What was the political system in the tale Beowulf? and how did the activity of pillaging condition the political system?

Answer 1

Geatland, the fictional kingdom that Beowulf later comes to inherit, is a kingdom of hereditary monarchy. This means that King Hrothgar, and later Beowulf himself, have complete political control, presumably in a feudal-like system that is similar to the Anglo-Saxon political culture in which Beowulf is based on.

The acts of pillaging that were commonplace in Norse culture certainly effected their culture, and politics, and this is shown in Beowulf. The characters in the story heavily value marital power, something that would have been very important when it comes to protecting a kingdom against Norse pillagers. Beowulf is the strongest man to ever live, and a great fighter, making him the perfect leader in the eyes of the people of Geatland. In fact, the most famous creature that Beowulf has to defeat in the story, Grendel, can be seen as a symbol for the pillaging Norse vikings, a "heathen" threat that the Anglo-Saxons would have seen as uncivilized and apolitically dangerous, in a time when the Anglo-Saxon world was struggling to establish the feudal monarchies that would identify them for much of its early history.