A battle scene from "The Elene"

"The Elene" is an Old English poem, sometimes known as "Saint Helena Finds the True Cross." Written somewhere between the 8th and 10th centuries by the poet Cynewulf about whom little is know, including exactly when he lived. He is belived to have been from Mercia or Northumbria and wrote in that dialect. He was probably a monk or other religious figure. Four of his poems survive. "The Elene" is 1,321 lines long.


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Ridon ymb rofne, ðonne rand dynede,
camp wudu clynede, cyning ðreate for,
herge to hilde. Hrefen uppe gol,
wan ond wælfel. Werod wæs on tyhte.
Hleopon hornboran, hreopan frican,
mearh moldan træd.

Translation;

“They rode about the famous one; then the shield dinned,
the battle-tarp clanged, the king advanced with a troop,
a battalion to the battle. The raven yelled from above,
dark and greedy for carrion. The troop was on the march.
The horn-bearers ran, the heralds called out,
the horse trod the earth”