Mythmoot V: 04 - The composite authorship of Andreas

The composite authorship of Andreas

David Maddock

The Old English poem “Andreas” has long been a source of controversy in the Anglo-Saxon scholarly community. Although it bears no runic signature, scholars have noted significant stylistic similarities between “Andreas” and the four signed poems of Cynewulf, suggesting that they may share a common author. Others have cited affinities with Beowulf or grammatical differences from Cynewulf to argue against Cynewulfian authorship. By correlating quantitative analysis of oral-formulaic language with the lexomics techniques of cluster analysis and moving ratios pioneered by Dr. Michael Drout, this paper demonstrates the existence of an older Beowulfian core around which a Cynewulfian poet built the received poem. Understanding the composite nature of “Andreas” can bring fresh data to a notorious scholarly controversy.