The Lost Road and Other Writings. Christopher Tolkien
Notes on King Sheave
References in the following notes are given to the lines of the poem.
| 1–3 | On the association of Sheave with the Longobards (Lombards) see p. 93. |
| 7 | The word fallow (‘golden, golden-brown’) is used several times in this poem of water, and once of gold (38); the corn sheaf is fallow-golden (68). See III. 369. |
| 8–12 | The ‘eagle-clouds’ that precede Sheave’s coming in the poem do not appear in the prose version. |
| 39 | Angol: the ancient home of the English before their migration across the North Sea. See I. 24, 252 (entry Eriol). |
| 142–3 | I am at a loss to say what is referred to in these lines, where the ‘fathers of the fathers’ who founded kingdoms in the North, the descendants of Sheave, ‘governed the earth before the change in the Elder Years’. |
| 148 | Swordmen: it is evident that this is intended as the name of a people, but it is not clear to me which people. Conceivably, my father had in mind the Brondingas, ruled by Breca, Beowulf’s opponent in the swimming-match, for that name has been interpreted to contain the word brond (brand) ‘sword’.Swabes: this reading seems clear (Swabians in The Notion Club Papers). The Old English form was Swæfe: thus in Widsith is found Engle ond Swæfe, and Mid Englum ic wæs ond mid Swæfum. The Suevi of Roman historians, a term used broadly to cover many Germanic tribes, but here evidently used as in Widsith to refer particularly to Swabians dwelling in the North and neighbours of the Angles. |
| 150 | Myrcwudu (Old English): ‘Mirkwood’. This was an ancient Germanic legendary name for a great dark boundary-forest, found in various quite different applications. The reference here is to the Eastern Alps (see note to line 151). |
| 151 | Welsh: ‘foreign’ (Roman). My father used the word here in the ancient sense. The old Germanic word walhoz meant ‘Celtic or Roman foreigner’; whence in the plural the Old English Walas (modern Wales), the Celts of Britain. So in Widsith the Romans are called Rūm-walas, and Caesar ruled over the towns and riches of Wala rice, the realm of the Walas. A line in King Sheave rejected in favour of 150–1 reads Wide realms won them beyond the Welsh Mountains, and these are the Alps. The ancient meaning survives in the word walnut, ‘nut of the Roman lands’; also in Wallace, Walloon. |
| 152–3 | See pp. 54–5. |
The roots of King Sheave lie far back in Northern Germanic legend. There are three primary sources: Beowulf, and the statements of two later chroniclers writing in Latin, Æthelweard (who died about the year 1000), and William of Malmesbury (who died in 1143). I give those of the historians first.
In Æthelweard’s Chronicle the genealogy of the English kings ends with the names Beo – Scyld – Scef (which mean Barley, Shield, and Sheaf; Old English sc = ‘sh’); and of Scef he says:
This Scef came in a swift boat, surrounded by arms, to an island of the ocean called Scani, and he was a very young boy, and unknown to the people of that country; but he was taken up by them, and they watched over him attentively as one of their own kin, and afterwards chose him to be their king.
William of Malmesbury (a writer notable for his drawing on popular stories and songs) has likewise in his genealogy the three figures Beowius – Sceldius – Sceaf, and he tells this of Sceaf:
He, as they say, was brought as a child in a boat without any oarsman to Scandza, a certain island of Germany… . He was asleep, and by his head was placed a handful of corn, on which account he was called ‘Sheaf’. He was regarded as a marvel by the people of that country, and carefully fostered; when he was grown he ruled in the town which was then called Slaswic, but now Haithebi. That region is called Old Anglia, whence the Angli came to Britain.
The prologue, or as my father called it the exordium, to Beowulf, I give from his prose translation of the poem.
Lo! the glory of the kings of the people of the Spear-Danes in days of old we have heard tell, how those princes deeds of valour wrought. Oft Scyld Scefing robbed the hosts of foemen, many peoples of the seats where they drank their mead, laid fear upon men, who first was found in poverty; comfort for that he lived to know, mighty grew under heaven, throve in honour, until all that dwelt nigh about over the sea where the whale rides must hearken to him and yield him tribute – a good king was he!
To him was an heir afterwards born, a young child in his courts whom God sent for the comfort of the people: perceiving the dire need which they long while endured aforetime being without a prince. To him therefore the Lord of Life who rules in glory granted honour among men: Beowulf was renowned, far and wide his glory sprang – the heir of Scyld in Scedeland. Thus doth a young man bring it to pass with good deed and gallant gifts, while he dwells in his father’s bosom, that after in his age there cleave to him loyal knights of his table, and the people stand by him when war shall come. By worthy deeds in every folk is a man ennobled.
Then at his allotted hour Scyld the valiant passed into the keeping of the Lord; and to the flowing sea his dear comrades bore him, even as he himself had bidden them while yet their prince he ruled them with his words – beloved lord of the land, long was he master. There at the haven stood with ringéd prow, ice-hung, eager to be gone, the prince’s bark; they laid then their beloved king, giver of rings, in the bosom of the ship, in glory by the mast. There were many precious things and treasures brought from regions far away; nor have I heard tell that men ever in more seemly wise arrayed a boat with weapons of war and harness of battle; on his lap lay treasures heaped that now must go with him far into the dominion of the sea. With lesser gifts no whit did they adorn him, with treasures of that people, than did those that in the beginning sent him forth alone over the waves, a little child. Moreover, high above his head they set a golden standard and gave him to Ocean, let the sea bear him. Sad was their heart and mourning in their soul. None can report with truth, nor lords in their halls, nor mighty men beneath the sky, who received that load.
There is also a reference to a king named Sheaf (Sceafa) in Widsith, where in a list of rulers and the peoples they ruled occurs Sceafa [weold] Longbeardum, ‘Sheaf ruled the Lombards’; at the beginning of the poem King Sheave it is to the Lombards that the boat bearing the child comes.
This is obviously not