The Mere Wife's Kingdom

About the Project

For those scholars brave enough to venture into the murky water that is Old English literature, there is one female character who casts a long shadow across the few but mighty texts that remain. Even in her nameless state—defined by her closest male relative and not her own individual autonomy—Grendel's mother stands heads and shoulders (most likely literally as well as metaphorically) over Old English women such as Judith and Julianna. In her monstrocity, she has attracted scholars and students alike, becoming the focus of countless papers and conference talks.

What the project of The Mere Wife's Kingdom hopes to accomplish is a look at how translators of Beowulf have approached the Queen of the Marshland in their translations. This project began with the publication of Maria Dahvana Headley's Beowulf which was labeled as a feminist translation by the public and the translation decisions she made around Grendel's mother. For Headley, Grendel’s mother is not queen but king, the original ruler of the land upon which Hrothgar builds Heorot. It is not Grendel who is lord, but it is the mother, their home is her hall: the sea-wolf slung the soldier [Beowulf] out of the abyss and into her hall. Within Headley’s world of Beowulf, the men are more monstrous than the monsters themselves. And later when Beowulf recounts his exploits, he will say I snatched / the sword, striking down the bitch that sought / to slay me using a derogatory term— bitch—not unfamiliar to men in bars and locker rooms boasting to their male friends about conquest over women. And it is this meditation on such uncomfortable themes, to depict such violence against women as transcending the borders of culture, time, and language, from which the label a feminist translation derives.

Therefore, this project seeks to explore the mere of the Reclusive Night-Queen as Headley calls Grendel's mother.

Permission has been given for all translations not in the public domain. For translations that are not in the public domain, you can find a link to purchase them in the Editor's Preface for each translation. If you find a translation interesting, please consider supporting the translator by purchasing the complete text.

Amelia Lehosit, 2023

Original creation date: November 2022