Finnesburg Fragment
portion of an Old English heroic poem, transcribed by George Hickes from a now lost medieval manuscript.
The "Finnesburg Fragment" (also "Finnsburh Fragment") is a portion of an Old English heroic poem in alliterative verse about a fight in which Hnæf and his 60 retainers are besieged at "Finn's fort" and attempt to hold off their attackers. The surviving text is tantalisingly brief and allusive, but comparison with other references in Old English poetry, notably Beowulf (c. 650 to 750 AD), suggests that it deals with a conflict between Danes and Frisians in Migration-Age Frisia (circa 400 AD).
Transmission
The extant text is a transcript of a loose manuscript folio that was once kept at Lambeth Palace, the London residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury. This manuscript was almost certainly Lambeth Library MS 487. A British scholar, George Hickes, made the transcript some time in the late 17th century, and published it in an anthology of Anglo-Saxon and other antiquities in 1705. (This anthology also contains the first reference to the sole manuscript of Beowulf.) Since the time when the copy was made the original manuscript folio has been lost or stolen.
Synopsis
The fragment is only about 50 lines long and does not specify the tribal identities of those involved. It describes a battle in which Hnæf (lines 2 and 40), elsewhere known as a Danish prince (see below), is attacked at a place called Finnsburuh "Finn's stronghold" (line 36). To judge by Beowulf, this is apparently the hall of his brother-in-law Finn, ruler of the Frisians, where he has come to spend the winter (see below).
“Finnesburg Fragment” enters the record as portion of an Old English heroic poem, transcribed by George Hickes from a now lost medieval manuscript. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Finnesburg, Fragment and portion can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Finnesburg Fragment” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Finnesburg, Fragment and portion provides the most credible route into that argument.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 20, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2192066. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1705.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Finnesburg Fragment” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.