Newberry Essays in Medieval and Early Modern ... - Newberry Library

Newberry Essays in Medieval and Early Modern Studies 7yet it there standeth;so it will do as longas the world standeth. 23Even without a corpse present, Rodric and Hamun’s bodies and their destruction are still inscribedon the landscape of the text, which cannot forget that a body was once there, and now is not.Most commonly, however, the incorporation of the corpse and the identity happen concurrently.This can be most easily seen in the many memorials and graves established throughout the text,which Laȝamon frequently describes in terms that suggest that he assumes his readers are familiarwith these locations, as he does with the rest of the bodies here. Many, many graves appear in thistext, and often the mourners who inter the deceased deliberately make these graves public, so thatthe body of the dead will be as present to the living as possible. When King Dunwale dies, his earlshave him buried in a temple of gold in London, constructing a public space of worship around thecorpse. 24 When Dunwale’s son Belin dies, his grieving people place his corpse in a golden tomb in atower “so that men might him behold/wide over the land.” 25 And both the aforementioned KingLud and his son Nennius are buried beside different city gates of London, so that all who enter orexit must pass their bodies and be reminded of them. 26 The gate beside which Lud is buried is laterknown as Ludes-gate, a name which Laȝamon claims it still holds, making this grave present to theaudience as well. 27The most famous burial site in the text, though, is the Giantsʼ Ring mentioned above,Stonehenge, set up on the plain of Ambresbury. On that plain the Saxon invader Hengestslaughtered a large group of British nobles, and there they were buried. Their relative Aurelius wants“with surprising works/to honor the dead,/that there shall stand,/to the worlds end,” and calls onMerlin for advice. 28 Merlin tells Aurelius about a circle of massive stones in Ireland called theGiantsʼ Ring, originally lifted from the African landscape by some now-forgotten ancient colonizer.He uses his magic to transport the entire ring to Ambresbury plain. Once there, the circle is referredto as Stonehenge, the name Laȝamon’s audience knew it by. This site becomes such a significantlandmark that later Aurelius and his younger brother Uther are also buried there, to be with theirmurdered relatives. 29 When much later King Constantine joins them, he is referred to as beingburied with his ancestors, with no mention of the massacre there. 30 These kings choose to havethemselves incorporated into a highly visible area of the landscape—a portion of the landscape23 9954-63, 66-69 “Þer dude Maurius þe king/a wel ſwuðe ſællech þing/uppen þen ilke ſtude/þer he Rodric uordude/helette a-ræren anan/enne swuðe ſælcuð ſtan/he lette þer on grauen/sælcuðe run-ſtauē/hu he Rodric of-ſloh/&hine mid horſen to-droh . . . . Vp he ſette þæne ſta(n)/ȝet he þer ſtondeð/swa he deð al ſwa longe/swa þa woreldſtondeð.”24 4282-87.25 6086-87 “þat me mihte hine bi-halden/wide ȝeon þeo(n) londe.”26 7133-40, 7618-21.27 7142-44.28 17164-67 “mid ſælcuðe wærcken/wurðien þa dæde/þat þer ſcal ſtonden/to þere worlde longe.”29 17832-47, 19816-25.30 28762-67.11