Anonymous, The Battle of Brunanburh

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The Battle of Brunanburh

is a 73-line poem found in four extant manuscripts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Corpus Christi College Cambridge 173, Cotton Tiberius A. vi, Cotton Tiberius B. i and Cotton Tiberius B. iv) and one manuscript now lost, but copied and published before 1731 when the original was destroyed (Cotton Otho B. xi). The poem constitutes the complete entry for the year 937 in the manuscripts with the only addition of the annal number. Like the other tenth-century poems in the Chronicle,

The Capture of the Five Boroughs

(942),

The Coronation of Edgar

(973) and

The Death of Edgar

(975), the poem is a panegyric. It is composed in regular Old English verse, and uses the full repertoire of traditional alliterative and heroic techniques to celebrate the victory of the West Saxons…

770 words

Citation: Cavill, Paul. "The Battle of Brunanburh". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 October 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=10536, accessed 19 March 2024.]

10536 The Battle of Brunanburh 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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