There is no indication of who wrote Beowulf; scholars have suggested at least two possible candidates, but neither of these identifications has been generally accepted.

Many dates and places have been suggested for the composition of Beowulf. Most of the theories suffer from wishful thinking: scholars connect it to a favorite time and place. It is no use, however, to show where and when it might have been written. It must be shown that it could not have been written anywhere else at any other time in order for a theory to be conclusive. Early critics often stressed the antiquity of the poet's material and attempted to break the poem down into a number of older "lays" (see Style section below). Northumbria during the lifetime of the scholar Bede has often been suggested because it was culturally advanced and Bede was the greatest Anglo-Saxon scholar. The...