The concept of kingship in Anglo-Saxon and Chinese literature: A comparative study of "Beowulf" and "Xuanhe Yishi"

Ji-hui Wang, Purdue University

Abstract

Medieval texts from various cultures, historical or literary, share the same thematic interest in kingship. This interest is exemplified by evidence found in both historical documents and such literary works as the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf and medieval Chinese Xuanhe yishi. As this comparative study demonstrates, despite the differences of culture and time, this particular medieval concern was highlighted in similar ways in these two generically and culturally different works. With the introduction of Christian ideology, as historical documents show, the importance of the possession of God's blessing and of intellectual wisdom, in Anglo-Saxon politics, encroaches on the substance of the old Germanic ascending kingship, which stresses such royal virtues as right lineage, physical prowess and generosity. To reflect this model of kingship in this transitional period, Beowulf tends to emphasize wisdom in national political crises, despite an obvious admiration for kings who pursue the glory of the old Germanic heroism. Likewise, both historical and political works in ancient China stress the descending nature of royal power, inviolable unless the monarch is deprived of it by Heaven due to his moral disqualification. However, this descending kingship demands on the part of a monarch, above all, self-cultivation of moral and aesthetic virtues rather than an exercise of fortitudo and sapientia as is in Anglo-Saxon England. Xuanhe yishi differs further from Beowulf because it appears more skeptical about the orthodox concept of kingship, which discourages the acquirement of necessary military capabilities on the part of emperors. As the author argues, Huizong and his son fall partially because of their military incompetence. Similarities and differences between the two works, as they are examined against their own sociopolitical contexts, help us argue that, although both show the same concerns about the contemporary political issues, they reflect them in their own ways. Beowulf, a work of court literature of the late Anglo-Saxon period, promotes the ideal of the orthodox Christian concept of kingship, not without propaganda or distortion, whereas Xuanhe yishi, a work of popular oral tradition composed after the fall of the dynasty, is closer to reality in its depiction of the Song political issues.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Hughes, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Comparative literature|Literature|Middle Ages|Asian literature|British and Irish literature

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