SCANDO-GOTHIC ART IN WESSEX. 5 



Thorpe, the last translator of what are called the Anglo- 

 Saxon poems of Beowulf, * regards the Scop or Gleeman's 

 Tale as an heroic Saga composed in the south-west of Sweden, 

 and as probably brought to this country during the sway and 

 for the delectation of the Danish dynasty. 



What interest, he asks, could an Anglo-Saxon feel in any 

 valorous deeds of the Northmen, his deadly foes ; or in the 

 encounter of a Scando-Goth with a fire-drake or a dragon ? 

 And the answer he gives is " None whatever." f 



Moreover, Beowulf, though he wrote in the Anglo-Saxon 

 tongue and introduced allusions to Christian belief, was 

 himself of Gothic parentage, and lost no opportunity of 

 praising Hermanric, the illustrious Gothic ruler. J 



The Swedes in earlier days inhabited only the central part 

 of Modern Sweden. It was the Malar Lake that separated 

 them from the Goths, who, under the designation of Hreth- 

 goths, dwelt along the shores of the Baltic. Reithgotarland 

 was the name for Denmark, and Beowulf called the Danes 

 Hrethmen, while the English included in the term " Danes " 

 both Swedes and Norwegians. 



When did these pagan Danes begin gravely to harass the 

 Christian inhabitants of Wessex ? When did it first become 

 possible for individual Scandinavians, peaceful and con- 

 verted, to enter English monasteries ? 



It -is sad to learn that our own Dorchester is not once 

 mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. We read there, 

 undoubtedly, that in the year 635 Cynegils was baptised by 

 Birinus, the bishop at Dorchester ; that, in the following 

 year Cuichelm was baptised at the same place ; and that in 

 the year 639 Cuthred also was baptised " on Dorceceastre." 



* Published 1855. 



f Thorpe, Preface, p. ix. 



} Ramsay ; Gothic Handbook, pp. 14-10. 



Cynegils King wear* gefullad fram Berino }>sem bisceope on 

 Dorcaceastre. 



