The Scop in Beowulf and Widsith.The scop in Anglo-Saxon times had a very defined role. A comparison between Beowulf's scop and Widsith's scop will define more clearly what that role was. Widsith's 142 verses are the oldest in the English language and constitute the earliest verse production of any Germanic people. Widsith contains an extensive catalog of 70 tribes and 69 notable people, many of whom are shown to have lived in the third, fourth and fifth centuries. The vast knowledge of history required for a good scoop simply amazes the reader. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature (v1,ch3,s6,n30) states that so many princes and peoples are mentioned in the course of the poem that its importance to the history of the Migration Period can hardly be overestimated. This Old English poem was written down by a monk around the year 1000. Widsith tells the story of the scop Widsith, who accompanies Ealhhild, a Lombard princess, on her journey eastward from Angel to the court of Eormanric the Goth. Ealhhild, the sister of Aelfwine, king of the Lombards, is forced to marry Eormanric. In this poem the geography and chronology are not precise or accurate. “In ancient times the Germanic kings began to retain professional poets, with functions not entirely dissimilar to those of the poet laureate or official poet of later times” (Malone 75). This expresses Widsith's life quite well, except that he was not in any court, rather he traveled from Egypt, India and Israel to Britain and northern Europe, going from court to court. His home court, if it may be so called, was with King Eadgils. But Widsith traveled to all the “pagans” and non-pagans k...... in the center of the card ......st was the theme of sacrifice. . . .” (Malone 77). It is obvious from our brief comparison between the scop of Beowulf and the scop of Widsith that the scop in Anglo-Saxon times had a well-defined role: he was singer, storyteller, public relations man, recipient of gifts, traveller, linguist, historian and servant of the public.BIBLIOGRAPHYChickering, Howell D.. Beowulf A dual-Language Edition. New York: Anchor Books, 1977.Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge history of English and American literature. New York: Sons of G. P. Putnam, 1907–21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000Malone, Kemp. "The Old English Scop and Widsith." In Beowulf: The Donaldson Translation, edited by Joseph F. Tuso. New York, W.W.Norton and Co.: 1975. The Early English Poems, translated by Michael Alexander. New York: Penguin Books, 1991.