BiblioVault - Books about Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066

Documents in Medieval Latin

John Thorley

University of Michigan Press, 1998

This handbook of medieval Latin texts is designed for historians of the Middle Ages with some knowledge of Latin who wish to be able to read a wide range of original source material. It broadens the traditional scope of medieval Latin readers by including historical documents such as deeds and charters along with traditional literary samples. Within the context of a running narrative, Thorley starts with texts from the Anglo-Saxon period and then moves through subsequent centuries genre by genre. Each text is accompanied by a grammatical and historical commentary, both of which allow for independent study. In addition, all selections are translated at the back of the book.
Documents in Medieval Latin will be useful to students of medieval history, literature, and philosophy and those interested in reading more about the Middle Ages. Thorley's cheerful approach, the lively and representative selections of tests, and the documentary and epigraphic focus will prove valuable for those wishing to explore these vital original sources.
John Thorley teaches medieval Latin at Lancaster University.

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The Emergence of the English

Susan Oosthuizen

Arc Humanities Press, 2019

This book takes a critical approach to the dominant explanation for the transformation from post-Roman to 'Anglo-Saxon' society in Britain from the fifth to the eighth century: that change resulted from north-west European immigration into Britain. After testing this paradigm, the author explores the increasing amount of evidence for the gradual evolution of late Roman into early medieval England, and suggests some new directions for research that may lead to the development of more holistic explanatory models.

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England, Ireland, and the Insular World

Textual and Material Connections in the Early Middle Ages

Mary Clayton

Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2017

ISAS Dublin 2013. England, Ireland and the Insular World: Textual and Material Connections in the Early Middle Ages is a collection of twelve essays related to the theme of the 2013 conference of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists, ‘Insular Cultures’. Contributors cover a broad range of topics, from early medieval agriculture in Ireland and England, to sculpture, manuscript illumination and script, homilies, hagiography, aristocratic gift-giving, relics, calendars, Beowulf, and Anglo-Saxon perceptions of the Celtic peoples, considering connections, parallels and differences between Anglo-Saxon England and its insular neighbors. The volume will be of interest to all those working on Early Medieval history, literature, archaeology, liturgy, art, and manuscripts.

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King Alfred

Burnt Cakes and Other Legends

David Horspool

Harvard University Press, 2006

When the BBC ran a poll in 2001 to name the greatest Briton, Alfred, a ninth-century monarch, was the only king to make the top 20. Also the only English sovereign to be called "the Great," Alfred used to be remembered as much through folklore as through his accomplishments.

Horspool sees Alfred as inextricably linked to the legends and stories that surround him, and rather than attempting to separate the myth from the "reality," he explores how both came together to provide a historical figure that was all things to all men. This book offers a vivid picture of Alfred's England, but also of the way that history is written, and how much myth has had to do with that.

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Tradition And Belief

Religious Writing in Late Anglo-Saxon England

Clara A. Lees

University of Minnesota Press, 1999