Manuscripts in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms

Manuscripts in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms
Author: Claire Breay
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2021
Genre: Civilization, Anglo-Saxon
ISBN: 9781846828669

Manuscripts that were made and used in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms before the Norman conquest of England are treasure troves of art and text. Many of these books and documents were brought together in the British Library exhibition, 'Anglo-Saxon kingdoms: art, word, war.' Together, these manuscripts illuminate extensive intellectual connections as well as widespread scribal and artistic networks that developed within the islands of Britain and Ireland, and further afield across much of early medieval Europe. Using new scientific methods, as well as textual criticism, art historical analysis, and historical research, the essays in this richly illustrated volume, written by leading scholars, present innovative research that focuses on manuscripts that were copied, decorated, or used in the early English kingdoms and their neighbours across a 500-year period from the advent of Christianity among the English, c.600, to the age of conquest in the eleventh century.

Manuscripts from the Anglo-Saxon Age

Manuscripts from the Anglo-Saxon Age
Author: Michelle P. Brown
Publisher:
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2007-04
Genre: History
ISBN:

"The Anglo-Saxons first appeared on the historical scene as pagan pirates and mercenaries moving into the declining Roman Empire in the fifth century. By the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, Anglo-Saxon England was one of the most sophisticated states in the medieval West, renowned for its ecclesiastical and cultural achievements. The written word was of tremendous importance in this transformation. Within a century of the introduction of Christianity and literacy, the book had become a central element of Anglo-Saxon society, and a rich vehicle for cultural and artistic expression. This new edition of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts provides a short introduction to the art of bookmaking in the Anglo-Saxon period and illustrates in colour over 150 examples of the finest Anglo-Saxon books in the British Library and other major collections."--Pub. desc.

The Junius Manuscript

The Junius Manuscript
Author: Caedmon
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 308
Release: 1941-01-22
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780231515955

The Junius Manuscript

Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms

Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms
Author: Claire Breay
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018
Genre: Anglo-Saxons
ISBN: 9780712352024

The Anglo-Saxon period stretches from the arrival of Germanic groups on British shores in the early 5th century to the Norman Conquest of 1066. During these centuries, the English language was used and written down for the first time, pagan populations were converted to Christianity, and the foundations of the kingdom of England were laid. This richly illustrated new book - which accompanies a landmark British Library exhibition - presents Anglo-Saxon England as the home of a highly sophisticated artistic and political culture, deeply connected with its continental neighbours. Leading specialists in early medieval history, literature and culture engage with the unique, original evidence from which we can piece together the story of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, examining outstanding and beautiful objects such as highlights from the Staffordshire hoard and the Sutton Hoo burial. At the heart of the book is the British Library's outstanding collection of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, the richest source of evidence about Old English language and literature, including Beowulf and other poetry; the Lindisfarne Gospels, one of Britain's greatest artistic and religious treasures; the St Cuthbert Gospel, the earliest intact European book; and historical manuscripts such as Bede's Ecclesiastical History and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. These national treasures are discussed alongside other, internationally important literary and historical manuscripts held in major collections in Britain and Europe. This book, and the exhibition it accompanies, chart a fascinating and dynamic period in early medieval history, and will bring to life our understanding of these formative centuries.

Runes and Roman Letters in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts

Runes and Roman Letters in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts
Author: Victoria Symons
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2016-10-24
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 3110492776

This book presents the first comprehensive study of Anglo-Saxon manuscript texts containing runic letters. To date there has been no comprehensive study of these works in a single volume, although the need for such an examination has long been recognized. This is in spite of a growing academic interest in the mise-en-page of early medieval manuscripts. The texts discussed in this study include Old English riddles and elegies, the Cynewulfian poems, charms, Solomon and Saturn I, and the Old English Rune Poem. The focus of the discussion is on the literary analysis of these texts in their palaeographic and runological contexts. Anglo-Saxon authors and scribes did not, of course, operate within a vacuum, and so these primary texts are considered alongside relevant epigraphic inscriptions, physical objects, and historical documents. Victoria Symons argues that all of these runic works are in various ways thematically focused on acts of writing, visual communication, and the nature of the written word. The conclusion that emerges over the course of the book is that, when encountered in the context of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, runic letters consistently represent the written word in a way that Roman letters do not.

Anglo-saxon Manuscripts and Their Heritage

Anglo-saxon Manuscripts and Their Heritage
Author: Phillip Pulsiano
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2020-06-30
Genre:
ISBN: 9781138607804

First published in 1998, this volume brings together some of the best recent work on the period before and after the Norman Conquest and makes an irresistible case for a number of fundamental revisions in our understanding of the culture of Anglo-Saxon and Norman England. Combining the use of novel techniques such as digital image processing with the best current practice in textual and iconographic study, this volume broadens the scope and applicability of manuscript studies, showing, for example, the falsity of prevailing notions of the vitality and status of the native English tongue after the Conquest. The essays combine to make a coherent and persuasive demonstration of the benefits of not remaining bound to the physical artifact but rather connecting codicology with practical and theoretical applications within manuscript studies and other historical disciplines.

The Anglo-Saxon Library

The Anglo-Saxon Library
Author: Michael Lapidge
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 423
Release: 2006-01-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 0191533017

The cardinal role of Anglo-Saxon libraries in the transmission of classical and patristic literature to the later middle ages has long been recognized, for these libraries sustained the researches of those English scholars whose writings determined the curriculum of medieval schools: Aldhelm, Bede, and Alcuin, to name only the best known. Yet this is the first full-length account of the nature and holdings of Anglo-Saxon libraries from the sixth century to the eleventh. The early chapters discuss libraries in antiquity, notably at Alexandria and republican and imperial Rome, and also the Christian libraries of late antiquity which supplied books to Anglo-Saxon England. Because Anglo-Saxon libraries themselves have almost completely vanished, three classes of evidence need to be combined in order to form a detailed impression of their holdings: surviving inventories, surviving manuscripts, and citations of classical and patristic works by Anglo-Saxon authors themselves. After setting out the problems entailed in using such evidence, the book provides appendices containing editions of all surviving Anglo-Saxon inventories, lists of all Anglo-Saxon manuscripts exported to continental libraries during the eighth century and then all manuscripts re-imported into England in the tenth, as well as a catalogue of all citations of classical and patristic literature by Anglo-Saxon authors. A comprehensive index, arranged alphabetically by author, combines these various classes of evidence so that the reader can see at a glance what books were known where and by whom in Anglo-Saxon England. The book thus provides, within a single volume, a vast amount of information on the books and learning of the schools which determined the course of medieval literary culture.

Form and Content of Instruction in Anglo-Saxon England in the Light of Contemporary Manuscript Evidence

Form and Content of Instruction in Anglo-Saxon England in the Light of Contemporary Manuscript Evidence
Author: Patrizia Lendinara
Publisher: Brepols Publishers
Total Pages: 564
Release: 2007
Genre: Education
ISBN:

The essays collected in this volume focus on a prominent aspect of Anglo-Saxon culture: educational texts and the Insular manuscripts which have preserved them. The English imported manuscripts and texts from the Continent, whilst a series of foreign masters, from Theodore of Tarsus to Abbo of Fleury, brought with them knowledge of works which were being studied in Continental schools. Although monastic education played a leading role for the entire Anglo-Saxon period, it was in the second half of the tenth and early eleventh centuries that it reached its zenith, with its renewed importance and the presence of energetic masters such as Aethelwold and Aelfric. The indebtedness to Continental programs of study is evident at each step, beginning with the Disticha Catonis. Nevertheless, a number of texts initially designed for a Latin-speaking milieu appear to have been abandoned (for instance in the field of grammar) in favour of new teaching tools. Besides texts which were part of the standard curriculum, Anglo-Saxon manuscripts provide abundant evidence of other learning and teaching instruments, in particular those for a specialized class of laymen, the Old English lAece, the healer or physician. Medicine occupies a relevant place in the book production of late Anglo-Saxon England and, in this field too, knowledge from very far afield was preserved and reshaped. All these essays, many by leading scholars in the various fields, explore these issues by analysing the actual manuscripts, their layout and contents. They show how miscellaneous collections of treatises in medieval codices had an internal logic, and highlight how crucial manuscripts are to the study of medieval culture. Contributors: Filippa Alcamesi, Isabella Andorlini, Anne Van Arsdall, Luisa Bezzo, Sandor Chardonnens, Maria Amalia D'Aronco, Maria Caterina De Bonis, Claudia Di Sciacca, Michael Drout, Concetta Giliberto, Florence Eliza Glaze, Joyce Hill, Loredana Lazzari, Patrizia Lendinara, Danielle Maion, Ignazio Mauro Mirto, Alexander R. Rumble, Hans Sauer, Loredana Teresi.

The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain

The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain
Author: Lotte Hellinga
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 846
Release: 1999-12-09
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780521573467

This volume of The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain presents an overview of the century-and-a-half between the death of Chaucer in 1400 and the incorporation of the Stationers' Company in 1557. The profound changes during that time in social, political and religious conditions are reflected in the dissemination and reception of the written word. The manuscript culture of Chaucer's day was replaced by an ambience in which printed books would become the norm. The emphasis in this collection of essays is on the demand and use of books. Patterns of ownership are identified as well as patterns of where, why and how books were written, printed, bound, acquired, read and passed from hand to hand. The book trade receives special attention, with emphasis on the large part played by imports and on links with printers in other countries, which were decisive for the development of printing and publishing in Britain.