Beowulf is the prince of the Goths (people of southern Sweden). The action of the poem is located in the coastal regions of the North Sea, in particular the south of Sweden, Denmark and Friesland (lagoon belt full of islands of North-Holland and the North-West Germany up to the Danish border.). These lands in the fifth century were occupied by various Germanic peoples still pagan, organized in small kingdoms, nothing but vast union of tribes where free men in the assemblies deliberating on common interests and elected leaders. Obviously the poem Beowulf is a work of poetic invention, but also tells what actually took place, as the incursion of Hygelac, king of the Goths against Friesland, which occurred around 516; other episodes and characters are reflected in historical sources, particularly in Gesta Danorum duct Danish Saxo Grammaticus.From this base the historical Germanic peoples aside on the shores of the North Sea developed, through the interpretation of the collective memory and of primitive epic songs, a heritage of heroic legends, expression of cultural identity. The Angles and Saxons, closely linked to the level dynastic and personal with the families of Sweden, ferried this oral tradition in England, when in successive waves invaded during the fifth and sixth centuries.The Roman legions, finally retiring from Britain in 406, leaving a country Romanized superficially (Latin was never spoken by the natives), but already Christianized, and Christianity for those provincial, Romanized or not, was one with the civilization.The Anglo-Saxon England, which was formed after repeated invasions, gravitated on the North Sea and Scandinavia, and was costituta by small kingdoms of Germanic type. The most important kingdoms were seven, so we talk about this period of English history (450-800) as dell'Eptarchia Anglo-Saxon. In this political and social elements of the Roman Christian they infiltrated pretty quickly, even for the intervention of scholars and tenacious evangelizers, reaching the full conversion of the island in the early seventh century.The poet of Beowulf is most likely a monaco, since then, only the clergy knew writing; his style, the continued use of a symbolic language and references to sacred texts and the Christian ethical values confirm his ecclesiastical training.
