Most people think about the Beowulf poem a “fantasy” which means, it isn’t real or all the events and characters portrayed didn’t really existed. On today’s day and age, who would actually believe in the existence of giant monsters like Grendel or a flying fire breathing dragon?
But during the “Dark Ages”, creatures like dragons, monsters and demons may actually had existed. No one really knows because there aren’t any historical records from this ancient period of time that can confirm about it. This means that the Beowulf poem can be a historical facts that transpired in the dark ages.
According to some scholar, Beowulf was probably born on the year 495. The basis was the year when “Hygelac” (his uncle) launched an attack on 520 against the Franks. But how?
It was assumed that Beowulf was at the young age of 20 which was the best age for a men to accomplish tremendous physical tasks or challenges. So this was his age when he entered Hrothgar’s kingdom to face Grendel and his mother which was on 515. Thus, 515 minus 20 gives us 495 as his birth date.
When it comes to the time of his death, there was a 50 years leap of time after succeeding Hrothgar’s throne. Beowulf was now old but he still bravely fought a dragon and was able to slain it. Unfortunately, he also died due to the poisoned wound inflicted by the dragon. At this period of time, he was probably at an age of 70 years old who died on 565.
Some researchers were able to locate the current location of Spare Danes’ throne on “Sjaelland Island at Lejre”. There, archaeologists did their job and they uncovered a lot of halls on the area dated to be around 500s. One of these halls could be the “Mead Hall” where Beowulf and Grendel fought against one another on a battle.
Lejre is at the eastern region of Denmark which was known as the central place like a capital where the most powerful Viking kingdoms was situated. This is the reason why most researchers claim that this site must be the exact place where the events took place on the Beowulf poem.
There are actually a total of 7 halls that the archaeologists discovered. Although, they all weren’t built on the same period of time. Perhaps, some of these structures got purposely torn down then rebuilt at a later time.
But what really caught their attention is the hall located at 500 meters away from the other halls. On this site, they had excavated countless numbers of animals that were killed and eaten at a massive feasts. It is an exact match from what has been described on the poem.
Since the archaeologists can only confirm the dates of the artifacts to be around 500s, we can speculate that Beowulf died near the 600 and was born close to 500. Anyway, let’s just hope that the archaeologist can uncover more relics that could enlighten us more with interesting information.
But during the “Dark Ages”, creatures like dragons, monsters and demons may actually had existed. No one really knows because there aren’t any historical records from this ancient period of time that can confirm about it. This means that the Beowulf poem can be a historical facts that transpired in the dark ages.
According to some scholar, Beowulf was probably born on the year 495. The basis was the year when “Hygelac” (his uncle) launched an attack on 520 against the Franks. But how?
It was assumed that Beowulf was at the young age of 20 which was the best age for a men to accomplish tremendous physical tasks or challenges. So this was his age when he entered Hrothgar’s kingdom to face Grendel and his mother which was on 515. Thus, 515 minus 20 gives us 495 as his birth date.
When it comes to the time of his death, there was a 50 years leap of time after succeeding Hrothgar’s throne. Beowulf was now old but he still bravely fought a dragon and was able to slain it. Unfortunately, he also died due to the poisoned wound inflicted by the dragon. At this period of time, he was probably at an age of 70 years old who died on 565.
Dates According to Archaeological Findings
Some researchers were able to locate the current location of Spare Danes’ throne on “Sjaelland Island at Lejre”. There, archaeologists did their job and they uncovered a lot of halls on the area dated to be around 500s. One of these halls could be the “Mead Hall” where Beowulf and Grendel fought against one another on a battle.
Lejre is at the eastern region of Denmark which was known as the central place like a capital where the most powerful Viking kingdoms was situated. This is the reason why most researchers claim that this site must be the exact place where the events took place on the Beowulf poem.
There are actually a total of 7 halls that the archaeologists discovered. Although, they all weren’t built on the same period of time. Perhaps, some of these structures got purposely torn down then rebuilt at a later time.
But what really caught their attention is the hall located at 500 meters away from the other halls. On this site, they had excavated countless numbers of animals that were killed and eaten at a massive feasts. It is an exact match from what has been described on the poem.
Since the archaeologists can only confirm the dates of the artifacts to be around 500s, we can speculate that Beowulf died near the 600 and was born close to 500. Anyway, let’s just hope that the archaeologist can uncover more relics that could enlighten us more with interesting information.
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