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(editorial note, is supposed to represent the 'thorn, which is pronouced something like 'eth')
755. Her Cynewulf benam Sigebryht his rices ond Westseaxna
Wiotan for unryhtum daedum, buton Hamtunscire; ond he haefde
a o he ofslog one aldormon e him lengest wunode. Ond hiene
a Cynewulf on Andred adraefde; ond he aer wunade o aet hiene
5 an swan ofstang aet Pryfetes flodan; ond he wraec one aldormon
Cumbran. Ond se Cynewulf oft miclum gefeohtum feaht uui
Bretwalum. Ond ymb XXXI wintra aes e he rice haefde, he wolde
adraefan anne aeeling se was Cyneheard haten; ond se Cyneheard
9 waes aes Sigebryhtes brour.
In the year of our lord 755, this entry was written in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, depicting the conflicts between the king Cynewulf and various subjects. This chronicle is a true account of happenings, most often within the region of its origin. It has been my intent to look at this piece though the filter of reality, for an audience concerned with truth and with historical significance. To do this, I think it is both important to maintain the wholeness of the manuscript as well as make it accessible to the modern day reader, should that reader be a student of Old English or not.
This particular section of the chronicle is fairly old, and relies heavily on inflection to carry the meaning. It was not an easy piece to translate, due to this. Word endings are very important. To capture what I feel to be the real meaning of the entry for 755, I have changed the word order to coincide with modern language. This immediately raised some issues. Parts of speech are left out at times, such as in lines 6 and 7, Ond se Cynewulf oft miclum gefeohtum feaht uui Bretwalum. In this sentence, the only obvious choices for the accusative, great battles and Britons both fall in the dative. I solved this problem partially by using often as the accusative form. Later in lines 8 and 9, the passage, ond se Cyneheard waes aes Sigebryhtes brour, has two nominative terms, Cyneheard and brother. Sigebryht is in the genitive, possessing brother. In the revised translation of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, edited by Dorothy Whitelock, this is phrased as �who was the brother of the aforesaid Sigebryht.� While this does work, it phases out Cyneheard, replacing it with who. Treharne�s translation does not do this, instead saying �and this Cyneheard was the brother of Sigebryht.� After looking at these structures carefully, I came to the following translation for the passage:
In this year, Cynewulf and Westsaxia�s counselors deprived Sigebryht of his kingdom, except Hampshire, for unjust deeds; and [Sigebryht] held [Hampshire] until he slew the nobleman he had for the longest time dwelled [with.] And then Cynewulf drove [Sigebryht] into [the forest of] Andred, and Sigebryht dwelled there until he [was] stabbed to death [by a] swineherd at the stream of Privett�s; and [so the swineherd] avenged the nobleman Cumbran. And Cynewulf often fought against [the] Britons [in] great battles. And after Cynewulf had 31 winters [in] that kingdom, Cynewulf wished to drive out a prince who Cyneheard was commanding; and Cyneheard was a brother of Sigebryht.
This translation follows very closely to the grammatical order of the inflected original translated into our word order system. Words that have been bracketed and italicized are added entirely, while words that are only bracketed generally symbolize my translation from a nameless �he� to a definitive person or place.
When I am reading and translating Old English, I am struck by the knowledge that these events did take place, far back in my own English heritage. I find this to be very moving, and I feel that this experience could and should cross cultural barriers. However, while confined to Old English text, it is much less accessible, and the cultural background of people who would find it interesting to study would be perhaps less broad. For this reason, I chose to take my translation beyond the moderately historically accurate mode I started with and produce a text which could be as alive to many types of modern audience as it is to me.
This raised several dilemmas, also. First and foremost�how much should I add? The real beauty in Old English is its simplicity and historical nature. I was also working with only a few lines, relatively. I found it difficult to choose between extending the lines, extending the imagery, which would require some falsehood on my part. On the other hand, keeping them clipped wasn�t a great option either, as it did not meet my goal of making them more interesting to the general audience. If I kept length down, I would only be rearranging words. In the end, I have decided to present the brief history in a manner such as I often hear on the news. Frequently, when an item of political nature is introduced, a short synopsis is provided. I feel that this is an ideal way to present Cynewulf and Cyneheard in short. The form of a concise news clip gives the reader a feeling of truth also, rather than entertainment. Having made this decision, I proceeded to write the following form of the translation of Cynewulf and Cyneheard.
In 755, Cynewulf and the counselors of Westsaxia held a meeting to discuss the inhumane actions of the King Sigebryht. Shortly following this meeting, Sigebryht was stripped of his powers as acting King and deprived of all his lands except the region of Hampshire. Subsequently, Sigebryht was convicted of killing one of his lords, who had lived in Hampshire for many years. Cynewulf reacted to this by deporting Sigebryht to the forest of Andred. Sigebryht lived in the forest until a pig herder reportedly stabbed him to death. The pig herder was later heard to say that he had done this as retaliation for the unlawful killing of the Lord Cumbran. Cynewulf did not comment on the death of the former king Sigebryht.
Cynewulf held office as King for 31 years, in which he loyally protected his public from the Britons. Four months ago, in a change in policy, Cynewulf proposed an eviction of a prince, who was under the command of a rival King, whose name was Cyneheard. Cyneheard, the brother of Sigebryht�
This translation, as can easily be seen between my earlier work and the work above, is very different. However, I believe it continues to reflect the actual occurrences as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. Hopefully, in reading my translation, an awareness of both the distant past and how it reflects and connects with the present will be available. The sensation of reality has been important to me in translating the text. I hope it proves enjoyable and educational to read.
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