The ASNC Spoken Word Project
The ASNC Spoken Word Project offers authentic scholarly audio recordings of early medieval texts read aloud in their original reconstructed pronunciations by academic specialists in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at Cambridge. Each track includes both the original manuscript text and an English translation.
The Battle of Maldon (Part 1, lines 1–61)
The opening of the heroic Old English poem recording the confrontation between Byrhtnoth’s Anglo-Saxon forces and the Viking raiders on the Blackwater estuary in Essex in 991.
Þā þǣr Byrhtnōð ongan beornas trymian, rād and rǣdde, rincum tǣhte hū hī sceoldon standan and þone stede healdan, and bæd þæt hyra randas rihte hēoldon fæste mid folmum, and ne forhtedon nā. Þā hē hæfde þæt folc fægere getrymmed, hē līhte þā mid lēodum þǣr him lēofost wæs, þǣr hē his heorðwerod heoldost wiste.
Then Byrhtnoth began to array his warriors; he rode and gave counsel, instructed the fighters how they should stand and hold that ground, and bade that they hold their shields properly, firm with their fists, and fear nothing. When he had fairly arrayed the army, he alighted among the people where it was dearest to him to be, where he knew his hearth-troop to be most loyal.
The Battle of Maldon (Part 2, lines 309–325)
Byrhtwold’s famous speech embodying the northern heroic ideal: the steadfast defiance of death in battle.
Hige sceal þē heardra, heorte þē cēnre, mōd sceal þē māre, þē ūre mægen lȳtlað. Hēr līð ūre ealdor eall forhēawen, gōd on grēote. Ā mæg gnornian sē ðe nū fram þis wigplegan wendan þenceð. Ic eom frōd fēores; fram ic ne wille, ac ic mē be healfe mīnum hlāforde, be swā lēofan men, licgan þence.
Courage must be the firmer, heart the bolder, spirit must be the greater, as our might lessens. Here lies our leader all hewn down, the noble man in the dust. Ever may he mourn who thinks now to turn from this war-play. I am old in life; I will not go hence, but I think to lie beside my lord, beside so dear a man.
Snorri Sturluson, Prose Edda (Gylfaginning)
From Snorri Sturluson’s 13th-century handbook of Norse poetics and mythology, recounting Gangleri’s questioning of the High Ones about the creation of the world and Yggdrasill.
Hvat hafðisk Alföðr at áðr en himinn ok jörð væri gert? Þá svaraði Hár: Þá var hann með hrímþursum. Gangleri mælti: Hvat var upphaf? eða hversu hófsk? eða hvat var áðr? Hár svarar: Svá sem segir í Völuspá: Ár var alda, þat er ekki var, vara sandr né sær né svalar bylgjur; jörð fannsk æva né upphiminn, gap var ginnunga, en gras hvergi.
What was the All-Father doing before heaven and earth were made? Then High answered: Then he was with the frost-giants. Gangleri said: What was the beginning? Or how did things begin? Or what was before? High answers: As it says in Völuspá: In the beginning of ages, there was nothing; there was no sand, nor sea, nor cool waves; earth was nowhere to be found, nor heaven above; Ginnungagap there was, but grass nowhere.
Hrólfs saga kraka (The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki)
A classic legendary saga (fornaldarsaga) telling the tales of the legendary 6th-century Danish King Hrolf Kraki and his champion warrior Bödvar Bjarki.
Böðvarr mælti: 'Þat vil ek ráða yðr, kappsmenn Hrólfs konungs, at vér ríðim sem snarast heim til Hleiðargarðs ok leitum at hefna konungs várs, ef vér megum.'
Bödvar said: 'This is my counsel to you, champions of King Hrolf, that we ride as swiftly as possible home to Hleidargard and seek to avenge our king if we may.'
Old Norse Pronunciation Guide
A systematic spoken phonological guide illustrating vowel quantity, diphthongs, and consonant clusters in Classical Old Icelandic (c. 1200).
Vowels and consonants in Classical Old Norse: a, á, e, é, i, í, o, ó, u, ú, y, ý, æ, ø, ǫ; au, ei, ey. Demonstration of stress and consonant mutation.
Phonetic exercise recorded by Cambridge philologists for undergraduate ASNC Tripos students studying Paper 2 (Old Norse language and literature).
Pangur Bán (The Scholar and his Cat)
A famous 9th-century lyric preserved in the margins of the Reichenau Primer (St Paul in the Lavanttal, MS 25.d.82), contrasting the scholar’s hunt for knowledge with his white cat’s hunt for mice.
Messe ocus Pangur Bán, cechtar nathar fria saindán: bíth a menma-sam fri seilgg, mu menma céin im saincheird. Caraim-se fos (ferr cach clú) oc mu lebrán, leir ingnu; ní foirmtech frimm Pangur Bán: caraid cesin a maccdán.
I and Pangur Bán, each of us at his own special art: his mind is set on hunting, my mind on my own craft. I love peace (better than any fame) beside my book, pursuing understanding diligently; Pangur Bán is not envious of me: he loves his own childish skill.
Is acher in gaeth in-nocht (Bitter is the wind tonight)
An 9th-century quatrain written by an Irish monk in the margin of the St Gall Priscian manuscript (St Gall, Stiftsbibliothek MS 904), relieved that fierce winter seas will keep Viking raiders away.
Is acher in gaeth in-nocht, fufuasna fairggae findfolt: ní ágor réimm mora minn dond láechraid lainn ó Lothlind.
Bitter is the wind tonight, it tosses the ocean's white hair: I fear not the coursing of the Irish Sea by the fierce warriors from Viking Scandinavia.
Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley)
The central epic of the Ulster Cycle, recording the youth and martial deeds of Cú Chulainn and the conflict between Ulster and Connacht.
Fecht n-oen dia mbatar i l-lighi lánomno i Cruachnaib Rátha Cruachan, iar ndergud doib fona colcthib, cora láset a n-imradud eturru.
Once upon a time when their royal bed had been made ready for them in Rath Cruachan, Ailill and Medb held pillow-talk between them as they lay beneath the coverings.
A Vanity of this World
An early Middle Irish monastic meditation upon transience, mortality, and the fleeting nature of worldly power.
Truag a n-aiciur ar in mbith, dath a suthain is a lith; cid mór do maith do-bera, uait go luath do-scéla.
Piteous is the state of this world, its lasting color and its festival; however much good it may bring you, swiftly will it depart from you.
Branwen ferch Llŷr (The Second Branch of the Mabinogi)
The tragic tale of Branwen, daughter of Llŷr and sister of Brân the Blessed, whose marriage to Matholwch king of Ireland leads to catastrophic warfare across the Irish Sea.
Bendigeidfran fab Llŷr a oedd frenin coronog ar yr ynys hon, ac ar ddyrchafael o goron Llundain. Ac amser un prynhawn yr oedd yn Harddlech yn ei lys, yn eistedd ar graig Harddlech uwchben y môr.
Bendigeidfran son of Llŷr was crowned king over this island, exalted with the crown of London. And one afternoon he was in Harlech in his court, sitting upon the rock of Harlech above the sea.
Yr Offeren (The Mass of the Grove / Dafydd ap Gwilym)
The celebrated 14th-century Welsh poet Dafydd ap Gwilym describing the morning chorus of woodland birds as a sacred liturgical mass.
Lle digrif y bûm heddiw dan fentyll y gwyrddddail gwiw, ac yno clywais ar loywddydd ddarllain efengyl yn rhwydd.
A pleasant place I was in today under the mantles of the worthy green leaves, and there on a bright day I heard the gospel read fluently by the thrush.
Beunans Meriasek (The Life of Saint Meriasek)
From the unique 1504 Cornish miracle play manuscript preserved in the National Library of Wales (Peniarth MS 105), depicting the life and miracles of Saint Meriasek.
Beneth Dew genes, Meriasek whek! Ty a vyth benyga ren kensa meur a reeg.
God’s blessing with you, sweet Meriasek! You shall be blessed by the first great one who created all.
Aldhelm of Malmesbury, De Virginitate
A prime example of 7th-century hermeneutic Anglo-Latin style by Abbot Aldhelm of Malmesbury, renowned for its grandiloquent vocabulary and elaborate rhythmic prose.
Reverentissimis Christi virginibus omnique devotae germanitatis affectu venerandis, Hildelithae ac perinde Iustinae, Cuthburgae quoque et Osburgae...
To the most reverend virgins of Christ, worthy to be venerated with all the affection of devoted fellowship: to Hildelith and likewise to Justina, to Cuthburg also and to Osburg...