[870] III, 23.
[871] III, 27.
[872] Many recent historians have expressed doubts as to the conventional date, 515, for Hygelac's death. J. P. Jacobsen, in the Danish translation of Gregory (1911) suggested 525-30: following him Severinsen (Danske Studier, 1919, 96) suggested c. 526, as did Fredborg, Det första årtalet i Sveriges historia. L. Schmidt (Geschichte der deutschen Stämme, II, 500, note, 1918) suggested c. 528.
[873] Archæological works bearing less directly upon Beowulf are enumerated in [Appendix F]; that enumeration is not repeated here.
[874] Most students nowadays will probably agree with v. Sydow's contention that the struggle of Beowulf, first above ground and then below, is a folk-story, one and indivisible, and that therefore there is no reason for attributing the two sections to different authors, as do Boer, Müllenhoff and ten Brink. But that the folk-tale is exclusively Celtic remains to be proved; v. Sydow's contention that Celtic influence is shown in Beowulf by the inhospitable shamelessness of Unferth (compare that of Kai) is surely fanciful. Also the statement that the likeness of Bjarki and Beowulf is confined to the freeing of the Danish palace from a dangerous monster by a stranger from abroad, and that "das sonstige Beiwerk völlig verschieden ist" surely cannot be maintained. As argued above (pp. 54-61) there are other distinct points of resemblance.
v. Sydow's statement no doubt suffers from the brevity with which it is reported, and his forthcoming volume of Beowulf studien will be awaited with interest.
