The Old English poem "Judith" describes the beheading of Assyrian general Holofernes by Israelite Judith of Bethulia. Various other versions of the Holofernes-Judith tale exist. These include the Book of Judith, still present in the Catholic and Orthodox Christian Bibles, and Abbot Ælfric's homily of the tale.
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Judith was first discovered as an appendage to the Beowulf manuscript from the early eleventh century. Though it is certain that the poem is a derivative of the Book of Judith, still present in the Roman Catholic Bible, its authorship and year of origin remain a mystery. While the poem is incomplete, it has been of great cultural value since its creation. The manuscript is 348 lines long and it features the numbers X, XI,and XII. The numbers correspond to the 10th verse of chapter twelve, the 11th verse of chapter thirteen, and the 12th verse of chapter fourteen. Only the last three out of twelve cantos have been preserved. What remains of the poem opens in the middle of a banquet. Had the first nine cantos been preserved, it is often thought that Judith would be considered one of the most laudable Old English works (Cook, pg. lxxvi-lxxvii). What is certain about the origin of the poem is that it stems from the Book of Judith. After the Reformation, the Book of Judith was removed from the Protestant Bible. However, it is still present in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles. Many discrepancies exist between the poem and Book, most notably in regards to the portrayal of Holofernes and the exaggeration of Judith’s righteousness in the poem (Marsden, pg. 147).
Similar to Beowulf, Judith conveys a moral tale of heroic triumph over monstrous beings. Both moral and political, the poem tells of a brave woman’s efforts to save and protect her people. Judith is depicted as an exemplar woman, grounded by ideal morale, probity, courage, and religious conviction. Judith's character is rendered blameless and virtuous, and her beauty is praised persistently throughout the poem. In line 109, Judith is referred to as an ides ellenrof, which translates as brave woman. The author also gives her the entitlement of a 'halige meowle' (line 56), which translates as holy woman, a 'snoteran idese' (line 55), which translates as wise woman, whilst her appearance is described as 'aelfscinu' (line 13), which translates as 'elf-shining'. Although Judith commits murder in the poem, she is constantly doused with a saintly light. Holofernes adopts the archetypal monstrous image, further pulling any convictions of wrongdoing away from Judith. In the Book of Judith, Holofernes is depicted as a babbling drunkard. However, the poet renders him a representation of evil. And thus, in carrying out her plan to kill him, Judith becomes a hero. Portraying the epitome of Germanic heroism, Judith was likely composed during a time of war as a model for the Anglo-Saxon people. The Abbot Ælfric similarly created his own homiletic interpretation of the Book of Judith. At the time of his creation, Vikings were ransacking England. Ælfric professed that Judith was to serve as an example to the people. In a letter, Ælfric wrote: “þeo is eac on English on ure wisan iset eow mannum to bisne, þet ge eower eard mid wæpnum beweriæn wið onwinnende here.” Translated into modern English, the phrase reads: “It is also set as an example for you in English according to our style, so that you will defend your land with weapons against an attacking force” (Nelson, pg. 47). Ælfric’s Judith is quite similar to that of the poem; and furthermore, the characters seem to have served the same purpose—to stand as an example to the people in a time of war. Judith’s city of Bethulia was being plundered by Assyrians. Holofernes was an Assyrian general and king, often drunk and constantly monstrous. Judith hatched a plan to save the Israelites and Bethulia. As Holofernes was often drunk, Judith anticipated that he would attempt to seduce her. She pretended to be charmed by Holofernes, allowing herself to be taken to his bedroom. When the unsuspecting Holofernes fell into a drunken slumber, Judith severed his head with a sword. Thereafter, she proudly displayed his head to her Hebrew army and led them into a victorious battle against the Assyrians. In the Book of Judith, though, the Assyrians simply fled Bethulia after discovering the deceased body of Holofernes (Marsden, pg. 148).
Damage to the manuscript was caused by the Cotton fire of 1731 and readings have been lost. In order to account for these lost words, modern editions of the poem are supplemented by references to Edward Thwaites' 1698 edition.[1] The only existing copy of the poem follows the Beowulf manuscript.
The consensus held by modern scholars allocates Judith to the authorship of Cynewulf, though several opposing theories have been proposed. The atypical absence of Cynewulf’s runic signature has led many not to attribute authorship to him (Nelson, pg. 4). Stylistically, the poem so strongly reflects the Cynewulfian school that it may just as likely been written by one of Cynewulf’s successors (Cook, pg. xx-xxi). The poem is also commonly thought to be the work to Cædmon, which would place it around 680 A.D. (Cook, pg. xvi). However, many other scholars believe the poem to have been written during various years between the eight and tenth centuries. The existing manuscript of "Judith," following the "Beowulf" manuscript, was copied by the second of two scribes.
Campbell, J.J. ‘Schematic Technique in Judith’, English Literary History 38 (1971), 155-72
Chamberlain, D. ‘Judith: a Fragmentary and Political Poem’, in Anglo-Saxon Poetry: Essays in Appreciation for John C. McGalliard, ed. L. E. Nicholson and D. W. Frese (Notre Dame, IN, 1975),pp. 145–59.
Clayton, M. ‘Ælfric's Judith: manipulative or manipulated?’ (1994) pp. 215–227.
Cook, A.S. ‘Judith, an old English epic fragment. Edited, with introd., facsim., translation, complete glossary, and various indexes’, (Heath, Boston, 1889)
Cubitt, C. ‘Virginity and Misogyny in Tenth- and Eleventh-Century England’, Gender and History¸Vol. 12. No. 1. (2000), pp. 14–18
Dobbie, E. ‘Beowulf and Judith’, ASPR vol. 4 (Columbia University Press, New York, 1953)
Lee, S.D. ‘Ælfric’s Homlies on Judith, Esther, and The Maccabees’, http://users.ox.ac.uk/~stuart/kings/
Marsden, Richard. “Judith.” The Cambridge Old English Reader. 1st ed. Ed. Richard Marsden. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pages 147-148.
Nelson, M. ed., ‘Judith, Juliana, and Elene: Three fighting Saints’, (Peter Lang Publishing, New York, 1991)
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