Beowulf (In Our Time)
800 · Resource
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the epic poem Beowulf, one of the masterpieces of Anglo-Saxon literature. Composed in the early Middle Ages by an anonymous poet, the work tells the story of a Scandinavian hero whose feats include battles with the fearsome monster Grendel and a fire-breathing dragon. It survives in a single manuscript dating from around 1000 AD, and was almost completely unknown until its rediscovery in the nineteenth century.
On these timelines: In Our Time (BBC podcast), Resources: Combined
Around 800
- An Lushan Rebellion (755)
- Viking Age (793)
- Islamic Golden Age (750)
- Reign of Alfred the Great (871)
- Khmer Empire (Angkor) (802)
- Reign of Charlemagne (768)
- Abbasid Caliphate founded (750)
- Treaty of Verdun (843)
- Gunpowder developed in China (850)
- Reconquista (722)