The Finnsburh Fragment

Background
The Finnsburh Fragment is a fragment of the manuscript of an Old English poem. The original author is anonymous, but the text is known to have been translated into Old English by George Hickes. Other scholars have offered interpretations of the poem and also worked to draw stronger connections between the poem and the Finnsburh episode in Beowulf.

Significance in the Beowulf Manuscript
The story covered in the Finnsburh fragment is alluded to in the Beowulf manuscript in fts. XVI-XVII when a performer sings the song as a celebration after Beowulf has killed Grendel. The episode describes the actions of Hildeburh, Hnaef, and Hengest after the attack on the Danes, and the violence mentioned in this brief tangent from the tale seems to offer a darker prelude to the attack on Heorot of Grendel's mother.

Part of the text offers insight to funerary practices, as this particular episode contains 1/3 of the funerals mentioned and described in Beowulf, that which occurs on the funeral pyre. The text also offers insight on the woman's expected place in that society, positioning Hildeburh as a hostess as well as the primary mourner in the text.