What did they feel?
Tired
Anxious
Relieved to have arrived
Wary
Based on surviving Old English literature, especially poetry and other texts, some key aspects of their feelings can be identified:
Sorrow and Grief: This is a very prominent theme, especially in the elegies (such as The Wanderer and The Seafarer), which express deep lament over loss, loneliness, exile, and the transience of life. There was an acceptance of suffering as a part of reality.
Heroism, Zeal, and Courage: Heroic poetry like Beowulf celebrates values like loyalty, individual heroism, and facing adversity with ardour or zeal (ellen-wōdnes). Even in religious texts, figures like Christ are sometimes portrayed with the zeal of a warrior.
Loyalty and Shame/Disgrace: Loyalty between a lord and his liegemen was considered the single most important virtue. The opposite, such as betrayal or failing to live up to the heroic code, would likely result in deep shame or disgrace (ǣwisc-mōd).
A "Cardiocentric" Mind: Scholars suggest the Anglo-Saxons believed in an embodied, cardiocentric mind, meaning emotions were often associated with the heart or internal organs, which could physically expand when heated by emotions like anger or shrink with sorrow.
Anger and Hostility: The vocabulary included words for being angry (ge-yrsian) and being hostile or bearing hate (lāð).
Joy and Gladness: Words like glædnes (gladness, joy, cheerfulness) and rōt (glad, cheerful) indicate that positive emotions were certainly present and valued.
It's worth noting that the Old English language did not have a single word for the modern concept of "emotion," and their philosophical understanding of feelings was tied more to the 'mind' (mod or mod-sefa) and its condition, desire, or motion. Their literature and grammar show they were deeply concerned with expressing and regulating these inner experiences.
