Fitt XL — The Messenger of Death

Wiglaf sends a messenger to the Geat war-troop waiting above the cliffs — the hearth-companions who have sat all morning with their shields, expecting either news of victory or news of death. The messenger rides up and tells them: the free-giving friend-lord of the folk of the Weders is dead in his death-bed. The dragon lies beside him.

He does not stop at the announcement. He moves immediately to what it means. For friend and for foeman, the folk now expect a season of strife. He names the enemies in order of threat. The Franks and Frisians: old enemies since Hygelac was killed in his disastrous raid on Frisia, a battle the poem has already invoked. Hygelac's death made the Franks hostile; Beowulf's death removes the last deterrent.

Then the Swedes. The messenger rehearses the history of the Swedish-Geat wars: Ongentheow and his sons, Hæthcyn's death, the pursuit to Ravenswood, the reversal when Hygelac arrived. Old Ongentheow's terrifying assault on the Geat survivors in the wood is described in enough detail to make the audience feel the weight of what kept those enemies at bay. Beowulf kept them at bay. Beowulf is now dead.