Beowulf is the oldest surviving English poem. It's written in Anglo-Saxon (Old English), which, with the help of a little French when the Normans took over in 1066, eventually became the English we know and love today.

It's also the longest surviving poem -- it consists of over 3000 lines!

The sole existing manuscript of Beowulf was written in the eleventh century (although the poem may have been composed as early as the eighth century). In 1731 a fire badly damaged the manuscript and portions of it disappeared.

The Electronic Beowulf Project is using digital imaging to capture images of the fragile manuscript and record it for posterity. You can use this gopher menu to access some of the images created thus far, and you can learn more about the digitization project.

In the 1930s, excavations at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, England, revealed a ship containing a huge treasure. Although no body was found, this appears to be the burial site of an early English king, most likely Raedwald, who died in the seventh century. The items in the ship are very like those included in Beowulf's burial in the last part of the poem. Was Beowulf originally composed as a tribute to this late great king?

The Anglo-Saxon word-element Beo means "bright" or "noble," and the word-element wulf means (surprise!) "wolf." So Beowulf means "bright wolf" or "noble wolf" -- both of which apply to our hero.