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Studia Neophilologica
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“Contending Throng” Scenes and the

Comitatus Ideal in Old English Poetry,
with special attention to The Battle
of Maldon 122a
a
Paul Battles
a
Department of English , Hanover College P. O. Box 890 ,
Hanover, IN, 47243, USA
Published online: 27 May 2011.

To cite this article: Paul Battles (2011) “Contending Throng” Scenes and the Comitatus Ideal in
Old English Poetry, with special attention to The Battle of Maldon 122a, Studia Neophilologica,
83:1, 41-53, DOI: 10.1080/00393274.2011.570022

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00393274.2011.570022

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 Studia Neophilologica 83: 41–53, 2011

“Contending Throng” Scenes and the Comitatus Ideal in

Old English Poetry, with special attention to The Battle of
Maldon 122a

PAUL BATTLES

Old English poetry features a recurring scene which I call “The Contending Throng.” In it,
a crowd, typically of soldiers or servants, competes to serve, defend, or attack the person at
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the focus of the narrative, often their lord. Contending Throng scenes occur in Descent into
Hell, Christ I, Andreas, and The Battle of Maldon. Its presence in The Battle of Maldon
helps to resolve a long-standing crux in that poem, stemnetton (line 122a), which is shown
to mean “they vied,” “they contended.” The fact that Contending Throng scenes recur as
late as the Middle English Cursor Mundi, and that some of its distinctive elements are
mentioned already by Tacitus, testifies to the enduring power of the comitatus ideal as a
literary trope.

One of the more puzzling verses in The Battle of Maldon occurs when the English and
Viking armies first clash. After Byrhtnoth has agreed to let the Viking army cross to the
mainland, the battle is joined. The poet first sketches a general impression of the fight-
ing – darting arrows, flying spears, crashing shields – then zeroes in on the warriors near
Byrhtnoth. When Wulfmær is killed, the English avenge his death (116–26):
Þær wearð wicingum wiþerlean agyfen.
Gehyrde ic þæt Eadweard anne sloge
swiðe mid his swurde, swenges ne wyrnde,
þæt him æt fotum feoll fæge cempa;
þæs him his ðeoden þanc gesæde,
þam burþene, þa he byre hæfde.
Swa stemnetton stiðhicgende
hysas æt hilde, hogodon georne
hwa þær mid orde ærost mihte
on fægean men feorh gewinnan,
wigan mid wæpnum; wæl feol on eorðan.1

[“For this the vikings were given recompense. As I have heard, Eadweard fiercely killed one with his sword;
he did not hold back the blow, so that the fated warrior fell at his feet. For this his lord thanked him, the
chamberlain, when he had opportunity. Swa stemnetton the resolute young warriors in battle, eagerly striving
to be first in killing one of the fated men with weapons; the slain fell to the ground.”]

The general thrust of this passage is clear. Because Wulfmær is Byrhtnoth’s sister-son, his
death is grievous, and Eadweard immediately avenges him. But what does it mean that the
young warriors swa stemnetton, with each intent on being “first in killing one of the fated
men with weapons”?2 Judging by context, stemnetton – a hapax legomenon – seems to
connote fighting. If so, swa refers to Eadweard, whom the young warriors seek to emulate:
he has just killed a viking, and each of them is eager to do so next. However, the major
dictionaries,3 standard editions,4 and sundry grammars and readers5 gloss swa stemnetton
with some variation on “thus they held their ground,” “therefore they stood firm.” Another
reading that has been advanced is “thus they stopped (talking),”6 but this has not found

DOI: 10.1080/00393274.2011.570022
 42 P. Battles Studia Neophil 83 (2011)

wide-spread acceptance, largely because it does not seem to fit the context.7 Of course,
context should not be the sole factor in determining a word’s meaning, but in this case
the contextual clues point in the right direction: stemnetton does denote fighting. As I will
argue, swa stemnetton means “in like manner, they contended” in being first to kill a viking.
Beyond the immediate context, there are two other points which support this reading. First,
this passage is an example of what I will call the “Contending Throng,” a recurring scene
in which warriors compete to serve their lord in peace or battle. And second, both the
morphology and etymology of stemnettan support the meaning of “to vie,” “to contend.”

“The Contending Throng” in Old English Poetry

“The Contending Throng” is a traditional theme8 that describes a crowd, typically of sol-
diers or servants, competing to serve or defend (in one case, attack) the person at the
focus of the narrative, usually their lord. Like “The Traveler Recognizes His Goal” and
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“Migration,”9 it has a stable lexical core, which can be represented as follows: þringan +
(georne) + hwilc hie / hwa + (superl.) + infinitive + magan / motan. A good example
occurs in The Descent Into Hell, 42b–49:

Wræccan þrungon,
hwylc hyra þæt sygebearn geseon moste,
Adam ond Abraham, Isac ond Iacob,
monig modig eorl, Moyses ond Dauid,
Esaias ond Sacharias,
heahfædra fela, swylce eac hæleþa gemot,
witgena weorod, wifmonna þreat,
fela fæmnena, folces unrim.

[The exiles contended as to which of them could catch sight of the victorious Son: Adam and Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, many a proud warrior, Moses and David, Isaiah and Zacharias, many patriarchs, as well as
a gathering of heroes, a host of wise-men, a multitude of women, and many virgins – countless people.]

In the lines immediately preceding this passage, the poet deploys a cluster of epithets
evoking the comitatus-ideal:10 Christ appears as frea moncynnes (“lord of mankind,” 33b),
heofona helm (“protector of the heavens,” 34a), cyning (“king,” 36b, 40b), ealles folces
fruma (“creator of all peoples,” 41a), and weoruda wuldorgiefa (“giver of glory to hosts,”
42a). These are expressions of various lordship-functions: ruling, protecting, and gift-
giving. This is reinforced by the speech addressed to Christ immediately after this passage,
where the burgwarena ord (“chief of the hell-dwellers,” 56b, John the Baptist or Adam)
describes how Christ first came to him and gesealdest sweord ond byrnan, / helm ond heo-
rosceorp (“gave [him] sword and byrnie, helmet and war-gear,” 72a–73a) and offered to
become his mundbora (“protector,” 75).
A very similar instance of the theme occurs in Christ I 391b–399, which describes how
the seraphim minister to the Trinity in heaven:

Him ðæt Crist forgeaf,

þæt hy motan his ætwiste eagum brucan
simle singales, swegle gehyrste,
weorðian waldend wide ond side,
ond mid hyra fiþrum frean ælmihtges
onsyne weardiað, ecan dryhtnes,
ond ymb þeodenstol þringað georne
hwylc hyra nehst mæge ussum nergende
flihte lacan friðgeardum in.
 Studia Neophil 83 (2011) “Contending Throng” Scenes in Old English Poetry 43

[Christ granted them that they might, with their own eyes, enjoy his presence always and forever, adorned
with ornaments, to worship the Lord far and wide; and with their wings they guard the person of the almighty
and eternal God, and about the Lord’s throne they throng eagerly to try which of them might fly closest to
our Savior in the heavens.]

Again, the language draws heavily on the comitatus-ideal. The persons of the Trinity
are waldend (“the Ruler”), frea ælmihtig (“the almighty Lord”), and ece drihten (“eter-
nal God”). The serphim, meanwhile, enjoy the singular privilege of protecting their lord
God, so that the poet says, in the lines right before this passage: Habbaþ folgoþa / cyst
mid cyninge (“they have the choicest service with the king,” 390b–91a). This last line
could also be translated as “theirs is the best position in the king’s retinue,” for folgoþ
(“following,” “service”) often has the specific sense of “Gefolgschaft” (Bosworth-Toller:
id quod sequitur, comitatus). The seraphim’s paramount status within the “king’s retinue”
is also expressed by their proximity to the þeodenstol, the “lord’s seat” (397a), and they
moreover contend for the honor of flying closest to Christ: þringað georne / hwylc hyra
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nehst mæge ussum nergende / flihte lacan (397b–99a).

These passages recall Tacitus’ description of the nature and function of the Germanic
comitatus:

gradus quin etiam ipse comitatus habet, iudicio eius quem sectantur; magnaque et comitum aemulatio quibus
primus apud principem suum locus, et principum cui plurimi et acerrimi comites. haec dignitas, hae vires
magno semper electorum iuvenum globo circumdari, in pace decus, in bello praesidium11

[“Indeed there are even gradations within that retinue, determined by the one whom they follow; and there
is fierce competition among the retainers as to who will be first in rank with their leader, and among
the chiefs as to who has the most and fiercest retainers. Both status and power derive from continually
being surrounded by a large crowd of picked young men: they are an ornament in peace, a bodyguard in
war”]

In the structure of the comitatus, honor derives from, and is expressed by, physical proxim-
ity to the lord: primus locus apud principum can be understood as both “first in rank with
the leader” and “closest in location to the leader.” This agrees with the dynamic at work in
the “Contending Throng” scenes in The Descent Into Hell and Christ I, which vividly por-
tray the retainers’ jockeying for position: the exiles in Hell struggle to see which of them
can catch a glimpse of Christ, and angels vie for the honor of flying closest to him and
serving him. Tacitus’ word for this is aemulatio, suggesting a sort of competitive imitation.
Conversely Christ – like Tacitus’ princeps – derives status from the size and splendor of
his retinue. Tacitus goes on to specify that the retainers have a dual function: in peace they
project the lord’s majesty (in pace, decus), in battle they lend protection (in bello, praesid-
ium). These are precisely the functions of the comitatus in the Old English “Contending
Throng.”
While Descent into Hell and Christ I show the “Contending Throng” in pace, Andreas
(125b–33) depicts it in bello:
Duguð samnade,
hæðne hildfrecan, heapum þrungon,
(guðsearo gullon, garas hrysedon),
bolgenmode, under bordhreoðan.
Woldon cunnian hwæðer cwice lifdon
þa þe on carcerne clommum fæste
hleoleasan wic hwile wunedon,
hwylcne hie to æte ærest mihton
æfter fyrstmearce feores berædan.

[The troop of heathen warriors gathered; enraged, they thronged in crowds under the protection of their
shields (their armor clanged, their spears rattled); they wished to find out whether those who had endured
 44 P. Battles Studia Neophil 83 (2011)

for some time in the prison, fettered in that joyless place, were still alive, and which of them they might first
eat, deprive of live after the alloted span of time.]

Though not mentioned in this passage, the person at the focal point of the narrative is
Matthew; his prayer to God (and answer) precedes this passage, and it is his “expiration
date” that the guards later check. The language of the passage suggests the beginning
of a battle, as the duguð assembles with armor, shields, and spears. As they enter the
prison, corðor oðrum getang (“one troop pressed against the other,” 138b), and there they
encounter Matthew, awaiting them as for a fight (143–46): Hie ða gemetton / . . . haligne
hæle . . . / bidan beadurofne þæs him beorht cyning, / engla ordruma, unnan wolde (“there
they met . . . the holy hero . . . famed in battle, awaiting what the bright king, the creator of
angels, would ordain for him”).
A key word in all of these passages is the verb þringan, which also occurs in other
passages depicting the comitatus ideal. In fact, in Old English poetry þringan is restricted
to two contexts: descriptions of natural phenomena, such as nightfall and rain;12 and scenes
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similar to those involving “The Contending Throng,” that is, depicting “duty or eagerness
to serve one’s lord”13 or “battle.”14 In his paraphrase of Book 4, meter 2, of The Consolation
of Philosophy, King Alfred describes a scene reminiscent of the “Contending Throng”
passage in Christ I:

Geher nu an spell be ðæm ofermodum

unrihtwisum eorðan cyningum,
ða her nu manegum and mislicum
wædum wlitebeorhtum wundrum scinað
on heahsetlum, hrofe getenge,
golde gegerede and gimcynnum,
utan ymbestandne mid unrime
ðegna and eorla. Þa bioð gehyrste
mid heregeatwum hildetorhtum,
sweordum and fetelum swiðe geglengde . . .
Gif mon ðonne wolde him awindan of
þæs cynegerelan claða gehwilcne,
and him þonne oftion ðara ðegnunga
and þæs anwaldes ðe he ær hæfde,
ðonne meaht ðu gesion þæt he bið swiðe gelic
sumum ðara gumena þe him geornost nu
mid ðegnungum ðringað ymbeutan (Meters of Boethius 25.1–10, 22–28)
[Hear then a song concerning proud and unjust earthly kings, who now in many and various beautiful gar-
ments gleam wondrously, [sitting] on high seats [raised] nearly to the roof, adorned with gold and gems,
surrounded by countless thanes and nobles. Those are equipped with battle-bright war-gear, much adorned
with swords and belts . . . If anyone were to strip him of these kingly robes, and then deprive him of the
ministrations and of the power which he had before, then you might see that he is most like some of those
men who now throng around him most eagerly in serving him]

This greatly expands upon the verses in the original, where the presence of “retainers”
is suggested in only a single phrase (the kings are saeptos tristibus armis, “surrounded by
forbidding arms”). For Alfred, this phrase conjures the traditional function of the comitatus,
for he describes earls and thanes flocking about the king, competing most eagerly to serve
him (þe him geornost nu / mid ðegnungum ðringað ymbeutan). Moreover, the retainers’
ðegnung, mentioned alongside with “royal clothes” and “power,” is a defining aspect of

Fuglas þringað
utan ymbe æþelne; æghwylc wille
wesan þegn ond þeow þeodne mærum,
oþþæt hy gesecað Syrwara lond
corðra mæste.
 Studia Neophil 83 (2011) “Contending Throng” Scenes in Old English Poetry 45

the king’s majesty: as Alfred says, strip a king of his retainers, and of his clothes and
power, and he is no greater than his retainers. The reciprocal dynamic of power observed
by Tacitus is at work here: the retainers vie for the privilege of serving their lord because
this increases their status within the retinue; and their competition enhances the glory of
the king. The larger the retinue, and the more eager their ministrations, the greater his
majesty.
An adoring throng of retainers also features in The Phoenix, where the protagonist is
surrounded by worshipful birds as the flock travels to his “nesting” tree (163b–67):

[Birds throng round about the noble one; each wishes to be thane and servant to the famed lord, until they
arrive in Syria in the greatest band.]

The comment that æghwylc wille / wesan þegn ond þeow to the phoenix again suggests
that the birds compete for the honor of serving him. That is, þringan implies more than
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passively “milling around”: the birds vie for the attention of their lord. This scene explicitly
contradicts the source, where the phoenix travels to the tree alone. Indeed the Old English
poet has him not just surrounded by a crowd, but by “the largest of crowds” (corðra mæste).
Both in The Phoenix and The Meters of Boethius, the image of thronging retainers serves
to glorify the object of their adoration.
In Beowulf, thronging retainers are conspicuously absent in the passage where Wiglaf
scolds Beowulf ’s men for abandoning their lord in battle. He recalls the treasures and
weapons that they received from their lord (2864–74b):

Þæt, la, mæg secgan se ðe wyle soð specan

þæt se mondryhten, se eow ða maðmas geaf,
eoredgeatwe, þe ge þær on standað,
þonne he on ealubence oft gesealde
healsittendum helm ond byrnan,
þeoden his þegnum, swylce he þrydlicost
ower feor oððe neah findan meahte –
þæt he genunga guðgewædu
wraðe forwurpe ða hyne wig beget.
Nealles folccyning fyrdgesteallum
gylpan þorfte . . .

[This, indeed, one could say who wished to speak the truth, that the lord of men who gave you these treasures,
this war-gear in which you stand here – as on the ale-bench he often dispensed helmet and mail-coat, the
best he could find far and near, to those sitting in the hall, the lord to his thanes – that he had completely and
grievously thrown away the battle-garments that he gave to you, when war came upon him. The king had no
need to boast about his fellow warriors!]

Wiglaf concludes his harangue by evoking the image of “thronging” retainers, but in a neg-
ative sense: “Wergendra to lyt / þrong ymbe þeoden þa hyne sio þrag becwom” (2882b–83,
“Too few defenders thronged about the lord when distress befell him”). This is a failure of
the comitatus-bond: Beowulf did his part by giving his men fine weapons and armor, but
they did not use these gifts as they should have: in standing by their leader during his hour
of need.
In sum, þringan in Old English poetry is prominently associated with the duty of thanes
toward their lord, either in peace or battle. This is most obvious in the “Contending Throng”
passages. In this traditional theme, retainers jockey for position in both a metaphoric but
also very literal sense; this is an integral part of the comitatus dynamic. In these scenes
the thronging of retainers suggests not simply standing or moving in a crowd, but, more
strongly, “to crowd round someone,” “to vie for attention.”
 46 P. Battles Studia Neophil 83 (2011)

The Battle of Maldon 122a stemnettan: “to vie,” “contend”

Returning now to the Battle of Maldon passage quoted earlier, its resemblance to the other
“Contending Throng” passages – both in morphology and in its use of the comitatus ideal
– is obvious. Lines 122–26a offer a perfect example of the “Contending Throng” theme:

Swa stemnetton stiðhicgende

hysas æt hilde, hogodon georne
hwa þær mid orde ærost mihte
on fægean men feorh gewinnan,
wigan mid wæpnum

[In like manner, the resolute young warriors vied with each other, eagerly striving to be first in killing one
of the fated men with weapons; the slain fell to the ground.]
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This passages differs in only one respect from the “Contending Throng” passages analyzed
above, namely in using stemnettan instead of þringan. Yet I believe that stemnettan has the
same meaning: the warriors “competed” to see who would be the first to kill one of the
Vikings. To show that this is indeed the case, I will now turn to an analysis of the word’s
etymology.
Although stemnetton is a hapax legomenon, its morphology presents no difficulties. It
consists of the suffix -ettan joined to a root morpheme, either the verb stefnan (stemnan) or
the noun stefn (stemn). Stefnan means “to regulate, fix, direct, institute” or “to alternate,”15
while the different senses of stefn fall into three categories: I. “voice,” “sound”; II. “mes-
sage,” “summons,” “turn (of military service)”, “time”: “a body of men who take a turn at
work, the English military force?”; and III. “‘stem,”’ “trunk,” “foundation,” “root,” “prow
or stern of a vessel.”16 The two current interpretations of stemnettan are related to senses I.
and III. of stefn. I believe, however, that it actually derives from the verb form, stefnan, in
its meaning “to alternate.” Before discussing my proposed reading in detail, I will briefly
glance at the current interpretations of stemnettan.
From a purely formal standpoint, the least plausible reading is the most widely accepted
one, “to stand firm,” “to hold one’s ground.” The proposed derivation from the noun stemn
(stefn) is problematic. According to Albert H. Marckwardt, whose study of -ettan in Old
English remains the most comprehensive to date, this suffix is primarily deverbal (that
is, it usually attaches to verbs);17 of seventy-six Old English -ettan verbs, Marckwardt
identifies only eleven formed from nouns. Yet Old English stefnan does not have the
meaning “stand firm,” “hold one’s ground.” More importantly, even if one accepts an
underlying noun form, the semantic leap from stemn, “stem,” “trunk,” “root,” to stem-
nettan, “to hold one’s ground,” “to stand firm,” is far less straightforward than the proposed
etymology (Holthausen: “feststehen,” from “Stamm,” “Wurzel,” “Grund”) would suggest.
Holthausen’s “Grund” to the contrary, “ground” is a meaning that is simply not attested
for either Old English stemn (stefn) or its Middle English cognate, stem (steven). The
sense “trunk,” “root,” “stem” is in both Old and Middle English limited to botanical18
and nautical contexts.19
The gloss “stop (talking),” proposed by Joseph Harris, is somewhat more plausible.
Since Middle English stemmen can mean “to stop,” especially in speech contexts,20 Harris
proposes that Old English stemnettan likewise means “stop (talking)” or “fall silent,” a
meaning he derives from the verb stefnan in its meaning “to fix.” This has the advantage of
conforming to Marckwardt’s observation that the -ettan suffix is chiefly deverbative. On the
other hand, Marckwardt further specifies that “when deverbal, the suffix usually indicates
repetition of action, either at regular or irregular intervals,”21 and Harris acknowledges
that the meaning he propses for stemnettan “cannot be regarded as frequentative.”22 As
mentioned earlier, some editors have objected to reading stemnettan as “stop (talking)”
 Studia Neophil 83 (2011) “Contending Throng” Scenes in Old English Poetry 47

because it does not fit the context. Harris anticipates this criticism by emphasizing the
“speech context” within which stemnettan occurs in The Battle of Maldon and suggests
that “the immediate passage concerns thought and seems to indicate a moment of contem-
plative silence before the hyssas are committed to battle.”23 But nowhere is it said that the
young warriors speak; Byrhtnoth is the only Englishman who talks for more than fifty lines
before or after this passage. An even more important objection is that Middle English stem-
men develops the sense “stop (talking)” only after 1300, almost certainly through influence
of the Icelandic cognate, stemma;24 its relevance for interpreting Old English stefnan is
therefore doubtful.
One point upon which current interpretations of stemnettan agree is that a passage in the
Middle English Seinte Katherine holds the key to the word’s meaning. The lines in question
(462–65) read:25

Hwet nu, unwreste men, ant wacre þen ei wake, of dea[d] ant of dult wit! Nu is ower stunde; hwi studgi e
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nu ant steuentið se stille? Nabbe e teð ba ant tunge to sturien?

[What now, you miserable men, and weaker than any weak [man], of dead and of dull wit! Now is your hour;
why do cease now and steuentið so still? Do you not have both teeth and tongue to move?]

This paraphrases the Latin Quid vos, ignaui et degeneres, hebetatis sensibus sic obmutesci-
tis?26 (“You weaklings and degenerates, why do you weaken in your wits and thus fall
silent?”). The Maldon and Seinte Katerine passages have always enjoyed a co-dependent
relationship, with Old English editors and lexicographers citing the Middle English pas-
sage to support their reading of stemnettan in Maldon, and Middle English editors and
lexicographers citing the Old English passage to pin down the meaning of steventen in
Seinte Katerine. Eugen Einenkel, in his 1884 edition of The Life of Saint Katherine, appeals
to Grein’s gloss of “stand halten” for stemnettan in rendering steventen as “stop (short).”27
The poem’s most recent editors, S. R. T. O. d’Ardenne and E. J. Dobsen, prefer the meaning
“stand (silent)” (steuentið se stille = “stand so silent”) but likewise refer to the tradi-
tional interpretation of stemnettan as “stand firm.”28 This disagreement is instructive. The
fact that Einenkel glosses steventen as “stop (short),” while d’Ardenne and Dobson prefer
“stand (silent)” – both citing stemnettan in The Battle of Maldon to support their readings
– shows that defining the Old English word by appealing to the Seinte Katerine passage is
not without difficulties.
But regardless of what steventen means in Seinte Katerine, its importance for The Battle
of Maldon 122a has been exaggerated. Though E. V. Gordon insists that “there can . . . be
no doubt that the verb in Saint Katherine represents an OE stefnettan and is the same word
as stemnettan here [Maldon 122a]”29 – a sentiment Harris echoes30 – there are two prob-
lems with this notion. First, the likelihood of semantic change over the course of several
centuries, and especially the influence of Old Icelandic stemma (mentioned above) means
that one cannot simply equate the Old and Middle English words. And second, identical
form does not guarantee identical meaning. That is, everyone agrees that stemnettan is
formed from a root, stefnan or stefn, plus the suffix -ettan. Since both stefnan (“to regu-
late,” “to alternate,” “to provide with a hem or border”) and stefn (“trunk,” “voice,” “turn”)
are polysemous, stemnettan would be as well. An example may help to illustrate this point.
Consider the verb “drive,” for which the Oxford English Dictionary gives, among others,
the following definitions: “to carry or convey in a vehicle”; “to throw, cast, send, impel in
any direction”; “to force (men or animals) to move on before one.”31 If one adds the suffix
“-er,” yielding “driver” – “someone or something that drives” – we have a word that can
denote the operator of a vehicle, a tool or a sporting implement, or someone who herds
animals. The only way to determine the correct meaning is by context. Adding a suffix to
a polysemous word does not disambiguate it, particularly in a language like Old English,
which relies largely on compounding and affixation to create new words. In short, stemnet-
tan in The Battle of Maldon and steventen in Seinte Katherine are homonyms. If I belabor
 48 P. Battles Studia Neophil 83 (2011)

this point, it is because the Seinte Katherine passage looms so large in current interpreta-
tions of The Battle of Maldon 122a, and the insistence on yoking the two passages has led
critics astray. In fact, without the Seinte Katherine association to prop them up, both “stand
firm” and “stop (talking)” appear unconvincing. They do not fit the context and they are
etymologically implausible.
A gloss that does fit the context and squares with the word’s morphology is the one
suggested above: “to vie,” “contend.” I am not the first to propose such a meaning for
stemnettan. In his edition 1904 of The Battle of Maldon, W. J. Sedgefield notes that

“Stefn” or “stemn” has among other meanings that of “turn” or “spell,” or “a body of persons who take their
turn at any work” (Bosworth-Toller sub voce). It seems, therefore, better to translate stemnetton by “fought
in their turn” than by “stood firm” . . .32

Of course, Sedgefield might have said much more. He must have known about the Seinte
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Katerine passage, for Bosworth-Toller’s entry refers to it under stefnettan (printed only
about an inch below the one for stefn, which Sedgefield quotes). By failing to even men-
tion this parallel, and by not building a stronger case for his own gloss, he left an easy
opening for a rebuttal, and E. V. Gordon wasted no time taking it. Still, Sedgefield’s basic
intuition about the meaning of stemnettan was correct. “To take turns (in fighting)” only
fails to convey the idea of a competition between the warriors: thus, I would prefer “to vie,”
“contend” (with each other).
I take stemnettan to derive from the verb stefnan, in its attested Old English sense
“to alternate.” The Épinal-Erfurt glossary assigns this meaning: alternantium – staefnæn-
dra (Épinal 75), alternantium – staefnendra (Erfurt 75).33 A second gloss lists the ge-
form with a very similar meaning: reciprocato (from reciprocare, “to move back and
forth”) – gistaebnændrae (Épinal 864; Erfurt 864: gistaebnen). Both glosses also occur
in later compilations. Unfortunately, these have no independent value, deriving from
Épinal-Erfurt or its archetype. It may still be worth mentioning them: alternantium – stef-
nendra (First Cleopatra Glossary 348);34 and reciprocato – gestaefnendre (Second Corpus
Glossary P 68).35 A stemnettan with the meaning proposed here, and derived from the
verb stefnan, would conform to Marckwardt’s observations about the suffix -ettan: that is,
it would be both deverbative and frequentative.
Though the verb stefnan occurs infrequently in Old English, the meaning “to alternate”
can be confirmed by the related sense of the noun stefn, “a turn,” “time,” “occasion.” This
meaning is most familiar from the poetic phrase niwan stefne, “on a new occasion,” “a
second time,” “once again,” which occurs twice each in Genesis A, Beowulf , Andreas, and
Elene.36 Moreover, in two particularly interesting passages in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
stefn is associated with the English levies (in the second passage, it is part of the compound
fird-stem):

Þa besæt sio fierd hie þær utan þa hwile þe hie þær lengest mete hæfdon. Ac hie hæfdon þa heora stemn
gesetenne, & hiora mete genotudne, & wæs se cyng þa þiderweardes on fære mid þære scire þe mid him
fierdedon (A: 894)37
[ “Then the army surrounded them while their food lasted, but they had served their turn and used up their
food, and the king was on his way there with the force that was campaigning with him”]
Þa . . . for Eadweard cyning mid West Sexna fierde to Passanhamme, & sæt þær þa hwile þe mon worhte
þa burg æt Tofeceastre mid stanwealle . . . & þa se firdstemn for ham, þa for oþer ut, & gefor þa burg æt
Huntandune, & hie gebette & geedneowade þær heo ær tobrocen wæs (A: 921)
[ “Then King Edward went to Passenham with the West Saxon levies and waited there while a stone wall
was added to the fortress at Towcester . . . And when that portion of the host went home, the other departed
to serve, and they went to the fortress at Huntingdon, which they repaired and rebuilt where it had been
destroyed”]
 Studia Neophil 83 (2011) “Contending Throng” Scenes in Old English Poetry 49

These passages suggest that stefn could have a specifically military connotation consis-
tent with the context of stemnettan in The Battle of Maldon. They support the idea of
warriors fighting “in their turn,” since in both cases stefn describes one host taking up its
duty to relieve the other. Other instances of stefn meaning “a turn,” “time,” “occasion,”
with the implication of alternation, occur in various glosses: uicissim, uersa, uice – emb
stemn, thærgemang;38 uicissim – emb stem;39 alternis uicibus – stemnum gewrixlum;40
alternatim – stemmælum.41 The word most frequently associated with stefn here is vicis
(gen.; the nominative form is not recorded): “change,” “interchange,” “alternation,” “alter-
nate or reciprocal succession,” “vicissitude”; also “a time,” “turn.”42 The adverb vicissim,
“alternating,” “in turn,” derives from the same.
Middle English steven retains this meaning. Like OE stefn, it renders Latin vicis and
vicissim. John Trevisa’s translations of Bartholomaeus Anglicanus’ De proprietatibus
rerum offers several examples. The most interesting of these is the discussion of cranes and
geese in book 12 of De proprietatibus rerum, which behave in a quite anthropomorphic,
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warlike fashion: they fly in herdes and elect a king, they fight ful strongliche amongst each
other but afterward behave peacefully, and þey ordeyne wacchis and in wakynge chaungen
stempnes (vigilias ordinant & in vigilando vices mutant).43 Here, again, the context is a
military one, with several “soldiers” taking turns in fulfilling their duty.44 Trevisa uses “by
stevenes” to translate vicissim, as when crocodiles take turns sitting on their eggs to hatch
them: And þe male and female sitteþ þeron on broode by steuenes [vicissim], now þe male
and now þe female, as Plinius seiþ libro 18◦ .”45
A passage in the Middle English Cursor Mundi is of particular interest in this context. In
an entry on the Apostle James, the Son of Alphaeus (Mt 10.3), Cursor Mundi repeats the
tradition that this James is one and the same as “James, the Lord’s brother” and that he was
the first bishop of Jerusalem (he was also the supposed author of The Epistle of James),
then adds that he was so holy that crowds would vie to touch the hem of his garment (cf.
Mt 9.20, 14.36):

[I]Acob, alphei barntem,

Was first biscop of iurselem . . .
And was our lauerd sistur sun,
Quarfor men cald him vr lauerd broþer,
Þai war ontinkel an and oþer.
Man o sothfastnes and right,
Sua mikel halines & light,
Þat folk ilkan wald oþer stemm,
Qua rin moght titest on his hemm (21127–28, 21130–36)46

[“James, son of Alphaeus, was first bishop of Jerusalem . . .. And he was the sister-son of our Lord, wherefore
men called him our Lord’s brother. They resembled each other. [James was a] man of righteousness and
justice, of such holiness and light, that people would vie [each] with the other to see who might first touch
his garment’s hem.”]

The corresponding lines in the “Southern version” of Cursor Mundi express the same
thought, but in language closer to the modern idiom: “Þe folke wolde vchone oþere stem
/ Who myZte furste touche his hem” (21135–36).47 Here stem implies not simply “taking
turns,” but a competition to see who can first touch the hem of James’s garment, confirm-
ing that ME stevenen could be used in the same sense as OE þringan. This passage is a
particularly close analogue to the Maldon verses, for the two share not just the single root
(stemm / stemnetton), but other identical or similar words, as well as the syntax in which
they are embedded: stemnetton . . . hwa . . . ærost mihte on fægean men feorh gewinnan /
stem who myZte furste touche his hem.
 50 P. Battles Studia Neophil 83 (2011)

Table 1. Verbal repetition in the “Contending Throng” passages

Descent Into Hell Christ I Andreas Maldon Cursor Mundi
þrungon þringað þrungon . . . stemnetton . . . stem

woldon cunnian hogodon

georne georne

hwylc hyra hwylc hyra hwylcne hie hwa who

moste nehst ærest ærost furste

mæge mihton mihte myZte

geseon lacan berædan gewinnan touche

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Indeed, the Cursor Mundi passage represents a link between The Battle of Maldon and
the other Old English “Contending Throng” scenes. It conforms to the theme’s lexical
criteria as delineated above:
OE theme: þringan + (georne) + hwilc hie / hwa + superl. + inf. + magan / motan
Cursor: [stevenen] + who + furste [superl.] + touche [inf.] + myZte
These passages, displayed side-by-side in Table 1, are strikingly similar. The only sig-
nificant variation is in fact The Battle of Maldon 221a stemnettan – where The Descent
Into Hell, Christ I, and Andreas have þringan – and this also occurs in a late reflex of the
theme in Cursor Mundi, where its meaning is demonstrably the same as that of þringan
in the other poems. Both The Battle of Maldon and Cursor Mundi also use hwa (or who),
where the other poems use inflected forms of hwylc + hie. On the other hand, The Battle
of Maldon resembles Andreas most closely in describing a fight (metaphorical in the latter,
real in the former), whereas Christ I, The Descent Into Hell, and Cursor Mundi all depict
an adoring flock of ministering or worshiping figures (patriarchs, angels, a crowd of believ-
ers) trying to get as close as possible to their lord (Christ or his “sister-son” St. James). The
Battle of Maldon and Andreas also both use ærost, where the other poems either have a
different superlative or none at all, and both have a verb intervening between þringan /
stemnettan and hwylcne hie / hwa (Andreas: cunnian; Maldon: hogian). This pattern of
parallels, with one poem sharing certain features with another, but other features with a
third, is consistent with thematic composition (rather than borrowing from one particular
author by another).

Conclusion

The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the word stemnettan in The Battle of Maldon
122a means “to vie,” “contend.” Considerations of language and context alone would make
this the likely reading. Deriving from stefnan, “to alternate,” “take turns,” this stemnettan
is both deverbative and frequentative (the warriors “severally took turns in fighting,” “vied,
contended in fighting”), thus conforming to Marckwardt’s observations about the usual
behavior of the suffix -ettan in Old English. The Cursor Mundi passage shows that the
Middle English reflex, stevenen, did have this meaning, and the continued use of the same
Latin glosses (vicis, vicissim) for the same Old and Middle English words meaning “to
alternate” (OE stefnan, ME stevenen) and “a turn” (OE stefn, ME steven) suggests that
this was not a late development but already present in Old English. The military context,
too, in which the noun stefn occurs at several points makes this meaning a good fit with
 Studia Neophil 83 (2011) “Contending Throng” Scenes in Old English Poetry 51

the Battle of Maldon passage. What puts the matter beyond reasonable doubt, however, is
the evidence of the “Contending Throng” theme. The other passages in which this theme
survives, The Descent Into Hell 42b–49, Christ I 391b–99, and Andreas 125b–3, bear an
extremely close resemblance, in both structure and lexis, to The Battle of Maldon 122–26a
(as well as to the late reflex of the theme in Cursor Mundi 21127–36). In these other
Old English passages, the verb þringan occupies the exact position of stemnettan in the
Maldon verses, and moreover they use þringan in precisely the meaning most likely for
stemnettan in The Battle of Maldon, and which stem (stevenen) has in Cursor Mundi: “to
vie,” “contend.” Finally, Old English poetry most often associates thronging thanes with
a comitatus-context, specifically describing the ideal behavior of retainers vis-à-vis their
lord, in either serving or defending him. The relevance of this for The Battle of Maldon is
obvious. No other Old English poem meditates as intensely upon the virtues and emotions
associated with the retainer’s obligation of loyalty toward his lord. Whatever the poem’s
attitude toward Byrhtnoth and his ofermod, nothing but praise goes to those retainers stand
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by the earl and perform their duties to the bitter end.

The immediate context of the “Contending Throng” passage in The Battle of Maldon
depicts this virtue in action. Wulfmær, Byrhtnoth’s sister-son, is killed by the vikings, and
Eadweard fells one of them in requital (wiþerlean, literally “payback”). Eadweard thus
repays Byrhtnoth for his favored status within the Earl’s household – he is the chamberlain
– and earns special commendation. Seeing this, the other warriors likewise contend for the
Earl’s favor by vying to be first in killing one of the Vikings. And this is precisely what
they are supposed to do, for “Byrhtnoth encouraged them, commanding that each of them
who wished to earn glory against the Danes should be intent on battle” (127–29, stihte hi
Byrhtnoð, / bæd þæt hyssa gehwylc hogode to wige / þe on Denon wolde dom gefeohtan).
Byrhtnoth urges the retainers to fight bravely against the Danes so as to receive dom – glory
or fame in the eyes of Byrhtnoth himself, but also of their fellow warriors and ultimately
posterity (poet and audience). In sum, Byrhtnoth appeals to the rivalry inherent in the
comitatus relationship, which Tacitus’ aemulatio – with its dual sense of “imitation” and
“competition” – describes so fittingly: Eadweard’s bravery is indeed worthy of imitation,
but doubly so if it inspires others to surpass him in valor.48 Hence the companions “vied
with each other,” stemnetton, to see who could first kill one of the Danish warriors.
The image of retainers thronging about their lord, jockeying for attention and status,
occurs in all types of Old English poems: short and long, secular and religious, and early
and late. It runs through the verse corpus from Beowulf to King Alfred’s Boethius to The
Battle of Maldon, and even beyond to Cursor Mundi (c.1300). A remarkably similar scene
is already painted by Tacitus shortly before 100 AD. Whatever the historical reality behind
these scenes, their depiction in literature derives from an enduring tradition which accounts
for their remarkable uniformity of expression. The “Contending Throng” thus provides
both an important interpretive context for The Battle of Maldon 122a and evidence for the
continuity of the comitatus ideal in Old English verse.

Acknowledgement

I am very grateful to Charles D. Wright, without whose inspiration and encouragement this article would not have
been written, and who also commented helpfully on an earlier draft of the essay.

Department of English
Hanover College
P. O. Box 890
Hanover, IN 47243
USA
E-mail: battles@hanover.edu
 52 P. Battles Studia Neophil 83 (2011)

NOTES
1 Old English poems other than Beowulf are cited from the Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records (= ASPR), ed. George
Philip Krapp and E. V. K. Dobbie (New York: Columbia University Press, 1931–42). Beowulf is cited from
Klaeber’s Beowulf , 4th ed., ed. R. D. Fulk, Robert E. Bjork, and John D. Niles (Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 2008). Editorial emendations are noted only where they have a direct bearing on my argument.
Unless otherwise noted, translations are my own.
2 Here hogian does not have its more common meaning, “to think,” “consider,” and so on, but rather “to strive.”
Bosworth-Toller offers the following translation of the Maldon verses: “they eagerly strove who there first
with the sword’s point of the fey man might win the life”; see Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller, An
Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (= Bosworth-Toller) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1898).
3 See Christian W. M. Grein, Sprachschatz der angelsächsischen Dichter (Cassel and Göttingen: Georg
H. Wigand, 1861–64); Bosworth-Toller; J. R. Clark-Hall, A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed.
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960); and Ferdinand Holthausen Altenglisches etymologisches
Wörterbuch, 3rd ed. (Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1974).
4 The Battle of Maldon, ed. E. V. Gordon, 2nd ed. (London: Methuen, 1957); and Dobbie’s edition in vol. 6 of
the ASPR.
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5 To cite only three examples, see Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson, A Guide to Old English, 6th ed.
(Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001); Henry Sweet, Anglo-Saxon Reader in Prose and Verse, 15th ed. rev. by
Dorothy Whitelock (Oxford: Clarendon, 1975); and John C. Pope, Eight Old English Poems, 3rd ed. prepared
by R. D. Fulk (NY and London: W. W. Norton, 2001).
6 Joseph Harris, “Stemnettan: Battle of Maldon, Line 122a,” Philological Quarterly 55 (1976): 113–17.
7 Bernard James Muir, Leoð: Six Old English Poems, A Handbook (New York: Gordon and Breach, 1989),
cites it favorably (p. 103), but R. D. Fulk in Eight Old English Poems rejects it on philological grounds
(glossary, s. v. “stefnettan”) while the most recent critical edition, The Battle of Maldon, ed. D. G. Scragg,
Old and Middle English Texts (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1981), notes that it “does not fit
the context as well” (p. 76).
8 On Old English traditional themes, see especially John Miles Foley, Traditional Oral Epic: The Odyssey,
Beowulf, and Serbo-Croatian Return Song (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990), ch. 9. Since
indisputably literate authors such as Cynewulf make use of these recurrent themes, I prefer to call them
“traditional” rather than “oral” or “oral-formulaic.” The question of oral composition has no bearing on the
present study.
9 George Clark, “The Traveler Recognizes His Goal: A Theme in Old English Poetry,” JEGP 64 (1965):
645–59; Paul Battles, “Genesis A and the Anglo-Saxon Migration Myth,” Anglo-Saxon England 29 (2000):
45–68.
10 The historical continuity of the comitatus from the earliest Germanic period to the late Viking Age remains
controversial. However, there can be no doubt that Old English poetry contains striking depictions of, and
abounds in language formulating, comtitatus structures and ideals. I am interested only in the literary depic-
tions of the Germanic “Gefolgschaft.” On the problem of the comitatus, see especially Joseph Harris, “Love
and Death in the Männerbund: An Essay with Special Reference to the Bjarkamál and The Battle of Maldon,”
Heroic Poetry in the Anglo-Saxon Period: Studies in Honor of Jess B. Bessinger, Jr., ed. Helen Damico and
John Leyerle, Studies in Medieval Culture 32 (Michigan: Kalamazoo, 1993), 77–114, esp. 78–89.
11 Cornelius Tacitus, Opera Minora, ed. M. Winterbottom and R. M. Ogilvie, Oxford Classical Texts (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1975), ch. 13, p. 44.
12 Night: Genesis A 139a, Guthlac B 1281b; storm, wind, rain, the flood: Riddle 3 61a, Meters of Boethius 3.7a;
Genesis A 1373b.
13 Instances of this, other than the scenes discussed below: Judith 164b, 249b; Elene 329a; The Phoenix 336b,
501a; The Panther 67b.
14 Battle, approach to battle: Andreas 1203b, Guthlac B 896b, Beowulf 2960b, Elene 123a; metaphorical battle:
Vainglory 24a, 42a.
15 Bosworth-Toller, s.v. stefnan.
16 Clark-Hall, s.v. stefn.
17 Albert H. Marckwardt, “The Verbal Suffix -ettan in Old English,” Language 18 (1942): 275–81, at 277 and
281.
18 The botanical sense can also function figuratively (e.g., in phrases analogous to the “root of goodness”).
19 See Bosworth-Toller, s.v. stefn (three entries on pp. 914–915); Grein, Sprachschatz der angelsächsischen
Dichter, s.v. stefn; Clark-Hall, A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, s.v. stefn; and the Middle English
Dictionary (= MED), ed. Hans Kurath, Sherman M Kuhn, and Robert E Lewis (Ann Arbor, MI: University
of Michigan Press, 1952–2001), s.v. stem(me) (n. 1) and steven(e) (n. 1 and n. 2).
20 MED, s. v. “stemmen” (v. 2a): “to stop, halt; stand about, tarry; ∼ of stevene, cease (one’s) speech, stop
talking; ∼ stille, remain silent.”
21 Marckwardt, “The Verbal Suffix,” p. 279.
22 Harris, “Stemnettan,” p. 114.
 Studia Neophil 83 (2011) “Contending Throng” Scenes in Old English Poetry 53

23 Harris, “Stemnettan,” pp. 114–15.

24 MED, s. v. “stemmen” (v. 2).
25 Seinte Katerine, ed. S. R. T. O. d’Ardenne and E. J. Dobson, EETS, S. S., 7 (London: Oxford University
Press, 1981).
26 Passio S. Katerine, in d’Ardenne and Dobson, ll. 507–508. The Latin source is collated with the Middle
English version in The Life of Saint Katherine, ed. Eugen Einenkel, EETS, O. S., 80 (London: N. Trübner &
Co., 1884).
27 See The Life of Saint Katherine, note to l. 1265.
28 Seinte Katerine, note to l. 464.
29 Gordon, The Battle of Maldon, note to l. 122.
30 Harris, “Stemnettan,” p. 115.
31 The Oxford English Dictionary (= OED), 2nd ed. 1989, OED Online, Oxford University Press, 4 Apr. 2000,
s. v. “drive,” v. I. 5b, II. 8a, and I. 1a, respectively.
32 W. J. Sedgefield, ed., The Battle of Maldon and Short Poems from the Saxon Chronicle (Boston: D. C. Heath,
1904), note to l. 122.
33 J. D. Pheifer, ed., Old English Glosses in the Épinal-Erfurt Glossary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974).
34 W. G. Stryker, ed., The Latin-Old English Glossary in MS Cotton Cleopatra A III, Diss. Stanford (1951).
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35 J. H. Hessels, ed., An Eighth-Century Latin-Anglo-Saxon Glossary (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

1890).
36 Genesis A 1555b, 1886a; Beowulf 1789a, 2594a; Andreas 123a, 1303a; Elene 1060a, 1127a.
37 John Earle and Charles Plummer, eds., Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel, with Extracts from the Others
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1892–99).
38 H. D. Meritt, ed., The Old English Prudentius Glosses at Boulogne-sur-Mer (Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 1959), 54.
39 S. S. Getty, ed, An Edition with Commentary of the Latin/Anglo-Saxon Liber scintillarum, Diss. Pennsylvania
(1969).
40 Aldhelm, De laude virginitatis (prose), 2903, in L. Goossens, ed., The Old English Glosses of MS. Brussels,
Royal Library 1650, Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone
Kunsten van België, Klasse der Letteren 36 (Brussels: Paleis der Academiën, 1974).
41 Regularis concordia 20.386, in L. Kornexl, ed., Die Regularis Concordia und ihre altenglischen
Interlinearversionen, Texte und Untersuchungen zur englischen Philologie (Munich: Fink, 1993).
42 Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879), s.v. “vicis”; for
“a time,” “turn,” see I. B. 1.
43 John Trevisa, On the Properties of Things: John Trevisa’s Translation of Bartholomæus Anglicus De
Proprietatibus Rerum, ed. M. C. Seymour et al., 3 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975–1988), book 12,
chapter 1. Here and below, the Latin is cited from Bartholomaeus Angelicus {sic}, De Rerum Proprietatibus
(Frankfurt: Minerva, 1964; orig. publ. 1601), with no separate book and chapter references unless they do
not agree; here the Latin text is from book 12, but in the matter preceding chapter 1.
44 Other examples of vicis – steven: “For as a weþir in ligginge vppon on side turneþ and chaungiþ by euen
stemnes [æqualiter mutat vices], so þe sonne beynge in þat part of þe cercle zodiacus þat hatte Aries makeþ
euenes of day and ni t, and makeþ dayes of craft and ni tis iliche long” (De proprietatibus Rerum Book 8,
Ch. 10).
45 Book 19, chapter 89.
46 Cursor Mundi: A Northumbrian Poem of the XIVth Century, ed. Richard Morris, vol. IV, EETS O.S. 66
(London: Oxford University Press, 1966; orig. publ. 1877), here citing MS London, British Library, Cotton
Vespasian A.3.
47 The Southern Version of Cursor Mundi, vol. IV, ed. Peter H. J. Mous, Ottowa Medieval Texts and Studies 14
(Ottowa: University of Ottowa Press, 1986), here citing MS London, College of Arms 57.
48 On aemulatio in Tacitus and The Battle of Maldon, see Joseph Harris, “Love and Death in the Männerbund.”