Germanic Christianity

century reflecting the Germanic tribes and a medieval past. Beowulf is about a Germanic leader, who will fight for his people no matter what. He is known for his great strength, courage, and generosity. Beowulf is also known for his many victories that he has won while fighting in battle and his unbearable strength to where he has to fight with specific swords to uphold his strength. Beowulf took part in three different vigorous battles, one with Grendel’s mom and a second one with Grendel himself. The last and final battle was between Beowulf and the dragon, which happened fifty winters later. This particular battle is very important because it portrays…

Before Christianity there was a religion known as German Mythology during the Middle Ages. This religion contained many deities and tales that make up this mythology. Deities such as Odin, Thor, Freya, and Loki. (“Norse Mythology”) The Norse people believe that there are two types of gods. There were the Æsir and the Vanir. The Æsir believed the gods created war, power and death. The Vanir are responsible for the fertility. ("Norse Mythology.") How was the earth created? No plants, lakes,…

The action of the story and pre- Christian tradition may align with one another because a value of the scriptural references interested a postrevelation audience. Marijane Osborn wrote in her journal article, “The Great Feud: Scriptural History and Strife in Beowulf” that “For an audience in a royal hall, the biblical overtones would reaffirm the native culture, whose values had been called into question by the arrival of Roman Christianity; for a cloister audience, the archetypal reflection of…

the Middle Ages, Old English was noted to be a form of language that was spoken by the Anglo-Saxons. It embraced a variety of germanic based languages. Some of the germanic-sounding vocabulary can be easily discerned in the Anglo-Saxon poem The Lord 's Prayer, including…

whole causing it to change to a more rural and less populated place. People such as the Goths, Visigoths, Franks, Lombards, Angles, and Saxons also emerged as the dominant people in terms of literacy instead of the Romans. This is a big change because the Romans viewed those groups of Germanic people as barbarians. Romans also had kings and emperors while the Germanic people had elite warriors who ruled above their…

With the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 CE, Germanic peoples established multiple kingdoms as successors for imperial power. One notable Germanic tribe, the Franks, had their realm of influence increased dramatically with the advent of the Carolingian dynasty, founded by Charles Martel. The Carolingian empire, known as such with the crowning of Charlemagne as emperor, was the exception in a period of general disunity. However, following the death of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious, the…

Woden was an example of the Anglo-Saxons God, like the Scandinavian god Odin but a German version. Other gods like Thunor, Frige, and Tiw, gods of thunder, love and war were used and believed in. The Saxons were superstitious, they believed in charms for luck, and magical rhymes that can be portrayed as poems. They believed it would protect them from evils in the world and sicknesses. When they passed, some would either be cremated or buried into the grave with their possessions because it would…

Germanic and Christian influences in Beowulf ? # 1  Throughout history, many different people from separate cultures end up living together. As a result, religious integration happens and many aspects of the different cultures merge or incorporate each other’s stories. For example, the integration and substitution of many greek deities in Roman myths. A similar integration happened with Germanic and Christian cultures. Beowulf is a Germanic myth written around 750 BCE that was passed down…

The English language has been around for decades. According to Suzanne Kemmer, the language we call “English” has been brought up in the north sea coasts of England around the fifth and sixth centuries A.D. English currently exists all around the world except a few countries and it has a total of 332,000,000 individuals speaking the language("Most Widely Spoken Languages"). That number was a sampling amount taken back in 1999, if anything the language has been increasing with speakers worldwide.…

Beowulf, a Pagan or Christian Poem Prose, riddles, poetry, and proverbs can all be found in Old English Literature, as well as a mixture of Christian and pagan traditions and influences. One such an example would be, Beowulf, the epic long poem whose title character displays heroism and generosity. In this paper, I will explain how Christian values have been woven throughout the poem and mixed with Germanic hero values. Secondly, I will explain the long standing debate of whether or not Beowulf…