Beowulf fights the ill-favored man in Kent

[joseph s crary]

There is evidence within the poem that the Grendel fight actually took place in southeast England. Maybe that’s why this poem appears only as England Saxon, and not German Saxon, Friesian, or Danish literature; and why the Normans tried to destroy every copy?

[Petrarch's Love]

What is the evidence for thinking that the setting is southern England? Could you cite some of the sources you're referring to? I'd be interested to see them.

[joseph s crary]

I as many others were taught that Beowulf was a Dane and the Grendel fight took place on an island east of Denmark. However when Beowulf sailed from the continent to wherever he arrived he took a route called the swan-road. (1) Researchers have rendered this as simply meaning the sea. I, on the other hand, remember the migration of swan from the continent to England is most marked east-to-west and crosses the lower Rhine into southeast Britain. (2) Next, Beowulf’s sailing time from the continent was about 36 hrs. Given the speed of his craft, winds, tides, and currents (all about 8-10 knots) the destination may have been about 180-200 km away. (3) Finally, when Beowulf first sees his destination the morning sun reflected white off cliffs or bluffs. As the sun normally raises in the east its reflected light could only be seen by one moving west.

Together, these suggest Beowulf’s boat set sail in the late afternoon or early evening with the tides and wind from somewhere near the Rhine's mouth. Plutarch states that 36 hours was the sailing time, around the first/second century AD, from the Rhine to the Themes estuaries. The Beowulf poem states they sailed in the eveing of one day, spent another full day at sea, and arrived off the coast in darkness very early the next morning. Thus the distance seems right. Following what was then known as a bird migration route Beowulf's boat arrived south of the Themes estuary in total darkness as the pre-dawn sun lite the chalk white cliffs of North Foreland and/or the Sheerness. Here we find the Isles of Thanet, Harty, Elmley, and Sheppy. Interestingly, Harty was called Hart Londe on a 15th century map, while an earlier form was Heorot in the 11th century.

There is more

[joseph s crary]

The North Foreland area display an optical shining effect when light from the rising sun strikes the white chalk cliffs. This is dramatically pronounced as pre-dawn light on the cliffs shines bright while the surrounding ocean is dark. The cliffs at Sheerness display the same, as in fact the Anglo-Saxon place-name Sheerness means `bright headland'.