Most men in this audience, being of the thegnly class, would have identified with Beowulf in the first part of the poem, insofar as he is an utterly exemplary thegn ...
The Gesta Herewardi is the only narrative source from the first two generations, either in Normandy or England, which lists in detail the exploits of individual men belonging to the thegnly class or lower strata of the Fens.