Analysis

My exhibit compares a passage from the Old English story Beowulf in which the titular character describes himself battling sea monsters with the map of Iceland which was first published in the 1590 edition of Abraham Ortelius's atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Van Duzer, 108), to argue that the depiction of the sea monsters in the Beowulf passage reflected contemporary sailors' genuine fears of encountering sea monsters while sailing.

In the passage, the monsters are depicted as aggressive, and trying to eat Beowulf (Heaney, 562). Beowulf describes himself as heroically ridding the sea of dangers to sailors (Heaney, 567-569), however, other than the sea monsters' attacks on Beowulf, the threat the monsters posed towards sailors is not explored in detail, which suggests that sea monsters attacking sailors was a familiar theme at the time that Beowulf was composed.

In the map of Iceland published in the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the map features sea monsters that are labelled and given descriptions (Ortelius), indicating that they are included to inform the reader of what lurks in the sea surrounding Iceland, and not just for decoration. The map cites Olaus Magnus as a source for some of these descriptions, indicating that Orteilus's belief in sea monsters was influenced by the views of his predecessors, and particularly previous works of cartography.

In addition to Magnus, many of the sea monsters on the map were from the 12th century Old Norse story The King's Mirror (Fernandez, 61). Ortelius was probably not familiar with The King's Mirror, which would not be published for several centuries (Van Duzer, 109-110). However, the map was created by the native Icelander Guðbrandur Þorláksson, and Anders Vedel, a Dane, and one of them may have been familiar with the marvels described in The King's Mirror, either directly, or through familiarity with material that used common sources. This demonstrates that tales of monsters from medieval stories may spread outside their context of being part of a story. While The King's Mirror presented its marvels as fact, many of its marvellous stories can be traced to impossible legends, such as stories of sailors drowning after landing on a whale that they thought to be an island. This shows that stories of fact and legend cannot easily be separated, and that fictional accounts both reflect and influence the beliefs of the time.

This mixture of fact and fiction is also found in Beowulf. According to Jan Purnis's article "Historical Legend in Beowulf," many of the characters from Beowulf are historical figures, and the poem often references historical events. For example, Hrothgar was a real Danish king, and Hygelac was a real Geat king, who really died in battle (Purnis). However, Beowulf was probably not a real person (Purnis), and monsters are integral to the plot. Pumis's article argues that the poem incorporated historical events to give the story a sense of plausibility. This suggests that the audience of the poem would not have thought that the events described in the poem were fantastic. So regardless of whether Beowulf's account of his own heroism in the passage lines 539-569 was plausible or would have been interpreted as an exaggeration within the context of the story by readers, the implication that sea monsters had posed a threat to sailors in the past would likely have been accepted by the audience. The idea that the audience of Beowulf would have considered the monsters described therein to be plausible is further supported by the fact that the Nowell Codex contains works that present monsters outside the context of fiction. For example, Wonders of the East described a variety of monsters and monstrous peoples as fact, without any story (Biggs). The monstrous figurehead on the Gribshunden intended to intimidate enemies in war also suggests that sailors really feared sea monster attacks, just as the passage from Beowulf suggests.