Hafa nu ond geheald husa selest: Jurisdiction and justice in "Beowulf"

dc.contributor.advisorChance, Janeen_US
dc.creatorDay, David D.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2009-06-03T23:58:14Zen_US
dc.date.available2009-06-03T23:58:14Zen_US
dc.date.issued1992en_US
dc.description.abstractAnglo-Saxon legal concepts, particularly the principles of feud and dispute resolution, have a demonstrable influence on the themes and narrative structure of Beowulf. Beowulf's three main monster fights, with Grendel, Grendel's mother and the dragon, may be legally analyzed to determine why the hero has greater difficulties in each fight--in each, the hero's antagonist has a progressively stronger legal right to resistance, from the negligible legal position of Grendel up through the very ambiguous legal rights of the dragon in the final fight. An extremely important influence on each fight is the Anglo-Saxon concept of guardianship over place, or mund, which gives a legal dimension to the poem's emphasis on the sacrosanct and inviolable nature of the "close"--the great meadhall Heorot, or the gudsele ("battle-hall") of the Grendel kin or the eordsele ("earth-hall") of the dragon--and the relative justice of armed forays into such spaces.en_US
dc.format.extent190 p.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.callnoThesis Engl. 1992 Dayen_US
dc.identifier.citationDay, David D.. "Hafa nu ond geheald husa selest: Jurisdiction and justice in "Beowulf"." (1992) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/16549">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/16549</a>.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/16549en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.subjectMedieval literatureen_US
dc.subjectEnglish literatureen_US
dc.subjectLawen_US
dc.titleHafa nu ond geheald husa selest: Jurisdiction and justice in "Beowulf"en_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialTexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentEnglishen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineHumanitiesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorRice Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen_US
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