Elizabeth Marshall - Wolves in Beowulf and Other Old English Texts

Wolves in Beowulf and Other Old English Texts

Nature and Environment in the Middle Ages

ISSN: 2399-3804 (Print)

ISSN: 2399-3812 (Online)

Series Editor

Michael D.J. Bintley

Editorial Board

Jennifer Neville

Aleks Pluskowski

Gillian Rudd

Questions of nature, the environment and sustainability are increasingly important areas of scholarly enquiry in various fields. This exciting new series aims to provide a forum for new work throughout the medieval period broadly defined (c.4001500), covering literature, history, archaeology and other allied disciplines in the humanities. Topics may range from studies of landscape to interaction with humans, from representations of nature in art to ecology, ecotheory, ecofeminism and ecocriticism; monographs and collections of essays are equally welcome.

Proposals or enquiries may be sent directly to the series editor or to the publisher at the addresses given below.

Dr Michael D.J. Bintley, Department of English, Theatre and Creative Writing, School of Arts, Birkbeck, University of London, 43 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PD

Boydell & Brewer, PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 3DF

Previously published:

1: The Natural World in the Exeter Book Riddles, Corinne Dale

2: Birds in Medieval English Poetry: Metaphors, Realities, Transformations, Michael J. Warren

3: Restoring Creation: The Natural World in the Anglo-Saxon Saints Lives of Cuthbert and Guthlac, Britton Elliott Brooks

4: The Enclosed Garden and the Medieval Religious Imaginary, Liz Herbert McAvoy

5: Animal Soundscapes in Anglo-Norman Texts, Liam Lewis

Wolves in Beowulf and Other Old English Texts

Elizabeth Marshall

D. S. BREWER

Elizabeth Marshall 2022

All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation

no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,

published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,

transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means,

without the prior permission of the copyright owner

The right of Elizabeth Marshall to be identified as

the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with

sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

First published 2022

D. S. Brewer, Cambridge

ISBN 978 1 84384 640 6 (hardback)

ISBN 978 1 80010 614 7 (ePUB)

D. S. Brewer is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd

PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK

and of Boydell & Brewer Inc.

668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 146202731, USA

website: www.boydellandbrewer.com

A catalogue record for this book is available

from the British Library

The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate

Cover image: Detail of the speech-stealing wolf, from Richard de Fournival, Bestiaire damour (12781325), BnF franais 1951, fol. 3v. Reproduced by kind permission.

Cross references refer to page numbers in the print edition

For the first wolves in my story

Acknowledgements

My life has been centred around wolves for so long that it is difficult to remember a time when it was not. I must credit the turning point to Chris Jones, whose invaluable advice initially set me on this path. I must also thank Chris for the time he devoted to helping with this project, the support and expertise he provided, and his endless reading and rereading of drafts. This book would not be what it is without his guidance.

The same must also be said of Rhiannon Purdie and James Paz, as well as the anonymous readers sourced by Boydell, all of whom have provided invaluable feedback and suggestions for improvement. My utmost gratitude goes to each of them for taking the time to comb through the manuscript so meticulously.

Thanks also to everyone at Boydell, all of whom have been incredibly helpful throughout this process, and especially Caroline Palmer, not least for her prefacing of each email with good news or no anxiety needed. Opening emails about the fate of ones book is much more enjoyable in the knowledge that there are no monsters lurking inside.

I must also thank my parents, who instilled in me a love of the natural world. I might have professed boredom during your birdwatching, or proclaimed that I didnt care about trees or flowers when you took the time to identify and observe them during my younger years, but I am sure that I wouldnt have grown to care for the environment so much had you not consistently brought the natural world to my attention throughout my childhood.

Thanks also to Rory, whose friendship gave me hope during the most difficult times. Without your support, this book wouldnt have made it past the first draft.

Finally, my biggest thanks go to Angus, without whose persistent faith in my ability to complete this project I might never have done so. Thank you for believing in me when I didnt believe in myself.

Note on the Text

Most of the primary texts in languages other than Old English which are cited below are quoted in both the original language and in Modern English translation, the exception being quotations from works in Ancient Greek which are given in translation only. The Latin text of the Vulgate Bible is used only when necessary for linguistic examination, with quotations taken from Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem, ed. by Robert Weber et al., 5th edn, ed. by Roger Gryson (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2007). Otherwise, only the Douay-Rheims translation, from The Holy Bible Translated from the Latin Vulgate, Diligently Compared with the Hebrew, Greek, and Other Editions in Divers Languages (Baltimore, MD: Murphy, 1914), is referred to. Where diacritical marks feature in the editions of the primary texts used, they have been omitted in quotations.

Poems are cited by line number, prose texts by page number, and glossaries by page and line number for ease of reference (where the latter are present). Exceptions are the poems of the Poetic Edda, which are cited by stanza number, and some of the editions of the primary texts cited which are not paginated, such as W. M. Lindsays edition of Isidores Etymologiae. In such cases, the references given are instead to the textual apparatuses provided in each edition. Helmut Gneuss and Michael Lapidges Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100 (Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 2014) has been cited by entry number rather than page number for the same reason.

Unless indicated otherwise, all quotations of Old English poetry are from The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, ed. by George Philip Krapp and Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie, 6 vols (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 193153), excepting those from Beowulf, for which Klaebers Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, ed. by R. D. Fulk, Robert E. Bjork and John D. Niles, 4th edn (Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 2008) has been used. All references to the original Latin of Abbo of Fleurys Passio Sancti Eadmundi, unless otherwise stated, are from Life of St. Edmund, in Three Lives of English Saints, ed. by Michael Winterbottom (Toronto, ON: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1972), pp. 6592, while all translations, unless stated, are from The Passion of Saint Eadmund, in