ST MICHAEL AND BEOWULF: THE NOT-SO-ODD COUPLE

This paper proposes a virtual addition to the existing inventory of texts dealing with St Michael the Archangel in pre-Conquest England, by discussing the elusive, yet persuasive, Micheline traces in Beowulf. In particular, it will be argued that although St Michael is only a virtual presence in Beowulf, the poem nevertheless betrays echoes of the Archangel’s two key roles of warrior-angel or dragon-fighting saint, on the one hand, and of guardian angel per excellence, on the other. The analysis of the Micheline element in Beowulf will also help to bring into sharper focus yet another one of St Michael’s offices, which has been somewhat left understood and overshadowed by his connection with the end of life and the destiny after that, namely his baptismal and exorcistic function. This search for Micheline vestiges in Beowulf will contribute some insights into the positioning of St Michael within the wider literary and religious culture of early medieval England, as well as into the saint’s pervasive presence in the life of early English Christians, from the cradle to the grave and beyond that.