The 'whale-road' is the sea. The Anglo-Saxons liked to make word-pictures like this, especially in poetry. For example, the sun is called 'the sky's candle' later in the story [..]

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 [..]

and the