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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.
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...
"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.
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Magic, both benevolent (white) and malign (black), has been practiced in the British Isles since at least the Iron Age (800 BCE-CE 43). "Curse tablets"--metal plates inscribed with curses intended to harm specific people--date from the Roman Empire. The Anglo-Saxons who settled in England in the fifth and sixth centuries used ritual curses in documents, and wrote spells and charms. When they became Christians in the seventh century, the new "magicians" were saints, who performed miracles. When William of Normandy became king in 1066, there was a resurgence of belief in magic. The Church was able to quell the fear of magicians, but the Reformation saw its revival, with numerous witchcraft trials in the late 16th and 17th centuries.
'For those who fear the worst for the sport they love, this is like cool, clear water for a man dying of thirst. It's barnstorming, coruscating stuff, and as fine a book about the game as you'll read for years' Mail on Sunday 'Charming . . . a threnody for a vanished and possibly mythical England' Sebastian Faulks, Sunday Times 'Lyrical . . . [Henderson's] pen is filled with the romantic spirit of the great Neville Cardus . . . This book is an extended love letter, a beautifully written one, to a world that he is desperate to keep alive for others to discover and share. Not just his love of cricket, either, but of poetry and classical music and fine cinema' The Times 'To those who love both ...
There has not been conducted much research in religious studies and (linguistic) anthropology analysing Protestant missionary linguistic translations. Contemporary Protestant missionary linguists employ grammars, dictionaries, literacy campaigns, and translations of the Bible (in particular the New Testament) in order to convert local cultures. The North American institutions SIL and Wycliffe Bible Translators (WBT) are one of the greatest scientific-evangelical missionary enterprises in the world. The ultimate objective is to translate the Bible to every language. The author has undertaken systematic research, employing comparative linguistic methodology and field interviews, for a history-...
This book focuses on the use of the past in two senses. First, it looks at the way in which medieval texts from the eighth to the fifteenth centuries discussed the past: how they presented history, what kinds of historical narratives they employed, and what anxieties gathered around the practice of historiography. Second, this study examines twentieth-century interactions with this textual past, and the problems that have arisen for critics trying to negotiate this radically different textual culture. Lauryn Mayer examines chronicle histories that have been largely ignored by scholars, bringing these neglected texts into dialogue with contemporaneous canonical works such as Troilus and Criseyde, The House of Fame, the Morte Darthur, Beowulf, and The Battle of Maldon.