Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon heroic epic poem of unknown authorship, dating as recorded in the Nowell Codex manuscript from between the 8th and the early 11th century, set in Denmark and Sweden.
In historical terms, the poem’s characters would have been Norse pagans, yet the poem was recorded by Christian Anglo-Saxons who had largely converted from their native Anglo-Saxon paganism around the 7th century – both Anglo-Saxon paganism and Norse paganism share a common origin as both are forms of Germanic paganism. Beowulf thus depicts a Germanic warrior society, in which the relationship between the lord of the region and those who served under him was of paramount importance. M. H. Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt note that:
Although Hrothgar and Beowulf are portrayed as morally upright and enlightened Pagans, they fully espouse and frequently affirm the values of Germanic heroic poetry. In the poetry depicting warrior society, the most important of human relationships was that which existed between the warrior — the thane – and his lord, a relationship based less on subordination of one man’s will to another’s than on mutual trust and respect. When a warrior vowed loyalty to his lord, he became not so much his servant as his voluntary companion, one who would take pride in defending him and fighting in his wars. In return, the lord was expected to take care of his thanes and to reward them richly for their valor.
This society was strongly defined in terms of kinship; if someone was killed, it was the duty of surviving kin to exact revenge either with their own lives or through weregild, a payment of reparation, in order to secure the position of their kin group.
Scholars disagree, however, as to the meaning and nature of the poem: is it a Christian work set in a Germanic pagan context? The questions suggests that the conversion from the Germanic pagan beliefs to Christian ones was a very slow and gradual process over several centuries, and it remains unclear the ultimate nature of the poem’s message in respect to religious belief at the time it was written.
That the scribes of Cotton Vitellius A.XV were Christian is beyond doubt; and it is equally certain that Beowulf was composed in a Christianised England, since conversion took place in the sixth and seventh centuries. Yet the only Biblical references in Beowulf are to the Old Testament, and Christ is never mentioned. The poem is set in pagan times, and none of the characters is demonstrably Christian. In fact, when we are told what anyone in the poem believes, we learn that they are pagans. Beowulf’s own beliefs are not expressed explicitly. He offers eloquent words to a higher power, addressing himself to the Father Almighty or the Wielder of All. Were those words directed at the Germanic god Woden, the Allfather, using phrases the Christians subsequently appropriated?
The Old English term wyrd is attested earliest from Beowulf. The Old English poem “The Wanderer” states that “Wyrd bið ful aræd”: “Fate remains wholly inexorable”. Beowulf tells us that “Gæð a wyrd swa hio scel!”: “Fate goes ever as she shall!”. Wyrd is the fate (Norse ørlǫg) woven by the Norns in Germanic paganism. The term’s Norse cognate urðr, besides meaning ‘fate’, is the name of one of the Norns, closely related to the concept of necessity (skuld). According to the Völuspá, one of the poems of the Codex Regius, the three Norns “set up the laws”, “decided on the lives of the children of time” and “promulgate their Ørlǫg”.
