I know that those of you who are interested in #OldEnglish might be, like, 'yeah yeah, another analogue to "Wulf and Eadwacer", I've heard it all before...' But I really do think that Ian has nailed the fundamental 'what is the backstory to this poem?' question.

#Theoderic #Odoacer #JohnOfAntioch #medievodons #medieval

https://theconversation.com/wulf-and-eadwacer-why-i-think-ive-solved-the-mystery-of-this-old-english-poem-199928

(For the original publication, see Ian Shiels, '_Wulf and Eadwacer_ Reloaded: John of Antioch and the Starving Wife of Odoacer', Anglia: Journal of English Philology. 140 (3–4): 373–420. https://doi.org/10.1515/ang-2022-0056.)

At the end of last year, one of my PhD students (the estimable Ian Shiels, not AFAIK on Mastodon) published a fab (albeit sadly closed-access) article on the Old English poem 'Wulf and Eadwacer'. Following up on the possibility (dare one say likelihood?) that Eadwacer is a reflex of the late Roman general Odoacer, Ian hunted through all the Odoacer material and came up with what I think is a very convincing analogue in a seventh-century chronicle by one John of Antioch. A nice example of what can happen when Old Anglicists have a close look at Greek texts :-)

https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/ang-2022-0056/html

If you have access to Anglia, I recommend the article :-)

#medievodons #medieval #OldEnglish #Eadwacer #Odoacer

Odoacer (433-493 CE, reigned 476-493 CE) also known as Odovacar, Flavius Odoacer, and Flavius Odovacer, was the first king of Italy. His reign marked the end of the Roman Empire; he deposed the last emperor, Romulus Augustulus, on 4 September 476 CE. He was a soldier in the Roman army who ascended through the ranks to general and was then chosen to rule after the mercenary general Orestes refus...https://www.worldhistory.org/Odoacer/ #EmperorZeno #Italy #Odoacer