Editing Heorot

{{short description|Location in the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf}}
[[File:Beowulf Cotton MS Vitellius A XV f. 132r.jpg|thumb|right|The first page of the [[Beowulf]] manuscript]]
'''Heorot''' ([[Old English]] 'hart, stag') is a [[Mead hall|mead-hall]] and major point of focus in the [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] poem ''[[Beowulf]]''. The hall serves as a seat of rule for King [[Hrothgar]], a [[legendary Danish king]]. After the monster [[Grendel]] slaughters the inhabitants of the hall, the [[Geatish]] hero [[Beowulf (hero)|Beowulf]] defends the royal hall before subsequently defeating him. Later [[Grendel's mother]] attacks the inhabitants of the hall, and she too is subsequently defeated by Beowulf.

==Name==

The name ''Heorot'' is the Old English word for a [[stag]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Old English Translator |url=https://www.oldenglishtranslator.co.uk/}}</ref> Its use may stem from an association between royalty and stags in [[Germanic paganism]]. Archaeologists have unearthed a variety of Anglo-Saxon finds associating stags with royalty. For example, a sceptre or whetstone discovered in mound I of the Anglo-Saxon burial site [[Sutton Hoo]] prominently features a standing stag at its top.<ref name="ARCHAEOLOGICAL-RECORD">For general discussion, see Fulk, Bjork, & [[John D. Niles|Niles]] (2008:119–120). For images and details regarding the sceptre or whetstone, see the [[British Museum]]'s [http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?assetId=724350001&objectId=88895&partId=1 collection entry for the object here].</ref>

In a wider Germanic context, stags appear associated with royalty with some frequency. For example, in [[Norse mythology]]—the mythology of the closely related North Germanic peoples—the royal god [[Freyr]] (Old Norse: "Lord") wields an antler as a weapon. An alternative name for Freyr is ''Ing'', and the Anglo-Saxons were closely associated with this deity in a variety of contexts (they are, for example, counted among the [[Ingvaeones]], a Latinized Proto-Germanic term meaning "friends of Ing", in Roman senator [[Tacitus]]'s first century CE ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]'' and, in ''Beowulf'', the term ''ingwine'', Old English for "friend of Ing", is repeatedly invoked in association with Hrothgar, ruler of Heorot).<ref name="CHANEY">See discussion in, for example, Chaney (1999 [1970]:130–132).</ref>

According to historian [[William Chaney]]:

<blockquote>Whatever the association with the stag or hart with fertility and the new year, with Frey, with dedicated deaths, or with primitive animal-gods cannot now be determined with any certainty. What is certain, however, is that the two stags most prominent from Anglo-Saxon times are both connected with kings, the emblem surmounting the unique 'standard' in the royal cenotaph of Sutton Hoo and the great hall of Heorot in ''Beowulf''.<ref name="CHANEY-1999-1970-132">Chaney (1999 [1970]:132).</ref></blockquote>

==Description==
[[File:Beowulf Tribes.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|Map of the ''[[Beowulf]]'' region, showing the protagonist's voyage to Heorot]]

The [[Anonymous work|anonymous]] author of ''Beowulf'' praises Heorot as large enough to allow Hrothgar to present Beowulf with a gift of eight horses, each with gold-plate headgear.<ref>''Beowulf'', lines 1035–37</ref> It functions both as a seat of government and as a residence for the king's [[thegn|thanes]] (warriors). Heorot symbolizes human civilization and culture, as well as the might of the Danish kings—essentially, all the good things in the world of ''Beowulf''.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Halverson |first=John |title=The World of Beowulf |journal=ELH |volume=36 |issue=4 |date=December 1969 |pages=593–608 |jstor=2872097}}</ref>  Its brightness, warmth, and joy contrasts with the darkness of the swamp waters inhabited by [[Grendel]].<ref name="Niles">Niles, John D., [http://www.britannica.com/magazine/article?query=great+hall&id=1 "Beowulf's Great Hall"], ''[[History Today]]'', October 2006, '''56''' (10), pp. 40–44</ref>

==Location==

=== Harty, Kent ===

Though Heorot is widely considered a literary construction, a theory proposed in 1998 by the archaeologist Paul Wilkinson<!--then director of the Faversham Archaeological Field School, https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-53461156/beowulf-new-light-on-the-dark-ages--> has suggested that it was based on a hall at [[Harty, Swale|Harty]] on the [[Isle of Sheppey]], which would have been familiar to the anonymous Anglo-Saxon author; Harty was indeed named Heorot in Saxon times. He suggests that the steep shining sea-cliffs of ''Beowulf'' would match the pale cliffs of [[Sheerness]] on that island, its name meaning "bright headland". An inlet near Harty is named "Land's End", like Beowulf's landing-place on the way to Heorot. The sea-journey from the [[Rhine]] to [[Kent]] could take the day and a half mentioned in the poem. The road to Heorot is described as a ''straet'', a [[Roman Road]], of which there are none in Scandinavia, but one leads across the Isle of Harty to a Roman settlement, possibly a villa. The [[toponymist]] [[Margaret Gelling]] observed that the description in ''Beowulf'' of Heorot as having a ''fagne flor'', a shining or coloured floor, could "denote the paved or [[Mosaic|tessellated floor]] of a Roman building". Finally, the surrounding area was named ''[[Lathe of Scray|Schrawynghop]]'' in the Middle Ages, ''schrawa'' meaning "demons" and ''hop'' meaning "land enclosed by marshes", suggestive of [[Grendel]]'s lonely fens in the poem.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hammond |first=Norman |title=How Beowulf's lair was pinned down to the Thames Estuary |work=[[The Times]] |date=7 December 1998}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Paul |title=Beowulf - On the Island of Harty in Kent |date=2017 |publisher=Kent Archaeological Field School |asin=B07Q27K3XG}}</ref> The archaeologist Paul Budden acknowledged "the story appealed" to him as a Kentish man, but felt that (as Wilkinson conceded) the subject was "mythology, not archaeology or science".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Budden |first=Gary |title=Background reading: Beowulf in Kent by Dr Paul Wilkinson |url=http://www.kafs.co.uk/archive/16%20-%20Winter%202017.pdf |journal=Kent Archaeological Field School Newsletter |issue=16 (Christmas 2017) |access-date=9 December 2020 |pages=22–23 |date=2017}}</ref>

=== Lejre, Zealand ===

[[File:Fyrkat hus stor.jpg|right|thumb|A reconstructed Viking Age longhouse (28.5&nbsp;metres long) in [[Fyrkat]].]]

An alternative theory sees Heorot as the accurate, but Anglicised, iteration of a historic hall in the village of [[Lejre]], near [[Roskilde]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lapidge |first1=Michael |last2=Godden |first2=Malcolm |title=The Cambridge companion to Old English literature |year=1991 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-37794-2 |page=144 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-e5YuuS_yicC&pg=PA144 |access-date=22 May 2010}}</ref> Though Heorot does not appear in Scandinavian sources, King [[Hroðulf]]'s (Hrólfr Kraki) hall is mentioned in [[Hrólf Kraki's saga]] as Hleiðargarðr, and located in Lejre. The medieval chroniclers [[Saxo Grammaticus]] and [[Sven Aggesen]] already suggested that Lejre was the chief residence of the [[Skjöldung]] clan (called “Scylding” in the poem). The remains of a [[Viking]] [[hall]] complex was uncovered southwest of Lejre in 1986–1988 by Tom Christensen of the Roskilde Museum. Wood from the foundation was [[radiocarbon]]-dated to about 880. It was later found that this hall was built over an older hall which has been dated to 680. In 2004–2005, Christensen excavated a third hall located just north of the other two. This hall was built in the mid-6th century, all three halls were about 50&nbsp;meters long.<ref name="Niles"/>

Fred C. Robinson is also attracted to this identification: "Hrothgar (and later Hrothulf) ruled from a royal settlement whose present location can with fair confidence be fixed as the modern Danish village of Leire, the actual location of Heorot."<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Fred C. |title=Approaches to Teaching Beowulf |year=1984 |publisher=MLA |pages=109 |editor=Jess B. Bessinger, Jr. and Robert F. Yeager |location=New York |chapter=Teaching the Backgrounds: History, Religion, Culture}}</ref> The role of Lejre in ''Beowulf'' is discussed by [[John Niles (scholar)|John Niles]] and [[Marijane Osborn]] in their 2007 ''Beowulf and Lejre''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Niles |first1=John |author-link=John Niles (scholar) |last2=Osborn |first2=Marijane |author2-link=Marijane Osborn |title=Beowulf and Lejre |year=2007 |publisher=Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies |isbn=978-0-86698-368-6 }}</ref>

==Modern popular culture==

[[J. R. R. Tolkien]], who compared Heorot to [[Camelot]] for its mix of legendary and historical associations,<ref>[[J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien, J. R. R.]], ''[[Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary]]'' (2015), p. 153.</ref> used it as the basis for the Golden Hall of King [[Théoden]], [[Meduseld]], in the land of [[Rohan (Middle-earth)|Rohan]].<ref>[[Tom Shippey|Shippey, Tom]], ''[[J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century]]'' (2001), p. 99.</ref>

''[[The Legacy of Heorot]]'' is a [[science fiction]] novel by American writers [[Larry Niven]], [[Jerry Pournelle]], and [[Steven Barnes]], first published in 1987.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dryden |first=Mary |title=The Legacy of Heorot by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes; maps by Alexis Walser |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-08-02-bk-713-story.html |access-date=13 January 2021 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=2 August 1987}}</ref>

"Heorot" is a short story in ''[[The Dresden Files]]''{{'}} short story collection ''[[The Dresden Files short fiction#Side Jobs|Side Jobs]]''.

In [[Zach Weinersmith]]'s book ''[[Bea Wolf]]'' (2023), Heorot is paralleled by the treehouse Treeheart.

==See also==
* [[Eikþyrnir]], the stag that stands atop Odin's afterlife hall Valhalla in Norse myth
* [[Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór]], the stags that chew on the cosmological tree Yggdrasil in Norse myth
* [[Freyr]], a Germanic deity who wields an antler as a weapon and whose name means 'lord'
* [[Valhalla]], the afterlife hall of Odin in Norse myth, featuring a stag at its top

==Notes and citations==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
*[[William Chaney|Chaney, William A.]] 1999 [1970]. ''The Cult of Kingship in Anglo-Saxon England: The Transition from Paganism to Christianity''. [[Manchester University Press]]. {{ISBN|0719003725}}
*Fulk, R.D.; Bjork, E. Robert; & [[John D. Niles|Niles, John D]]. 2008. ''Klaeber's Beowulf''. Fourth edition. [[University of Toronto Press]]. {{ISBN|9780802095671}}
{{refend}}

{{Beowulf}}

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[[Category:Fictional drinking establishments]]
[[Category:Fictional buildings and structures originating in literature]]