After a long journey, you find yourself in uncharted territory. As you explore the area, you notice a small village in the distance. As you approach this settlement, you will be greeted by some armed citizens. They attack you without warning and take you to a large hall in the center of the city. There you see many men parading in a drunken stupor, showing off their trophies and talking about their successes in past battles and wars. They eat with their bare hands, tearing into food and drinking until they can no longer handle themselves, finding a home on the open floor. The hall is decorated with weapons of war, from shields to swords and everything in between. The women are wrapped in chains, fulfilling their sole purpose of serving the surrounding men. After observing all this, it would not be abnormal for you to consider these people as barbaric by nature. You may be right, but there's a good chance you haven't observed everything this culture has to offer. The above situation is similar in many cases to some of the scenes found in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf. Although it is one of the oldest literary works known to date, it has been argued that tribes such as the Anglo-Saxons can be considered barbaric, largely due to the numerous wars that occurred in and around this period. However, I believe that there are various parts of a nation's culture that need to be examined before such a claim can be made. Before proceeding, it is important to have an idea of ​​what we are trying to treat. The question at hand is whether or not we can consider the Anglo-Saxons a barbaric people while using poetry... middle of paper... at this concept of barbarism I feel the Anglo-Saxons make their break. I believe there is sufficient evidence to suggest that a system of social order and governance existed among these tribesmen. Even though their system of government, monarchism, is not at all sophisticated, it is still a way to establish social order. The king of the tribe takes the lead, issuing all the laws and customs that the people abide by. There appear to have been no complaints from citizens about the way the government was run, at least when we used Beowulf as a reference. There are few (if any) descriptions of people running around as if they are not under social guidelines or decrees. Overall, even though the person in power was changing at an unpredictable pace, the government did a good job of governing the people and maintaining social order..