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The first continuous national history of any western people in their own language, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle traces the history of early England from the migration of the Saxon war-lords, through Roman Britain, the onslaught of the Vikings, the Norman Conquest and on through the reign of Stephen. Michael Swanton's translation is the most complete and faithful reading ever published. Extensive notes draw on the latest evidence of paleographers, archaeologists and textual and social historians to place these annals in the context of current knowledge. Fully indexed and complemented by maps and genealogical tables, this edition allows ready access to one of the prime sources of English national culture. The introduction provides all the information a first-time reader could need, cutting an easy route through often complicated matters. Also includes nine maps.
The most important written work in English before the Norman Conquest, newly translated. Made up of annals written in the monasteries of Winchester, Canterbury, Peterborough, Abingdon, and Worcester, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle marks the beginning of the unmannered simplicity of English prose. Immediately striking are the accounts of the Danish invasions and the unhappiness of Stephen's reign, together with the lyrical poem on the Battle of Brunanburh. Ranging from the start of the Christian era to 1154, the uniqueness of the chronicle as an historical and literary document makes it of compelling interest throughout. The historical, linguistic and literary importance of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is without parallel.
Beowulf is to English what the Odyssey and Iliad are to Greek literature ? the oldest example of vernacular literature of any substance not only in England but in the whole of western Europe. Since its rediscovery and the appearance of the first printed editions in the middle of the last century, this moving and dramatic epic has attracted considerable scholarly attention, and Dr Swanton is able to draw on this wealth of scholarship to present a considered and balanced introduction to the poem. Explanatory notes, drawing on archaeological sources, expand the poet’s more esoteric allusions and offer background information on contemporary manners and customs. A prose translation faces the text, which should be invaluable to both students and the general reader.
The Dream of the Rood is a poem that has entranced generations of scholars. It is one of the greatest religious poems in English literature, the work of a nameless poet of superb genius. Immediately attractive, its poetic content is readily accessible to the modern reader, being in the mainstream of Western religious thought. Representative of the Golden Age of Anglo-Saxon culture, drawing on both visual and doctrinal motifs, it provides a ready introduction to its own intellectual and artistic milieu. This is underlined by intimate links with the Ruthwell Cross, the documentary context of the earlier version, and itself often regarded as one of the finest monuments of the Anglo-Saxon Age. T...
Factual and fanciful tales of the Nordic warriors known as Vikings have proven irresistible to filmmakers for nearly a century. Diverse, prominent actors from Kirk Douglas, Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier to Tim Robbins and John Cleese, and noted directors, including Richard Fleischer, Clive Donner and Terry Jones, have all lent their talents to Viking-related films. These fourteen essays on films dealing with the Viking era discuss American, British and European productions. Analyzed in detail are such films as The Vikings (1958), The Long Ships (1964), Alfred the Great (1969), Erik the Viking (1989) and Outlander (2008), as well as two comic-strip adaptations, the 1954 and 1989 films of Prince Valiant and the animated Asterix and the Vikings (2006). A comprehensive filmography is also included.
The Norman conquerors of Anglo-Saxon England have traditionally been seen both as rapacious colonizers and as the harbingers of a more civilized culture, replacing a tribal Germanic society and its customs with more refined Continental practices. Many of the scholarly arguments about the Normans and their influence overlook the impact of the past on the Normans themselves. The Continuity of the Conquest corrects these oversights. Wendy Marie Hoofnagle explores the Carolingian aspects of Norman influence in England after the Norman Conquest, arguing that the Normans’ literature of kingship envisioned government as a form of imperial rule modeled in many ways on the glories of Charlemagne an...
Augustine as a point of departureThis study examines Christian education in early vernacular texts of the German Middle Ages on the basis of Latin traditions of learning and teaching from Late Antiquity. The point of departure is Augustine's De doctrina christiana in which Augustine not only consolidated Christian and pagan traditions but combined them into a program of Christian education. Illuminates continuity of traditionsThe author considers the continuity of these traditions in the late sixth century in Gregory the Great's treatise on pastoral care, Regula pastoralis, the early ninth-century work of Hrabanus Maurus, De institutione clericorum, in the Old High German poem, the Muspilli also from the ninth century, then in the Middle High German works, the Memento Mori from the late 11th century, and the poems of Frau Ava and Von den Letzten Dingen from the early and late 12th century, respectively. Translations of the Latin and early German texts generally appear together with a version of their original texts. A bibliography and index conclude the volume.
Wounds were a potent signifier reaching across all aspects of life in Europe in the middle ages, and their representation, perception and treatment is the focus of this volume. Following a survey of the history of medical wound treatment in the middle ages, paired chapters explore key themes situating wounds within the context of religious belief, writing on medicine, status and identity, and surgical practice. The final chapter reviews the history of medieval wounding through the modern imagination. Adopting an innovative approach to the subject, this book will appeal to all those interested in how past societies regarded health, disease and healing and will improve knowledge of not only the practice of medicine in the past, but also of the ethical, religious and cultural dimensions structuring that practice.