Modthryth and the Problem of Peace-Weavers: Women and Political Power in Early Medieval England

ABSTRACT

Modthryth has been largely understood as an early example of a character archetype common in Western culture, the wicked queen. She is read as a parable warning of the dangers of allowing women to exercise power. Such a reading has anachronistically aligned the cultural attitudes of the audience of Beowulf with those found in the works of later chroniclers, such as Roger of Wendover, Matthew Paris, John of Worcester, and William of Malmesbury, whose accounts of historical medieval English queens such as Cynethryth and Ælfthryth, are permeated with this anxiety. However, unlike these later chronicles, Beowulf is positive in its depiction of queens exercising power. In this paper, we argue that the treatment of Modthryth is, in fact, very similar to that of kings in the poem and that she is judged by the same measure and discussed in the same vocabulary as other powerful figures. We argue that the digression should be read in terms of an entirely different cultural issue and one which has been largely ignored: the emotional difficulties of being a peace-weaver.

KEYWORDS:

• Beowulf
• queenship
• old English literature
• medieval women
• Modthryth

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Overing, Language, Sign, and Gender in Beowulf, 103.

2 All quotations from Beowulf are from Fulk, Bjork, and Niles, eds. (2008). All translations are our own.

3 Firth, 15.

4 All quotations from the Exeter Book are from Krapp and Dobbie eds. (1961) All translations are our own. Neidorf (2016) dates Maxims I to the early Old English period.

5 Malone, 358.

6 Gwara, Heroic identity in the world of Beowulf, 231.

7 See, Earle; Moore; Leneghan.

8 See Sklute; Hill; Chance, Woman as Hero in Old English Literature; Klein; Cavell, Weaving Words and Binding Bodies.

9 Ettmüller’s original footnote in German: “Friedeweberin, Friedensstifterin, d.i. Frau, weil oft bei Friedensschlüssen gegenseitige Vermählungen Statt fanden?” see Baker, 109.

10 See Burton; Welsh; Fee; Porter; Ingham.

11 Donaldson, 34.

12 Sklute, 209.

13 Chance, “The Structural Unity of Beowulf,” 250.

14 Sklute, 208.

15 Baker, 104.

16 Shippey, n.p.

17 The idea that royal wives held significant influence in their husband’s court is also reflected in historical examples. Indeed, according to Asser, in Eadburh, wife of Beohrtric of Wessex, there is even an example of a queen having several of her husband’s men put to death.

18 Sisam, The Structure of Beowulf, 49.

19 See Chance, Woman as Hero in Old English Literature; Leneghan.

20 Klaeber, 198–9; Orchard, 222–3; Liuzza, 111–12; Whitelock, 58–9; Sisam, Studies in the History of Old English Literature, ii.

21 Fulk, 616.

22 Gwara, Heroic identity in the world of Beowulf, 229.

23 Fulk et al., 627.

24 To name but a few examples: Ælfthryth of Crowland, Ælfthryth of Merica and Queen Osthryth are attested in the historical record, while charters also cite others including Queen Aethelthryth (S42) Abbess Mildrith (S86), Queen Saethryth (S88), Abbess Selethryth (S39) and Queen Cynethryth (S123), Queen Aelfthryth (S163), Queen Wulfthryth (S240) (Sawyer, 1968).

25 Bosworth; Eliason, 133.

26 Orchard, 223.

27 Chambers & Wrenn, 138; Sisam, The Structure of Beowulf, 84; Fulk, 624–5.

28 Gwara, Heroic identity in the world of Beowulf, 229.

29 Fulk, 625.

30 Ibid.

31 Dockray-Miller, 32.

32 Overing, Language, Sign, and Gender in Beowulf, 223.

33 Overing, “The Women of Beowulf,” 249.

34 Cavell, Weaving Words and Binding Bodies, 293; Sklute, 209.

35 Ibid.

36 Abraham, 267; Gwara, Heroic identity in the world of Beowulf, 230–31.

37 Dale, 435.

38 Lochrie, 10.

39 Lengehan, 542.

40 Dockray-Miller, 36.

41 Sebo, “Foreshadowing the End in Beowulf,” 838.

42 This is a complex term. For a full and brilliant discussion see Gwara, “The Foreign Beowulf and the ‘Fight at Finnsburg’,” 195–6.

43 Hieatt, 179.

44 Sedgefield, 130; Bonjour, 55.

45 Ibid.

46 Ibid.

47 Houghton et al., Tolkien in the New Century, 79.

48 There is disagreement about the causes of Heremod’s failure. The scop says he is a great warrior who later “hild sweðrode”, (901b), “ceased war”, while Hrothgar suggests that he is banished for his greed and bloodlust. However, importantly, both Hrothgar and his scop agree that Heremod was a disastrous king and a danger to his people.

49 Houghton et al., 79.

50 Klaeber, 187; Shippey, n.p.

51 Stafford, 82.

52 Ibid.

53 Osborn, “The Wealth They Left Us,” 63.

54 Jack, 141.

55 Klein, 109.

56 Sebo, “Ne Sorga: Grief and Revenge in Beowulf,” 182–4.