Reconstructing the Hero: Representation of Loyalty in Late Anglo-Saxon Literature
Reconstructing the Hero: Representation of Loyalty in Late Anglo-Saxon Literature

Summary/Abstract: Danish attacks on the British Isles in the 9th century had considerable political consequences for the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms reigning independently at the time. ‘The Great Heathen Army’, as the Anglo-Saxon called it, began a series of invasions in Britain and their advance was unstoppable until all Anglo-Saxon kingdoms but Wessex were conquered. Emerging as the rulers of only surviving Anglo-Saxon kingdom, Alfred and the subsequent monarchs of Wessex began a slow process of unifying the subjugated Anglo-Saxons under their banner and they desired to be acknowledged as the kings of England, rather than Wessex. By adapting traditional heroic values to contemporary political needs, literary works of this period similarly attempt to channel former tribal loyalties towards the monarch and propagandize absolute devotion to the survival and construction of ‘England’. This article discusses the ideological role literature played in late Anglo-Saxon era during the formation of England.

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