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Subject Area: Anglo-Saxon

AN OVERVIEW OF WELSH POETRY BEFORE THE NORMAN CONQUEST
 Wood, Carol Lloyd
1996 0-7734-8859-6 132 pages
This is the first general study of the earliest poetry in Wales, much of which is attributed to the legendary bards Taliesin, Aneirin, and Llywarch Hen, and some of which even deals with those legendary figures Myrddin (Merlin) and Arthur. It also argues that it had a far greater influence on Anglo-Saxon poetry than most scholars have recognized. Finally, it chronicles a clear and major shift in the way the English are viewed by the Welsh. The English turned from being one enemy among many to the agents of all ruin and loss. By the time of the Llywarch Hen and Heledd cycles, the metaphors of the next thousand years of Welsh poetry are established.

Anglo-Saxon Poetry in Imitative Translation: The Harp and the Cross
 Morgan, Gwendolyn A.
2001 0-7734-7647-4 228 pages
Anglo-Saxon poetry has increasingly become the province of a few specialists sufficiently acquainted with the Old English language, poetics, and culture to read it in the original. Except for Beowulf and standard anthologized versions of the more famous works, most Anglo-Saxon verse remains unavailable to modern English readers. This volume offers a sampling of the Anglo-Saxon shorter poems in modern recreations which remain literally accurate as well as imitative in specific prosody. With its arrangement, introductory materials, and specific selections, it also provides the reader with a sense of the Anglo-Saxon world view. In many cases it provides the only modern English translation of these works.

Anglo-Saxon Propaganda in the Bayeux Tapestry
 Clermont-Ferrand, Meredith
2004 0-7734-6385-2 208 pages
This study details the secret, subversive and sustaining Anglo-Saxon messages encoded in a work of art that purportedly celebrates the Norman French conquest of England. This is a pioneering perspective that no other scholar has brought to the Tapestry.

Anglo-Saxon Remedies, Charms, and Prayers From British Library Ms Harley 585: The Lacnunga Volume One
 Pettit, Edward
2001 0-7734-7555-9 348 pages
The Anglo-Saxon Lacnunga is a miscellaneous collection of almost two hundred mainly herbal remedies, charms, and prayers found only in a mostly 10th-11th century manuscript in the British Library. The collection is written mainly in Old English and Latin, and includes a version of a remarkable 7th century Hiberno-Latin prayer known as the Lorica of Laidcenn; there are also corrupt passages in Old Irish, Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. It is one of the oldest extant vernacular medical collections in Northern Europe. Study of it sheds light on the dissemination, understanding, and translation in Anglo-Saxon England of remedies from classical and classical-derived collections such as the Historia Naturalis of Pliny, the Medicina Plinii, and the Physica Plinii. The collection also includes a large number of ‘magical’ charms which offer a unique insight into native beliefs in elves, spirits, witches, and sentient plants. The collection is therefore of prime importance to the history of folk medicine in Europe. This two-volume edition is the first to provide an accurate representation of the manuscript, edited and translated in the light of newly discovered source and analogous texts. It is also the first to include: a detailed discussion of the nature of the collection and its status in Anglo-Saxon England; discussions of the collection’s palaeography and codicology, sources, analogues, and language (with full glossaries of Old English and Old Irish words); an extensive commentary that takes into account a wealth of previous scholarship, and finds new solutions to old cruces; and a full bibliography, in addition to individual bibliographies for each of the collection’s Old English metrical charms.

Anglo-Saxon Remedies, Charms, and Prayers From British Library Ms Harley 585: The Lacnunga Volume Two
 Pettit, Edward
2001 0-7734-7557-5 416 pages
The Anglo-Saxon Lacnunga is a miscellaneous collection of almost two hundred mainly herbal remedies, charms, and prayers found only in a mostly 10th-11th century manuscript in the British Library. The collection is written mainly in Old English and Latin, and includes a version of a remarkable 7th century Hiberno-Latin prayer known as the Lorica of Laidcenn; there are also corrupt passages in Old Irish, Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. It is one of the oldest extant vernacular medical collections in Northern Europe. Study of it sheds light on the dissemination, understanding, and translation in Anglo-Saxon England of remedies from classical and classical-derived collections such as the Historia Naturalis of Pliny, the Medicina Plinii, and the Physica Plinii. The collection also includes a large number of ‘magical’ charms which offer a unique insight into native beliefs in elves, spirits, witches, and sentient plants. The collection is therefore of prime importance to the history of folk medicine in Europe. This two-volume edition is the first to provide an accurate representation of the manuscript, edited and translated in the light of newly discovered source and analogous texts. It is also the first to include: a detailed discussion of the nature of the collection and its status in Anglo-Saxon England; discussions of the collection’s palaeography and codicology, sources, analogues, and language (with full glossaries of Old English and Old Irish words); an extensive commentary that takes into account a wealth of previous scholarship, and finds new solutions to old cruces; and a full bibliography, in addition to individual bibliographies for each of the collection’s Old English metrical charms.

Images of Sanctity in Eddius Stephanus' Life of Bishop Wilfrid, an Early English Saint's Life
 Foley, William Trent
1992 0-7734-9513-4 196 pages
Narrative sources for early Anglo-Saxon church history reveal more than insights into the ecclesiastical and dynastic struggles of the time. It explores the Life of Bishop Wilfrid, an eighth-century account of a famous Anglo-Saxon abbot and bishop of Hexham, with an eye to exposing and analyzing the convictions of Wilfrid's biographer. Argues that the portrayal of Wilfrid's seemingly abrasive brand of sanctity approximates more closely the New Testament image of the holy man than other early English portrayals, especially the first portrayal of St. Cuthbert.

LEARNING AND CULTURE IN LATE ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND AND THE INFLUENCE OF RAMSEY ABBEY ON THE MAJOR ENGLISH MONASTIC SCHOOLS
Vol. 1
 Hart, Cyril
2002 0-7734-6886-2 692 pages
This massive 3-volume work describes the origin, flowering and decline of one particular monastic school during the fifty years which followed the reception into England of the Benedictine reformation which had swept Northern Europe during the middle years of the tenth century. Ramsey was endowed and established in 964, with a magnificent library, school and scriptorium. It was backed by powerful patrons, and Byrhtferth, its schoolmaster, was entrusted to cultivate in England the new learning that had become the driving force of the Continental reform. Starting with Bede’s historical and scientific works, he resuscitated the national vernacular chronicles and assembled for the first time materials for both regional and national chronicles in Latin. He also produced a number of saints’ lives. Abbo of Fleury, the most renowned Continental scholar of his day, visited Ramsey from 985 to 987, bringing with him many computistical and scientific tracts and teaching in its school. Ramsey was also at the forefront of an artistic revival, introducing important new features into book illumination. This radical and intensive study of the School of Ramsey brings all this together for the first time, shedding fresh light on the intellectual climate in late Anglo-Saxon England, with special attention to its indebtedness to Continental scholarship. The first volume is concerned mainly with the new curriculum in monastic schools and Byrhtferth’s important historical works. The second volume (divided into two books) includes a wide-ranging survey of the development of mathematical, medical and scientific studies in England before the Norman Conquest. Many basic texts are edited and translated in a series of appendices, and illustrated by 100 line drawings. Each volume has its own introduction and extensive bibliography and is fully indexed.

LEARNING AND CULTURE IN LATE ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND AND THE INFLUENCE OF RAMSEY ABBEY ON THE MAJOR ENGLISH MONASTIC SCHOOLS
Vol. 2, Book 1
 Hart, Cyril
2002 0-7734-6888-9 376 pages
This massive 3-volume work describes the origin, flowering and decline of one particular monastic school during the fifty years which followed the reception into England of the Benedictine reformation which had swept Northern Europe during the middle years of the tenth century. Ramsey was endowed and established in 964, with a magnificent library, school and scriptorium. It was backed by powerful patrons, and Byrhtferth, its schoolmaster, was entrusted to cultivate in England the new learning that had become the driving force of the Continental reform. Starting with Bede’s historical and scientific works, he resuscitated the national vernacular chronicles and assembled for the first time materials for both regional and national chronicles in Latin. He also produced a number of saints’ lives. Abbo of Fleury, the most renowned Continental scholar of his day, visited Ramsey from 985 to 987, bringing with him many computistical and scientific tracts and teaching in its school. Ramsey was also at the forefront of an artistic revival, introducing important new features into book illumination. This radical and intensive study of the School of Ramsey brings all this together for the first time, shedding fresh light on the intellectual climate in late Anglo-Saxon England, with special attention to its indebtedness to Continental scholarship. The first volume is concerned mainly with the new curriculum in monastic schools and Byrhtferth’s important historical works. The second volume (divided into two books) includes a wide-ranging survey of the development of mathematical, medical and scientific studies in England before the Norman Conquest. Many basic texts are edited and translated in a series of appendices, and illustrated by 100 line drawings. Each volume has its own introduction and extensive bibliography and is fully indexed.

LEARNING AND CULTURE IN LATE ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND AND THE INFLUENCE OF RAMSEY ABBEY ON THE MAJOR ENGLISH MONASTIC SCHOOLS
Vol. 2, Book 2
 Hart, Cyril
2002 0-7734-6890-0 320 pages
This massive 3-volume work describes the origin, flowering and decline of one particular monastic school during the fifty years which followed the reception into England of the Benedictine reformation which had swept Northern Europe during the middle years of the tenth century. Ramsey was endowed and established in 964, with a magnificent library, school and scriptorium. It was backed by powerful patrons, and Byrhtferth, its schoolmaster, was entrusted to cultivate in England the new learning that had become the driving force of the Continental reform. Starting with Bede’s historical and scientific works, he resuscitated the national vernacular chronicles and assembled for the first time materials for both regional and national chronicles in Latin. He also produced a number of saints’ lives. Abbo of Fleury, the most renowned Continental scholar of his day, visited Ramsey from 985 to 987, bringing with him many computistical and scientific tracts and teaching in its school. Ramsey was also at the forefront of an artistic revival, introducing important new features into book illumination. This radical and intensive study of the School of Ramsey brings all this together for the first time, shedding fresh light on the intellectual climate in late Anglo-Saxon England, with special attention to its indebtedness to Continental scholarship. The first volume is concerned mainly with the new curriculum in monastic schools and Byrhtferth’s important historical works. The second volume (divided into two books) includes a wide-ranging survey of the development of mathematical, medical and scientific studies in England before the Norman Conquest. Many basic texts are edited and translated in a series of appendices, and illustrated by 100 line drawings. Each volume has its own introduction and extensive bibliography and is fully indexed.

Old English Judith: A Study of Poetic Style, Theological Tradition and Anglo-Saxon Christian Concepts
 Kaup, Judith
2013 0-7734-4505-6 436 pages
This book offers a thorough literary, cultural and linguistic study of the Old English Judith. As a comprehensive interpretation of the text, it brings together and evaluates the work of scholars who have dealt with only individual aspects of the text. Furthermore, it places the poem within the context of the theological thought and religious poetry of Old and Middle English provenance.

This is the first book-length study of the Old-English Judith which takes in different aspects of its composition and reception. An original work containing research on Anglo-Saxon material and the topic of Judith overall written in German and makes it accessible in English. A contribution to the field.

Psychological Reading of the Anglo-Saxon Poem Beowulf. Understanding Everything as a Story
 Goodwyn, Erik
2014 0-7734-4291-X 440 pages
In unprecedented depth, Dr. Goodwyn compares clinical case studies with the powerful emotional meaning behind the symbols of the hall, the monsters, the reassures, and the final battle, and shows how a detailed study of Beowulf uncovers problems facing both ancient and modern humanity.



Toward a Theory of Anglo-Saxon Humor: Old English Riddles, Poetry, Prose and Illuminations
 Risden, Edward L.
2013 0-7734-4300-2 156 pages
“This eloquent, richly detailed book…makes important contributions to the theory of humor and to our understanding of Old English literature by striking a subtle balance between hostile and social functions of humor. This is a book teachers and scholars will cherish for years to come.” -Dr. Nickolas Haydock, University of Puerto Rico