A study of Christ and his saints as representatives of the values of Christian heroism in Old English poetry

This dissertation investigates the concept of Christian heroism as it appears in a number of Old English poems, through a study of the figure of the miles Christi. These poems present a specific Christian heroism which, though couched in terms culled from Germanic heroism, nevertheless exists in its own right and is quite different from it. Christ and his saints are seen as heroes in themselves (Christian servants obedient to the will of God) rather than as heroic warriors as they are usually regarded (Germanic heroes fighting for a Christian cause). They are leaders and heroes in the sense of servants, and not only like kings and warriors of the Germanic code. A study of some poems from the Cynewulf canon shows that the poets understood Christian heroism to mean more than brave battling for the cause of good; in essence, it is complete submission to the will of God.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of English Language and Literature

Year dc:date.issued

1987

Author dc:creator

• Woeber, Catherine

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21143

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/21143