The Anglo-Saxons: The World through their Eyes

Description

The papers published here are developed from presentations made at a Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies Conference entitled 'The Anglo-Saxons in their World' held in 2010. An eclectic collection of studies drawing on Latin, Old English and Old Norse texts, artefacts and archaeology, papers are grouped into five themed sections: 'Chosen people in their place'; 'Life in Anglo-Saxon England'; 'Beyond the shore'; 'The Mediterranean and beyond'; and 'The North, The Universe', though other connections may be found. Two papers focus largely on early archaeology (Battaglia, Trzaska-Nartowski and Riddler) and King's study is also of an archaeological find. A majority of papers relate to the intellectual climate of the early Christian period in England (Larpi, Higham, Grocock, King, Cesario, Barker and to some extent Sebo). Several take evidence from later Anglo-Saxon manuscripts (Scragg, Hill, Frederick, Sebo). Fafinski attempts a chronological sweep beginning in the Roman period, and Banham from the seventh century to the eleventh. Front Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Table of Contents List of Illustrations List of Tables Contributors Abbreviations Introduction Part I: Chosen People in their Place Chapter 1: Bede’s use of Gildas: two different chronological frameworks Chapter 2: Bede’s Vision of an English Britain Chapter 3: The Sense (or Absence) of Place in Bede Part II: Life in Anglo-Saxon England Chapter 4: Lectun and Orceard: a preliminary survey of the evidence for horticulture in Anglo-Saxon England Chapter 5: The Complexities of the Simple Comb Chapter 6: Dwarves, Nosebleeds and a Scurvy Horse: some uses of manuscripts in late Anglo-Saxon England Chapter 7: The Liturgy and the Laity Part III: Beyond the Shore Chapter 8: The Moving Centre: trade and travel in York from Roman to Anglo-Saxon times Chapter 9: Ships and the Sea in the Exeter Book Riddles Part IV: The Mediterranean and Beyond Chapter 10: Besette swinlicum: sources for the iconography of the Sutton Hoo shoulder-clasps Chapter 11: The Myth of Scylla in Aldhelm’s Enigmata Chapter 12: Aldhelm and the Byzantine World: serica, saba and Saraceni Chapter 13: Speaking Beyond the Light: experience and auctoritas in the Wonders of the East and the Liber monstrorum Part V: The North, The Universe Chapter 14: Cannibalism in Beowulf and Older Germanic Religion Chapter 15: The Creation Riddle and Anglo-Saxon Cosmology Appendix Index of Persons and Places Index of manuscripts