Denmark: Ancient
Treasures,
Viking Ship Building, an Iron
Age
Village in Grendel Country
 Denmark is rich with ancient treasures for the Beowulf
lover.
A trip to the National
Museum (Nationalmuseet) in Copenhagen turned up some great
finds.
The ancient skills of Viking ship building
are producing
beautiful and seaworthy vessels in the shipyards at
Roskilde.
The
nearby Viking
Ships Museum (Vikingskibs Museet) houses the remains of
five viking ships, viking ship models and a superbly crafted
play
area for kids who want to play vikings.
Near Lejre
there's a
reconstructed iron
age village in a setting of ancient mounds and
fenlike ponds -- "Grendel country".
Denmark is
where
Beowulf
tackles Grendel and Grendel's mother, the first two of the three major
challenges he has to face in the poem. Its modern capital, Copenhagen,
is only about 35 kilometers (20 miles) east of Roskilde ('Hrothgar's
Spring'), where many informed readers think Beowulf would have landed.
Lejre (formerly Hleithra),
about 10 kilometers west of Roskilde, has ancient associations
with kings,
and is thought to be where Heorot would have been located.
When
Beowulf and Hrothgar, King of the Danes, say goodbye after Beowulf's
successes with the Grendels, Hrothgar tells him:
You have ensured
that between the tribes,
the Geatish people
and the Spear-Danes,
peace shall be shared,
and wars stop, ... (lines
1854-56).
1,500 years
later, Denmark was recently found to be the happiest
nation in the world. It also vies with Finland for the throughout the
world. It's a good place to be a Beowulf
pilgrim.
Stay in Denmark-Beowulf
resources and go to:
If
you'd rather search in England,
Sweden or Norway, click on one of these
links:
London,
Maldon and Sutton Hoo:
Goteborg, Gamla Uppsala, Vallentuna, Stockholm:Oslo, Bygdoy and Bergen:Norway-Beowulf-resources
Copyright: The
drawing of the Danish Guard is by Stoney Creek artist Gary Strong. It
and the quotation from Beowulf
are
from Mike Walton's The
Book of Beowulf, (Cayuga, Ontario: Walton Family Farm
Books, Copyright 2007). You may
use the materials on this site for an essay or for private Beowulf
study, but not commercially. Do credit
your source!
Or,
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