There is nothing like a Dane

[klwilliams]

I've been reading Henry of Huntingdon's History of the English People 1000 - 1154, which he wrote in the twelfth century. The first part of the book is based on earlier sources, and has some of the most interesting turns of phrase I've read in a while. The first part of the book chronicles the Danes attacking England, and mixed in with everyday comments are these horribly gruesome events, such as "Wherever they passed they ate joyfully what had been prepared, and when they departed they made payment for their keep by murdering their host and setting fire to their lodging-place." The beginning of the eleventh century seemed to be a time where the Danes came and burned and pillaged, and, like the sagas various people have been talking about here on LJ, people have betrayed and murdered their friends.

I've enjoyed the similes he uses based on nature. My life has so little in it of the natural world right now, dealing as it does with computers and trains and television, that I enjoy reading what someone without anything like that does with the language. A couple of my favorites are:

"In the year 1003 the Danes were inflamed with a justifiable anger, like a fire which someone had tried to extinguish with fat. So flying down like a swarm of locusts, [they burned and pillaged]."

"...with [Swein] were always associated his three companions -- plunder, burning, and killing -- and all England lamented and shook like a reed bed struck by the quivering west wind."

I've also found my current favorite name, AElfweard, which I'm sure must be pronounced elf-weird. It just has to be.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

It's Alf - wayard, sadly.
Ah, Henry. He played a big role in my PhD research. I enjoyed reading him: as you say, he has an endearing quirkiness. You should try his contemporary, Walter Map, next. His De Nugis Curialem, Courtiers' Trifles is a delightful mix of folk tales and gossip.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'll check out Walter Map.

[edanam.livejournal.com]

Can I assume you're reading this as a translation? Or are you wading through early middle English?

And yes, I agree, AElfweard must be pronouced as elf-weird... which has very amusing connotations today.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely in translation. I used to be able to read Latin, but not so much anymore. Never Middle English.

[d-mon-chick.livejournal.com]

There MUST be someone in the SCA with that name. How could there not?