Finnsburg Fragment

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The Finnsburg Fragment is a fragment of an Old English poem. The original manuscript folio was kept at Lambeth Palace, the London residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury, but has now been lost. Our knowledge of the text is based on a transcript made by George Hickes in 1705.

The poem describes a historical event involving a battle between the Danish prince Hnæf and several of his warriors, and Finn, lord of the Frisians and of the manorhouse (or burh) where the battle took place. The events of the poem are also described in passing in an episode of Beowulf.

In both accounts, a fight breaks between Danes and Frisians during a visit by Hnæf and his sixty warriors to Finn's hall. The idea of a bloody battle between a host and his guests probably served as a powerful plot device to the contemporary Germanic audience, and the fact that Hnæf's sister Hildeburh was Finn's wife provides even more dramatic tension.

In the ensuing battle, both Hnæf and his nephew (Finn and Hildeburh's son, a Frisian) are killed. Grieving, Hildeburh has the bodies of her son and brother burned together on the same funeral pyre, despite their having fought on opposite sides.

Afterwards, Hnæf's lieutenant Hengest vows revenge for his lord's death and succeeds in killing Finn.

The fragment is the only testimony of the literature of Anglo-Saxon paganism that has come down to us without Christian redaction.

Finnsburg Fragment

See also