Contextual Background: The Code of Comitatus

Beowulf focuses on comitatus, an agreement between a Germanic feudal lord and his warriors during the Middle Ages. The agreement-bound warriors had to fight until death for their lords and avenge their lord’s death should the latter die in battle. In turn, the lords had the duty of protecting their warriors. It was considered shameful for a warrior to leave the battlefield before his lord, and vice versa.

Comitatus should also be seen in the context of life in the Middle Ages in England, which was dangerous and uncertain. The monsters depicted in Beowulf are mythical; they are symbols that indicate the hardships and dangers of the times. The allegorical narrative also reflects the fact that the Anglo-Saxons had lived in small groups and pledged their allegiance to a king before their arrival in England. In turn, the king extended protection to those loyal to him. This early form of feudalism was mutually beneficial to the king and his loyal subjects. Notably, this type of feudalism would later be endangered by the rise of the aristocracy and its taxation policy.