"Beowulf" and Connection to Pagan Christianity

Beowulf has a unique and peculiar history. It is often presented as the archetypal literary work and as a cornerstone of Middle Ages literature. The story was composed around 700 A.D. and mostly had been in circulation in oral narrative. The action period of Beowulf story dates back to the 500 A.D. Many of the characters in the poem--the Swedish and Danish royal family members, for example--correspond to actual historical figures. Originally pagan warriors, the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian invaders experienced a large-scale conversion to Christianity at the end of the sixth century. …