Widsith is a 142-line OLD ENGLISH heroic poem
preserved in the late 10th-century manuscript
called the EXETER BOOK.Most scholars believe that
the poem predates the manuscript by hundreds of
years, and is probably the oldest poem in the English
language—quite possibly the oldest extant
poem in any Germanic tongue. R.W. Chambers
believed the poem was written in seventh-century
Mercia. Essentially Widsith is a wandering MINSTREL’s
catalogue of heroes, tribes, and places important
in the cultural memory of the Germanic
peoples in the heroic age prior to their conversion
to Latin Christianity.
The poem is made up of seven rather distinct
parts. It begins with a prologue in which the poet
Widsith (the name means “far traveler”) introduces
his journey with Ealhhild, sister of the
Lombard king Aelfwine, as she travels to marry
Eormanric the Ostrogoth. Precise historians
might object that the fourth-century Eormanric
was dead 200 years before the sixth-century
Aelfwine, but others who see a good bit of folk
memory in the poem suggest that here is preserved
the memory of late sixth-century Lombard
migration from northern Germany through
the lands of the Huns and Goths into northern
Italy.
The second section of the poem is a catalogue,
or thula, of Germanic tribes and their illustrious
founders, all of whom Widsith claims to have visited.
It becomes clear that Widsith is not an actual
minstrel, but rather a generic, ideal “poet” who
transcends time. He moves from Attila the Hun
through various other tribes, devoting the most
time to the Anglian king Offa and the Danes,
Hrothwulf and Hrothgar, familiar to modern readers
of BEOWULF. Like the digressions in Beowulf, the
intent of the list seems to be to evoke heroic stories
familiar to the original audience through oral
history.
A second catalogue follows, in which Widsith
lists the vast number of tribes he has visited.
Within this section is a passage (ll. 75–87) most
scholars believe to be a later interpolation,wherein
the poet claims a knowledge of Saracens, Romans,
Egyptians, and others, expanding Widsith’s
knowledge beyond the Germanic realms to the entire
known world.
Following this,Widsith continues the story he
had begun in his prologue, and describes how Eormanric
gave him a precious ring that he, in turn,
passed on to his lord, Eadgils, chief of the Myrgings.
Widsith says that Ealhhild also gave him a
ring, and that in return he sang her praises
throughout the world.Widsith then catalogues the
most famous of Eormanric’s descendents, alluding
to the strife between Goths and Huns.He concludes
this section by declaring that in all his
travels, he has found that the best men are those
God has made lords.
In the poem’s epilogue, Widsith makes some
observations about the role of the SCOP, or poet, in
society. He decides that the scop is valuable because
he is able to bring lasting fame and therefore
immortality to his patrons.
In fact the poem itself demonstrates this conclusion,
as it catalogues some 140 tribes and heroes
of the Germanic world from the third to the
sixth centuries, many of which the modern world
would know nothing about, save through this
poem and others like it. Certainly the poet’s claim
to have made the generosity of Ealhhild known
through the world is true—without this poem no
one would know of her. Many critics have seen
the value of Widsith as a historical record. It has
also been suggested that the poem, with its emphasis
on the generosity of patrons and the poet’s
ability to immortalize the lord’s reputation, is, in
fact, a begging poem, in which Widsith is asking
for a gift from his patron. Certainly it is also a
poem about the power of poetry and of the poet
himself.
Bibliography
Alexander,Michael, trans. The Earliest English Poems.
Harmondsworth, U.K.: Penguin, 1966.
Chambers, R. W. Widsith: A Study in Old English
Heroic Legend. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1912.
Creed, Robert P. “Widsith’s Journey through Germanic
Tradition.” In Anglo-Saxon Poetry: Essays
in Appreciation for John C. McGalliard, edited by
Lewis E. Nicholson and Dolores Warwick Frese,
376–387. Notre Dame, Ind.: Notre Dame University
Press, 1967.
Krapp, George Philip, and Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie,
eds. The Exeter Book. The Anglo-Saxon Poetic
Records, 3. New York: Columbia University Press,
1936.
Malone, Kemp, ed.Widsith. London:Methuen, 1936.
Rallman, David A. “ ‘Widsith’ as an Anglo-Saxon Defense
of Poetry,” Neophilologus 66 (1982):
431–439.