Beowulf Notes | Objects/Places

Denmark: Land of the Danes, located in Eastern Europe.

Franks: A West German people, residing near the Rhine and the Meuse rivers. A Frankish tribe conquered Gaul, about A.D. 500, and gave its name to modern France.

Frisians: West German people, living in what is now northwestern Holland.

Geats: A people of southern Sweden, the Gotar, conquered by the Swedish kingdom in about the 6th century A.D.

Hathobards: A seafaring German tribe, often associated with the Lombards, sometimes with the Erulians.

Jutes: A Frisian people or tribe related to the Frisians.

Wulfings: A Germanic tribe, geographically located somewhere south of the Baltic Sea. Welthow, wife to Hrothgar, is thought to have been a Wulfing.

Beowulf's Tower: A tower built after Beowulf's death where his ashes are buried.

Grendel's mother's battle-hall: The underwater mead-hall where Beowulf defeats Grendel's mother.

Herot: The battle-hall built by the Danish King Hrothgar, to house his men, and show off his victories and fame.

Hrunting: Unferth's sword from ancient times.

Nagling: Beowulf's sword's name.

Welthow's necklace: A necklace given to Higd by Beowulf.

Swedes: The blanket term for many different tribes and peoples living in and around what is now modern day Sweden, although not relegated to only these peoples. The Geats were themselves conquered by the Swedish Kingdom at around the 6th century A.D.

Danes: The tribe later traced to the present inhabitants of Denmark. At the time of the events of the Beowulf poem, Hrothgar is the King of Denmark and it is a stable kingdom.

Lair: The fiery underground home of Grendel and his mother, which exists in the old battlehall of a castle, beneath a lake.