Chapter Eleven. The Magic Of Englishness In St. Kenelm And Havelok The Dane

Abstract

A child protagonist and specific plot details in St. Kenelm in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 108's (L) South English Legendary (SEL) strike a remarkable parallel to the L romance, Havelok the Dane. In both poems, the young protagonists are the rightful kings of countries, Kenelm of Mercia in England and Havelok of Denmark and England (by his marriage to Goldeboru, daughter of the late English king), and both are ousted by internal enemies, Kenelm's own sister and Havelok's and Goldeboru's entrusted guardians. Though the similarities in plot and characterization are evident, the different endings of the two narratives-martyrdom for one prince and a long reign for the other-cause them to be read in terms of different generic parameters: the vita elevates the death of Kenelm as God's victory over Kenelm's assassins while Havelok's life, his happy romance ever-after, re-establishes the rightful, God-sanctioned kingship of England and Denmark. Nevertheless, though the ends diverge, the means converge: both poems set the most vulnerable protagonist, a child, against the worst kind of enemy, a treacherous caregiver; and both exact vengeance upon the traitors while exalting the young hero who is, by the grace of God, triumphant. The similarities described above would not necessarily be worth noting apart from a particularly distinctive complex of pathos and political fantasy which drives both narratives. Not only do both Havelok and St. Kenelm center on a vulnerable protagonist, but both poems also situate that character within a consciously-constructed and foregrounded England. In these parallel tales, a vulnerable child-king figures England as an imperiled spiritual, political, and linguistic entity. In other words, vulnerable childhood and a notion of Englishness * I wish to thank Kimberly K. Bell for her willingness to read numerous drafts of this essay. This essay would not have been possible without her positive and helpful feedback.