Line 89

'for his ofermode' - This is possibly one of the most debated half-lines in Old English poetry. The discussion hinges on the word 'ofermode' which can be translated as 'confidence' or 'arrogance'. If it is the former then any criticism of the tactic of allowing the Vikings across the river is oblique. If it is the latter then clearly the poet is blaming Byrhtnoth for bowing to his pride (M&R suggest that the Vikings actually play on this). One can debate at length the rights and wrongs of Byrhtnoth's decision to engage the Vikings in the field at Maldon, rather than allowing them to escape and harry the coast wherever they wanted to. Yet it is important to think about the poet's stance.

The best discussion of this (and summary of previous discussions) is Gneuss's article 'The Battle of Maldon 89: Byrhtnoth's ofermod Once Again' (1976). More recently Cavill (1995) is also worth reading as it looks at the wider issue of how one would interpret 'ongunnon lytegian' (l. 86) and 'landes to fela' (l. 90). Cavill concludes that the criticism and blame is actually levelled both at the Vikings for being 'underhand' (p. 158), possibly at Byrhtnoth for being too 'eager for battle', but more importantly at him for tactically allowing the Vikings too much room to manoeuvre once they had reached the mainland en masse. Pulsiano (1997) agrees with this elaborating on just how guileful the Vikings are, suggesting (and citing examples to support his argument) that 'the manipulation through words to gain advantage, would seem to be a long-established tradition' amongst Scandinavians.

To see how the word 'ofermode' is used elsewhere in Old English go to the Old English corpus and search for 'ofermod' {FRAGMENTARY in VERSE}. You should get 11 hits back. Note that the first few are from the Old English poems on Genesis and the term is used to refer to Lucifer (the angel of pride). Would this connotation have been accepted by the audience of Maldon?