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Book Details

Finn and Hengest: The Fragment and the Episode

60% complete
Copyright © The J.R.R. Tolkein Copyright Trust and Professor Alan Bliss 1982
1982
Non-Fiction
Unknown
Never (or unknown...)
See 21
Preface
Abbreviated Titles
List of Abbreviations
Editor's Introduction
Introduction
Texts
The Fragment
The Episode
Glossary of Names
The Fragment
The Episode
Textual Commentary
The Fragment
The Episode
Translations
The Fragment
The Episode
Recostruction
Appendix A - The Danes
Appendix B - The Dating of Healfdene and Hengest
Appendix C - The Nstionality of Hengest
Book Cover
Has a genre Has comments Has an extract Has a year read In my library Want to read 
2141
No series
No dedication.
Nearly twenty years ago I read to the Dublin Mediæval Society a paper entitles "Hengest and the Jutes".
None on file
Comments may contain spoilers
I bought this book because, through some dubious research, I found that my family just may be related to these two people (if they existed). Also it's written by JRR Tolkien so why not...
Extract (may contain spoilers)
"................ [hor]nas byrnað."
[H]næƒ hleoþrode, heaþogeong cyning:
"Ne ðis ne dagað east?n, ne her draca ne fleogeð,
ne her ðisse healle hornas ne byrnað;
ac her forþ beratð [feorhgeniðlan
fyrdsearu fuslic.] Fugelas singað,
gylleð græghama: guðwudu hlynneð,
scyld scefte oncwyð. Nu scynetð þes mona
waðol under wolcnum, nu arisað weadæda,
ðe ðisne folces nið fremman willað.
Ac onwacnigeað nu, wigend mine!
Habbað eowre [h]lenca[n], hicgeaþ on ellen,
þindað on orde, wesað onmode!"
Ða aras [of ræste rumheort] mænig
goldhladen ðegn, gyrde hine his swurde,
ða to dura eodon drihtlice cempan,
Sigeferð and Eaha, hyra sword getugon,
and æt oþrum durum Ordlaf and Guþlaf;
and Hengest sylf hwearf him on laste.
Ða gyt Garulf[e] Guðere styrde,
ðæt he swa freolic feorh forman siþe
to ðmre healle durum hyrsta ne bære,
nu hyt niþa heard anyman wolde;
ac he frægn ofer eal undearninga,
deormod hæleþ, hwa ða duru heolde.
"Sigeferþ is min nama," cweþ he, "ic eom Secgena leod,
wreccea wide cuð; fæla ic weana gebad,
heardra hilda; ðe is gyt her witod,
swæþer ðu sylf to me secean wylle."
Ða wæs on healle wælslihta gehlyn:
sceolde celæs bord cenum on handa
banhelm berstan; buruhðelu dynede,
oð æt ðære guðe Garulf gecrang
ealra ærest eorðbuendra,
Guðuffes sunu, ymbe hyne godra fæla,
hwearflicra hræw. Hræfen wandrode
sweart and sealobrun.  Swurdleoma stod
swylce eal Finn[e]sburuh fyrenu wære.
Ne gefrægn ic næfre wurþlicor æt wera hilde
sixtig sigebeorna sel gebæran,
ne nefre swanas sel forgyldan
hwitne medo, [heardgesteallan,]
ðonne Hnæfe guldan his hægstealdas.
Hig fuhton fif dagas swa hyra nan ne feol,
drihtgesiða, ac hig ða duru heoldon.
Ða gewat him wund hæleð on wæg gangan,
sæde þæt his byrne abrocen wære,
heresceorp unhror, and eac wæs his helm ðyr[e]l,
ða hine sona frægn folces hyrde
hu ða wigend hyra wunda genæson,
oððe hwæþer ðæra hyssa ................

 

Added: 01-Nov-2018
Last Updated: 17-Jul-2025

Publications

 01-Jan-2006
HarperCollins
Mass Market Paperback
In my libraryOrder from amazon.comHas a cover imageBook Edition Cover
Date Issued:
Cir 01-Jan-2006
Format:
Mass Market Paperback
Cover Price:
£8.99
Pages*:
180
Cover Link(s):
Internal ID:
1738
Publisher:
ISBN:
0-261-10355-5
ISBN-13:
978-0-261-10355-9
Country:
United Kingdom
Language:
English
Credits:
John Howe  - Cover Artist
THE TALE OF TWO FIFTH-CENTURY HEROES
RECONSTRUCTED BY
J.R.R. TOLKIEN

Professor J.R.R.Tolkien is most widely known as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but he was also a distinguished scholar in the field of Mediaeval English language and literature. In Anglo-Saxon studies, his celebrated lecture Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics is widely recognized as a turning point in the criticism of the poem.

The story of Finn and Hengest, two fifth-century heroes in northern Europe, is told both in Beowulf and in a fragmentary Anglo-Saxon poem known as The Fight at Finnsburg, but so obscurely and allusively that its interpretation had been a matter of controversy for over 100 years. Bringing his unique combination of philological erudition and poetic imagination to the task, however, Tolkien revealed a classic tragedy of divided loyalties, of vengeance, blood and death. The story has the added attraction that it describes the events immediately preceding the first Germanic invasion of Britain which was led by Hengest himself.

This book will appeal not only to students of Old English and all those interested in the history of northern Europe and Anglo-Saxon England, but also admirers of The Lord of the Rings who will be fascinated to see how Tolkien handled a story which he did not invent.
Cover:
Book CoverBook Back CoverBook Spine
Notes and Comments:
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2006
No number line
Image File
01-Jan-2006
HarperCollins
Mass Market Paperback

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*
  • I try to maintain page numbers for audiobooks even though obviously there aren't any. I do this to keep track of pages read and I try to use the Kindle version page numbers for this.
  • Synopses marked with an asterisk (*) were generated by an AI. There aren't a lot since this is an iffy way to do it - AI seems to make stuff up.
  • When specific publication dates are unknown (ie prefixed with a "Cir"), I try to get the publication date that is closest to the specific printing that I can.
  • When listing chapters, I only list chapters relevant to the story. I will usually leave off Author Notes, Indices, Acknowledgements, etc unless they are relevant to the story or the book is non-fiction.
  • Page numbers on this site are for the end of the main story. I normally do not include appendices, extra material, and other miscellaneous stuff at the end of the book in the page count.






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Presented: 16-Aug-2025 07:53:09

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