They are generally called codices (singular codex) to distinguish them from scrolls, which is less necessary nowadays.
Fun fact: Christians loved the codex form, while pagans didn't. As in, there are archeological digs that have found libraries where more than 90% of the pagan works are scrolls, and more than 90% of the Christian ones, codices.
The explanation that I've heard for why Christians developed a culture of codices is that they were especially interested in finding particular passages in their texts, and the codex format made that more convenient. Not sure if that's truth or myth!
That makes sense. Having used books and long pdf files it is much easier to cross reference in a book. pdf without search ie scroll would be a nightmare.
The relevant word is fēolhearde. It's a word that only appears here in the entire Old English corpus, but it seems to mean either "hardened by a file" or (less likely) "as hard as a file." Files were used in the production of swords and other weapons to sharpen them and remove excess weight.
(Interestingly the compound fȳrheard "fire-hardened" does occur in Beowulf!)
I found fȳrheard but it was in a pile of stuff describing the arrival of Beowulf and his team at Hrothgar's place. Apparently describing a helmet? These people really loved their weapons and accoutrements. This poem was the equivalent of Star Wars! Our boys are not so different.
The originator sounds confused! Files are used for shaping metal (and wood) but not for hardening. The treatment of metal by fire, was used. I will keep an eye out for fȳrheard. I am not surprised that this is the only instance in the OE corpus. Some poor soul had to create this copy.
"Hardening, tempering, annealing, normalizing are all different heat treatments. Annealing is heating up to critical temperature and cooling slow enough for the steel to be in a softened form. This make it easy to work cold. Do this between forging and cold work (filing / grinding). Normalizing is similar to annealing, heat to critical and cool in still air. With some steels this will harden the steel with most of what is forged, it will soften the steel but maybe not to the same extent as annealing. It is commonly used to refine grain and relieve stress in the steel. Hardening (quenching) is the first step in the final heat treat to harden the steel. Heat to critical and quench in an appropiate quenchant. The quenchant depends on the steel and may be air, oil, water, brine or something else. The quenching results in a very hard and brittle blade. Next comes tempering. This is heating to a (relatively) low temperature to remove the brittleness of a fully hard blade and also softens it a bit."
Thank you for that. So enlightening. (That's what good writing does, enlightens - yours and the poems.) I recently acquired the Maria Dahvana Headley translation of Beowulf (2020). Why Beowulf? I mean, it's been translated so much, made into movies and TV shows and probably more. Is there was one (or two or three) things in Beowulf that make it so compelling? Or is it just the Hero archetype?
I remember studying Beowulf in translation in the first year of my UG English course, on a module called "The Monstrous". I found it gave such a bleak view of life then, but that might've been influenced by me struggling to adjust to university life. I wish we'd done some shorter Old English poetry first to ease us in as it's quite a shock culturally looking back at that period, and the poetry you've mentioned sound fascinating. I did become interested in the idea of the heroic, though, and how every generation has a hero, be he Beowulf, Lancelot or James Bond. And like Beowulf, Bond did go on at some length about his weapons!
I visited Maldon last year as it's where my stepmum was born, and I remember the Battle of Maldon at primary school in Essex. There's some lovely old Thames smacks moored up on the quay, and one of them - which you can go out on - is a veteran of another battle: Dunkirk. We humans never seem to learn, do we?
Thank you Colin for these recommendations. I’m very new to OE so this sort of advice is very helpful. I’ve recently read the opening introduction to The Wanderer down to “Wyrd biþ ful aræd” and I understand what you mean when you refer to alliterative effect. In fact, just in the opening lines of this poem it became apparent that the sense of drama is less in modern English translation. Perhaps this might be one for future study.
I fondly remember reading The Battle of Maldon in a university class—our professor was passionate about heroic poetry—but The Wanderer’s quiet sorrow speaks to me more personally. The loneliness of its voice is something that I've been trying to echo in my own writing—more than 1,000 years later :)
Speaking of words worthy of a tattoo:
ne mæg weorðan wis wer ær he age wintra dæl in woruldrice
Well worthy!
For anyone who wants a translation: "A man cannot become wise before he has had his share of winters in the worldly realm."
Thank you for the list! BTW, the whole time I was reading the post, I was thinking "where have i heard Maldon before?" Then I saw your footnote!
I only just made the connection recently myself!
They are generally called codices (singular codex) to distinguish them from scrolls, which is less necessary nowadays.
Fun fact: Christians loved the codex form, while pagans didn't. As in, there are archeological digs that have found libraries where more than 90% of the pagan works are scrolls, and more than 90% of the Christian ones, codices.
The explanation that I've heard for why Christians developed a culture of codices is that they were especially interested in finding particular passages in their texts, and the codex format made that more convenient. Not sure if that's truth or myth!
That makes sense. Having used books and long pdf files it is much easier to cross reference in a book. pdf without search ie scroll would be a nightmare.
Kindly have a look at the original of this passage of the Battle:
"There was shouting heaved up, and ravens circling,
eagles eager for carrion—an uproar was on the earth.
Then they let fly from their hands spears file-hardened,
the spears grimly ground down, bows were busy—
shields were peppered with points. (106-10)
"File-hardened"? I think it was "fire-hardened". After grimly grounding down.
Great selection of poems!
Hi Sandra! Thank you!
The original for that section is:
Hī lēton þā of folman fēolhearde speru,
ġegrundene gāras flēogan.
The relevant word is fēolhearde. It's a word that only appears here in the entire Old English corpus, but it seems to mean either "hardened by a file" or (less likely) "as hard as a file." Files were used in the production of swords and other weapons to sharpen them and remove excess weight.
(Interestingly the compound fȳrheard "fire-hardened" does occur in Beowulf!)
I found fȳrheard but it was in a pile of stuff describing the arrival of Beowulf and his team at Hrothgar's place. Apparently describing a helmet? These people really loved their weapons and accoutrements. This poem was the equivalent of Star Wars! Our boys are not so different.
The originator sounds confused! Files are used for shaping metal (and wood) but not for hardening. The treatment of metal by fire, was used. I will keep an eye out for fȳrheard. I am not surprised that this is the only instance in the OE corpus. Some poor soul had to create this copy.
"Hardening, tempering, annealing, normalizing are all different heat treatments. Annealing is heating up to critical temperature and cooling slow enough for the steel to be in a softened form. This make it easy to work cold. Do this between forging and cold work (filing / grinding). Normalizing is similar to annealing, heat to critical and cool in still air. With some steels this will harden the steel with most of what is forged, it will soften the steel but maybe not to the same extent as annealing. It is commonly used to refine grain and relieve stress in the steel. Hardening (quenching) is the first step in the final heat treat to harden the steel. Heat to critical and quench in an appropiate quenchant. The quenchant depends on the steel and may be air, oil, water, brine or something else. The quenching results in a very hard and brittle blade. Next comes tempering. This is heating to a (relatively) low temperature to remove the brittleness of a fully hard blade and also softens it a bit."
https://www.bladesmithsforum.com/index.php?/topic/12508-harden-temper-and-anneal/
Note that Torah scrolls are made the same way, but there is substantial review of the texts. So there should not be so much random copying.
Good stuff. You might enjoy my chat here with Eleanor Parker on the restorative power of Old English riddles https://open.substack.com/pub/historyextralifelessons/p/find-wonder-in-the-world-with-the?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=5ed80w
From “The Wanderer”:
“Swa þes middangeard
ealra dogra gehwam
dreoseð ond fealleð”
So this middle earth
Every day moreso
Fails and falls
Thank you for that. So enlightening. (That's what good writing does, enlightens - yours and the poems.) I recently acquired the Maria Dahvana Headley translation of Beowulf (2020). Why Beowulf? I mean, it's been translated so much, made into movies and TV shows and probably more. Is there was one (or two or three) things in Beowulf that make it so compelling? Or is it just the Hero archetype?
I remember studying Beowulf in translation in the first year of my UG English course, on a module called "The Monstrous". I found it gave such a bleak view of life then, but that might've been influenced by me struggling to adjust to university life. I wish we'd done some shorter Old English poetry first to ease us in as it's quite a shock culturally looking back at that period, and the poetry you've mentioned sound fascinating. I did become interested in the idea of the heroic, though, and how every generation has a hero, be he Beowulf, Lancelot or James Bond. And like Beowulf, Bond did go on at some length about his weapons!
I visited Maldon last year as it's where my stepmum was born, and I remember the Battle of Maldon at primary school in Essex. There's some lovely old Thames smacks moored up on the quay, and one of them - which you can go out on - is a veteran of another battle: Dunkirk. We humans never seem to learn, do we?
Thank you Colin for these recommendations. I’m very new to OE so this sort of advice is very helpful. I’ve recently read the opening introduction to The Wanderer down to “Wyrd biþ ful aræd” and I understand what you mean when you refer to alliterative effect. In fact, just in the opening lines of this poem it became apparent that the sense of drama is less in modern English translation. Perhaps this might be one for future study.
I fondly remember reading The Battle of Maldon in a university class—our professor was passionate about heroic poetry—but The Wanderer’s quiet sorrow speaks to me more personally. The loneliness of its voice is something that I've been trying to echo in my own writing—more than 1,000 years later :)