Deorwine
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| Deorwine | |
|---|---|
| by Beda of Easþrena | |
| Original title | ᛞᛇᚱᚹᛁᚾᛖ |
| Written | 1041-1053 |
| First published in | 1053 |
| Country | Easþrena |
| Language | Tretridian |
| Subject(s) | The voyage of the hero Deorwine and the foundations of Tretrid |
| Genre(s) | Epic poem |
| Form | Alliterative verse |
| Lines | 9,600 |
Deorwine is a Tretridian epic poem that tells the story of the hero Deorwine, who fled turmoil in Concord following the collapse of the Ulvrikian Empire with a great fleet and sailed west to Tretrid, where his people laid the roots to what would become Easþrena. It is considered one of the most important works of Tretridian literature and is generally considered the Tretridian national epic. It was written by Beda of Easþrena in the 11th century as a gift to Ceolmund II, the Easþrenan king, along with the heroic poem Cenhelm.
The historicity of Deorwine has been a subject of scholarly debate. While Cenhelm drew mainly from historical events, there is a general absence of written historical evidence in Tretrid in the 6th and 7th centuries, when the poem is set. However, it is generally agreed to be a codification of oral tradition within which the cultural memory of the Ulvrikian migration into Tretrid was preserved. The poem is considered to be derived from the Ulvrikian storytelling tradition, though there are many Celanor-influenced element in the poem, likely from frequent contact between the people of Tretrid and the Celanor Empire.