|
1-63
|
- Scyld Scefing rises from an orphan to found a Danish dynasty.
- The throne passes to Beow, Healfdene, Heorogar, and, then to Hrothgar.
|
|
|
|
|
|
64-85
|
- Hrothgar rules well and prosperously. He builds Heorot.
|
|
|
|
|
|
86-193
|
- Grendel attacks Heorot.
- Hrothgar and the Danes, without their mead-hall, despair for twelve years.
|
|
|
|
|
|
194-490
|
- Beowulf hears of Grendel and sails to help Hrothgar and the Danes.
- Hrothgar says he knew and once helped Ecgtheow, Beowulf’s father.
- Hrothgar accepts Beowulf’s offer to fight Grendel.
|
|
|
|
|
|
491-701
|
- At a feast, Unferth insults Beowulf.
- Beowulf boasts of his youthful swimming contest with Breca.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
702-836
|
- Beowulf fights Grendel without weapons and rips the monster’s arm from its socket. Grendel flees to the swamp to die.
|
|
|
|
|
|
837-1250
|
- At a feast in Heorot, Hrothgar says that Beowulf is like a son to him and rewards Beowulf with gifts.
- The scop sings of good kings, bad kings, and the Fight at Finnsburg.
|
|
|
|
|
|
1251-1407
|
- Grendel’s mother attacks Heorot, takes Grendel’s arm, and kills Hrothgar’s counselor Aeschere.
|
|
|
|
|
|
1408-1639
|
- Unferth lends his sword Hrunting to Beowulf.
- Beowulf swims underwater for a day to reach Grendel’s mother’s lair at the bottom of a lake.
- The sword Hrunting breaks during Beowulf’s fight with Grendel’s mother, but Beowulf finds a giant’s sword and defeats Grendel’s mother with that weapon.
- Beowulf sees Grendel’s dead body, cuts off Grendel’s head (the blood melts the giant’s sword to the hilt), then swims to the surface. .
|
|
|
|
|
|
1640-1912
|
- Beowulf presents the hilt of the giant’s sword to Hrothgar and describes the battle with Grendel’s mother.
- Hrothgar celebrates and rewards Beowulf with more gifts.
- Beowulf invites Hrothgar’s son Hrethic to visit the Geats. Hrothgar says Beowulf would make a good king.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1913-2199
|
- Beowulf returns home to the Geats and gives his treasure to his king, Hygelac.
- Hygelac rewards Beowulf with treasure and land.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2200-2323
|
- Some time later, after King Hygelac and his son Heardred die in battle, Beowulf becomes king of the Geats.
- Beowulf rules the Geats well for fifty years. Then a thief steals a cup from a dragon’s treasure hoard. The dragon ravages the Geatish countryside.
|
|
|
|
|
|
2324-2710
|
- Beowulf takes a band of eleven warriors and goes to fight the dragon. However, all his warriors but Wiglaf flee.
- Beowulf and Wiglaf kill the dragon, but Beowulf is mortally wounded.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2711-2845
|
- Beowulf gives Wiglaf treasure and the throne, then dies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2846-3109
|
- Wiglaf takes the throne, but predicts (correctly) that hard times are ahead for the Geats.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3110-3182
|
- Beowulf is buried in a barrow on a cliff. The Geats build a huge mound over Beowulf’s barrow and mourn their dead king.
|
