Medieval Legends

The Medieval Era , The Dark Ages, The Middle Ages: broadly from 500AD to 1450 - experienced from Iceland to Japan. It was an enormously colorful and vigorous time. Medieval stories filled with chivalry, magic and history, still effect us today: Ladies and Knights and Knaves, Saints and Vikings and Samurai, Romances and Courtly Love, Quests and the Crusades. These stories have a language and power all their own.


BEOWULF

HROTHGAR, King of Danes, glorious in battle,
Built him a large feasting hall - its gleaming roof towering high to heaven.
He called it Heorot the Stag, for its grand rows of stag horn.
And here he lived with his gracious Queen, Wealtheow.
Here, the Danes held feasts with high fellowship,
Story and song, and the pride of armed peace.
But away in the swamp-like fens, beyond the moor,
The hideous monster Grendel hid. He hated the sound of the harp,
The minstrel’s song, the bold merriment of men -
In whose distorted likeness he was shaped.
He was twice six feet tall, with heavy arms,
Red rimmed eyes and ravening jaws.