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Old English Mgen: A Note on the

Relationship Between Exodus and
Daniel in MS Junius 11
Carl Kears
Published online: 28 Oct 2014.

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To cite this article: Carl Kears (2014) Old English Mgen: A Note on the Relationship
Between Exodus and Daniel in MS Junius 11, English Studies, 95:8, 825-848, DOI:
10.1080/0013838X.2014.962299
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0013838X.2014.962299

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English Studies, 2014

Vol. 95, No. 8, 825848, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0013838X.2014.962299

Old English Mgen: A Note on the

Relationship Between Exodus and
Daniel in MS Junius 11

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Carl Kears

This article engages with the Anglo-Saxon word mgen in order to demonstrate that the
Old English Daniel displays a possible working knowledge or memory of the Old English
Exodus, the poem preceding it in the Junius 11 manuscript. One of the most daring
detours made from the biblical book by the poetic Daniel is that it picks up from where
the poetic Exodus left off: the Israelites move seamlessly from one poem into the next.
More intriguingly, the beginning of Daniel plays on the Old English word mgena
multivalent term used alone and in compounds more frequently and inventively in
Exodus than in any other Old English poem. In Daniel, this word is utilised as part of
a summarising history of Moses and his people. The word-focused analysis in this article
will shed new light on the possibility that Daniel and Exodus are in conversation with
one another across the manuscript, and with the notion that Daniel may have
undergone reformulation at some stage on the journey that brought it to Junius 11, so
that it became a more fitting continuation of the astounding representation of salvation
portrayed in Exodus.

I. Why Daniel?
The illuminated Anglo-Saxon manuscript known as Junius 11 contains a sequence
of biblical poems in an unconventional order. While the possible agenda behind
the compilation of this codex has sparked considerable speculation, closer analysis
of how the poems speak to or echo each other with weighted and recurrent words
is rarely pursued. Yet, those responsible for transcribing and compiling this
collection seem to have had an intricate knowledge of the material with which
they were working. The poems within the Junius codex tessellate and connect
with each other not only in terms of theme and doctrine, but also in the way
they reuse the same words to establish important themes. This article seeks to
demonstrate how such linguistic connections in Junius 11 cannot always be
Carl Kears is afliated with the Department of English, Kings College London, UK. Email: carl.kears@kcl.ac.uk

2014 Taylor & Francis

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ascribed to the mere recycling of formulaic blocks of Old English poetry, or to

happenstance.
The verse within Junius 11 is now regarded as five separate poetic works arranged, in
order, as Genesis (A and B), Exodus, Daniel and Christ and Satan.1 The first four are
deemed to make up the original portion of the assembly and these Old Testament-based narratives are the work of a single scribe. Christ and Satan, on the other
hand, draws heavily on the New Testament and was transcribed by at least two
other, later hands: it was added some time after the initial binding in order to conclude
a long manuscript narrative of rise and fall with a conclusive account of redemption in
and through Christ. The Old Testament-based poems are known as Liber I and they
make up the main part of the manuscript.2 That the order of this sequence (GenesisExodus-Daniel) does not correspond to any known scriptural model is often overlooked. This is surprising, as Phyllis Portnoy has mentioned in the most recent collection of scholarship on Anglo-Saxon literature and the Old Testament, because Daniel
follows Exodus here and nowhere else: The manuscript sequence Genesis-Exodus is a
biblical given, she writes, but why Daniel?3
The Old English poetic Daniel appears radical in terms of its thematic emphases
when compared to the Daniel of the Vulgate or to Jeromes commentary upon that
same biblical book (which appears to have contributed to the popularity of the
book of Daniel in the Middle Ages). The eponymous protagonist is also a relatively peripheral figure in the poem. But the placement of Daniel directly after Exodus (one of
the most unique and challenging works of surviving Old English literature) in the
Junius manuscript receives little attention in relation to these matters, even though
one of Daniels most daring detours from its biblical model is its continuation of
the Exodus narrative: the Israelites move seamlessly from one poem into the next as
Daniel recalls some of the highly idiosyncratic vocabulary employed in Exodus.4
One explanation for this distinctive chain of Old Testament stories in Junius 11 is
that certain episodes from the scriptural books of Exodus and Daniel were prominent

Leslie Lockett convincingly dates the production of the main portion of the manuscript somewhere between 960
and 990 with a spectrum-based method. For an accessible facsimile, see Muir and Kennedy.
2
At the end of the manuscript, the verse concludes with the phrase Finit Liber II. Amen. For a discussion of the
construction of the manuscript see Barbara Raw (2024), who notes that the original plan included only the
Old Testament poems but also that Christ and Satan was an afterthought, therefore, but a fairly early afterthought, as is shown not only by its script but by the fact that it was added before the manuscript as a whole
had been sewn.
3
Portnoy, Daniel and the Dew-Laden Wind, 196. For the most recent scholarship on Anglo-Saxon literature and
the Old Testament, see M. Fox and Sharma, eds.
4
Exodus occupies pp. 14571 of the manuscript, Daniel pp. 173212. The blankness of p. 171 suggests that it was
intended for a bridge-like illustration between the two poems (possibly the Israelites dealing out treasure, as was
proposed by P. Lucas (ed., Exodus). On the blank spaces left for illustration in Daniel, see P. Lucas, On the Blank
Daniel Cycle. The empty page could also signal a pause in the action of a continuous reading. James Earl (570)
drew attention to the fact that p. 171 of the MS, where Exodus ends, contains only thirteen and a half lines of verse
and that the following page is the only one found to be blank between poems throughout Junius 11. Despite this,
Exodus is not often thought to be incomplete.

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in the early medieval liturgy. The tale of the Three Hebrew Youths (Hananiah, Azariah
and Mishael) and their escape from incineration within the fiery furnace (Daniel II)
which is at the centre of the poetic Daniel (224489)featured, with the account of the
Israelites passing through the Red Sea found in Exodus, as part of the readings for Eastertide, particularly those taking place on Holy Saturday. These major events of deliverance were typologically connected: they were powerful representations of Baptism and
they prefigured Christs victory over Satan in the Harrowing. Moreover, in Easter readings the safe passage of the Israelites through the parted waves, Portnoy notes, spoke
of the escape from Pharaoh in terms of salvation from the fornace ferrea.6 A liturgical
connection such as this offers some inkling as to why Daniel was included in the Junius
11 cycle and why it might have been considered a fitting companion piece for Exodus.
But there is a more direct connection in Junius 11: the bridge between two allegorical,
liturgically popular events (the Red Sea crossing and the rescue of the Three Youths) is
far less explicit than the link between the end of Exodus and the beginning of Daniel,
which are bound by narrative continuity and recurrent vocabulary. In addition, the
two poems in their entirety offer far more than the aforementioned typological
events. Exodus is a long riddle: it is about the pursuit of blood-feud by the Egyptians
and it calls upon its audience to disentangle a mass of complex wordplay in order to
decipher the spiritual meaning beneath Old English heroic diction. Daniel, aside
from the furnace episode, details the fall of the Israelite nation and explores the spiritual and mental fluctuations of Nebuchadnezzar.7 It also ruminates upon the use and
misuse of the particular kinds of wisdom, knowledge and teaching that are defined in
Exodus.
A correspondence between Exodus and Daniel was assumed implicitly in Francis
Blackburns early edition, Exodus and Daniel: Two Old English Poems Preserved in
MS Junius 11, published in 1907. Though no clear claims for the connection were
made, some of Blackburns remarks remain suggestive. In good company with a
number of early Anglo-Saxonists who looked disdainfully on Daniels literary qualities, Blackburn claimed that the furnace scene (Daniel 224489) could have had some
literary estimatealong with the rest of the poemhad it been in the control of the
Exodus poet, who demonstrated poetic fancy and power in the description of the
Egyptians drowning in the Red Sea (Exodus 447515).8 Why did Blackburn put the two

For a discussion of the relationship between vernacular Old English verse and the liturgical ceremonies of the
Anglo-Saxon period, see Bruce Holsinger (160), who draws attention to the fact that even during the Benedictine
Reform itself, provocative texts like the Old English Benedictine Office demonstrate a creative will among English
monastic and clerical communities to experiment with a liturgical vernacularity rich in its aesthetic and formal
possibilities.
6
Portnoy, Remnant and Ritual, 413.
7
Critical attention in recent years has drawn attention to the representation of the poems central gure, Nebuchadnezzarto his pride, exile and dreams: see Caie; Overing; Harbus; Sharma; and H. Fox. For the structural
unity and oppositions (between good and evil, prideful overreaching and measured faith) in the poem, see
Farrell, ed., 346; and Anderson.
8
Blackburn, xxxiv.

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poems together? Why publish an edition of these two works and not include the other
Junius poems? Despite the point of comparison in the introduction being literary
quality, Blackburn also drew parallels between the digressive nature of the poems
(the patriarchal digression or backflash to Noah and Abraham in Exodus (362
446); the Azarias lyrics or furnace scene in Daniel) and the manner in which they
both failed to offer strong and clear characterisation of their leading figures.9
Blackburn appears to have been more set on marking out the differences between
the poemsa strange thing, given that he published them in sequence and overlooked
the narrative continuity that ties them together.
In the late twentieth century, Daniel began to earn more praise. Graham Caie saw the
poem as important in the imaginative unity of the entire Junius XI MS.10
Despite the growing consensus following Caies essay that Daniel was worthy of
more detailed study, comments on the poems relationship with Exodus have
been sparse, brief and careful.11 No enquiries have been made into possible philological or linguistic connections. But it is in these areas that the poems echo one
another. The presence of similar collocations, compounds, thematic vocabulary
and wordplay in both Exodus and Daniel cannot always be ascribed to the reuse
of common Old English poetic formulae because, in some cases, the occurrences
are unique to the two poems. If anything, Exodus is the work of a poet who
sought to push the verse form to its very limits: the poem is irregular, it contains
a high number of hapax legemona, and the poet demonstrates a dexterity and ingenuity with some unusual compound diction. Also, if type-scenes and recurrent formulaic phrases resulted in what Andy Orchard has called a scenario innately likely
in any event, namely that untold numbers of Anglo-Saxons must have carried in
their heads songs both Latin and vernacular, Christian and secular, learned and
lay, new and unknowably ancient,12 then a poet, scribe or compiler, having
come across Exodus, would no doubt have remembered its most forceful or recurrent word-formations and their referents because they seem, at least amongst what
has survived, extremely unique.
What I want to ask in this article, then, is whether or not the Old English Daniel
demonstrates a working knowledge or memory of Exodus. Is there more to the
relationship between these two works than the coexistence of extracts from their biblical models in the liturgy? Exodus is likely to have been a striking piece of work
anyone who read or heard it may well have come under its influence. Could Exodus
have inspired a new version of Daniel for the Junius codex? Or was a pre-existing
9

Ibid., xxxixxxvi.
Caie, 3.
11
See Bjork, 216: In addition to the appearance of similar words such as ae and waer, the formula gif hie metod
lete [if the Creator permitted them] (Exodus, ll. 52b, 414b) occurs with only slight modification in Daniel, l. 56b:
enden hie let metod [while the Creator permitted them]. Seth Lerer (12658) views Daniel as a narrative enactment of the Law, the wrclico wordriht, set out in Exodus, but makes no claims for the Daniel poet having knowledge of a version of that poem.
12
Orchard, 309.
10

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version of Daniel altered so that it could follow on from Exodus more seamlessly? More
importantly, can the tracing of recurrent words or collocations across these poems
and even across the length and breadth of the manuscriptoffer more solid grounds
on which to build provocations about the unity of Junius 11s first portion and about
the manner in which these poems speak to or remember one another? The unknown
compilers and interpolators, haunting the transmission history of this compilation first
known as the Caedmon manuscript, may well have had sound (or even multi-) linguistic knowledge as well as in-depth familiarity with the poetics, words and phrases
within the traditions in which they were workingenough, perhaps, to make sure a
poem like Daniel followed Exodus smoothly because the biblical versions did not
link up so well.13
What follows here is a discussion of the relationship between Exodus and Daniel that
traces the occurrences of one, significant word (Old English mgen) unusually frequent in Exodus and fully imbricated within the account of the Israelite exodus that
opens the poetic Daniel. Mgen was an important word for Anglo-Saxon Christian
poets because of its ability to refer to a variety of things at once (e.g. extra-physical
strength, God-given strength, an army, Gods hosts, Christian virtue, pre-Christian
power). This word-focused analysis will offer some new thoughts about the composition of Daniel and about the possibility that this poem may have undergone reformulation at some stage on the journey that brought it to Junius 11, so that it became a
more fitting continuation of the astounding representation of salvation found in
Exodus.

II. The Time-Bending Journey to Jerusalem: The Prologue to the Old English
Daniel
The Junius manuscript teaches modern readers the importance of thinking carefully
about the beginnings of Old English biblical poems.14 Such contemplation is required
A. Doane (The Ethnography of Scribal Writing, 4209) has drawn attention to the nature of the scribe as
performer with the help of the ethnographic work of Richard Bauman, in which performance was dened
as the responsibility to an audience for clear and competent communication. Doane posits that the scribes performance is not only of the power of writing, but also of the power of speaking, and the scribes performance is
therefore considered not as faithful duplication, but as the exercise of his own communicative competence within
the tradition that normally resides in speaking and traditional memory (ibid, 423). Though Doane does not
discuss Junius 11 here, these claims can certainly be brought to bear on itit is a manuscript famous for its
various stages of interpolation and compilation. If the vernacular poems in Junius 11 were copied and assembled
to be understood by a contemporary audience (what Doane calls present use), then it is possible that the copying
process involved adaptation and synthesis of poetic and narrative features.
14
Genesis A, for example, begins with an extra-biblical exordium or prologue that resituates the entire Genesis
story: the first creation in this poem is the construction of hell by God (20b81). Furthermore, this new beginning
helps establish the core vocabulary by which oppositions are classified throughout the remainder of the imaginative paraphrase (such as that between those who keep the wr [treaty/contract/covenant] with God and those
who, through oferhygd [pride], break it). All quotations from Genesis A are from Doane, ed., Genesis A: A New
Edition.
13

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when it comes to Daniel, as the first forty lines of the poem stand as a kind of exordium
that sets up the ensuing narrative.15 This section may not have been part of the original poem (comprised of the sections of the Old English Daniel that stick to the framework of the biblical book).16 It may also have been fashioned and added in order to
give some structural unity to an unfinished work, or to tie the beginning of Daniel
to the end of Exodus: this exordium begins with an overview of the Israelite journey
out of Egypt to Jerusalem (described in Exodus) and continues the story of that
nations short-lived prosperity.
The descent of the Israelites into pride and deceit is the main focus of Daniels introductory narrative. The Israhela cyn (kin of Israel [23a]) lose their faith as well as their
minds as they abandon crftas (power of the Law [19a]). Pride works its way into
their lives (hie wlenco anwod: pride invaded them [17]) as they are enslaved by drunkenness and deofles crft (devils craft [32b]).17 Opposing terms (crftas vs. deofles
crft here) are frequent in the prologue and they help set up the two sides of the conflict in play throughout the poem.18 The darkened minds of the Israelitesfull of deofolddum and druncne geohtas (devil deeds, drunken thoughts [18])stand
against Gods lare (teaching [25b]), wisdom (wisdom [27b]) and snytro (learning
[28a]). The Israelite desire for temporal eoran dreamas (joys of the earth [30a])
opposes Gods eces rdes (eternal counsel [30b]).
Before they fall into sin and unriht (unrighteousness [23b]), however, the Israelites
rule Jerusalem. The opening lines of Daniel compress the events of the escape from
Egypt which have been fully represented in Exodus, coming to its end just over a manuscript page earlier, on 171. Daniel begins on page 173, collapsing a long history into just
a few time-bending lines:
Gefrgn ic Hebreos
eadge lifgean
goldhord dlan,
in Hierusalem,
cyningdom habban,
swa him gecynde ws,
on Moyses hand
sian urh metodes mgen
wigena mnieo,
wear wig gifen,
and hie of Egyptum
ut aforon,
mgene micle.
t ws modig cyn! (Daniel 17)
(I have heard of the Hebrews living blessedly in Jerusalem, dealing out the goldhoard, having the kingdom, as was natural for them, since through the strength

15

There is a lack of consensus on just where the beginning of the poem stops being an exordium or extra-biblical
section: R. Farrell (34) sees it as thirty-two lines. Roberta Frank (80) sees it as forty-ve and Bjork as seventy-nine.
I lean close to forty-vethe line in which Nebuchadnezzar enters the poem serving as the cut-off.
16
See Paul Remley (2578), who is cautious about viewing this exordium as a composition added to Daniel at some
stage of its transmission to Junius 11.
17
All quotations from Daniel are from Farrells edition and line numbers are given parenthetically in the text.
Translations are my own.
18
Farrell, 34.

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of the Creator an army of many warriors was given into the hand of Moses, and they
fared out of Egypt by a great power. That was a brave kindred!)

Lines 17 call attention to the journey made by the Hebrew nation in the Junius
manuscript up until this point. The events of Exodus are reviewed and remembered
and the audience are reminded what it was that brought them, along with the Israelites,
here to Jerusalem, the magnificent high burh (stronghold [9a]) emblematic of their
success. Caie was struck by these opening lines, noting that although a thousand years
are passed over, there is a continuity of action and theme, as one is given the
impression that the heahburg of Jerusalem was reached immediately after the Red
Sea crossing.19 Daniels overview of the exodus story is only eight lines long but its
words suggest an invocation of the poetic Exodus: knowledge of that preceding
poem appears to be assumed. In Exodus, the migration out of Egypt is one of a
mgnes maeste (great force [67a]), a modigra mgen (resolute force [101a]),
going forth at the command of Moses (101b).20 In the opening lines of Daniel, the
Israelite host is a modig cyn (7b) and, by way of metodes mgen (4a), journey out of
Egypt by a mgene micle (7a). Just like the opening of Daniel, the atmosphere at the
end of Exodus is one of triumph as the Israelites rejoice in their miraculous escape
from the feud-pursuing Egyptians. On the shores of the Red Sea, alongside the
Afrisc meowle (African woman [580b]) who is with golde geweorod (gold
adorned [581b]), the Israelites deal or share this gold, in a similar manner to
the gold-hoarding Israelites at the beginning of Daniel:
Ongunnon slaf segnum dlan
on ylafe ealde madmas,
reaf ond randas; heo on riht sceodon
gold ond godweb (Exodus 5858a)
(The sea-remnant [the Israelites] began to deal out among the tribes the old
treasures on the shore, shields and spoils. They rightly divided the gold and good
cloth )

As these examples suggest, the more we examine the beginning of Daniel whilst
thinking of Exodus, the more we pause on single words, and, through this, recall
events that have gone before in Junius 11. Perhaps we start thinking about whether
or not this is coincidence: are the similarities between the two poems mere matters
of orally derived formulaic repetition, or was the poet responsible for the opening of

19

Caie, 3.
Quotations from Exodus are from the edition by Lucas and line numbers are given parenthetically in the text.
However, as is necessary with this poem (considering the disagreements between and emendations of its various
editors), I have cross-examined the text with the editions of George Krapp (ed.) and Edward Irving (ed.) as well as
with the more recent, accessible edition of Daniel Anlezark (ed. and trans.) and, when relevant, the manuscript
itself. Translations my own.
20

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Daniel demonstrating his knowledge and understanding of the highly original poetics
of Exodus?
The opening lines of Daniel state that Gods mgen is the force by which the wig of
wigena mnieo are given into the hand of Moses. Echoes of Exodus resound here.21 The
powerful hand of Moses is an important motif within the Exodus poets design and the
hand as a symbol of strength and authority pervades the textual and pictorial narratives of the Junius 11 cycle, where it often represents the creative and destructive
powers of God. In Exodus, for example, the cataclysm that takes place in the Red
Sea is handweorc Godes (Gods hand-work [493b]), made possible mid halige hand
(with holy hand [486a]); in Genesis B, Adam is Godes handgesceaft (Gods hand-creation [455a]; see further lines 494 and 628), Eve and Adam were handum gesette (set
by [Gods] hands [463b])they are his handgeweorc (hand-work [241b]).22 On
page 9 of the manuscript, the artists depiction of the creation of Eve places heavy
emphasis on the role of Gods hands (they are large, bold and involved): the pictorial
narrative on this page moves forward as God creates with a hands-on approach (as he
takes Adams rib in the lower right illustration) and provides guidance (he holds Eves
hand on the right side of the page). In Genesis A, God defeats the rebellious angels when
he honda arrde (raised his hands [50b]). These angels, we are told in Genesis B, were
created through Gods handmgen (hand-power [247]) and he mid his handum
gesceop (shaped [them] with his hands [251a]).23 In Exodus, the hand of Moses is
the authoritative conduit of divine strengthit is thus a focal point in the highest
sense of the word: like viewers of the manuscript images (see, particularly, p. 61, the
Ascension of Enoch), the Israelites in Exodus have their eyes directed by hand
towards a higher realm, towards a more spiritual way of seeing and towards the
power of God at work on earth.24 The dominance of this motif throughout the
Junius codex suggests that there might well be a conscious awareness or shared knowledge of an important physical and spiritual symbol (or one that represents divine
strength in a physical body) across several poems.

21
Least striking, though still worthy of comment, is the use of wig. With the senses army (5a) and armed one/
warrior (5b), this term does not occur again throughout the rest of Daniel. In Exodus, wig (referring to battle or
warriors) is used consistently throughout the section detailing the march of the Israelite and Egyptian armies to
war.
22
All quotations from Genesis B are taken from Doane, ed., The Saxon Genesis.
23
The manuscript images parallel these and many other uses of hand-symbolism in the poems. Take, for example,
the depiction of God throughout the creation cycle (pp. 6 and 9) with hands raised. In the scenes of Satan bound in
hell (bottom of p. 3 and pp. 1617 and 20), there is emphasis on the binding of his hands (as there is in the accompanying poem, Genesis B, with the envelope formed by lines 368b and 387b).
24
The repayment or reward (Heah ws t handlean [19a]) is what is granted by God so that Moses, in turn,
achieves victory through the power of his own hand and pays a reward of death to the Egyptians. As he tells
his troops at lines 2623, mihtig Drihten urh mine hand / to dg issum ddlean gyfan (on this day the
mighty hand will give them [the Egyptians] their reward by my hand). Several of the plagues in the Vulgate
are also described as God channelling his power through the hand of Moses (see, for example, Exodus 10.12
14 [the plague of locusts]; 10.213 [the plague of darkness]).

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What stands out most of all in the opening lines and proceeding exordium of Daniel
in relation to Exodus, however, is the Old English word mgen. This word is also fully
utilised by the Exodus poet, who delights in its multivalency. One who had read or
heard Exodus and had the ability to compose or amend vernacular verse could not
have failed to notice this, given the sheer frequency with which it occurs. The word
is extremely weighted and it comprises part of the Exodus poets challenge to his
readers and hearers: the audience without and the Israelites within the poems world
must learn to distinguish between heroic or literal meaning (mgen meaning
army, or physical strength) and Christian or spiritual meaning (mgen meaning virtuous, Godly power). Audrey Walton has recently described the poems seamless
transitions from literal to spiritual senses as being authorised by the double meanings of particular Anglo-Saxon words25and mgen is certainly one of these. Moreover, alone and in compounds, mgen is used more frequently in Exodus than in any
other Junius poem. No other biblical poem in the surviving corpus uses it more (only
Cynewulfs Elene, more than twice the length of Exodus, demonstrates an equal
number of occurrences).
At the beginning of Daniel, mgen helps identify the key events of the Israelite
exodus. As a stand-alone noun, it does not occur again beyond the 45-line exordium
except for two occurrences at the very end of the poem (at lines 702 and 758). The
opening and closing sections of Daniel are very similar (some phrases and words
occur in both sections whilst not doing so anywhere else in the poem): parallels are
forged between Belshazzar (whose fall into drunkenness, pride and devilry ends the
poem) and the Israelites (whose fall initiated the narrative) suggesting a designed
unity of structure. The absence of mgen from the rest of Daniel is surprising given
that it defines many key events, as well as Gods miraculous power, in the opening
section: until the closing sequence of the poem (Belshazzars feast), the Daniel poet
uses only folcmgen (troop or folk-power/army) at line 185 (this compound is
found in surviving Old English only in Exodus [347a] and Andreas [1060a]) and hordmgen (treasure/power-hoard) at line 670, which is a hapax legomenon.
III. Old Mana, New Strength
It is therefore striking that mgen features so prominently throughout Exodus and in
the opening section of Daniel. Does this suggest that the beginning of Daniel recalls not
just the biblical Exodus, but also the unique rendering of that story we find in the poetic
Exodus?
Old English mgen was a prominent word and concept for Anglo-Saxon Christian
poets. Of ambiguous Germanic origin, it looks to have its roots in the base mag (to
have power) and can be identified with Old English magan (to be able) as it connotes
ability and strength. Mgen also gestures towards heightened or preternatural
25

Walton, 9.

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capability.26 Francis Magoun and then Stephen Glosecki noted that mgen may retain
reflexes of a pagan, tribal Germanic concept of mana: a force utterly distinct from
mere physical power or strength, the possession of which assures success, good fortune,
and the like to its possessor. This was an inner, divine force or life-energy to be controlled and directed in order to bring success, luck and authority over ones surroundings.27 But more recent anthropologists advise caution. Roger Keesing rallies against the
earlier, Codringtonian view of mana that became part of the metalanguage of
anthropology and notes that the view of mana that saw it as an invisible
medium of power, a spiritual energy manifest in sacred objects, a potency radiated
by humans, in fact rested on very insecure ethnographic grounds.28 Tracing the linguistic evidence instead, Keesing suggests a state of efficacy, success, truth, potency,
blessing, luck, realisationan abstract state or quality, not an invisible substance or
medium.29 This concept of mana is not too far away from that of Old English
mgen (the meaning of which is close to Keesings re-evaluation, with some remains
of that old Codringtonian definition). The belief in a kind of inner power that could
channel as well as refer to the divine is common in tribal societies and is likely also
to have been common in the primitive languages and communities of the early Germanic peoples.30 Traces of this mana concept are likely to reside in the uses of mgen in
the Old English metrical charms, those remedies Glosecki suggests might be remnants
of early Northern European therapeutic and apotropaic verses, often accompanied by
ritual, treasured by those who staked their lives upon their effective power.31 The
charm known as Wi Frstice (Against a sudden stitch) offers an example of
mgen as a mana used and directed in an animistic world. This charm describes
women similar to Norse valkyrjur, who fire and direct spears of illness. The power
behind these mysterious darts is referred to in a specific way:
Stod under linde, under leohtum scylde,
r a mihtigan wif hyra mgen berddon
and hy gyllende garas sndan

See Clemoes, King Alfreds Debt to Vernacular Poetry, 224; and Clemoes, Interactions, 723. In the later work,
Peter Clemoes offers many examples from Beowulf to show that mgen refers only to physical strength. Though
it is referring to physical capability in that poem, it also, I think, gestures towards a more extra-physical force (as
we see in Beowulfs feats, and as we know from the terms used in the works of other Christian poets, not least those
of Exodus and Daniel). Therefore, I dont dispute the claim of Clemoes, but seek to add to it only by saying that
interpreting mgen as physical strength can leave unstated the inner forceused and directed physicallythat
seems to be behind it, an innate power that, when applied, takes the bearer beyond the boundaries of the human
body.
27
Magoun, 34. See further Glosecki, Shamanism.
28
Keesing, 137.
29
Ibid., 138.
30
Roger Keesings analysis of mana-terms in the Oceanic languages shows the term has a variety of different
though relatedmeanings, just like Old English mgen. In Tongan, for example, mana is supernatural, superhuman, miraculous, the verb mana, mana-I means to bewitch; to cause something to happen to another. In
Niue, Stative mana means powerful, the noun power, authority, miracle (see Keesing, 14053).
31
Glosecki, Stranded Narrative, 48.
26

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([I] stood under linden, under a light shield, where those mighty women proclaimed
their strength/mana and, yelling, they sent spears.)32

There might even be reflexes of an older concept of the mana possessed by revered
figures in the mgen- and mag- forms used to refer to leaders in the poems of Junius 11
(albeit in a newer, Christian context). Compounds such as magorswa (Exodus 17, 55,
102) and mgenwisa (Exodus 554b) connote qualities of strength in wisdom, power,
sharp-mindedness, knowledge, faith, teaching and leadership: attributes of leading
figures (whether of a tribe or a nation) whose mgen is controlled and beneficial.
But the Junius poems also go some way to suggest that mgen is a quality that can
be misdirected and ill-used if it is not balanced or controlled by the mod.33 Satan, in
Genesis B, created with Gods handmgen (247), believes that he has more mgyn
and crft (strength and skill [269b]) than God and Gods war-companions (folcgestlna [270a]). The irony of Satans boast circulates around his own concept of
mgen as he reduces it to a matter of physical prowess (and Satan does have more
of that kind of mgen than Gods troops), missing the point that Gods mgen is something quite different: it is virtuous, creative, spiritual and controlledused against
uncontained pride, rather than in support of it. Christian poets seem to have had a
good grasp of the multivalent nature of mgen as they applied it to figures from scripture and also to miraculous events therein.34 Such a range of meaning is also evident in
the progression the term appears to have made from connotations of (innate/physical/magical) strength to significations of (virtuous/Christian/God-derived) strength,
power, or might (of the mind, soul, or body), as mgen would come to gloss Latin
virtus in texts such as the Vespasian Psalter.35 The word moved into a new domain
as Christianity synthesised with the Germanic vernacular, and it would eventually
take on meanings of moral or virtuous strength as it does perhaps most memorably in the Paris Psalter containing Alfreds Psalms.36
Mgen also served Christian poets well in its ability to refer to a strength that
could have been virtuous if the world they were depicting had knowledge of God.
This is certainly the case in Beowulf. Beowulf himself is often characterised by his
mgen and, as Fred Robinson notes, the poet used this term to show that
Beowulf possessed what passed for virtue in a pre-Christian society.37 Mgen

Wi Frstice, lines 57: for the text of this charm, see Doane, Editing Old English Oral/Written Texts, 12545.
See Engberg.
34
See BosworthToller, mgen, II: an exercise of power, effort, a mighty work, miracle.
35
Clemoes, King Alfreds Debt, 224.
36
Clemoes also notes that Alfred is unique in often preferring crft as a gloss to virtus. The abundance of the term
mgen in the Psalms, however, does not mean that the king was unaware of its importance as a representation of
innate, God-given strength.
37
Robinson, 54. Here Fred Robinson picks out the well-known lines praising Beowulf as a prime example of this
(ws moncynnes mgenes strengest / on am dge ysses lifes [1967]), noting that He was of all mankind the
strongest in strength (mgen) in that day of this life. Consideration of the apposed meanings strength and
virtue contained in mgen may lead us to a fuller appreciation of this half-line (54).
32
33

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C. Kears

also highlights the growth of Beowulfs strength (whether in rumour, reality or

through the heros own tale-telling) to a state of mythic, superhuman power: in
Hrothgars highly providential speech welcoming Beowulfs arrival on the shores
of Denmark, for example, the lord of the Scyldings notes that the sliende (seamerchants [377b]) said t he ritiges / manna mgencrft on his mundgripe
(that he [Beowulf] had the strength-craft of thirty men in his hand-grip [379b
80]). When announcing himself as the right man for the job of dispatching
Grendel, Beowulf tells Hrothgar that snotere ceorlas (wise/learned men [416b])
had seen him destroy eotena cyn (a tribe of giants [421a]) and, on the waves at
night, niceras (water-serpents [422a]), foran hie mgenes crft mine cuon
(since they had known my strengths craft [418]).38 Then, just before Grendels
Mother arrives to tear Hrothgars hlea leofost (most beloved thane [1296b])
from his bed, the poem recalls Beowulfs tremendous strength in the earlier fight
with Grendel:
r him aglca
tgrpe wear;
hwre he gemunde
mgenes strenge,
gimfste gife
e him god sealde,
ond him to anwaldan
are gelyfde,
frofre ond fultum;
y he one feond ofercwom,
gehngde helle gast.39
(There the adversary [Grendel] came to grips with him [Beowulf]; but he [Beowulf]
remembered the force of his strength, a gem-fast gift that God had given him, and he
trusted in the mercy of the all-powerful Lord, comfort and aid; by these he overcame
the fiend, brought low the hell-spirit.)

Outside the narrative frame of the world in which Beowulfs strength (from a god) is
the source of his victory, the poet now makes clear that this innate power can be
appreciated as a gift of the God with whom later Christians can conquer the fiends
of hell. Mgen thus becomes a fitting term for a hero whose extra-physical strength
was used correctly in a time before Christianity, suggesting the even greater victory
that can be accomplished through the virtuous use of ones faculties, and through
their considered and measured application.
Mgen offered Christian poets the potential for paronomasia because it stemmed
from a concept of inner forcethe stuff that flows through the one who steps out
of natural or physical dimensions and into the realm of the superhuman. The
word is also occasionally used in poetry to refer to a host or army (whilst retaining

38
All quotations from Beowulf are taken from Klaebers Beowulf: Fourth Edition edited by Fulk, Bjork, and Niles.
Translations my own.
39
Fulk, Bjork, and Niles, lines 126974a.

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837

the related meaning of power). This allowed a scop like the poet of Exodus to refer to
legions of men whilst suggesting the strength they gained from their assembly in Gods
name. In turn, the poet of Exodus calls upon his audience to distinguish between meanings such as army, glory and strength within a given context. In the accusative
singular at Exodus 131b, mgen connotes strength (referring to the Israelites being
restored by food on the sea shore), as it does at line 242b. The term refers to the (Israelite) army (going on the migration, the war-march, away from Egypt) at lines 67a
and 101a. At line 210a it refers to the Egyptian army seen from the Israelite perspective,
suggesting that the Israelites are wrongfully looking upon it as a threat they have no
advantage over.40 Following this, Moses inspires reorganisation and resolution in the
Israelite troops so that mgen ws onhrered (strength was reared up [226b]),
which could be taken as a reference to the martial strength of the army remustering,
but seems more likely to refer to the God-given force rising up within the ranks by way
of Moses wisdom and leadership, for he is the human agent directing Gods mgen
(see also lines 300a and 346b).41
In the description of the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea (447515), so
much of the poems vocabulary that was used to describe the martial threat of Pharaohs army is reversed and undone: the waves themselves, described as a ferocious
army, show the Egyptian force for what it truly is (its mana, without God, is illusory,
the threat is physical). Mgen is not only used to suggest that the Egyptian force or
host has been punished and crushed, but that the strength of their heathen regime
has been submergedthat their potential for achieving a virtuous strength from
God is now irrevocably buried, as is evident in the following phrases, referring to
the Egyptians: mgen ws adrenced (the force was drowned [459a]) and mgen
eall gedreas (the force completely perished [500b]).

IV. An Exodus into Daniel

With these remarks concerning the general significance and uses of mgen in mind, the
role of the word and compounds containing it in Exodus and in those parts of Daniel
likely to have been refashioned for Junius 11 is worthy of further investigation. Consider again the opening lines of Daniel:
Gefrgn ic Hebreos
eadge lifgean
in Hierusalem,
goldhord dlan,
cyningdom habban,
swa him gecynde ws,
on Moyses hand
sian urh metodes mgen
40
The Israelites often see the Egyptian force in heightened terms (their fears taking them into a way of seeing that
comes close to them doubting and renouncing their faith). This is accentuated at line 215a when, in fear, they view
Pharaohs host as the maran mgenes (more powerful army).
41
Compounds also refer to the troop or powerful troops: beadumgen (329), folcmgen (347), leodmgen (128,
167, 195), eodmgen (342), mgenheap (197), mgenreat (513), mgenrymm (349 and 541).

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wear wig gifen,

wigena mnieo,
and hie of Egyptum
ut aforon,
mgene micle.
t ws modig cyn! (Daniel 17)

These lines make clear the Daniel poets fondness for wordplay. Channelled through
Moses, Gods mgen (4a) allows the Israelites to emerge out of Egypt with a
mgene micle (7a). A reference to the great army and great power that brought
the Hebrews to Jerusalem, the mgene micle construction encapsulates within it the
miracle of the cloud-pillar, the strength and virtue of Moses, along with the martial
vigour with which the Israelites came to their gold-hoard. Indeed, conceiving of the
Israelite legion as a mgene recalls the criteria by which the army was selected in
Exodus (22451). This extra-biblical passage begins by stating that mgen ws onhrered
(strength [or the army] was reared up [226b]) and t ws wiglic werod. Wace ne
gretton / in t rincgetl rswan herges (that was a warlike host. The armys leaders
did not greet the weak into that warrior-company [2334]). This long section of
Exodus poses certain problems, as Bryan Wyly has demonstrated: what, he asks,
is to become of the Israelites passed over in the muster once Moses forces have
been mercilessly exterminated in the battle?42 The presence of mgen in the poets
elaboration, however, suggests that this selection process is not based on physical
ability alone, but on virtuous strength too:
Gamele ne moston,
hare heaorincas,
hilde oneon,
mgen swirade,
gif him modheapum
ac hie be wstmum
wigheap curon,
hu in leodscipe
lstan wolde
mod mid aran,
eac an mgnes crft,
garbeames feng. (Exodus 240b6a)
(The aged, grey battle-warriors would not thrive in battle, if among the brave battalions their strength had weakened, but they [i.e. those in charge] chose the regiment
for its stature, for how courage with honour would last among the people, also for
the craft of strength in grasping a spear.)43

Troopsor, allegorically, Christiansare picked and can achieve salvation,

victory over sin and hell, through the rightful application of mgen. In this way,
they become armed with the strength of spiritual grace, wisdom and virtue. Though

42

Wyly, 21718.
This extra-biblical passage, a possible free elaboration of the Vulgate version of Exodus 12.37, has attracted some
attention for its analogical and typological signicance. John Hermann (23) sees the situation (Israelites surrounded and outnumbered by hostile tribes) as representative of the soul besieged by sins. If so, those lacking
mgen (strength, but for the interpretive audience member, virtuous strength) would not be picked to go on
to the Promised Land.
43

Old English Mgen

839

this passage appears as highly heroic poetry, a deeper meaning resides within it, ready
to be unlocked by those attuned to the allegorical potential of the poems language.
Those who might have taken mgen as primarily physical or martial strength here
would be forced to review their interpretation at the end of the poem when the
poetic voice offers advice on the way scriptural texts (as well as Exodus itself) can be
read:

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Gif onlucan wile lifes wealhstod,

beorht in breostum, banhuses weard,
ginfsten god Gastes cgon,
run bi gerecenod, rd for g (Exodus 5236)
(If the Interpreter of Life, the warden of the bone-house, bright in the breast, will
unlock the vast and goodly stronghold [of scripture] with the keys of the Spirit,
the mystery will be understood and counsel [rd] will go forth.)

With typology as the key, a word like mgen in Exodus takes on a gastlice meaning
and cannot be read or heard without connoting Christian virtue.
In some ways, then, the use of mgen in the opening lines of Daniel is a fitting way to
present a compressed overview of Exodusif indeed that is what the poet is doing
because, in the words of Roberta Frank, the semantic extensions of the word in
Daniels opening passage range all the way from bodily strength to divine
miracle, as they do throughout Exodus.44 In part, Exodus envisions the Israelite
journey as one that moves away from a martial and literal view of the world (the
world-view embodied by the Egyptians, who pursue a vendetta and refuse to acknowledge Gods power even after Tenth Plague [3348]) towards insight, wisdom and rd.
Following Moses, the Israelites come to acknowledge God as their salvation, as the
eternal foundation (Exodus 285a) beneath manifestations of wonder in the temporal
world.
Certain other collocations found in Exodus re-emerge within and around the
opening section of Daniel. As Moses attempts to turn the Israelites to beteran rd
(better counsel [269b]) in Exodus, he speaks out to the troops: is is se ecea Abrahames God modig and mgenrof, mid re miclan hand (this is the eternal God
of Abraham brave and powerful, with that great hand [273, 275]). More interestingly, towards the very end of Exodus, Moses, strengthened with might (mihtum
swied [550b]) offers a similar overview of the Israelite plight to the one we find in
the opening lines of Daniel:
wundor ongeton,
modiges muhl. He to mnegum sprc:

44

Frank, 89.

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C. Kears
Micel is eos menigeo, mgenwisa trum,
fullesta mst, se as fare lde;
hafa us on Cananea cyn gelyfed
burh and beagas, brade rice (Exodus 552b7)45

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([the Israelites] recognised the wonder, the brave ones healing words. He [Moses]
spoke to the multitudes: Great is this host, the leader strong, greatest of helpers,
who leads this wayfaring; he has allowed us the people in Canaan, the stronghold
and the treasures, the broad kingdom )

It is as though the Daniel poet takes a cue from these lines when setting up the fall of
the Israelites in his exordium: there, we recall, the Israelites are a wigena mnieo (they
are also a micle menigeo at Exodus 554a). God, a mgenwisa at the close of Exodus
(554b), is said to have provided mgen at Daniel line 4a and to have worked a
mgen micle for the Israelites who came out of Egypt (Daniel 7a). The blessed and
prosperous Israelites take the burh and beagas in the final stages of Exodus and rule
the burgum whilst still in a state of eadge (blessedness) when Daniel begins (9a).
The burh is a dominant image throughout Daniel, too: the relationship between
cities and the emotional states of their inhabitants, so important throughout the narrative, is firmly established in the exordium. There, the stronghold of Jerusalem crumbles as the Israelites fall and the kingdom of Babylon rises up, marking the beginning of
Daniels ongoing exploration of translatio imperii.46
The Hebrew rule of the burh in Daniel is conditional: enden hie y rice rdan
moston, / burgum weoldon, ws him beorht wela (while they were able to guide/
counsel the kingdom, rule the strongholds, their glory was bright [89]). The temporal conjunction enden is a suggestive marker of this: the Israelite glory lasts only
as long as they rule in a particular way. The nature of such rule is implicit in the
verb rdan. Given that the noun form rd (meaning good counsel) is one of the
core words in the Junius manuscript for the identification of the faithful and just,
the beginning of Daniel makes clear that good rule as well as prosperity can only be
maintained through the nurture and upkeep of rda quality that also enables the
Israelites to hold and interpret the covenant. This is suggested in the following
two lines: enden t folc mid him hiera fder wre / healdan woldon, ws him
hyrde God (while that folk intended to keep their fathers oath with him, God was

45

A similar passage in Exodus gestures towards the movement of the Israelite host through alliteration and
collocation:
werod eall aras,
modigra mgen, swa him Moyses bebead,
mre magorswa, Metodes folc (100b2)
See, again, lines 226, 243, 245 and 300 (all using mgen in this manner).
46
For a discussion of this theme, see Remley, 24852.

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841

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47

their protector [Daniel 1011]). These lines seem to be reaching back into the
history that was traced so circuitously and memorably in Exodus, adding another
dimension of tragedy and dramatic impact to the Israelite fall: Moses gave the Israelites
eces rdas at the end of Exodus (516b) and then in the exordium of Daniel those eces
rdes (30a) are consumed by eoran dreamas (earthly joys [30b]).48
An awareness of the uses of mgen may also add something to the ongoing debate
about the unity of Daniel. As has already been mentioned, the grip of wlenco (pride
[17]) on the Israelites in the opening section of Daniel is strong, and it invades them t
winege / deofolddum, druncne geohtas (at the wine-feast, with devil-deeds, drunken
thoughts [1718]). Despite Gods repeated attempts to send lare (instruction/teaching [25b]) and wisdom (27b), the Israelites give up (forlton [19b]) following the
crftas and the metodes mgenscipe (measurers power [20a]) in favour of deofles
crft (32b).49 Likewise, in the final segment of the poem, Belshazzar is the burga
aldor (lord of the strongholds [676b]) only ot him wlenco gesceod (until pride
destroyed him [677b]). The Babylonians at the end of Daniel, like the Israelites
turning to deofles crft and druncne geohtas at the start of the poem, are told (by
Daniel) that they have taken to drinking to deoflu (devils [749a]) with the sacred
liturgical vessels formerly owned by the Israelites who had prosperity ot hie gylp
beswac, / windruncen gewit (until prideful boasting seduced them, their wits winedrunk [7512]). If these kinds of parallels suggest unity, then the balance of beginning and end is supported further by the presence of mgen (as a stand-alone noun) in
both of the sectionsas is, perhaps, the idea that Belshazzar falls in a more disturbing
way than the Israelites (the fall of the Hebrew nation having provided the blueprint for
disobedience and defiance of the law).
Whilst older critics disputed the unity of Daniel, agreeing that it was incomplete,
corrupt or ineffective, R. Farrells 1974 edition brought credibility to the poem and
argued for its unity of design well enough to be supported by scholars such as Caie
and R. Bjork.50 More recently, Manish Sharma has questioned the parallels between
47

Rd is a fitting term for good rule in Daniel because the poet appears to insist on a number of characteristics that
keep faith permanent and keep God on ones side. These are spiritual wisdom, rightful interpretation, measure and
the teaching, knowledge, maintaining and understanding of Gods law. Rd, as Nicholas Howe (Cultural Construction, 123) has shown, is related to moral virtues of wisdom and goodness (as we often see in the Maxims),
the interpretation of texts and the world, through which it creates and strengthens community. It stands opposed
to unrda quality defining prideful figures such as the rebel angelsthroughout the Junius poems.
48
The nal occurrence of folc in Exodus is of considerable impact: folc ws on lande (the folk were on land
[567b]). This refers to the Israelites reaching salvation, after they have been referred to as sailors throughout
the poem. Folc, Howe (Migration and Mythmaking, 77) notes, accumulates strong meaning throughout
Exodus, for it appears most tellingly in phrases that establish the distinctive nature, and thus the historical
value, of the Israelites: Metodes folce (l. 102), folca leofost (l. 279) and folca selost (l. 446). Such significance
gives even more weight to a term like folcmgen (Exodus 377) as it gestures towards the God-given virtue and
strength prescribed to the folk for their use (or, when we come to Daniel, misuse).
49
The noun mgenscipe (suggesting power/strength-ship in the same sense as lordship) is found nowhere else in
surviving Old English. Was the poet responsible for this opening section of Daniel putting his own spin on the
power of the Measurer, a power presented so strikingly in Exodus?
50
For an older view, see Gollancz, ed.

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C. Kears

the opening and closing sections of Daniel, noting that Belshazzar does not move out of
the confines of his burh: his pride does not result in exile as it does for Nebuchadnezzar
and the Israelites. Thus, critics may have overstated the poems parallelism.51
However, Sharma also points out that the Belshazzar episode is linked to the rest of
the poem with structural elements such as drunken feasting, idolatry, pride, and
downfall and that the beginning and end have their relationship reinforced by the
fact that the term wlenco appears in Daniel only in lines 17 and 677.52 It is not incorrect to think of Daniel as a composite work, as the early scholars did; nor can we deny
that the end of the poem as it stands parallels the opening segment in various ways. The
parallel serves to accentuate that Belshazzar will not be given exile or movement
beyond the prison walls of his own city and mind because his transgression (and therefore his punishment) is more severe than that of the Hebrews and Nebuchadnezzar.53
Though the Babylonian tyrants plight at the end is almost the opposite to that of the
Israelites at the beginning, the relationship between the two falls still manages to frame
the poem, as they both echo or connect with each other in terms of their vocabulary.
To reaffirm that drunkenness, boastfulness and misuse of prosperity align perpetrators with the devil, Daniel ends on a note of doom that sets up the salvific impact of
Christ and Satan. There is considerable irony in the lines depicting Belshazzar at his
feast, dismissive of the devastation coming to Babylon:
Gest a to symble siestan dg
Caldea cyning mid cneo-magum,
r medugal wear mgenes wisa (Daniel 700702)
(Then the king of the Chaldeans sat at feasting on the fated day with his kinsmen,
when the leader of that army became drunk.)

The kings role as leader is overshadowed and perverted: drunkenness encroaches on

mgen, intoxicating it. The term is sullied by a tyrannical figure and relegated to identifying spiritless leadership. Belshazzar lacks control over his army as well as his
strength. Belshazzar also appears to have been blind to the virtue that mgen can represent (such as the God-given power referred to at the beginning of the poem)a
mistake made by prideful figures throughout Junius 11. Daniels poem-concluding
speech sees that mgen returns to this rightful, virtuous context as Belshazzar and
his kinsmen are juxtaposed with the converted king Nebuchadnezzar, who went
before them. Daniel speaks and makes clear that Nebuchadnezzar may have had his
faults:

51

Sharma, 105.
Ibid., 104 and 109 respectively.
53
The poem might have no signs of incompleteness in the manuscript, but this is not to say that at an earlier stage
in the transmission history of a poetic Daniel there might have been accounts of Daniels interpretation of the run
on the wall, the slaying of Belshazzar or the overcoming of Babylon by Darius.
52

Old English Mgen

843

ac t oftor gecw aldor eoda

soum wordum ofer sin mgen,
sian him wuldres weard wundor gecyde,
t he wre ana ealra gesceafta
drihten and waldend (Daniel 75761a)

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(but the leader of nations [Nebuchadnezzar] more often said to his forces in true
words, after the warden of glory had made known the wonder to him, that he
[God] alone is the lord and ruler of all created things)

Mgen is brought into the company of truth, wonder, Godly leadership and creation in
the closing words of the poem.
There is one final mgen-link between Exodus and Daniel and it lies in their shared
interest in and exploration of rising and falling nations (translatio imperii). Following
the account of the Egyptians drowning in the Red Sea, Exodus describes the news of this
catastrophe as being broadcast across the burgum:
bodigean fter burgum bealospella mst,
hordwearda hryre, hlea cwenum,
ac a mgenreatas meredea geswealh,
a spelbodan. (Exodus 51114a)
(the messengers must announce across the cities the most baleful news, the fall of the
hall-guardians, to the mens wives, because the sea-death had swallowed the force of
the powerful threats.)

The fall of the Egyptian nation in the Red Sea is the fall of the hoard-guardiansa
status also given to the Egyptians who were demolished in the Tenth Plague (hordwearda hryre [35]). The above lines, detailing the end of the Egyptian threat,
suggest that their mgen was merely temporal: grandeur no deeper than surfacelevel, physical, martial splendour. In Exodus, it is the Israelites who come to acknowledge the deop meanings in the world. Their treasure is distributed moderately, with
knowledge of eternal treasures to come.54 But in Daniel the Israelites give up such
measured and obedient practice. Desire for worldly joy creeps back into their
minds. Overcome with a pleasure in earthly goods amidst their burh, the Israelites
of Daniel fall into the kind of God-less behaviour they worked so hard to escape in
Exodus. Retribution comes: an inevitability within a city darkened by malice and
black arts, and once so bright in

54

The eternal counsels given to the Israelites on the shore of the Red Sea are called a deop rende (deep message
[519a]). The ironic reward (lean [507b]) given to the Egyptians in the Red Sea is deop, and Moses opens the deop
sea with his green tacen (emblem/token [281])an act which gestures towards the deeper meaning beneath
things, that is, the spiritual significance beneath text and world.

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C. Kears
eelland
r Salem stod searwum afstnod,
weallum geworod. To s witgan foron,
Caldea cyn, to ceastre for,
r Israela hta wron bewrigene mid weorcum; to am t werod gefor,
mgenreat mre, manbealwes georn. (Daniel 39b45)

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(the native land, where Salem stood fastened with cunning skill, honoured with
walls. To that place the witan fared, the Chaldean kin, forward to the city, where
the possessions of the Israelites were hidden amidst fort-works; to it the troop
went forward, the famous force-threat, eager for baleful murder.)

Mgenreat occurs only twice in surviving Old English: at the end of Exodus as the cataclysmic Red Sea episode concludes and in the exordium of Daniel. This compound
noun takes mgen into a threatening territory of meaning (reat can mean a
troop, crowd or throng; but it can also carry meanings of violence, oppression and punishment55). Such threatepitomised by the Egyptians and then,
in Daniel, by the Chaldeansarrives as a host: a force or army of physical strength,
a form of mgen untouched by virtue, hostile to God. Such hordes are submerged
beneath the waves in Exodus (once the Israelites have been directed towards recognition and understanding of Gods power, and away from seeing things in martial
and literal terms), but they boil back to the surface in Daniel, as the Hebrews forget
that strength is to be found in spiritual wisdom, rd and self-control. As the Israelites
in Daniel fall into the doom from which they were saved in Exodus, it is fitting that their
punishment should come in the form of a mgenreat (a term used to define that
which pursued them for so long in the previous poem)and that they are taken on
langne si (68b), on eastwegas (69b), back into exile, back into captivity within a
demonic stronghold.56 The reversal of fortune is striking: at the close of Exodus, we
recall, the Egyptian defeat is the hordwearda hryre (fall of the hoard-wardens
[512a]). The Israelites rejoice in this treasure at the end of that poem. Their fall
from prosperity in Daniel brings the punishing Chaldeans, and the poet states that
Gehlodon him to hue hordwearda gestreon (they loaded up as booty the treasure of
the hoard-wardens [65]) when taking the Israelites captive.
The associations traced in this article suggest that the exordium of the Old
English Daniel has a strong poetic connection with the Old English Exodus and its
final passages. Though episodes from the biblical books of Exodus and Daniel came
together in liturgical programmes, the versions of these narratives found in Junius

55

See BosworthToller, reat, II.

In its beginnings the long Israelite migration in Exodus sets out along the forwegas (forth-ways, onward paths
[32b]), and the progress of the journey is thereafter marked by weg-compounds that define certain stages of the
transitus (norwegas [68b]; lifeweg [104b]; flodewege [106a]; suwegum [155b]). Such wandering, such flight from
those who pursue vengeance, is put to rest with the locking down of Pharaohs hostsfor whom there is no weg
back to the homes they want to find (Exodus 454; and 456b7a).
56

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Old English Mgen

845

11 are elaborative and interpretive retellings appropriated for Anglo-Saxon culture:

there are many more connections between the two poems than the allegorical significance of the two biblical episodes (the Red Sea crossing in Exodus, the escape from the
fiery furnace in Daniel) associated with the Eastertide readings. What is more, some of
the vocabulary used to recall the Israelite exodus out of Egypt in the opening lines of
Daniel points to the highly original version of that story we find in the Exodus placed
just before the Daniel of Junius 11. Whoever was responsible for the composition of
Daniels exordium used poetic words and collocations that were vital to the creation
of the interpretive challenge at the heart of Exodus.
Of course, Exodus and Daniel fit in well with the overarching Junius 11 theme of fall
and redemption.57 Events depicted in these poems correspond well with other falls
throughout the Junius 11 cycle: the fall of the Israelites has greater and more ominous
significance to it when we recall other falls, other breakings of the wr (oath or Covenant), such as the angelic falls found in Genesis A and B. Such connections allow us to
trace illuminating and informative parallels across the manuscript. Perhaps scribes and
compilers did this too. The poems of Junius 11 speak to each other. Words and collocations become markers and reminders of what constitutes obedience and disobedience, or
good and bad counsel, as the manuscript goes on. Take the example of the idol on the
plane of Dura raised by the rdleas Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 177a). We might recall
that it was with unrd that the rebel angels of Genesis A turned away from God and
tried to raise their own idolatrous kingdom, as their fall initiated the narrative of the
manuscripts first portion. These rebels are cast into the rdleas hof (place without
good counsel [GenA 44b]). Nebuchadnezzars foolishness echoes that first transgression
and, if we relate his rdleas act to acts lacking rd in the Junius poems, it becomes heavily
laden and intertwined with other, central Junius 11 narratives of sin, pride and struggle,
helping us contextualise and interpret the depth of the tyrants transgression.
There is certainly a conversation taking place between Exodus and Daniel, one
that raises the possibility of a shared knowledge or exchange between them. Simply
put, it appears as though whoever compiled the manuscript wanted them to be
read and heard together, in sequence. Though Old English mgen was an important
word for early medieval Christian poets, the relentless frequency with which it
occurs in Exodus would have struck any learned hearer or reader into attention and
contemplationthe significance of the word in this poem would surely have remained
in the memory-store. The use of mgen to define certain events of the Israelite exodus
in the opening lines of Daniel also invites us to recall a very specific presentation of this
vital migration. Of course, this could be nothing more than the recurrence of formulaic
blocks of verse, without the intention of relating the two poems, but that is an argument that does not wholly account for the narrative synthesis that moves one poem
into the other, nor for the words and phrases found only in these two works. There
are words in the opening section of Daniel that were pivotal to the rhetorical heft of

57

See Hall.

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Exodus. Daniel remembers Exodus, recalling it as history with a re-sounding and

rehearing of its mgen (to think even more about formulaic language, and about
not dismissing it, Daniels first words are, fittingly, Gefrgn ic (I have heard
[1a]).58 Chains, links, parallels and cross references; poetic memory and poems remembering: the relationship between Exodus and Daniel forces us to consider the language
of Old English poetryright down to individual words and the journeys they make
through literature and through timeas having some bearing upon a selection of
texts. It asks us to treat seriously the possibility that a poem like Exodus could itself
have been influential.

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