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Epithet

Epithet

An epithet (Greek and Latin epitheton; literally meaning 'imposed') is a descriptive word or phrase. It has various shades of meaning when applied to linguistics, religion, and biological nomenclature.

Linguistics

In linguistics an epithet is often metaphoric, essentially a reduced or condensed appositive. Epithets are sometimes attached to a person's name, as what might be described as a glorified nickname. Not every adjective is an epithet, even worn clichés. An epithet is linked to its noun by long-established usage and some are not otherwise employed. Some epithets are known by the Latin term epitheton necessarium because they are required to distinguish the bearers, e.g. as an alternative to ordinals after a prince's name—say Richard the Lionheart, or Charles the Fat alongside Charles the Bald. Still the same epithet can be used repeatedly, in different spheres of life and/or joined to different names, say Alexander the Great as well as Suleiman the Great. Other epithets can easily be omitted without serious risk of confusion, and are therefore known (again in Latin) as Epitheton ornans; thus the classical Roman author Virgil systematically called the armsbearer of Aeneas, his main hero, fidus Achates, the epithet being fidus, which means faithful or loyal. In contemporary usage, epithet is also used to refer to an abusive or defamatory phrase, such as a racial epithet. There are also specific types of epithets, such as the kenning, also known as periapsis, which appears in works such as Beowulf. An example of a kenning would be the term whale-road, meaning "sea".

Religion

In Ancient Pagan religions, not only Greek and Roman (e.g. Egyptian), a deity's epithet (or rather each one: especially the main gods often had many) generally reflected a particular aspect of that god's life and role, as Apollo Musagetes is "Apollo, [as] leader of the Muses" and therefore patron of the arts & sciences (hence the word mouseion= museum), while Phoibos Apollo is the same deity but as shining sun-god. Some epithets were applied to several deities of a same pantheon, rather accidentally if they had a common characteristic, or deliberately emphasizing their blood- or other ties; thus in pagan Rome, several divinities (including demi-gods, heroes) were given the epitheton Comes as companion of another (usually major) divinity. Alternatively the epithet may identify a particular and localized aspect of the god, sometimes already ancient during the classical epochs of Greece and/or Rome, such as a reference to the mythological place of birth or other genesis. It often appears to refer simply to a main center of veneration and/or some cultic tradition there, but often this is actually the result of an intercultural equation of a divinity with another, usually older, that is generally considered its pendant; thus most Roman gods and goddesses, especially the twelve main ones, had traditional counterparts in Greek, Etruscan and most other Mediterranean pantheons, e.g. Jupiter as father of the Olympian Gods with Zeus, but in specific cult places there may even be a different equation, based on one specific aspect of the divinity. Thus the Greek word Trismegistos "thrice grand" was first used as a Greek name for the Egyptian god of science and invention, Thot, and later as an epitheton for the Greek Hermes and finally the fully equated Roman Mercurius (Mercury; both were also messenger of the gods).
- Similar practices still exist in Christianity (catholic and orthodox, not protestant) in the veneration of Christ and, mainly, of the saints, e.g. Our Lady of Lourdes, - of Mercy etc.

Letters

Epithets are characteristic of the style of ancient epic poetry, most notably that of Homer. See epithets in Homer. When James Joyce uses the phrase "the snot-green sea" he is playing on Homer's familiar epithet "the wine-dark sea" with a kind of mock-epithet.

Biology

An epithet is a word in the scientific name of an organism, following the name of the genus. This occurs in the name of a species (consisting of a generic name plus a "specific epithet"), of a subdivision of the genus, or of an infraspecific taxon, such as variety. Examples Arisaema candidissimum - candidissimum is the epithet. Passiflora edulis var. flavicarpa - edulis and flavicarpa are epithets.

See also


- Bahuvrihi, a Proto-Indo-European formation designed for epitheta. Category:Linguistics Category: Scientific nomenclature

Nomenclature

Nomenclature is a system of naming and categorizing objects in a given category. Linnaeus popularized one of the best-known examples: he used binary names (e.g. in two parts, a process known as binomial nomenclature) to name species of minerals, vegetables, and animals. The names he coined for the last two categories were the start of present day botanical and zoological nomenclature, codified in the ICBN and ICZN. Other codes are also derived from these. The combination of a genus name and a species descriptor serves to uniquely label each species of organism. For example, humankind is uniquely named by the name Homo sapiens. No other species of animal can have this name. In this way, every species is given a specific identifier that is accepted worldwide, transcending common names that are often neither unique nor consistent from place to place and language to language.

See also

In astronomy:
- Planetary nomenclature
- International Astronomical Union (IAU) In biology:
- Nomenclature Codes
- International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN)
- International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN)
- International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (ICNB) In chemistry:
- International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)
- IUPAC nomenclature, for chemical compounds ------- The Russian expression nomenklatura (like "nomenclature", the word derives from the Latin nomenclatura — "name-calling") refers to a system of government patronage used in many countries under Communist rule. Category:Names category: scientific nomenclature



Appositive

In grammar, an appositive is defined as a noun phrase that generally follows, but occasionally precedes, another noun phrase and renames or describes it. One way to identify an appositive is to ask the question: could this phrase replace the word next to it? Does this phrase make the word next to it all but unnecessary? In the following examples, appositives and appositive phrases are identified by italics: # An appositive, a grammatically incomplete noun phrase, is generally set off by commas, a reader-friendly invention. # Alexander the Great, the Macedonian conqueror of Persia, was one of the most successful military commanders of the ancient world. # Bill's friend Alice adored the famous singer Dean Martin. # Bill brought Alice along to the famous singer's wedding. Bill's friend, Alice, adored Dean Martin, the famous singer. Appositives are either restrictive, in which case they are essential to the meaning of the sentence, or non-restrictive, in which case they are not. The appositives in the third example above are restrictive, as it is assumed that Bill has more than one friend, and there is more than one famous singer (compare restrictive clause). Restrictive appositives do not require commas. The appositives in example four are non-restrictive, since Bill's friend and the famous singer have already been identified.

External links


- [http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/appositive.htm Lively analysis of the Appositive]
- [http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_appos.html Graphical examples] Category:Grammar

Richard the Lionheart

Richard I (September 8, 1157 – April 6, 1199) was King of England from 1189 to 1199. He was often referred to as Richard the Lionheart, Cœur de Lion.

Early life

The third of King Henry II's legitimate sons, Richard was never expected to ascend to the throne. He was, however, the favourite son of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Richard was a younger maternal half-brother of Marie de Champagne and Alix of France. He was a younger brother of William, Count of Poitiers, Henry the Young King and Matilda of England. He was also an older brother of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, Leonora of Aquitaine , Joan Plantagenet and John of England. Although born at Beaumont Palace, Oxford, England, he soon came to know France as his home. When his parents effectively separated, he remained in Eleanor's care, and was invested with her duchy of Aquitaine in 1168, and of Poitiers in 1172. This was his consolation prize for the fact that his eldest surviving brother, Henry the Young King, was simultaneously crowned as his father's successor. Richard and his other brother, Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, thus learned how to defend their property while still teenagers. As well as being an educated man, able to compose poetry in French and Provençal, he was also very attractive; blond, blue-eyed, his height is estimated at six feet four inches (1.93 m) tall. He gloried in military activity. From an early age he appeared to have significant political and military abilities, became noted for his chivalry and courage, and soon was able to control the unruly nobles of his territory. As with all the true-born sons of Henry II, Richard had limited respect for his father and lacked foresight and a sense of responsibility. Throughout his life preachers were to thunder at him to beware the fate of Sodom, and his marriage does not seem to have ever been consummated. However, he is known to have had at least one illegitimate child. In 1170, his elder brother Henry the Young King was crowned king of England as Henry III. Historians know him as Henry "the Young King" so as not to confuse him with the later king of this name who was his nephew. In 1173, Richard joined his brothers, Henry and Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, in a revolt against their father. They were planning to dethrone their father and leave the Young King as the only king of England. Henry II invaded Aquitaine twice. At the age of seventeen, Richard was the last of the brothers to hold out against Henry; though, in the end, he refused to fight him face to face and humbly begged his pardon. In 1174, after the end of the failed revolt, Richard gave a new oath of subservience to his father. Richard had several major reasons for discontent with his father. First was Henry's refusal to allow Richard any real power or funds despite pleas by Richard for more of both. Though placated by glittering titles such as Count of Poitou, Richard wanted more and Henry seemed unwilling to entrust any of his sons with resources that could be used against him, with very good reason. Second, and more personal, was that Henry had appropriated Princess Alys (not the same Alix as Richard's half-sister), the daughter of the French king and Richard's betrothed, as his mistress. This made a marriage between Richard and Alys technically impossible – at least in the eyes of the church, but Henry, not wishing to cause a diplomatic incident, prevaricated and did not confess to his misdeed. As for Richard, he was discouraged from renouncing Alys because she was Philip's sister. After his failure to overthrow his father, Richard concentrated on putting down internal revolts by the dissatisfied nobles of Aquitaine, especially the territory of Gascony. The increasing cruelty of his reign led to a major revolt of Gascony in 1183. Richard had a terrible reputation, including reports of various rapes and murders. The rebels hoped to dethrone Richard and asked his brothers Henry and Geoffrey to help them succeed. Their father feared that the war between his three sons could lead to the destruction of his kingdom. He led the part of his army that served in his French territories in support of Richard. The Young King's death on June 11, 1183, ended the revolt, and Richard remained on his throne. Young Henry's death left Richard as the eldest surviving son and the natural heir when the old King eventually died. However, there was some uncertainty over King Henry's intentions. When Geoffrey also died, Richard was the only realistic possibility, his youngest brother, John, being too weak and inexperienced to be considered as an alternative. From the Young King's death Richard was considered – though not officially proclaimed – heir to the joint thrones of England, Normandy and Anjou. In 1188 Henry II planned to concede Aquitaine to his youngest son John Lackland, later King John of England. In opposition to his father's plans, Richard allied himself with King Philip II of France, the son of Eleanor's ex-husband Louis VII by his third wife, Adele of Champagne. In exchange for Philip's help against his father, Richard promised to concede his rights to both Normandy and Anjou to Philip. Richard gave an oath of subservience to Philip in November of the same year. In 1189 Richard attempted to take the throne of England for himself by joining Philip's expedition against his father. They were victorious. Henry, with John's consent, agreed to name Richard his heir. On July 6, 1189 Henry II died in Chinon, and Richard I succeeded him as King of England, Duke of Normandy, and Count of Anjou. He was officially crowned duke on July 20 and king in Westminster on September 3, 1189.

Reign

Richard had forbidden any Jews to make an appearance at his coronation, but some Jewish leaders showed up anyway to present gifts for the new king. According to Ralph of Diceto, Richard's courtiers stripped and flogged the Jews, then flung them out of court. The people of London joined in to persecute the Jews, and a massacre began. Many Jews were beaten to death, robbed, and burnt alive. At least one was forcibly baptised. Some sought sanctuary in the Tower of London, and others managed to escape half-dead. However other chroniclers such as Benedict of Peterborough tell a different story; the rioting was started by the jealous and bigoted citizens of London. Richard is said to have punished the perpetrators and allowed a forcibly converted Jew to return to Judaism. The Archbishop of Canterbury reacted by remarking "If the King is not God's man, he had better be the devil's," a reference to the supposedly infernal blood in the Angevin line. Richard has been criticised for doing little for England, siphoning the kingdom's resources by appointing Jewish moneylenders to support his journeys away on Crusade in the Holy Land. Indeed, he spent only six months of his ten year reign in England, claiming it was "cold and always raining." During the period when he was raising funds for his Crusade, Richard was heard to declare, "If I could have found a buyer I would have sold London itself." Holy Land] Leaving the country in the hands of various officials he designated (including his mother, at times), Richard spent only a small fraction of his reign in England, being far more concerned with his possessions in what is now France and his battles in Palestine. He had grown up on the Continent, and had never seen any need to learn the English language. Soon after his accession to the throne, he decided to join the Third Crusade, inspired by the loss of Jerusalem to the Muslims under the command of Saladin. Afraid that, during his absence, the French might usurp his territories, Richard tried to persuade Philip to join the Crusade as well. Philip agreed and both gave their crusader oaths on the same date. Richard did not concern himself with the future of England. He wanted to engage in an adventure that would cause the troubadours to immortalise his name, as well as guaranteeing him a place in heaven. The evidence suggests that he had deep spiritual needs, and he swore an oath to renounce his past wickedness in order to show himself worthy to take the cross. He started to raise a new English crusader army, though most of his warriors were Normans, and supplied it with weapons. He spent most of his father's treasury (filled with money raised by the Saladin tithe), raised taxes, and even agreed to free King William I of Scotland from his oath of subservience to Richard in exchange for 10,000 marks. To raise even more money he sold official positions, rights, and lands to those interested in them. He finally succeeded in raising a huge army and navy. After repositioning the part of his army he left behind so that it would guard his French possessions, Richard finally started his expedition to the Holy Land in 1190. Richard appointed as regents Hugh, Bishop of Durham, and William de Mandeville, 3rd Earl of Essex, who soon died and was replaced by Richard's chancellor William Longchamp. Richard's brother John was not satisfied by this decision and started scheming against William.

The struggle for Sicily

In September 1190 both Richard and Philip arrived in Sicily. In 1189 King William II of Sicily had died. His heir was his aunt Constance, later Queen Constance of Sicily, who was married to Emperor Henry VI. But immediately after William's death, William's cousin, Tancred, rebelled, seized control of the island and was crowned early in 1190 as King Tancred I of Sicily. He was favored by the people and Pope Clement III, but he had problems with the island's nobles. Richard's arrival caused even more problems. Tancred had imprisoned William's widow, Queen Joan, who was Richard's sister, and did not give her the money she had inherited according to William's will. Richard demanded that his sister be released and given her inheritance. Meanwhile the presence of two foreign armies caused unrest among the people. In October, the people of Messina revolted, demanding that the foreigners leave the island. Richard attacked Messina and captured it on October 4, 1190. After looting and burning the city Richard established his base in it. He remained there until March 1191 when Tancred finally agreed to sign a treaty. The treaty was signed during the same month by Richard, Philip and Tancred. According to the treaty's main terms:
- Joan was to be released, receiving her inheritance along with the dowry her father had given to the deceased William.
- Richard and Philip recognized Tancred as legal King of Sicily and vowed to keep the peace between all three of their kingdoms.
- Richard officially proclaimed his nephew, the son of Geoffrey, Arthur of Brittany, as his heir, and Tancred promised to later marry one of his daughters to Arthur when he came of age (Arthur was only four years old at the time). After signing the treaty Richard and Philip left Sicily. The treaty undermined England's relationships with the Holy Roman Empire and caused the revolt of Richard's brother John, who hoped to be proclaimed heir instead of their nephew. Although his revolt failed, John continued to scheme against his brother after this point.

Richard on the Third Crusade

In April 1191, Richard stopped on the Byzantine island of Rhodes to avoid the stormy weather. It seems that Richard had previously met his fiancée Berengaria only once, years before their marriage. He had assigned his mother to represent him and convince her father, Sancho VI of Navarre, and her other relatives to agree to the marriage, and to bring the bride to the wedding. Richard came to their rescue when they were shipwrecked on the coast of Cyprus. He left Rhodes in May but a new storm drove Richard's fleet to the island. On May 6, 1191, Richard's fleet arrived in the port of Lemesos (now Limassol). Richard captured the city. When the island's despot Isaac Dukas Comnenus arrived to stop the Crusaders he discovered he was too late, and retired to Kolossi. Richard called Isaac to negotiations but Isaac broke his oath of hospitality and started demanding Richard's departure. Richard ordered his cavalry to follow him in a battle against Isaac's army in Tremetusia. The few Roman Catholics of the island joined Richard's army and so did the island's nobles who were dissatisfied with Isaac's seven years of tyrannical rule. Though Isaac and his men fought bravely, Richard's army was bigger and better equipped, assuring his victory. Isaac continued to resist from the castles of Pentadactylos but after the siege of his castle of Kantara he finally surrendered. Richard became the new ruler of Cyprus. castle of Kantara Richard looted the island and massacred those trying to resist him. Meanwhile, Richard was finally able to marry Berengaria, first-born daughter of King Sancho VI of Navarre, whose brother Sancho (the future Sancho VII) was allegedly one of Richard's early lovers. The marriage was held in Limassol on May 12, 1191 at the Chapel of St. George. It was attended by his sister Joan, whom Richard had brought from Sicily. There were no children from the marriage; opinions vary as to whether it was ever a love match. The unfortunate Berengaria had almost as much difficulty in making the journey home as her husband did, and did not see England until after his death. From Cyprus onwards, Richard had among his friends and allies a Franco-Syrian noble, Humphrey IV of Toron, the former husband of Richard's father's first cousin Isabella, Queen of Jerusalem. The young Humphrey was the dispossessed Lord of Toron, Oultrejordain, etc. He knew the Muslim culture and spoke Arabic, whereby Richard used him as his translator and negotiator. As contemporary sources alleged, Humphrey was not suited to married life and was known as soft and effeminate. (He did not want to oppose the other lords, and therefore had consented to the forced divorce from Richard's cousin.) As contemporary sources say, Richard had a deep affection for Humphrey. Humphrey died sometime in the mid-1190s. Whether Richard's marriage with Berengaria was ever even consummated is a matter for conjecture. (Though it should be noted that when Richard married Berengaria he was still officially betrothed to Alys and that Richard pushed for the match, in order to obtain Navarre as a fief like Aquitaine for his father.) Richard had a terrible womanising reputation, but he took his new wife with him briefly on this episode of the crusade. However, they returned separately. Although, after his release from German captivity, Richard showed some degree of regret for his earlier conduct, he was not joined by his wife. The fact that the marriage was childless is inconclusive, but it is certainly true that Richard had to be ordered by a priest to reunite with and to show fidelity to Berengaria in the future, with the language he used being the main source cited for a 20th century theory that Richard had been engaged in homosexual activities. Nevertheless, when he died in 1199, she was greatly distressed, apparently having loved her husband very much. Richard and most of his army left Cyprus for the Holy Land early in June. In his absence Cyprus would be governed by Richard Camville. King Richard arrived at Acre in June 1191, in time to relieve the siege of the city by Saladin. Deserted by Philip and having fallen out with Duke Leopold V of Austria, he suddenly found himself without allies. Richard's tactics ensured success at the siege of Acre and on the subsequent march south, Saladin's men being unable to harass the Crusader army into an impulsive action which might not have gone their way. However, the desertion of the French king had been a major blow, from which they could not hope to recover. Realising that he had no hope of holding Jerusalem even if he took it, Richard sadly ordered a retreat. Despite being only a few miles from the city, he refused, thereafter, to set eyes on it, since God had ordained that he should not be the one to conquer it. He had finally realised that his return home could be postponed no longer, since both Philip and John were taking advantage of his absence to make themselves more powerful. Having planned to leave Conrad of Montferrat as "King" of Jerusalem and Cyprus in the hands of his own protégé, Guy of Lusignan, Richard was dealt another blow when Conrad was assassinated before he could be crowned. His replacement was Richard's own nephew, Henry II of Champagne.

Captivity and return

Bad luck dogged Richard on his return home. Bad weather forced his ship to put in at Corfu, the territory of the Byzantine Emperor Isaac Angelus, who was still angry at Richard for his annexation of Cyprus. Disguised as a Knight Templar, Richard sailed from Corfu with four attendants in a pirate ship, which wrecked near Aquileia, forcing Richard and his party into a dangerous land route through central Europe. On his way to the territory of Henry of Saxony, his brother-in-law, Richard was captured shortly before Christmas 1192 only a few miles from the Moravian border, near Vienna, by Leopold V of Austria, who accused Richard of ordering the death of Conrad. Richard and his retainers had been traveling disguised as pilgrims, complete with flowing beards and tattered clothes. Richard himself was dressed like a kitchen hand, but was identified because he was wearing a magnificent and costly ring no menial worker could afford. (Another tale claimed he was identified by his insistence on eating roast chicken, a great delicacy reserved for nobility.) The Duke handed him over as a prisoner to Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor after being held captive at Dürnstein. Although the circumstances of his captivity were not severe, he was frustrated by his inability to travel freely. Richard once proudly declared, "I am born of a rank which recognizes no superior but God" to the emperor. His mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, worked tirelessly to raise the exorbitant ransom of 150,000 marks demanded by the German emperor, which was twice the annual income for the English Crown. Both clergy and laymen were taxed for a quarter of the value of their property, the gold and silver treasures of the churches were confiscated, and money was raised from the scutage and the carucage taxes. The emperor demanded that 100,000 marks be delivered to him before he would release the king, the same amount that had been raised by the Saladin tithe only a few years earlier. At the same time, John, Richard's brother, and King Philip offered 80,000 marks for the Emperor to hold Richard prisoner until Michaelmas 1194. The emperor turned down the offer. The money to rescue the King was transferred to Germany by the emperor's ambassadors, but "at the king's peril" (had it been lost along the way, Richard would have been held responsible), and finally, on February 4, 1194 Richard was released. King Philip of France sent a message to John: "Look to yourself; the devil is loose."

Later years and death

John During his absence, John had come close to seizing the throne; Richard forgave him, and even named him as his heir in place of Arthur, who was growing into an unpleasant youth. Instead of turning against John, Richard came into conflict with his former ally and friend, King Philip. When Philip attacked Richard's fortress, Chateau-Gaillard, he boasted that "if its walls were iron, yet would I take it", to which Richard replied, "If these walls were butter, yet would I hold them!" Chateau-Gaillard] After his many famous battles, it was a minor skirmish with the rebellious castle of Châlus-Charbrol in Limousin, France, on 26 March, 1199 that would take Richard's life. Richard had laid siege to the castle in pursuit of a claim to treasure-trove. Pierre Basile was one of only two knights defending Châlus. Richard, who had removed some of his chainmail, was wounded in the shoulder by a crossbow bolt launched from a tower by Basile. Gangrene set in and Richard asked to see his killer. He ordered that Basile be set free and awarded a sum of money. However as soon as Richard died, with his 77-year-old mother Eleanor at his side, on 6 April, 1199, Mercadier had Basile flayed alive and then hanged. Richard's existence had been a series of contradictions. Although he had neglected his wife, Berengaria, and had to be commanded by priests to be faithful to her, she was distraught at the news of his death. No heir was born of their marriage. Richard's bowels were buried at the foot of the tower from which the shot was loosed, his heart was buried at Rouen, while the rest of his remains were buried next to his father at Fontevraud Abbey near Chinon and Saumur, France.

Legacy

Saumur in London.]] As Richard produced no heirs, he was succeeded by his brother John as king of England. However, his French territories initially rejected John as a successor, preferring his nephew Arthur of Brittany, the son of their late brother Geoffrey, whose claim was technically better than John's. Significantly, the lack of any direct heirs from Richard was the first step in the disolution of the Angevin Empire. While England continued to press claims to properties on the continent, it would never again command the territories Richard I inherited. In the long term Richard's legacy has to be viewed through the lens of his personality and personal accomplishments. There is no doubt that Richard had many admirable qualities, as well as many bad ones. The most succinct summation of his character is from Winston Churchill: :"Although a man of blood and violence, Richard was too impetuous to be either treacherous or habitually cruel. He was as ready to forgive as he was hasty to offend; he was open-handed and munificent to profusion; in war circumspect in design and skillful in execution; in politics a child, lacking in subtlety and experience. His political alliances were formed upon his likes and dislikes; his political schemes had neither unity nor clearness of purpose. The advantages gained for him by military genius were flung away through diplomatic ineptitude." Richard was a pure military man and while politically astute in some ways, he was incredibly foolish in others. He combined moments of great largesse and humility with great arrogance and ruthlessness. He was revered by his most worthy rival, Saladin, and respected by the Emperor Henry, but hated by many who had been his friends, especially King Philip. He was often careless of his own safety: the wound which killed him need not have been inflicted at all if he had been properly armoured. Almost the same thing had happened, ten years earlier when, while feuding with his father, he had encountered William Marshal while unarmed and had to beg for his life. These contradictions of his character fascinated his contemporaries, many of whom held him up as an exemplar of chivalry. In the long run Richard's legacy comprised several parts. First, he captured Cyprus, which proved immensely valuable in keeping the Frankish kingdoms in the Holy Land viable for another century. Secondly, his absence from the English political landscape meant that the highly efficient government created by his father was allowed to entrench itself, though King John would later abuse it to the breaking point. As Sir Winston Churchill pointed out, this was the embryo beginning of the English Civil Service and "proved that the King, to whom all allegiance had been rendered, was no longer the sole guarantee for law and order." The last part of Richard's legacy was romantic and literary. No matter the facts of his reign, he left an indelible imprint on the imagination extending to the present, in large part because of his military exploits. This is reflected in Steven Runciman's final verdict of Richard I: "he was a bad son, a bad husband and a bad king, but a gallant and splendid soldier."

Folklore

Over the years the figures of Robin Hood and Richard I have become closely linked. However, in the earliest Robin Hood ballads the only king mentioned is "Edward our comely king", presumably Edward I, II, or III. It was not until much later that a connection came to be made between the two men. The typical usage of the link is that the major political goal of Robin's war is to restore Richard to the throne after Prince John usurped it. Another fictional aspect to Richard's life is the legend of his minstrel, Blondel, who, after Richard's capture, traveled Europe, going from castle to castle and loudly singing a song known only to the two of them. Eventually, the story goes, he came to the place where Richard was being held, and heard the song answered with the appropriate refrain, thus revealing where the king was incarcerated. Due to his bravery, savagery, and fame in the Arabic world, Richard became a bit of a bogeyman in the Middle East for centuries after his death. Mothers would occasionally threaten unruly children with the admonition "King Richard will get you" well into the late 19th century.

Fictional portrayals

Richard has appeared frequently in fictional works. Beyond his role in the Robin Hood legend, Richard appears in several works by Sir Walter Scott, including Ivanhoe (in which he initially adopts the pseudonym of le Noir Fainéant, meaning "The black sluggard") and The Talisman. He is also a major character in James Goldman's play The Lion in Winter. Richard has also been portrayed on film numerous times. Wallace Berry played Richard in the 1922 silent film, "Robin Hood" with Douglas Fairbanks. Cecil B. DeMille cast Henry Wilcoxon as Richard in his 1935 film "The Crusades." Ian Hunter played Richard in the 1938 film The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn. Richard was played by George Sanders in the 1954 film King Richard and the Crusaders (loosely based on The Talisman). Anthony Hopkins played him in the film version of The Lion in Winter. Richard Harris played him in Robin and Marian (a very unromantic portrayal). Sean Connery played him in an uncredited cameo in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, a role which was parodied two years later by Patrick Stewart in Mel Brooks's comedic Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Iain Glen played Richard in a brief appearance at the end of the 2005 film Kingdom of Heaven. Other actors have played Richard on film and television, including numerous adaptations of Ivanhoe and other versions of the Robin Hood legend. The 1965 Doctor Who television serial "The Crusade" is set during Richard's conflict with Saladin, and features Julian Glover as Richard. John Rhys-Davies played Richard in one episode of the 1980s television series Robin of Sherwood. Andrew Howard played Richard in a 2003 television adaptation of The Lion in Winter.

See also


- Crusade and Death of Richard I

References


- 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
- Roger de Hoveden
- Ralph of Diceto
- Gillingham, John. Richard the Lionheart, 1978

External links


- [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/hoveden1.html Roger of Hoveden on Richard the Lion-Hearted and King Philip II of France]
- [http://www.shadowedrealm.com/articles/exclusive/article.php?id=17 Richard and Saladin: Warriors of the Third Crusade] | width="30%" align="center" rowspan="2"|Preceded by:
Henry II | width="40%" align="center"|King of England
1189–1199 | width="30%" align="center" rowspan="3"|Succeeded by:
John |- | width="40%" align="center"|Duke of Normandy
1189–1199 |- | width="30%" align="center" rowspan="2"|… with Henry the Young King | width="40%" align="center"|Count of Maine
1189–1199 |- | width="40%" align="center" | Count of Anjou
1189–1199 | width="30%" align="center" | Succeeded by:
Arthur |- | width="30%" align="center" |… with Eleanor | width="40%" align="center" | Duke of Aquitaine
1189–1199 | width="30%" align="center" | Succeeded by:
John Category:1157 births Category:1199 deaths Category:Counts of Anjou Category:Crusades Category:Dukes of Normandy Category:English monarchs Category:Heirs to the English & British thrones Category:House of Anjou Category:Natives of Oxfordshire ja:リチャード1世 (イングランド王) simple:Richard I of England th:ริชาร์ดที่ 1 แห่งอังกฤษ

Charles the Fat

Charles the Fat (in French: Charles le Gros) (c. 832–January 13, 888) was a king of East Franks, king of Italy, a King of France and, as Charles III, Holy Roman Emperor. He was the son of Louis the German. Granted lordship over Alemannia in 876, he became King of Italy in 879 upon the abdication of his older brother Carloman. Crowned Emperor in 881, his succession to the territories of his brother Louis the Younger the following year reunited the entire Kingdom of the East Franks (Germany). Upon the death of Carloman, the King of the West Franks (France), on December 12, 884, he achieved that throne as well, thus reviving, if only briefly, the entire Carolingian Empire, aside from Burgundy. His rise to power was accompanied by hopes of a general revival in western Europe, but he proved unequal to the task. Lethargic and inept — he is known to have had repeated illnesses which are believed to have been epilepsy — he conducted several unsuccessful expeditions in Italy against Saracen incursions, and purchased peace with Viking raiders at the Siege of Paris in 886. In 885, he sought to have his illegitimate son, Bernard, confirmed as his successor at the Diet of Worms, for he was childless in his marriage to Richardis. Pope Hadrian III died en route to Worms at Nonantula. The nobility, however, soundly rejected any such course and events in Italy took his attention away. With Charles increasingly seen as spineless and incompetent, matters came to a head in late 887, when an ambitious nephew, Arnulf, fomented a general rebellion and seized Germany in November. Charles did nothing to prevent the move and, retiring to Neidingen, died two months later, on January 13, 888. His empire broke asunder, never to be restored — Arnulf retained Germany and Lotharingia, France was obtained by Odo, Count of Paris, Italy by Berengar of Friuli, Upper Burgundy by Rudolph and Provence by Louis the Blind. Category:830s births Category:888 deaths Charles 03 Category:German Kings Category:Holy Roman emperors Category:Kings of Burgundy ja:カール3世 (フランク王)

Charles the Bald

] Charles the Bald (Charles II of France and Holy Roman Emperor Charles II) (French: Charles le Chauve) (June 13, 823 - October 5 or 6, 877), Holy Roman Emperor and king of the West Franks, was the son of emperor Louis the Pious and his second wife Judith. He was born on June 13 823, when his elder brothers were already adults and had been assigned their own regna, or subkingdoms, by their father. The attempts made by Louis the Pious to assign Charles a subkingdom, first Alemannia (829), then the country between the Meuse and the Pyrenees (839), at the expense of his half-brothers Lothair and Louis the German led to a rising on the part of these two against the emperor. The death of the emperor in 840 led to the outbreak of war between his sons. Charles allied himself with his brother Louis the German to resist the pretensions of the new emperor Lothair I, and the two allies defeated Lothair at Fontenoy-en-Puisaye on June 25 841. In the following year, the two brothers confirmed their alliance by the celebrated oaths of Strassburg. The war was brought to an end by the treaty of Verdun in August 843. The settlement gave Charles the Bald the kingdom of the western Franks, which practically corresponded with what is now France, as far as the Meuse, the Saône and the Rhone, with the addition of the Spanish March as far as the Ebro. Louis received the eastern part of the old Empire, hence known as the East Frankish Empire. Lothair retained the imperial title and the central regions from Flanders through the Rhineland and Burgundy into northern Italy. The first years of Charles' reign, up to the death of Lothair I in 855, were comparatively peaceful. During these years the three brothers continued the system of "confraternal government", meeting repeatedly with one another, at Koblenz (848), at Meerssen (851), and at Attigny (854). In 858, Louis the German, invited by disaffected nobles eager to oust Charles, invaded the western Frankish kingdom. Charles' was so unpopular that he was unable to summon an army, and he fled to Burgundy. He was saved only by the support of the bishops, who refused to crown Louis king, and by the fidelity of the Welfs, who were related to his mother, Judith. In 860 he in his turn tried to seize the kingdom of his nephew, Charles of Provence, but was repulsed. On the death of his nephew Lothair II in 869, Charles tried to seize Lothair's dominions, but by the treaty of Meerssen (870) was compelled to share them with Louis the German. Besides these family disputes, Charles had to struggle against repeated rebellions in Aquitaine and against the Bretons. Led by their chiefs Nomenoë and Erispoë, who defeated the king at Ballon (845) and Juvardeil (851), the Bretons were somewhat successful. Charles also fought against the Normans, who devastated the country in the north of Gaul, the valleys of the Seine and Loire, and even up to the borders of Aquitaine. Several times Charles was forced to purchase their retreat at a heavy price. Charles led various expeditions against the invaders, and tried to put a barrier in their way by having fortified bridges built over all the rivers. In 875, after the death of the Emperor Louis II (son of his half-brother Lothair), Charles the Bald, supported by Pope John VIII, traveled to Italy, receiving the royal crown at Pavia and the imperial insignia in Rome on (December 29). Louis the German, also a candidate for the succession of Louis II, revenged himself by invading and devastating Charles' dominions, and Charles had to return hastily to Francia. After the death of Louis the German (August 28, 876), Charles in his turn attempted to seize Louis' kingdom, but was decisively beaten at Andernach on October 8, 876. In the meantime, John VIII, menaced by the Saracens, was urging Charles to come to his defence in Italy. Charles again crossed the Alps, but this expedition was received with little enthusiasm by the nobles, and even by his brother-in-law Boso, who had been entrusted by Charles with the government of Lombardy, and they refused to join his army. At the same time Carloman, son of Louis the German, entered northern Italy. Charles, ill and in great distress, started on his way back to Gaul, but died while crossing the pass of Mont Cenis at Brides-les-Bain, France, on the 5th or 6th of October 877. Charles was succeeded by his son, Louis, the child of Ermentrude, daughter of Odo, Count of Orleans, whom Charles had married in 842 and who had died in 869. In 870 Charles had married Richilde, who was descended from a noble family of Lorraine, but none of the children he had with her played a part of any importance. Charles seems to have been a prince of education and letters, a friend of the church, and conscious of the support he could find in the episcopate against his unruly nobles, for he chose his councillors from among the higher clergy, as in the case of Guenelon of Sens, who betrayed him, or of Hincmar of Reims.

References


- Category:823 births Category:877 deaths Charles 02 Category:Holy Roman emperors Category:Kings of Burgundy ja:シャルル2世 (西フランク王)

Racial epithet

: List of ethnic slurs

Kenning

This article is about kenning as a poetic notion. See Kenning (disambiguation) for other meanings. In literature, a kenning is a compound poetic phrase substituted for the usual name of a person or thing. For example the sea in Old English could be called seġl-rād 'sail-road', swan-rād 'swan-road', bæþ-weġ 'bath-way' or hwæl-weġ 'whale-way'. In line 10 of the epic Beowulf the sea is called the hronrāde or 'whale-road'. The word is derived from the Old Norse phrase kenna eitt við, "to express a thing in terms of another", and is prevalent throughout Norse, Anglo-Saxon literature and Celtic literature. Kennings are especially associated with the practice of alliterative verse, where they tend to become traditional fixed formulas. A good knowledge of mythology was necessary in order to understand the kennings, which is one of the reasons why Snorri Sturluson composed the Younger Edda as a work of reference for aspiring poets. Here is an example of how important this knowledge was. It was composed by the Norwegian skald Eyvind Finnson (d. ca 990), and he compares the greed of king Harald Gråfell to the generosity of his predecessor Haakon the Good: :Bárum Ullr, of alla :ímunlauks, á hauka :fjöllum Fyrisvalla :fræ Hákonar ævi; :nú hefr fólkstríðir Fróða :fáglýjaðra þýja :meldr í móður holdi :mellu dolgs of folginn Translation in prose: Ullr, the onion of war! We carried the seeds of the Fyrisvellir on the mountains of the hawks during all of Hakon's life; now the enemy of the people has hidden the flour of Fródi's hapless slaves in the flesh of the mother of the enemy of the giantesses. Onion of war is a kenning for "sword" and names for gods were often used as base word in kennings for men and women. Ullr, the onion of war means "warrior" and refers to king Harald. The seeds of the Fyrisvellir means "gold" and refers to Hrólf Kraki's saga and it was the stolen gold that Hrólf's men spread on the wolds (vellir) south of Gamla Uppsala fleeing the Swedish king Adils in order to make the king's men dismount and collect the gold. The mountains of the hawks is based to the knowledge that royalty often had tame falcons and hawks that they carried on their arms, and means "arms". In the second part the flour of Fródi's hapless slaves means "gold" and in order to understand the kenning, we need to know Grottisöng and the legend of the Danish king Fródi. In Sweden, he bought the giantesses Fenja and Menja whom he had grind a mill that produced gold as if it were flour. The two giantesses were hapless because Fródi never let them rest and in revenge they finally produced bad luck and war until the mill broke down and Fródi's hall burnt. The flesh of the mother of the enemy of the giantesses refers to the Earth (Jörd), as she was the mother of Thor, the enemy of the Jotuns. A list of kennings may be consulted for reference purposes. A notable peculiarity of kennings is the possibility of constructing complicated kenning strings by means of consecutive substitution. For example, those who are keen in kenning readily know that slaughter dew worm dance is battle, since slaughter dew is blood, blood worm is sword, and sword dance is battle. Another kind of wordplay is based on the inversion of kennings. For example, if sword dance is battle and spear-din is another kenning for battle, then sword may easily become "spear-din dancer". The root "ken" is still used in Scandinavian (känna) and in German (kennen) whereas its English use is restricted to Scots and the North of England. In northern Britain it is used in describing what a person knows about something or what they see, especially when seafaring. For instance, if somebody queries the happenings of the North Sea, of a lighthouse resident, the watcher would say they are kenning this or that. The root was applied to the "k" rune, pronounced similarly.

Modern kennings

Despite the archaic connotations of the term, many kennings exist in the modern lexis:
- "The devil's dandruff" - cocaine.
- "Falling over juice" - alcohol.
- "The Game of Kings" - various sports, primarily tennis.
- "The Beautiful Game" - football.
- "wood-pusher" - skateboarder

See also


- synecdoche
- metonymy
- heiti

External links


- [http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/kennings/kennings.html Jörmungrund: Lexicon of Kennings — The Domain of Battle] Category:Medieval literature Category:Nordic folklore Category:Norse mythology Category:Sagas of Iceland Category:Poetic form Category:Viking Age

Beowulf

:This article describes Beowulf, the epic poem. For the character Beowulf, see Beowulf (hero). For other uses, see Beowulf (disambiguation). Beowulf (c. 700-1000 AD), is a traditional heroic epic poem, similiar in style and content to The Ley of Lothwell and Lupocaan, written in Old English alliterative verse. At 3,182 lines — longer than any other Old English poem — it represents about 10% of the extant corpus of Old English poetry. The poem is untitled in the manuscript, but has been known as Beowulf since the early 19th century.

Background and origins

19th century) was indicated as the barrow of Ohthere by local tradition, an excavation was undertaken in 1917. The dating was consistent with that of Beowulf and the sagas: the early 6th century. Norse sources also relate that a place called Vendel was the place of Ohthere's death]] Beowulf is one of the oldest surviving epic poems in what is identifiable as an early form of the English language (the oldest surviving text in Old English is Caedmon's hymn of creation). The precise date of the manuscript is debated, but most estimates place it close to 1000. There is no general agreement on when the poem was originally composed. Some scholars argue that archaic forms of words that appear in the text suggest that the poem comes from the early 8th century, while others place it as late as the 10th century, near the time of the manuscript's copying. The poem appears in what is today called the Beowulf manuscript or Nowell Codex (British Library MS Cotton Vitellius A.xv), along with the shorter poem Judith and a handful of other works. The manuscript is the product of two different scribes, the second taking over roughly halfway through Beowulf. In the poem, Beowulf, a hero of a Germanic tribe from southern Sweden called the Geats, travels to Denmark to help defeat a terrible monster. Why was a poem about Danish and Swedish kings and heroes preserved in England? The English people are descendants of Germanic tribes called the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. Jutes and northern Saxon tribes came from what is now southern Denmark and northern Germany. Thus, Beowulf tells a story about the old days in their homeland. The poem is a work of fiction, but it mentions a historic event, the raid by king Hygelac into Frisia, ca 516. Several of the personalities of Beowulf (e.g., Hrothgar, Hrothulf and Ohthere) and some of the events also appear in early Scandinavian sources, such as the Prose Edda, Gesta Danorum, the fornaldarsagas, etc. In these sources, especially the Hrólf Kraki tales deal with the same set of people in Denmark and Sweden (see Origins for Beowulf and Hrólf Kraki). The hero himself, appears to correspond to Bödvar Bjarki, the battle bear, and it is possible to read the name Beowulf as bee-wolf, a kenning for "bear" (due to their love of honey). Consequently, many people and events depicted in the epic were probably real, dating from between 450 and 600 in Denmark and southern Sweden (Geats and Swedes). As far as Sweden is concerned this dating has been confirmed by archaeological excavations of the barrows indicated by Snorri Sturluson and by Swedish tradition as the graves of Eadgils and Ohthere in Uppland. Like the Finnsburg Fragment and several shorter surviving poems, Beowulf has consequently been used as a source of information about Scandinavian personalities such as Eadgils and Hygelac, and about continental Germanic personalities such as Offa, king of the continental Angles. Angles, according to Snorri Sturluson. When Eadgils' mound (to the left) was excavated, in 1874, the finds supported Beowulf and the sagas. They showed that a powerful man was buried in this large barrow, c 575, on a bear skin with two dogs and rich grave offerings. These remains include a Frankish sword adorned with gold and garnets and a tafl game with Roman pawns of ivory. He was dressed in a costly suit made of Frankish cloth with golden threads, and he wore a belt with a costly buckle. There were four cameos from the Middle East which were probably part of a casket. A burial fitting a king who was famous for his wealth in Old Norse sources. Ongentheow's barrow to the right has not been excavated]] The traditions behind the poem would have arrived in England at a time when the Anglo-Saxons were still in close dynastic and personal contacts with their Germanic kinsmen in Scandinavia and northern Germany. It is the only substantial Old English poem to survive that addresses matters heroic rather than Christian. The poem is known only from a single manuscript. The spellings in the surviving copy of the poem mix the West Saxon and Anglian dialects of Old English, though they are predominantly West Saxon, as are other Old English poems copied at the time. The earliest known owner is the 16th century scholar Lawrence Nowell, after whom the manuscript is known, though its official designation is Cotton Vitellius A.XV due to its inclusion in the catalog of Robert Bruce Cotton's holdings in the middle of the 17th century. It suffered irrepairable damage in the Cotton Library fire at the ominously-named Ashburnham House in 1731. Icelandic scholar Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin made the first transcription of the manuscript in 1786 and published it in 1815, working under a historical research commission of the Danish government. Since that time, the manuscript has suffered additional decay, and the Thorkelin transcripts remain a prized secondary source for Beowulf scholars. Their accuracy has been called into question, however (e.g., by Chauncey Brewster Tinker in The Translations of Beowulf, a comprehensive survey of 19th century translations and editions of Beowulf), and the extent to which the manuscript was actually more readable in Thorkelin's time is unclear. A turning point in Beowulf scholarship came in 1936 with J. R. R. Tolkien's article Beowulf: the monsters and the critics when for the first time the poem, and Anglo-Saxon literature, was seriously examined for its literary merits—not just scholarship about the origins of the English language as was popular in the 19th century. Perhaps no other single academic article has been so instrumental in converting a medieval piece of literature from obscurity to prominence.

Themes and story

The poem as we know it is a retelling of folktales from the Oral tradition for a Christian audience. It is often assumed that the work was written by a Christian monk, on the grounds that they were the only members of Anglo-Saxon society with access to writing materials. However, the example of King Alfred forces us to consider the possibility of lay authorship. In historical terms the poem's characters would have been pagans, but the narrator places events in a Biblical context, casting Grendel and Grendel's Mother as the kin of Cain, and placing monotheistic sentiments in his characters' mouths. There are no direct references to Jesus in the text of the poem, although the book of Genesis serves as a touchstone. [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=KjvGene.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=4&division=div1]. Scholars disagree as to whether Beowulfs main thematic thrust is pagan or Christian in nature. However, it can be debated that since the only calligraphers were priests, it is possible that the story was, in fact, changed by a Christian who sought to apply a Christian character to his source. Thus reflecting the above historical context, Beowulf depicts a Germanic warrior society, in which the relationship between the leader, or king, and his thanes is of paramount importance. This relationship is defined in terms of provision and service; the thanes defend the interest of the king in return for material provisions: weapons, armor, gold, silver, food, and drinks. This society is strongly defined in terms of kinship; if a relative is killed it is the duty of surviving relatives to exact revenge upon his killer, either with his own life or with weregild, a reparational payment. In fact, the hero's very existence owes itself to this fact, as his father Ecgtheow was banished for having killed Heatholaf, a man from the prominent Wulfing clan. He sought refuge at the court of Hrothgar who graciously paid the weregild. Ecgtheow did not return home, but became one of the Geatish king Hrethel's housecarls and married his daughter, by whom he had Beowulf. The duty of avenging killed kinsmen became the undoing of king Hrethel, himself, because when his oldest son Herebeald was killed by his own brother Hæthcyn in a hunting accident, it was a death that could not be avenged. Hrethel died from the sorrow. Moreover, this is a world governed by fate and destiny. The belief that fate controls him is a central factor in all of Beowulf's actions. The story of Beowulf tells how King Hrothgar built a great hall called Heorot for his people. In it he and his warriors spend their time singing and celebrating, until Grendel, angered by their singing, attacks the hall and kills and eats many of Hrothgar's warriors. Hrothgar and his men, helpless against Grendel's attacks, have to abandon Heorot. Beowulf, a young warrior, hears of Hrothgar's troubles and, with his king's permission, goes to help Hrothgar. Beowulf and his men spend the night in Heorot. After they fall asleep, Grendel enters the hall and attacks them, eating up one of Beowulf's men. Beowulf grabs Grendel's arm in a wrestling hold, and the two crash around in Heorot until it seems as though the hall will fall down with their fighting. Beowulf's men draw their swords and rush to his help, but there is magic around Grendel that makes it impossible for swords to hurt him. Finally, Beowulf tears Grendel's arm from his body, and Grendel runs home to die. The next night, after celebrating Grendel's death, Hrothgar and his men sleep in Heorot. But Grendel's Mother attacks the hall, killing Hrothgar's most trusted warrior in revenge for Grendel's death. Hrothgar and Beowulf and their men track Grendel's Mother to her lair under an eerie lake. Beowulf prepares himself for battle; he is presented with a sword, Hrunting, by a warrior called Unferth. After stipulating a number of conditions upon his death to Hrothgar (including the taking in of his kinsmen, and the inheritance by Unferth of Beowulf's estate), Beowulf dives into the lake. There, he is swiftly detected and grasped by Grendel's mother. She, unable to harm Beowulf through his armour, drags him to the bottom. There, in a cavern containing son's body and the remains of many men that the two have killed, Grendel's mother fights Beowulf. Grendel's mother at first prevails, after Beowulf, finding that the sword given him by Unferth cannot harm his foe, discards it in a fury. Again, he is saved from the effects of his opponent's attack by his armour and, grasping a mighty sword from Grendel's mother's armoury (which, the poem tells us, no other man could have hefted in battle) Beowulf beheads her. Travelling further into the lair, Beowulf discovers Grendel's corpse; he severs the head, and with it he returns to Heorot, where he is given many gifts by an even more grateful Hrothgar. Beowulf returns home and eventually becomes king of his own people. One day, late in Beowulf's life, a man steals a golden cup from a dragon's lair. When the dragon sees that the cup has been stolen, it leaves its cave in a rage, burning up everything in sight. Beowulf and his warriors come to fight the dragon, but only one of the warriors, a young man named Wiglaf, stays to help Beowulf. Beowulf kills the dragon with Wiglaf's help, but dies from the wounds he has received. The dragon's treasure is taken from its lair and buried with Beowulf's ashes. And with that the poem ends. As the Norton Anthology of English Literature indicates, most scholars believe that Beowulf was written by a Christian poet [http://www.wwnorton.com/nael/middleages/review/summary.htm#3]. Grendel and Grendel's Mother are described as descendants of Cain, and share similarities with antagonists in medieval Christian stories. Since, the Beowulf poet was also very knowledgeable about pagan beliefs, the descriptions of Grendel and Grendel's mother, for example, could owe as much to pagan beliefs about trolls as they do to Christian beliefs about demons. In addition, Beowulf's cremation at the end of the poem also refers to a pagan practice. Even though Beowulf was a pagan, the poem's Christian audience could admire his heroic deeds. Beowulf may thus be a product of the poet's knowledge of both Christian beliefs and the ancient history of his people. In combining them as he did, the Beowulf poet created a wonderful story.

Old English glossaries and modern English translations

Beowulf is the longest poem that has come down to us from Old English, the ancient form of modern English. The opening lines state: "Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum þeodcyninga þrym gefrunon hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon." In modern English, this reads: "What! We have heard of the glory of the spear-Danes in the old days, of the people's kings, how the princes did deeds of valor." Old English poetry such as Beowulf is very different from modern poetry. It was probably recited, for few people at that time were able to read. Instead of rhyme, poets typically used alliteration--a technique in which the first sound of each word in a line is the same, as in "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers." A line of Old English poetry usually has three words that alliterate. The meter, or rhythm, of the poetry works together with the alliteration: The stress in a line falls on the first syllables of the words that alliterate, as in the line "weo'x under wo'lcnum, weo'rðmyndum þah." (He grew under the sky, he prospered in his glory.) Old English poets also used kennings, poetic ways of saying simple things. For example, a poet might call the sea the swan-road or the whale-road; a king might be called a ring-giver. There are many kennings in Beowulf. In fact, some scholars think the name Beowulf itself may be a kenning. It may mean "bee-wolf," a term for a bear, which attacks beehives the way a wolf attacks other animals.(Gay, David E., "Beowulf."The New Book of Knowledge. Scholastic Library Publishing, 2005 (October 17, 2005)) Fr. Klaeber's Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg has been the standard Old English text/glossary used by scholars since the 1920s. Two recent Old English text/glossaries include George Jack's 1997, Beowulf : A Student Edition. and Bruce Mitchell's 1998, Beowulf: An Edition with Relevant Shorter Texts. The first translation, by Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin, was to Latin, in connection with the first publication of his transcription. Nicolai Grundtvig, greatly unsatisfied with this translation, made the first translation into a modern language — Danish — which was published in 1820. After Grundtvig's travels to England came the first English translation, by J. M. Kemble in 1837. Since then there have been numerous translations of the poem in English. Irish poet Seamus Heaney and E. Talbot Donaldson have both published translations with W.W. Norton of New York. Other popular translations of the poem include those by Howell D. Chickering and Frederick Rebsamen. J. R. R. Tolkien believed the translation by J. J. Earle was not accurate, and did not convey the meaning and symbolism of the storyline or the beauty of the prose of the poem. Chauncey Brewster Tinker was much more positive, however.

Form

The poem is in alliterative measure, in which the alliterative unit is the line and the metrical unit is the half-line. Its poetic vocabulary included sets of metrical compounds that are varied according to alliterative needs. It also makes extensive use of elided metaphors. The two halves of the poem are distinguished in many ways: youth then age; Denmark, then Geatland; the hall, then the barrow; public, then intimate; diverse, then focussed. Here is a small sample including the first naming in the poem of Beowulf himself. After each line is translation to modern English. A freely-available translation of the poem, now out of copyright, is that of Francis Gummere. It can be had at Project Gutenberg [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/981].

Influence upon contemporary works and pop culture

Literature


- The Catcher in the Rye: Holden Caulfield mentions Beowulf when explaining why English was the only subject he passed while attending Pencey Prep.
- Eaters of the Dead: The Beowulf story, in combination with the 10th century Arabic narrative of Aḩmad ibn Faḑlān, was used as the basis for this Michael Crichton novel.
- Grendel: The Beowulf story is retold from Grendel's point of view in this (1971) novel by John Gardner.
- The Heorot series of science-fiction novels, by Steven Barnes, Jerry Pournelle, and Larry Niven, is named after the stronghold of King Hrothgar and partly parallels Beowulf.
- Inheritance Trilogy: The King of the Dwarves in the these novels by Christopher Paolini is named Hrothgar, the same as the King of the Danes in Beowulf.
- The Lord of the Rings: Beowulf exercised an important influence on J. R. R. Tolkien, who wrote the landmark essay Beowulf: the monsters and the critics while a professor at Oxford University. Tolkien also translated the poem,which the Tolkien Society has recently decided to publish. Grendel and Grendel's mother were the inspiration for the Orcs in his Ring trilogy. Many parallels can also be drawn between Beowulf and The Hobbit.

Films


- Grendel, Grendel, Grendel (1981): an animated film based on John Gardner's novel and starring Peter Ustinov
- Animated Epics: Beowulf (1998): voiced by Joseph Fiennes
- The 13th Warrior (1999): This film, starring Antonio Banderas as Ibn Fadlan and Vladimir Kulich as Buliwyf (Beowulf), was based upon Crichton's novel mentioned above.
- Beowolf (1999): a science-fiction/fantasy film starring Christopher Lambert, loosely influenced by Beowulf
- Beowulf & Grendel (2005): an independent feature starring Gerard Butler
- Beowulf: Prince of the Geats (2006): a low-budget feature donating 100% of its sales and promotions to the American Cancer Society
- Beowulf (2007): a computer-animated feature directed by Robert Zemeckis

Additional film, television & music


- Star Trek Voyager: In the episode [http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/library/episodes/VOY/detail/68842.html Heroes and Demons] Ensign Harry Kim ran a holographic version of the Beowulf poem with himself as the central character.
- Progressive rock band Marillion released a song called Grendel based on John Gardner's renedition of the poem. In true progressive rock traditions, the song was in excess of 15 minutes and when played live involved lead singer Fish acting out a ritual 'slaughtering' of a member of the audience pulled out of the front row.

Games


- [http://www.beowulfgame.com Beowulf]: action adventure game based on the original story, coming for PC and console
- Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow: The magical sword Hrunting, which Beowulf used in his fight with Grendel's Mother, is featured in the GBA game.
- Devil May Cry 3: In this PlayStation 2 video game, Beowulf appears as a large, one-eyed demon. There were also a pair of gauntlets and leg guards imbued with light powers that were named Beowulf.
- Final Fantasy Tactics: In this video game, the main character's name is Ramza Beoulve, his last name possibly a mistranslation of Beowulf (in Japanese it would be the same katakana). The player also meets a knight named Beowulf who, ironically, is in love with a woman who has been transformed into a dragon. Beowulf and the player embark on a quest to restore her to her human form.
- Final Fantasy VIII: Grendel is featured as an enemy monster in this Playstation game.

Comics


- Speakeasy Comics: In April 2005 this series debuted a Beowulf monthly title featuring the character having survived into the modern era and now working alongside law enforcement in New York to handle superpowered beings.
- The renowned comics author Neil Gaiman has also depicted the tale of Beowulf in one of his comics.
- Beowulf by Reiner Knizia is a board game based on the poem. Published by Fantasy Flight Games, it is illustrated by famed Lord of the Rings artist John Howe.

References

Old English plus glossary


- Jack, George. Beowulf : A Student Edition. Oxford University Press: New York, 1997.
- Klaeber, Fr, and ed. Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg. Third ed. Boston: Heath, 1950.
- Mitchell, Bruce, et al. Beowulf: An Edition with Relevant Shorter Texts. Oxford, UK: Malden Ma., 1998.

Modern English translations


- Crossley-Holland, Kevin; Mitchell, Bruce. Beowulf: A New Translation. London: Macmillan, 1968.
- Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation. New York: W.W. Norton, 2001.
- --"Introduction" in Crossley-Holland, Kevin (tr.) Beowulf. London: Folio, 1973.
- Swanton, Michael (ed.). Beowulf (Manchester Medieval Studies). Manchester: University, 1997.
- Tinker, Chauncey Brewster. The translations of Beowulf; a critical bibliography. New York: Holt, 1903. (Modern reprint with new introduction, Hamden: Archon Books, 1974).

Dual-Language Editions


- I. Chickering, Howell D. Beowulf: a dual-language edition.New York: Anchor books ed., 1977,1989 ISBN 0-385-06213-3

External links


- [http://www.engl.virginia.edu/OE/Beowulf.Readings/Beowulf.Readings.html Beowulf read aloud in Old English]
- Translations of Beowulf at Project Gutenberg:
  - [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/981 Modern English translation] by Francis Barton Gummere
  - [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16328 Modern English translation] by John Lesslie Hall
  - [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/9701 Old English edition] edited by James Albert Harrison and Robert Sharp
- [http://www.heorot.dk/ Beowulf in Cyberspace]
- [http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/Literature.RinglBeowulf Ringler, Dick. Beowulf: A New Translation For Oral Delivery], May 2005. Searchable text with full audio available, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries.
- [http://alliteration.net/beoIndex.htm Several different Modern English translations]
- [http://www.jagular.com/beowulf/outlines.shtml Summary of the story]
- [http://www.shadowedrealm.com/articles/exclusive/article.php?id=3 Beowulf: Recognizing the Past]
- [http://www.shadowedrealm.com/articles/exclusive/article.php?id=4 Christianity in Beowulf]
- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/anglo-saxon/beowulf/beowulf.html James Grout: Beowulf, part of the Encyclopædia Romana]
- [http://uashome.alaska.edu/%7Ejndfg20/website/beowulf.htm Beowulf: The Movie(s). A Comprehensive Look at the (Brief) List of Cinematic Adaptations of the English Language's Most Enduring Epic Poem] an article from [http://uashome.alaska.edu/%7Ejndfg20/website/ Film as Art: Danél Griffin's Guide to Cinema]
- [http://www.jagular.com/beowulf/fire.shtml Additional information about the Ashburnham House fire]
- [http://www.jagular.com/beowulf/book-table.shtml Several dozen more translations, with images of the book covers, and ISBN numbers] Category:Nordic folklore Category:English heroic legends Category:History of the Germanic peoples Category:Medieval legends Category:Old English poems ja:ベオウルフ

Whale-road

A term used in Beowulf, meaning 'sea'. The line is translated as "In the end each clan on the outlying coasts beyond the whale-road had to yield to him and begin to pay tribute". Using a metaphor in this way is called kenning. Category:Mythology

Muse

In Greek mythology, the Muses (Greek Μουσαι, Mousai) are nine archaic goddesses who embody the right evocation of myth, inspired through remembered and improvised song and traditional "music" and dances. They were water nymphs, associated with the springs of Helicon and Pieris. They are sometimes called Pierides from their association with the spring of Pieres. The Olympian system set Apollo as their leader, Apollon Mousagetes. According to Hesiod's Theogony, they are the daughters of Zeus, king of the gods, and Mnemosyne, goddess of memory. For Alcman and Mimnermus, they were even more primordial, springing from Uranus and Gaia. Pausanias supports that there were two generations of Muses; the first being daughters of Uranus and Gaia, the second from Zeus and Mnemosyne. Another rarer belief is that they are daughters of Harmonia (the daughter of Aphrodite and Ares) which contradicts with the myth in which they were dancing in the marriage of Harmonia and Cadmus. Compare the Roman inspiring nymphs of springs, the Camenae.

Muses in myth

According to Pausanias there were three original Muses: Aoide ("song", "voice"), Melete ("practice" or "occasion") and Mneme ("memory") (Paus. 9.29.1). Together, they form the complete picture of the preconditions of poetic art in cult practice. In Delphi three Muses were worshipped as well but with other names: Nete , Mesi and Hypate which are the names of the three chords of the ancient musical instrument lyre In later tradition, the fourth Muse, Arche, was also considered. The canonical nine Muses are:
- Calliope (epic poetry)
- Euterpe (music)
- Clio (history)
- Erato (lyrics/love poetry)
- Melpomene (tragedy)
- Polyhymnia (sacred poetry)
- Terpsichore (dancing)
- Thalia (comedy)
- Urania (astronomy) Together, they form a complete picture of the subjects proper to poetic art in the archaic period. However, the association of specific muses with specific art forms is a later innovation. In Roman, Renaissance and Neoclassical art, Muses depicted in sculptures or paintings are often distinguished by certain props or poses, as emblems. Euterpe (music) carries a flute; Calliope (epic poetry) carries a writing tablet; Clio (history) carries a scroll and books; Erato (lyric poetry) is often seen with a lyre and a crown of roses; Melpomene (tragedy) is often seen with a tragic mask; Polyhymnia (sacred poetry) is often seen with a pensive expression; Terpsichore (dancing) is often seen dancing and carrying a lyre; Thalia (comedy) is often seen with a comic mask; and Urania (astronomy) carries a staff pointed at a celestial globe.

Function in Society

Greek mousa is a common noun as well as a type of goddess: it literally means "song" or "poem". In Pindar, to "carry a mousa" is "to sing a song". The word is probably derived from the Indo-European root
- men-, which is also the source of Greek Mnemosyne, Latin Minerva, and English "mind", "mental" and "memory". The Muses were therefore both the embodiments and sponsors of performed metrical speech: mousike, whence "music"; was "the art of the Muses". In the archaic period, before the wide-spread availability of books, this included nearly all of learning: the first Greek book on astronomy, by Thales, was set in dactylic hexameter, as were many works of pre-Socratic philosophy; both Plato and the Pythagoreans explicitly included philosophy as a sub-species of mousike (Strabo 10.3.10). Herodotus, whose primary medium of delivery was public recitation, named each one of the nine books of his Histories after a different Muse. For poet and "law-giver" Solon (fragment 13), the Muses were "the key to the good life"; since they brought both prosperity and friendship. Solon sought to perpetuate his political reforms by establishing recitations of his poetry—complete with invocations to his practical-minded Muses—by Athenian boys at festivals each year. The Muses judged the contest between Apollo and Marsyas. They also gathered the pieces of the dead body of Orpheus, son of Calliope, and buried them. They blinded Thamyris for his hubris in challenging them to a contest.

Function in literature

The muses are typically invoked at or near the beginning of an epic poem or classical Greek story. They have served as aids to an author, or as the true speaker; for which an author is only a mouthpiece. Originally, the invocation of the Muse was an indication that the speaker was working inside the poetic tradition, according to the established formulae. Two classic examples : :Homer, in Book I of "The Odyssey": :"Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns :driven time and again off course, once he had plundered :the hallowed heights of Troy." (Robert Fagles translation, 1996) :Dante Alighieri, in Canto II of The Inferno: :O Muses, o high genius, aid me now! :O memory that noted what I saw, :Now shall your true nobility be seen!

Cults of the Muses

When Pythagoras arrived at Croton, his first advice to the Crotoniates was to build a shrine of the Muses at the center of the city, to promote civic harmony and learning. Local cults of the Muses were often associated with springs or fountains. They were sometimes called Aganippids because of their association with a fountain called Aganippe. Other fountains, called Hippocrene and Pirene were also important to the Muses. The Muses were also occasionally referred to as "Corycides", or "Corycian nymphs" after a cave on Mount Parnassos, called the Corycian Cave. The Muses were especially venerated in Boeotia, near Helicon, and in Delphi and the Parnassus, where Apollo became known as Mousagetes "Muse-leader". Muse-worship was also often associated with the hero-cults of poets: the tombs of Archilochus on Thasos and Hesiod and Thamyris (whom they blinded) in Boeotia, all played host to festivals, in which poetic recitations were accompanied by sacrifices to the Muses. The Library of Alexandria and its circle of scholars were formed around a mousaion ("museum" or shrine of the Muses) close by the tomb of Alexander the Great. Many Enlightenment figures sought to re-establish a "Cult of the Muses" in the 18th century. A popular Masonic lodge in pre-Revolutionary Paris was called Neuf Soeurs ("nine sisters", i.e. nine Muses), and was attended by Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin. One side-effect of this movement was the use of the word "museum" (originally, "cult place of the Muses") to refer to a place for the public display of knowledge.

Miscellaneous


- The poet Sappho of Lesbos was paid the compliment of being called "the tenth Muse".
- The word muse may be used figuratively, to denote someone who inspires an artist.
- In New Orleans, nine streets are named after the Muses.
- The muses appear as co-narrators of the Disney movie Hercules and its spin-off series.
- Muses feature in the graphic novel The Sandman by Neil Gaiman. Category:Arts goddessesCategory:Greek goddesses ja:ムーサ

Museum

A museum is typically a "permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education, enjoyment, the tangible and intangible evidence of people and their environment." This definition is taken from the International Council of Museums (ICOM) Statutes, article 2, paragraph 1, and is regularly reviewed and modified at the triennial ICOM General Assemblies. The italicized tangible and intangible was substituted for the previous material at the last triennial General Assembly in Seoul in 2004, pending ratification at the next General Assembly in Vienna in 2007. (The new wording was introduced in the revised ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums, which is another of the museum profession's core normative instruments.) Museums are usually not run for the purpose of making a profit, unlike galleries which engage in the sale of objects. There are governmental museums, non-governmental or non-profit museums, and privately-owned or family museums. Modern museums concentrate on a particular subject, and most museums belong to one or more of the following categories: fine arts, applied arts, archaeology, anthropology, ethnology, history, cultural history, science, technology, natural history. Within