However, Stephan Graham has argued that the phrase ne þurfan suggests that for the Anglo-Saxon’s emotions were “produced by social situations” (Graham 2015: 85). “Ne… herian þorfte” could be read as insisting that the opposite of praising (i.e. Whether that is the intent of the Beowulf poet is another matter. As it is possible that the two Hengests are the same, any positive reading of his character recovered in Beowulf would then reflect positively on the historic figure as well. See also Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Colgrave and Mynors 1969: 52). The question of whether Hengest is the same Hengest who led the fifth-century invasion of Britain, according to Bede, is still unresolved (Fulk et al. Hengest appears in the fragment as a retainer to Hnæf and later emerges as the battle-field promoted leader of the Danes after Hnæf’s death in the Finn Episode in Beowulf. In the “Fight at Finnsburg,” a band of Danish warriors makes a desperate stand when attacked by the Frisian king Finn. The fragmentary poem relates events that take place before the episode as it is found in Beowulf. The Finn Episode is related to the fragmentary “Fight at Finnsburg” poem (Fulk et al. Unless indicated otherwise, all translations into modern English are my own. All citations from Anglo-Saxon law codes and the Quadripartitus are from Libermann. All citations of Beowulf are from Klaeber’s fourth (Fulk, Bjork, and Niles).
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