Violence In The Battle Of Maldon

Violence for the Lord? (An Essay on the Violence in “The Battle of Maldon”)

The Battle of Maldon is a historic piece, which portrays violence in an absolutely beautiful way. Violence is not simply the act of fighting, but it serves the purpose of being one hundred percent loyalty to your people and to the lord. While we typically imagine battle to be bloody and horrifying, The Battle of Maldon shows us the emotional aspect to fighting. The soldiers involved, Eadwaeard, Aetheric, and Godric, among others, were honored and respected for their courage and willingness to sacrifice their own lives for their lords and their people. While it is more respected to handle these matters using non-violent resolutions today, had the soldiers approached
the situation at hand without battle, there would have been many complaints and accusations from the people.
One who did not fight using violence was considered a coward or a fool. Violence was the only resolution. In The Battle of Maldon in particular, we see that violence was not just a tool to fight injustice, but more so a way to gain land and provide better lives for the residents. In the beginning of the poem, we see that there is an alternate option to the battle which ultimately takes place. Line 31 begins, “Brave sea-warriors sent me here to simply say that you might want to give us gold rings as a defense, rich gifts and offerings to ease your peril, protect your people.” While this may be a reasonable option if one were looking out for the citizens, to these soldiers in particular, it was taken as more of an insult. The Anglo-Saxens responded by raising weapons and taking over the bridge with their forces, prepared to take down the Vikings. But we know this was not the smartest idea. Though the historic accuracy of this poem is
questioned, the piece about the bridge seems accurate, according to the text prior to the reading online. Due to the tide, the bridge was often difficult to navigate, causing problems for the soldiers. At points, it was entirely covered by water, allowing nobody to take a step across it. However, after this point in the reading, there is a lot of speech involved, which is likely inaccurate, and simply fabricated to intensify the poem for the reader. A very detailed description is given about the battle itself, in lines 105-115 for example. “The hour for heroes to gather glory, For hard, fated men to fall in fight. Screams were raised in the clash of swords – Ravens circled, screeching for corpses – The eagle was ravenous for a feast of flesh – All earth was in endless uproar.” Though these words help us understand the lifelessness of the situation, and the intensity of the battle, there is some sort of beauty to the words itself. As mentioned before, a big theme in the poem and during the time in general, was pride. Byrtnoth decides to let the Vikings cross the bridge. Was it his pride? It’s likely. Was this a wise and thoughtful decision? Not at all. Because of this decision, the battle becomes excessively bloody, and many lives are taken, which we know was not necessary. But to these men, a peaceful resolution was not an option. I honestly find the courage of the soldiers to be admirable in a way, putting their pride first. This was clearly the idea of the time. The poem contains a mess of stabbing, cutting, slashing, and escaping. When one man goes down, another is pierced with a sword in return. Byrtnoth was overly confident and gave the Vikings too much ground, creating losses on both sides (Anglo-Saxens and Vikings). After the decapitation of Byrtnoth, Godric, Godwine, and Godwig flee the scene. They were clearly frowned upon for their cowardly behavior, for as you know, the courage to stand up and fight was first priority. Had Byrtnoth acted the same way, people would lose respect for him as a leader. This was not the way to act at the time, therefore those who fled were disregarded as significant to the situation. “So Byrtnoth fell, AEthelred’s earl, the protector of his people. His hearth-companions … Knew in their hearts that their lord lay dead. Then the proud thanes went forward … Eager and undaunted, hungry for battle. They wanted one of two outcomes: To leave life or avenge their lord.” Perhaps these are a few of the strongest lines in the poem. The point is made clear; the goal was either to kill or be killed, and nothing else. Unfortunately, we are missing pieces of the poem. It is suspected that 50-100 lines are not taken into account for, so we can only guess what is missing. Maybe there is more of an explanation for Byrtnoth’s overwhelming pride, or “ofermōd” as we are told. But really, we can only assume that this is the mindset many soldiers, and officials had. Even through the writing, without using overly persuasive adjectives, we can see the pride which the men possess. In lines 11-17, we read “Then warriors knew that he would not weaken … In war-play but wield his battle-weapon. Eadric also intended to serve his lord; He lifted his shield and broad sword, Embracing battle. He fulfilled his boast on the mead-bench that he would drink danger … And fight fiercely to defend his lord.” Truthfully speaking, this is just a simple description of the movements the men made in preparation for their fight. However, words such as “broad,” “embracing,” “defend,” “danger,” and “serve” all seem to recognize the honor and loyalty men showed to their lord. Although a lot of action is indicated throughout the poem, while reading the words itself, I feel as though much of it is choppy and incomplete.
It is said that this transcript was originally all spoken aloud, before becoming a written piece. Keeping this in mind, I can imagine the tale of “The Battle of Maldon” to be told with encouraging emotion, rage, passion, and in a somewhat improvised manner. If there is any one point to drive home about the battle and the poem “The Battle of Maldon”, it is the importance of pride and dedication to the lord over your own life. This is not logical by any means, and certainly is not an idea that our people would likely support today, but over time, values and ideas varied. It is not fair to judge what has occurred in the past, since the men of that time period (around 991) could have easily shunned us for our use of non-violence in handling issues between countries and people today. If it were not for the ofermōd of Byrtnoth and the others mentioned in the poem, not a single aspect of the story would be the same. Because of this, we must take the decisions made for what they were and assume that these men died for their people, for their country and for their lord, with no
remorse.