What are the strengths and failures of the Battle of Maldon and the ?related texts? as evidence for the structure of English Society :: essays research papers fc

What are the strengths and failures of the Battle of Maldon and the cogitate textual matters as evidence for the structure of English SocietyThe Battle of Maldon is a medieval text depicting a encounter between English warriors and Danish invaders. Earl Byrtnoth was commanding the warriors in the name of King thelred. The meter portrays the courage of the bravest warriors and the sheer cowardice of those that fled. Controversy over the aim of the poem is ostensible as Sragg says that the poets style of writing is so hyperbolic that it robs what fine of trustiness at that place is. On the one hand there is little interrogative sentence that the battle happened and in this sense the poem is accurate, however very little archaeological evidence has been found around that historical sight to consolidate the poems content. Another problem may well lie in the later translations of the text especially before 1725 and the Cotton Library fire. When copyists began to copy the text they may well have lost some of the meaning of the poem by the way they understand it, they are likely to translate the text to fit contemporary understanding.It is possible to see that the church appears to play a major role in the society of the English in the tenth part and eleventh centuries. Lines one c and one to one ascorbic acid and v display a deeply engrained belief in fate and idols hand in it, There against the fierce ones stood readyByrtnoth with his menThen the fight was nigh,glory in combat the time had arisewhen fated men must fall there. It is possible to see that there was a deeply engrained belief, in the higher circles of society especially, that if you died on the battle field then God had fated you to do so. Also the hold of glory indicates a connection with religion as glory and halo are synonymous with Christ, God, and religion in general. This idea is backed up by lines one hundred and seventy three to one hundred and eighty whereby a fallen warrior believes that they will reach heaven in Gods peace. This idea would no doubt be reflected by society as lines two hundred and five to two hundred and eight suggest that society acknowledges the bravest, a lord would expect his warriors to penalise his death or lose his life in the process. The church withal played a major role as a buttress to the Kings legitimacy and power.