Old English literature There are five shorter poems: capture of the Five Boroughs (942); coronation of King Edgar (973); death of King Edgar (975); death of Alfred the son of King Æthelred (1036); and death of King Edward the Confessor (1065). The 325 line poem "The Battle of Maldon" celebrates Earl Byrhtnoth and his men who fell in battle against the Vikings in 991. It is considered one of the finest, but both the beginning and end are missing and the only manuscript was destroyed in a fire in 1731. A well-known speech is near the end of the poem: Old English heroic
Iste confessor all others, 3 Brother was he to all the world’s forgotten; 4 One, then, in songs of praise we sing his glory, 5 Glory and praise be to our God forever, </poem> The translations below are non-metrical, and literal line by line translations. Iste confessor Domini colentes <poem> 1 Iste confessor Domini colentes // Quem pie laudant populi per orbem: [If it is not the day of his death, the last line is changed to:] 2 Qui pius, prudens, humilis, pudicus, // Sobriam duxit sine labe vitam, 3 Cuius ob præstans meritum frequenter // Ægra quæ passim iacuere membra, 4