The Dating of Beowulf

Consultations beginning in 1978 and culminating in a conference at Toronto 203 April 1980 have produced an exceptionally important volume: The Dating of Beowulf. Its importance lies in a thorough review of the evidence, copious references to earlier work, wide coverage of the types of evidence used to decide the issue, and a high level of argumentation. Included in the volume are individual statements by twelve scholars and a collaborative reassessment of the language of Beowulf. The intrinsic difficulty of the dating problem is reflected by great diversity in method and opinion. Codicological, linguistic, metrical, historical, stylistic, and archaeological arguments are mustered. Judgments on the proper dating range over three centuries, from the eighth to the tenth, but are usually tempered with much caution and uncertainty. It is rare to have so much information on a crucial issue in medieval literature concentrated in one place, and there is no doubt that these proceedings will become a standard reference work for several decades. Reviews of such collaborative volumes are generally confined to a few sentences on each contribution, but this volume deserves more. The editor opens the volume with a quick survey of 'Opinions on the Date of Beowulf, 18151980': Thorkelin and N.F.S. Grundtvig (no earlier than the mid-sixth century), joseph Bachlechner (before 752), Levin Schiicking (last decade of the ninth century at the earliest), Alois Brandl (ca 700), Karl Miillenhoff (earlier than Caedmon), Bernhard ten Brink (fmal redaction in the eighth century), A.j. Barnouw (application of 'Lichtenheld's tesf suggesting an early date), Lorenz Morsbach (after 700), john Earle (Mercian in the last quarter of the eighth century), George Bond (Mercian in the fust half of the ninth century), Dorothy Whitelock (later eighth century), Nicolas jacobs (any time after 835 except for brief intermittent periods), Felix Liebermann and Albert S. Cook (Aldfrith's rule, 685-704), W. W. Lawrence (675-725), c.c. Batchelor (no later than ca 700), Ritchie Girvan (second half of the seventh century), Sune Lindqvist (ca 700), c.L. Wrenn (700-50), Kenneth Sisam (later eighth century), Gosta Langenfelt (beginning of the ninth century), Robert L. Reynolds and Norman Blake (late ninth or tenth