in which either revenge feud or warfare of some kind occur with sufficient scope for detailed analysis. Hill is interested in identifying the psychological and social forces that shaped the relationship between Anglo-Saxon kings and their retainers; in addition, he considers the social and legal dynamics that influenced both tribal and inter-tribal structures of governance. The first two chaptets focus upon narratives of warfare and feud in Beowulf, laying 'a realistic ground of heroic transactions, vicissitudes, and contingencies' (16) such as the dragon battle that establishes Wiglafas a battle-worthy leader. Chapter 2 applies cthnopsychology to the re-examination ofin-law feud in Beowulf. In Chapter 3, Hill calls upon historical texts, comparing the account ofthe feud between King Cynewulf and the nobleman Cynehcatd in the Parker Chronicle with Aethelwold's rebellion REVIEWS119 against his uncle, King Alfred's son and successor. Hill concludes that unlike Beowulf these narratives 'emphasize. . .a newly untouchable kingship; the nonnegotiable loyalty of thanes either avenging or defending their generous lords; and the primacy of a particular group of Alfredian successors' (17). In Chapter 4, Hill turns again to the Parker Chronicle to show how the narrative ofAethelstan's and Edmund's victory at Brunanbruh goes far beyond the Cynewulf-Cyneheatd account in marking an ideological advancement in the mythology of Anglo-Saxon kingship, indicating a new, overarching sense ofgroup loyalty to the king. Finally, as treated in Chapter 5, retainer loyalty to a lord or king evoked in The Battle ofMaldon is shown to be even more extreme. While no such particular mythologizing of the warrior king takes place in the Beowulfpoem, the (supposedly) later narratives become increasingly polemic and, as demonstrated in Maldon, culminate in a new order of lord-retainer loyalty that 'transcends all living relationships, whether to kin, lord, or even (by implication) a living king' (139). Thus, in contrast to the more exploratory and meditative practices of forming and reforming loyalties in Beowulf, -where revenge...