To take revenge for somebody else. So to avenge a friend who has been killed would be to kill his killer.

A battle standard is the pole and the banner which a lord's army carries into battle.

This is a feud

Nowadays we might say that boasting is a big-headed thing to do, but to the Anglo-Saxons it meant something quite different. A boast was a kind of promise a warrior made in front of other people. When [..]

Craftsmen are people who are clever at making things. To make the mead-hall Hrothgar has to find people who are skilful at building with wood, and at carving and decorating.

A drinking horn was usually made from the horn of a wild ox. It was polished and decorated and used to hold wine, beer or mead. This is what a pair of drinking horns probably looked like

Fame was very important to warrior tribes like the Geats and Danes. Life was short - many died in battle or from disease. What mattered was for the things you had done while you were alive to be spoke [..]

A feud is a state of hatred and killing between two groups of people. It is a war by one family or tribe against another. Often a feud can begin when a member of one tribe kills a member of another in [..]

The Franks, the Frisians and the Hetware were tribes living in the areas of Europe that are now part of Germany, Holland and Belgium. The Swedes were the neighbouring tribe of the Geats, living in the [..]

In Anglo-Saxon times land was measured in hides. One hide of land was supposed to be enough to meet the needs of one family - for them to live on, grow crops and graze animals. So 7000 hides of land i [..]