Note 497 — Chapter XV · THE COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF TEUTONIC AND GREEK HEROIC POETRY.

We may compare a passage from the poem on the battle of Maldon, which largely follows heroic poetry (cf. pp. 3, 97). In v. 216 ff. Aelfwine, one of Byrhtnoth's knights, boasts as follows: "I will make my lineage known to all, that I come of a great Mercian house. My grandfather, Ealhhelm by name, was a wise earl and blessed with worldly prosperity. Not against me shall knights bring public reproach, that I am willing to leave this army and make my way home, now that my prince lies slain in battle." Ealhhelm held office in the reign of Edmund I.