Global Perspectives on Early Medieval England

Description

Interrogations of materiality and geography, narrative framework and boundaries, and the ways these scholarly pursuits ripple out into the wider cultural sphere. Early medieval England as seen through the lens of comparative and interconnected histories is the subject of this volume. Drawn from a range of disciplines, its chapters examine artistic, archaeological, literary, and historical artifacts, converging around the idea that the period may not only define itself, but is often defined from other perspectives, specifically here by modern scholarship. The first part considers the transmission of material culture across borders, while querying the possibilities and limits of comparative and transnational approaches, taking in the spread of bread wheat, the collapse of the art-historical "decorative" and "functional", and the unknowns about daily life in an early medieval English hall. The volume then moves on to reimagine the permeable boundaries of early medieval England, with perspectives from the Baltic, Byzantium, and the Islamic world, including an examination of Vercelli Homily VII (from John Chrysostom's Greek Homily XXIX), Hārūn ibn Yaḥyā's Arabic descriptions of Barṭīniyah ("Britain"), and an consideration of the Old English Orosius. The final chapters address the construction of and responses to "Anglo-Saxon" narratives, past and present: they look at early medieval England within a Eurasian perspective, the historical origins of racialized Anglo-Saxonism(s), and views from Oceania, comparing Hiberno-Saxon and Anglican Melanesian missions, as well as contemporary reactions to exhibitions of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and Pacific Island cultures. List of Illustrations vii List of Contributors x Acknowledgements xiii Abbreviations xv Introduction: Global Perspectives on Early Medieval England / Karen Louise Jolly and Britton Elliott Brooks 1 I: Material Culture 1. The Global Triumph of Bread Wheat: The Role of Early Medieval England / Debby Banham 19 2. Globalizing Anglo-Saxon Art / Jane Hawkes 34 3. Minding the Gaps: Early Medieval Elite Sites in England and the Perimeters of Current Knowledge / Carol Neuman de Vegvar 53 II: Crossing Borders 4. Imagination at the Edge of the World: Luxuriating Women in Vercelli Homily VII and a Resistant Audience / Jonathan Wilcox 77 5. Britain, the Byzantine Empire, and the Concept of an Anglo-Saxon ‘Heptarchy’: Hārūn ibn Yahyā’s Ninth-century Arabic Description of Britain / Caitlin R. Green 94 6. Wulfstan in Truso: Old English Text, Baltic Archaeology, and World History / John Hines 115 III: Origins and Comparisons 7. Reassessing Anglo-Saxon Origins from a Eurasian Perspective / John D. Niles 139 8. Historical Origins of a Mythical History: The Formation of the Myth Supporting Anglo-Saxonism Reconsidered / Kazutomo Karasawa 171 9. Boniface and Bede in the Pacific: Exploring Anamorphic Comparisons between the Hiberno-Saxon Missions and the Anglican Melanesian Mission / Michael W. Scott 190 10. Anglo-Saxons on Exhibit: Displaying the Sacred / Karen Louise Jolly 217 Index 245