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DOI: 10.15862/20FLSK226 (https://doi.org/10.15862/20FLSK226)

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Bogachev R.Е., Garagulya S.I., Nikitina M.Yu., Shustov D.V. [The problem of chronological determination of the Anglo-Saxon poem «Beowulf»] World of Science. Series: Sociology, Philology, Cultural Studies, 2026, Vol. 17, No. 2. Available at: https://sfk-mn.ru/PDF/20FLSK226.pdf (in Russian). DOI: 10.15862/20FLSK226

The problem of chronological determination of the Anglo-Saxon poem «Beowulf»

Bogachev Roman Evgenyevich
Belgorod State National Research University, Belgorod, Russia
E-mail: romabog2@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7627-8947
RSCI: https://elibrary.ru/author_profile.asp?id=509598

Garagulya Sergey Ivanovich
Belgorod Shukhov State Technological University, Belgorod, Russia
E-mail: garagulya@mail.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7404-2728
RSCI: https://elibrary.ru/author_profile.asp?id=295058

Nikitina Margarita Yuryevna
Belgorod Shukhov State Technological University, Belgorod, Russia
E-mail: ritanikitina@mail.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-9612-1660
RSCI: https://elibrary.ru/author_profile.asp?id=506148

Shustov Dmitriy Vadimovich
Belgorod Shukhov State Technological University, Belgorod, Russia
E-mail: shustov_689@mail.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7417-1457
RSCI: https://elibrary.ru/author_profile.asp?id=1172425

Abstract. The problem of dating the poem Beowulf continues to occupy a central position in medieval studies, as its resolution directly determines the interpretative framework within which the text is understood-either as a reflection of the early Germanic cultural milieu of the sixth century or as the product of a later historical and literary reconstruction. The principal methodological challenge arises from the chronological gap between the events depicted in the poem, dated to the early sixth century, and their preservation in the Nowell Codex, conventionally assigned to the late tenth or early eleventh century. This discrepancy necessitates the application of комплексных analytical methodologies.

The present study adopts an interdisciplinary approach, integrating palaeographic, linguistic, historical-genealogical analysis, and methods of computational stylometry. Within this framework, particular attention is paid to the critical reassessment of the widespread practice of retrospectively projecting Middle English phonetic features onto the reconstruction of the Old English sound system, a procedure that results in distortions of historical-linguistic interpretation.

Special emphasis is placed on the comparison of competing scholarly positions. The radical hypothesis of late dating, advanced by Kevin Kiernan, interprets the manuscript as a product of the eleventh century, whereas the arguments of R.D. Fulk and Leonard Neidorf are grounded in the identification of profound philological archaism within the text. Of particular evidential value are the results of metrical and phonological analysis, including the consistent observance of Kaluza’s Law and the specific features of the poem’s alliterative structure.

Findings derived from stylometric analysis confirm the internal homogeneity of the text, thereby undermining the hypothesis of its composite origin. Taken together, the evidence supports the dating of the poem’s primary composition to the seventh-eighth centuries, while the extant manuscript is more plausibly understood as the product of a prolonged process of transmission and editorial intervention, reflecting a complex synthesis of pagan and Christian elements characteristic of early medieval culture.

Keywords: Beowulf; text dating; Old English; alliteration; Kaluza’s Law; Anglo-Saxon poetry

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