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GAMES: see Entertainment and cosmological decoration suggest that it may have served as a chrismal, a container for the sacra- GANDERSHEIM CASKET. This elegant house- ment. How it came to be at Gandersheim is shaped small casket is one of the finest pieces of unknown, though the survival of a significant num- Middle Saxon carving to have survived. It dates to ber of Anglo-Saxon artifacts in continental treasur- the late eighth century, and was at Gandersheim ies indicates that it was not uncommon for such Abbey in *Germany during the Middle Ages, pass- precious things to be presented to churches abroad. ing in 1815 into the ducal collection at Braunschweig One possible contender as donor is King *Æthelstan, where it remains to this day. a noted collector and giver of relics, who had a close Constructed of carved whalebone panels set in a relationship with the Saxon court, and was himself bronze framework, the casket’s walls and lid are commemorated at Gandersheim. exquisitely decorated with an intricate programme of interlacing creatures, vine-scroll and spiral ornament. A. Fink, ‘Zum Gandersheimer Runenkästchen’, in Behind this elegant surface is a complex cosmological Karolingische und Ottonische Kunst, Werden, Wesen, Wicklung, ed. F. Geke, G. von Opel and H. Schnitzler iconography, gridded and grounded in sacred numer- (Wiesbaden, 1957), pp. 277–81; D. M. Wilson, Anglo-Saxon ology. The casket’s very close stylistic relationship to Art (London, 1984), pp. 64–7; Making of , pp. 177–9; some late eighth- and early ninth-century sculpture Das Gandersheimer Runenkästschen. Internationales from the east midlands, particularly at *Peterborough Kolloquium Braunschweig 24–26 Marz 1999, ed. R. Marth (Medehamstede), suggests an origin in that area. (Braunschweig, 2000); L. Webster, Anglo-Saxon Art Mercian-style animal ornament also occurs on some (London, 2012), pp. 140–2. of its metal fittings. On the underside of the basal leslie webster frame is an apparently runic inscription which has not been satisfactorily read; the base itself GELD: see Heregeld seems to be a replacement of an earlier frame, and the possibility exists that the runes were copied from a GENEALOGIES, ROYAL. Royal genealogies somewhat earlier original. describe kinship relationships between two or more The casket’s house-shaped construction and members of a dynasty. Though often grouped small scale relate it to the Insular series of small together with *regnal lists (both in medieval - metal-fitted wooden reliquaries, and its vine-scroll scripts and by modern scholars), they constitute a

The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England, Second Edition. Edited by Michael Lapidge, John Blair, Simon Keynes, and Donald Scragg. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. GENEALOGIES, ROYAL 205 separate medium with characteristic features and an example of such manipulation. Each of the problems of their own, and should be treated sepa- heptarchic dynasties is traced back to its respective rately. For Anglo-Saxon England, the earliest direct eponymous founder and thence to the common evidence of genealogies comes from the early eighth ancestor Woden. It seems likely that a symmetrical century, though it has been argued they derive from and artificial scheme underlies the surviving texts, pagan Germanic practice (see below). * knew a whereby fourteen generations separated the subject version of the Kentish royal genealogy (HE i.15, ii.5) of each patriline and Woden. Although originally a and perhaps also that of *East Anglia (ii.15). The pagan god, it has been argued that Woden func- important ‘Anglian’ collection of genealogies was tioned here as a means of defining ‘Anglian’ origin originally composed in *, probably (or at least a belief in that origin) and thus stands in during the reign of Alhred (765 × 774), though more contrast to Seaxnet, the equivalent figure in the East recent collateral lines occur in the extant copies. It Saxon genealogy, who defined a ‘Saxon’ origin. contains pedigrees of the kingdoms of *, Consequently, it seems that the non-Anglian dynas- *Bernicia (four lines), * (four lines), *Lindsey, ties of and have been artificially incor- *Kent, East Anglia and *Wessex, all traced to Woden, porated into the ‘Anglian’ origin scheme of the as well as some regnal, papal and *episcopal lists. collection, by grafting them onto the lines of Deira Versions of some of these pedigrees also occur in the and Bernicia respectively (causing chronological dif- *, the *Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ficulties for the Kentish line). It might be argued that and the Chronicle of *Æthelweard. In addition, the purpose of this manipulation was to express in there is an account of the royal genealogy of *Essex, genealogical terms the predominant position of the c.800, which survives in BL, Add. 23211 (copied ‘Anglian’ kingdoms in the eighth century, and possi- after 871). Inevitably, the West Saxon genealogy bly also to reflect a number of inter-dynastic proved to be the most durable, and over time it was marriage-alliances in the seventh. The fact that the East regularly updated and also extended further into the Saxon line was not incorporated into the scheme – past, eventually to . In addition to the versions even though Essex was also under the Anglian over- in the Chronicle (esp. s.a. 855), it occurs in the so- lordship (of Mercia) – may undermine this called ‘West-Saxon Genealogical Regnal List’ and in interpretation. However, the occurrence of certain *Asser’s Vita Ælfredi (c. 1). Later versions include an conspicuously non-alliterative personal names, such elaborate genealogy of *Edgar and his sons, com- as Offa (possibly inserted retrospectively in the East posed 966 × 970/1; and some Anglo-Norman chron- Saxon genealogy due to its Mercian associations) may icles also contain Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies. be a reflex of similar genealogical thinking. Most of these extant genealogies are what can be While the surviving Anglo-Saxon royal genealo- termed retrograde linear patrilines. They are linear gies were clearly the products of a literate and or unilateral in form in that they give one name per Christian society, it has been argued that in fact they generation, though the occurrence of collateral lines were derived from earlier, pre-literate and pagan for Bernicia, Mercia and Essex adds a degree of seg- Germanic practices. This line of argument hinges on mentation; they are retrograde or ‘ascending’ in per- the occurrence of so many Germanic gods in the spective in that they begin with the chronologically genealogies – notably, Woden, Saxnot (i.e. Seaxnet), most recent name and trace the line of descent back and Geat – who, whatever their function in the in time (only the material in Historia Brittonum eighth-century and later extant genealogies, are reverses this, using the biblical genuit formula). undeniably pagan in origin. Comparable Germanic Furthermore, female ancestors are not included, material, quotations from classical authors, and ref- though Asser does discuss briefly *Alfred’s maternal erence to anthropological study of contemporary ancestry (c. 2). The language of the genealogies can ‘oral’ societies, can all be employed to support the be either Old English (the ‘Anglian’ collection or the theory that pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon kings traced Chronicle) or Latin (Bede, Asser, or Æthelweard) their descent from pagan gods and that this divine depending on the narrative context. genealogical origin served to set these kings apart Recent comparative study of royal genealogies has from the rest of the population. Indeed, the develop- demonstrated that, while superficially being descrip- ment of the West Saxon patriline through various tions of kinship relationships, they can in fact be very distinct stages (Woden – Frealaf – Geat – Sceaf ‘son sophisticated means of expressing political claims. of Noah’ – Adam) could be seen as a progressive As such they are prone to a high degree of ideological search for such divine ancestry, even in a Christian manipulation and falsification, which can under- context, following the demotion of Woden. It mine the historical reliability of the genealogical should be noted here, however, that the practice of statements made therein. The ‘Anglian’ collection is grafting royal pedigrees onto Biblical genealogy, best 206 GENEALOGIES, ROYAL

represented in the Table of Nations (Gen. X), was not common motif in Old English poetry. In the episode uncommon in the Middle Ages, and no doubt in part of Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah, the Sodomites are reflects the understandable desire to find one’s place guilty of overbearing behaviour (2581), like Hygelac in the overall genealogical scheme of things. In short, when he took on the Frisians (*Beowulf 1206). But it is likely that the Anglo-Saxon genealogies tell us the poem’s principal message is inevitably religious. more about political aspirations and inter-dynastic A theme that emerges from practically every epi- relations at the end of the eighth century, and (pos- sode is that of Salvation by the Help of God. The dif- sibly) the nature of pagan kingship, than they do ferences between those who are saved and those about developments in the fifth and sixth centuries, who are destroyed emerges particularly clearly in and any attempt to use them for ‘historical’ purposes the episode of Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah. Like must be undertaken with extreme caution. God, Lot is firm in his adherence to the covenant between them, as were also , Noah and D. N. Dumville, ‘Kingship, Genealogies and Regnal Lists’, , whereas the Sodomites, like the fallen in Early Medieval Kingship, ed. P. H. Sawyer and I. N. Wood angels and the race of before them, are cove- (, 1977), pp. 72–104; K. Sisam, ‘Anglo-Saxon Royal Genealogies’, PBA 39 (1953), 287–348; D. N. Dumville, nant-breakers. The terms of the covenant are that ‘The Anglian Collection of Royal Genealogies and Regnal God will protect the people if they obey Him and Lists’, ASE 5 (1976), 23–50; B. Yorke, ‘The Kingdom of the keep His commands. God propels his followers East ’, ASE 14 (1985), 1–36; H. Moisl, ‘Anglo-Saxon (2813–14), but only if they fear and respect him as Royal Genealogies and Germanic Oral Tradition’, JMH 7 Abraham does in offering Isaac (2861–7). Those (1981), 215–48; C. R. Davis, ‘Cultural Assimilation in the who fail to follow God’s directives are punished: the Anglo-Saxon Royal Genealogies’, ASE 21 (1992), 23–36. rebel angels are sent to hell, the Sodomites are david e. thornton engulfed in flames, and Lot’s wife is turned into a pillar of salt. God controls everything: his moral GENESIS, the first and longest of the poems in the righteousness is backed by physical power. *, deals with the events of the first treats the fall of the angels and the fall of biblical book from to the offering of man in a dramatic and ironic way. While this sub- Isaac. It is in fact two poems, known for convenience ject-matter is biblical, most of what is in Genesis B is as and Genesis B. Genesis A is based on not in the . The events are interpreted in terms Gen. I–XXII. On the whole it stays close to the bibli- of the Germanic *comitatus. In heaven God is lord cal version, keeping the same narrative content and the angels are His *thegns owing God loyalty in event by event. But in place of the paraphrase of return for His favour. Satan is the senior angel. But, Gen. III. 1–7, the deception of by the serpent, dissatisfied with this position, he objects to serving there is an interpolation, known as Genesis B, com- God, and rebels. For his pains he is thrown into hell, prising lines 235–851 of the whole poem. and there, ironically, sets up his own comitatus with That Genesis B is a translation adapted from an Old himself as lord. Chained in hell he then makes a long Saxon poem was first established by Eduard Sievers in appeal to the fallen angels, his thegns, for one of 1875 and subsequently confirmed by the discovery of them to volunteer to go to earth to deceive Adam fragments from an Old Saxon Genesis in the Vatican and Eve. On earth, where are the Library. Apart from the repetition of the fall of the Lord’s thegns in paradise, this devilish emissary angels and the obvious differences in subject-matter, approaches Adam, but is rebuffed on the grounds Sievers’s argument focused on differences in vocabu- that he cannot show Adam any sign of the benefits lary, especially the words used for God. There are also of eating the . The devilish emissary some metrical features that reflect the OS original, promptly invents a heavenly vision for Eve, who such as longer initial dips than usual, the predomi- falls, followed by Adam. Adam and Eve are expelled nance in the b-verse of verses with a rising rhythm, from paradise, and the devilish emissary returns and unusually frequent use of anacrusis (initial extra- exultant to hell. This version of events differs from metrical syllables) and unstressed infinitives. that in Christian tradition in some notable ways. In the treatment of episodes Genesis A often tends First, there is an infernal council at which the devils to emphasise Germanic elements. For instance, like plot the and one of them is chosen to go a Germanic warlord, God exacts vengeance on men’s and bring it about. Secondly, the devilish emissary malicious deeds (1380). In the epi- approaches Adam first (rather than Eve) and is sode the *kinship of the brothers is emphasised, so rebuffed. Thirdly, Eve is the victim of a deception, that, in killing his brother, Cain is offending against acting throughout in good faith. It is possible that one of the strongest bonds of Germanic society. Milton was familiar with the contents of this poem When Cain is banished he is sent into exile, another through its first editor, Francis *Junius.