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By mdrout, on May 3rd, 2007 Andreas exhorts God and the angels to give him free passage because to do so is God’s will. God (still disguised) agrees, and Andreas and his thanes board the ship. Once aboard, Andreas prays that God will grant honor to the leader of the ship (who, remember, is God). There is then a poetic set-piece of a sea voyage and stormy weather. Andreas prays that God may grant to the captain of the ship (God), food and drink. Andreas notes that his thanes are very worried by the stormy weather on the sea.
The ship’s captain (God) offers to put in to land and allow the thanes to leave, but they refuse to abandon Andreas, noting that everyone in every land would hate them if they abandoned their lord.
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By mdrout, on May 2nd, 2007 Andreas is ready to do God’s bidding and rescue Matthew. He goes with his thanes down to the edge of the sea and, as the sun rises, on the shore he finds a ship with a crew of three individuals, who are in fact God and two angels. Andreas does not know the nature of the crew of the ship and enters into a conversation with disguised God about getting passage to Myrmedonia. God asks Andreas why he is seeking passage without any money, bread or drink.
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By mdrout, on May 1st, 2007 Matthew is heartened by God’s promise, but the evil warriors gather in a crowd outside his prison. They have written a document which says when a prisoner will be eaten. According to the document, Matthew has only three days before they will tear apart his body and eat him, as is their custom.
God, knowing Matthew’s situation, speaks to Andreas in Achaia, where he is preaching. God tells him to go on a journey to the land of the cannibals to rescue Matthew.
Andreas asks God how he will get to Myrmedonia when it is so far away, and God tells him not to hesitate, but to be ready for the journey.
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By mdrout, on April 30th, 2007 Like Beowulf, Andreas begins with “Hwaet!” and continues with an introductory passage that summarizes some of the story and establishes it as being heard by “we.”
Matthew, the author of the first gospel, finds himself in the city of the cannibals, whose terrors the poet describes with relish. They blind captives with their spear points and then make them drink a potion that causes them to become like beasts and eat grass.
The cannibals learn that Matthew is in their city to evangelize, so they capture, tie and blind him. They even give him the poison drink. Matthew prays to God for deliverance from this plight.
A bright light comes into Matthew’s prison, and the voice of God tells him that he shall be free him from bonds. God says that he will send Andrew to rescue Matthew in only 27 days.
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By mdrout, on April 30th, 2007 We have now finished the Junius Manuscript ,volume one of The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, and are now moving along to volume two, the Vercelli Book.
By mdrout, on April 27th, 2007 The poet continues his description of heaven, where God Himself sits. He suffered death for us, and also fasted for forty days, the poet says. At that point, the Devil tries to tempt him, asking him to turn stones into loaves.
[Here, although the manuscript is not damaged, there is a major break in the sense of the poem. In the Bible, there are 3 temptations, and Jesus uses quotations from Deuteronomy to argue against Satan. As you will see, the complete temptation scene is absent from Christ and Satan here. Many scholars therefore think that a short section of the poem is thus missing]
Jesus answers the Devil that He alone has promised a reward to his followers [the sense and syntax of this passage are both confusing]. Then the Devil carries Him to a high place and offers him rule over the earth and its people. Jesus tells the Devil to take himself down to hell and lectures him about how miserable hell will be. Satan becomes miserable and runs away to hell where he will be stuck with God’s adversaries. The tormented spirits yell that they hope the Devil remains in his misery because he never previously cared about the good.
The poem end with “Finit Liber II” (the end of book 2). This is the last poem in the Junius Manuscript.
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By mdrout, on April 26th, 2007 Simon Peter, in Galilee, asks Jesus if they are now really seeing Him. Some of the disciples have trouble believing. But the poet notes that it was by design that Jesus mounted the cross so that he could lead men out of hell.
Forty days later Jesus ascends from earth into heaven and gives the gift of the Holy Spirit to his disciples. God also restores to life a countless number of souls, but not Judas, who is in hell. The poet describes Jesus seated at the right hand of God the Father.
Now the poet moves on to Judgment Day. The archangels will blow the trumpets and the dead will rise. They will be judged, and the righteous will come into the light of glory. The Lord will speak to the evil ones and send them to hell. There they will suffer the hell torments that the poet enjoys describing.
The poet then exhorts us to obey God and describes the dazzling beauty of God’s kingdom.
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By mdrout, on April 25th, 2007 The Harrowing of Hell continues. God’s Son mounts up to heaven bringing the righteous souls out of hell. The Devil and the fiends are consigned to the darkness.
God’s Son speaks, telling the story of the creation of Adam and Eve and their disobedience with the apple. Thus they and all subsequent souls were sent to hell. But God remembered the souls in hell and, when he had been born into the world, suffered and died, he came to lead them home to heaven.
Next the poet discusses the Resurrection and the appearance of Jesus to the disciples, particularly Simon Peter.
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By mdrout, on April 24th, 2007 This is just a brief interruption of the regularly scheduled podcast (which will continue tomorrow morning) to note that my 3-CD reading of Beowulf in Old English is now available for purchase. Beowulf Aloud is a complete recording of the entire Old English poem with an introductory lecture by me. I also sing/chant the Finnsburg episode, which should be good for comic relief, if for nothing else.
Having now gone over all the expenses, I see I can sell the 3-CD collection, which includes every single line of the poem plus the introductory lecture, for 15 dollars US. Packaging and shipping to anywhere in the continental US is 3 USD, so the total would be $18.00. Overseas shipping will whatever it costs me, checked on an individual basis. The button below goes to a PayPal account for the domestic shipping price, but you can also use my mdrout@wheatonma.edu address at PayPal. I am also happy to take personal checks, and for overseas folks who want to buy Beowulf Aloud, we can use the very clever system devised by Walking Tree Press (involving exchanges of Amazon.com gift certificates) if need be.
The mailing address is:
Prof. M. Drout
Wheaton College
26 E. Main Street
Norton, MA 02766
USA
and of course email correspondence can be sent to mdrout a† wheatoncollege d0t edu .
I hope that you will consider purchasing Beowulf Aloud if you’ve been enjoying Anglo-Saxon Aloud.
And with that, we will return to our regularly scheduled podcast, which this week is the scintillating Christ and Satan. Mmmmm, hell-torments.
By mdrout, on April 24th, 2007 More contrast of the joys of heaven with the sorrows of hell. Then we learn that the lead angel in the revolt was Lucifer. Description of the Harrowing of Hell, when Christ broke down the gates of hell and came to save the souls imprisoned there. The fiends lament the loss of their prey and the humiliation of being defeated.
Jesus leads the good souls out of hell, but before she leaves, Eve says she must speak, telling the story of the Fall of Man, noting that Satan is now bound in chains. She then holds out her hands to the King of Heaven, stating that He was born into the world through her daughter, Mary.
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By mdrout, on April 23rd, 2007 The host of fiends continues to discuss their past. They remember all the pleasures of heaven from which they are now separated. They narrate the story of the Fall of the Angels, their attempt to drive God from his throne and seize all of heaven. But they failed, and now they must inhabit the place of exile, the abyss.
After noting that this is the way God’s adversaries are lamenting in hell, the poet urges us to remember the Lord always. If we do so, he says, we will be blessed and brought into the heavenly kingdom.
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By mdrout, on April 20th, 2007 The Devil continues to lament his condition: he is trapped in hell, where heat and cold afflict him and he must hear the yammering of hell’s inhabitants, some of whom struggle naked among serpents. He complains about being changed from his former beauty to what he is now. There then follows a series of “Eala” [alas] laments, similar in structure, if not in content, to those in The Wanderer. The Devil acknowledges that what is most bitter to him is to be cut off forever from God.
The poet then exhorts us always to remember God and delight in Him. Then we may return to where God sits among his troops of Angels on His high throne.
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By mdrout, on April 19th, 2007 The poet begins by praising God and giving a brief catalogue of all creation (sun, moon, earth, seas, etc.). God also created Adam and the leader of the angels, who led his followers in a revolt that ended with their being imprisoned in hell. That leader (Satan) laments that hell is dark, fiery and unpleasant and that he must endure there in chains for the crime of pride. His minions complain that it is Satan’s fault that they are in hell.
Satan then tells the story of the revolt of the angels, how he thought to overthrow God’s throne and seize power. But he was banished now down to hell, the doors of which are guarded by dragons. Having declared himself ruler of heaven, Satan says, “turned out the worse for me.”
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By mdrout, on April 18th, 2007 Belshazzar is the third generation after Nebuchadnezzar and is responsible for the defeat of the Chaldeans by the Medes and Persians. Babylon had been safe and its people protected by its walls until Belshazzar provoked God by desecrating the sacred vessels of the Israelites (which had been captured) by using them in feasting.
Belshazzar boasts of the power of his armies, saying that they are more powerful than the God of the Israelites. Suddenly, an angel causes a hand to appear in the hall, writing unknown writings [Mene, Tekel, Pares are not mentioned by the poet].
The king is frightened, and no one can interpret the writing until Daniel the prophet comes. He interprets the writing on the wall to mean that God is angry about the improper use of the sacred vessels and the arrogance of Belshazzar.
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By mdrout, on April 17th, 2007 Daniel is summoned by the king and ordered to explicate the dream. He summarizes the dream and says that the tree represents the king’s glory, so that the king’s power will be toppled and he will go into exile. There he will descend to the level of a beast, living in the wild with no understanding of human speech. After seven years, the king will finally believe in the truth of the power of God, and his kingdom will continue to abide. Daniel advises the king to give alms, and so, perhaps, prevent this from happening.
But Nebuchadnezzer is not swayed. He brags and boasts that he will stay ruler in Babylon. But suddenly the king has some kind of fit and rushes off into the wild, where he lives for seven years. But finally he looks up at the heavens, thinks about God, and his spirit turns back towards men. He goes back to his kingdom as a naked beggar, but his kingdom is waiting for him.
After this the king preaches the power of God, telling people about his exile and insanity. Everything happens just as Daniel had predicted. Nebuchadnezzar remains the mightiest ruler on earth until he dies, and his heirs enjoy strength and prosperity.
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