“Place symbolism and land politics in Beowulf” dro.dur.ac.uk/6837/1/6837.pdf

“In the Anglo-Saxon Maxims, the aphorism ―holding land he is hated, giving much he is much loved‖ is sometimes seen as indicative of land-politics of the period.”

"there are only two instances of the verb ricsian, derived from rice, which means to rule. But these are not used of humans. It is used to describe the dragon ruling over the hoard (2211), and earlier, of Grendel effectively ruling over the hall until Beowulf arrives (144). In both instances a monstrous rule is opposed to a heroic leadership of the homeland—in the case of the dragon the lines in the poem come immediately after the invocation of Beowulf‘s role