DOCSLIB.ORG

Downloaded on 2018-08-23T18:56:22Z

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Downloaded on 2018-08-23T18:56:22Z Title 'Runes' in The Encyclopedia of British Medieval Literature Author(s) Birkett, Thomas Editor(s) Echard, Siân Rouse, Richard Publication date 2017-08 Original citation Birkett, T. (2017) 'Runes', in Echard, S. and Rouse, R. (eds.) The Encyclopedia of British Medieval Literature, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. isbn: 978-1-118-39698-8 Type of publication Book chapter Link to publisher's http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9781118396957 version Access to the full text of the published version may require a subscription. Rights © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd Item downloaded http://hdl.handle.net/10468/5088 from Downloaded on 2018-08-23T18:56:22Z Runes underwent several changes, being reduced from 24 to 16 characters in the Scandinavian TOM BIRKETT younger futhark (before being expanded in University College Cork, Ireland the later medieval period), and modified with the addition of several new characters There is still considerable uncertainty about in Anglo-Saxon England, a reform perhaps the origin of the runic writing system, but undertaken by seventh-century ecclesiasts it was almost certainly developed by a Ger- (Parsons 1999). manic community in contact with the Roman The script was used in a variety of ways in Empire in the first or second centuries CE,and early Anglo-Saxon England, from informal wasinspiredbyoneoftheMediterraneanal- scribbles to runic coin legends. Despite a phabets (see Moltke 1985; Barnes 2012). The number of popular books stating the con- script is angular in nature and was probably trary, there is very little evidence for pagan intended for engraving into wood, and it is ritual associated with Anglo-Saxon runes: unusual for a derivative writing system in the alu stamp on the Spong Hill cremation having a nonalphabetic arrangement, the first urns is one of only a few inscriptions credibly letters in the sequence of the oldest alphabet linked to pre-Christian religious practice giving us the name futhark.Thescriptwas (Page 1999). Perhaps the best evidence that originally used for only very limited purposes, runes were treated as little more than an often inscriptions of ownership on portable alternative writing system is the fact that they objects, but these laconic inscriptions never- occur on such overtly Christian monuments theless provide important information about as the Ruthwell and Bewcastle Crosses, with early Germanic languages and culture. Older objects such as the Franks Casket represent- futhark inscriptions have been found as far ing an ambitious synthesis of Christian and apart as central Norway and Ukraine, though Germanic traditions. However, runic inscrip- the earliest examples cluster around southern tions could also be informal and personal – a Scandinavia. prayer, partly in Latin, is found inscribed on The runic script was first brought to the a seventh-century bone comb from Whitby, British Isles by Germanic peoples migrating whilst the inscription on the reverse of the from Continental Europe, and early inscrip- Harford Farm Brooch simply reads “Luda tions from Anglo-Saxon England have a repaired the brooch.” particular affinity with the small corpus of Inscriptions in the Anglo-Saxon futhorc Frisian runic inscriptions. The runic system are found predominantly in the north and originally followed a phonemic principle, but east of England, though new finds continue due to linguistic changes this one-to-one cor- to refine our understanding of runic activity respondence between letter and sound was in the British Isles. The question of how eventually lost. It was perhaps in response to long the runic script continued in use in these linguistic shifts that the runic system Anglo-Saxon England is a more difficult one, The Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature in Britain, Edited by Siân Echard and Robert Rouse. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/9781118396957.wbemlb370 2 RUNES not least because informal inscriptions – or scattered sporadically throughout areas of what Parsons refers to as “ephemeral literacy” Viking settlement in Britain and Ireland, (1994) – may be unlikely to survive in the and often attest to cultural integration, as archaeological record. There are few monu- well as connections with the wider Viking mental inscriptions produced after the ninth world. century,andthelatestAnglo-Saxonrunic Runes have a long postmedieval history coinsalsodatefromthisperiod.However, of appropriation for a variety of purposes, several critics have cautioned against de- including in the iconography of Nazi Ger- marking a clear cut-off point for the tradition many and in the fantasy writing of Tolkien in England or a fundamental division be- and his many imitators: an area of reception tween the epigraphical tradition and runes that is gaining increasing scholarly attention. recorded in the scriptorium (see Derolez Neopagan appropriations of the runic script 1983; Parsons 1994). Indeed, runes contin- mostly ignore the fact that the runes were first uedtobecopiedinmanuscriptsuptothe and foremost written letters, and take much end of the Anglo-Saxon period, and whilst inspiration from the mythological poems theseoftenhaveadistinctlyantiquarian of the Poetic Edda, including the account character, the ingenious use of runes in the of Odin’s self-sacrifice to gain knowledge Exeter Book riddles suggests that the reader of runes. However, the evidence of the in- was expected to be able to understand the scriptions suggests that such associations script. The so-called runica manuscripta hadlittleimpactontheeverydayuseofthe include the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem,which script. givesusaninsightintothecommonnames given to individual runes, a feature of the SEE ALSO:FranksCasket;Rune Poem; script also exploited by Cynewulf in his Ruthwell Cross runic colophons. A further way in which thescriptsurvivedinAnglo-SaxonEngland REFERENCES is through the incorporation of the runes Barnes, Michael P. 2012. Runes: A Handbook. named wynn and þorn into the Insular script Woodbridge: Boydell Press. system (as and þ) – characters that con- Barnes, M.P.,and R.I. Page. 2006. The Scandinavian tinued in use well into the post-Conquest Runic Inscriptions of Britain.Uppsala:Institutio- period. nen för nordiska språk. The runic tradition in Scandinavia endured Derolez, R. 1983. “Epigraphical versus Manuscript for much longer – into the early modern pe- English Runes: One or Two Worlds?” Academiae Analecta 45: 69–93. riod in some parts of Sweden. During the Moltke, Erik. 1985. Runes and Their Origin: Den- Viking Age, Scandinavian settlers brought mark and Elsewhere. Translated by P. Foote. knowledge of the younger futhark with them Copenhagen: National Museum of Denmark. totheBritishIsles,andthereisagrowing Page, R.I. 1999. An Introduction to English Runes, corpus of Scandinavian inscriptions from 2nd ed. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. Britain (see Barnes and Page 2006). Partic- Parsons, David N. 1994. “Anglo-Saxon Runes ularly impressive is the runic graffiti from in Continental Manuscripts.” In Runische Maeshowe in Orkney. These inscriptions Schriftkultur in Kontinental skandinavischer und angelsächsischer Wechselbeziehung, edited by include boasts of runic dexterity and sexual Klaus Düwel, 195–220. Berlin: De Gruyter. conquest, as well as references to “Jerusalem Parsons, David N. 1999. Recasting the Runes: The farers” breaking into the Neolithic tomb Reform of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc.Uppsala:In- (Barnes 2012). Scandinavian runes are found stitutionen för nordiska språk. RUNES 3 FURTHER READING Looijenga, Tineke. 2003. Texts and Contexts of the Oldest Runic Inscriptions. Leiden: Brill. Derolez, R. 1954. Runica Manuscripta: The English Tradition.Bruges:DeTempel. Elliott, Ralph W.V. 1989. Runes: An Introduc- tion, 2nd ed. Manchester: Manchester Univer- sity Press..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Dynamics of Religious Ritual: Migration and Adaptation in Early Medieval Britain
    Dynamics of Religious Ritual: Migration and Adaptation in Early Medieval Britain A Dissertation SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Brooke Elizabeth Creager IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Peter S. Wells August 2019 Brooke Elizabeth Creager 2019 © For my Mom, I could never have done this without you. And for my Grandfather, thank you for showing me the world and never letting me doubt I can do anything. Thank you. i Abstract: How do migrations impact religious practice? In early Anglo-Saxon England, the practice of post-Roman Christianity adapted after the Anglo-Saxon migration. The contemporary texts all agree that Christianity continued to be practiced into the fifth and sixth centuries but the archaeological record reflects a predominantly Anglo-Saxon culture. My research compiles the evidence for post-Roman Christian practice on the east coast of England from cemeteries and Roman churches to determine the extent of religious change after the migration. Using the case study of post-Roman religion, the themes religion, migration, and the role of the individual are used to determine how a minority religion is practiced during periods of change within a new culturally dominant society. ii Table of Contents Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………...ii List of Figures ……………………………………………………………………………iv Preface …………………………………………………………………………………….1 I. Religion 1. Archaeological Theory of Religion ...………………………………………………...3 II. Migration 2. Migration Theory and the Anglo-Saxon Migration ...……………………………….42 3. Continental Ritual Practice before the Migration, 100 BC – AD 400 ………………91 III. Southeastern England, before, during and after the Migration 4. Contemporary Accounts of Religion in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries……………..116 5.
    [Show full text]
  • Author's Accepted Manuscript AQY-RE-18-124 Accepted 6/12/18
    Author’s Accepted Manuscript AQY-RE-18-124 Accepted 6/12/18 to appear in Antiquity and subject to further type/proofing edits. Please cite final version. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Cambridge University Press Memories of Migration? So-called “Anglo-Saxon” Burial Costume of the Fifth Century AD James M. Harland. DFG-Kolleg-Forschergruppe, “Migration and Mobility in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages,” Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Keplerstraße 2, 72074 Tübingen, Germany. [email protected]. Abstract It is often alleged that wearers of the burial kit which began to appear in lowland Britain in the fifth century AD began to construct new forms of ethnic community by doing so. This article considers the empirical basis for this assertion, and assesses it in light of approaches to ethnic constructivism proposed by Rogers Brubaker (2004) and Andreas Wimmer (2013). The article finds the basis for such assertions lacking, and appeals for the development of new interpretative approaches to the study of early medieval mortuary archaeology in Britain. Introduction Ethnic identity is a situational construct which fashions communities through real and fictive stories and memories. Studies of early Anglo-Saxon burial archaeology have long recognized this, and scepticism of the putatively “Germanic” culture of graves in England can be found as early as Hills (1979). Early doubts, however, largely depended upon the absence of empirical evidence rather than querying of the categories proposed, and most works pre-2000 simply took a constructivist approach to culture historical interpretation (e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • Modern Rune Carving in Northern Scotland. Futhark 8
    Modern Rune Carving in Northern Scotland Andrea Freund and Ragnhild Ljosland (University of the Highlands and Islands) Abstract This article discusses modern runic inscriptions from Orkney and Caithness. It presents various examples, some of which were previously considered “genuine”, and reveals that OR 13 Skara Brae is of modern provenance. Other examples from the region can be found both on boulders or in bedrock and in particular on ancient monuments ranging in date from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. The terminology applied to modern rune carving, in particular the term “forgery”, is examined, and the phenomenon is considered in relation to the Ken sington runestone. Comparisons with modern rune carving in Sweden are made and suggestions are presented as to why there is such an abundance of recently carved inscriptions in Northern Scotland. Keywords: Scotland, Orkney, Caithness, modern runic inscriptions, modern rune carving, OR 13 Skara Brae, Kensington runestone Introduction his article concerns runic inscriptions from Orkney and Caithness Tthat were, either demonstrably or arguably, made in the modern period. The objective is twofold: firstly, the authors aim to present an inventory of modern inscriptions currently known to exist in Orkney and Caith ness. Secondly, they intend to discuss the concept of runic “forgery”. The question is when terms such as “fake” or “forgery” are helpful in de­ scribing a modern runic inscription, and when they are not. Included in the inventory are only those inscriptions which may, at least to an untrained eye, be mistaken for pre­modern. Runes occurring for example on jewellery, souvenirs, articles of clothing, in logos and the Freund, Andrea, and Ragnhild Ljosland.
    [Show full text]
  • Language and Runes
    Language andRunes Extracts of Swarkestone runic verse These dialects were spoken across what are from The now Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and were in Ransome of Egill the Scald taken to Iceland when the Vikings settled there. Derbyshire and The Dying Ode of Regner Modern Icelandic is the closest surviving form combines Lodbrog on the title page of this medieval tongue; many Icelanders today the Old of their first English can still easily enjoy the medieval Icelandic Norse translation. Thomas sagas of the 12th-14th centuries in their original personal Percy, Five written form. name Pieces of Runic Poetry Swerkir with the Old English Translated from Anglo-Saxons spoke Old English, the ancestor Pp 1-2 from Magnús Ólafsson’s the Islandic element -tun (meaning ‘farm’ Old Icelandic dictionary with runic Language to our modern language. Old English was headwords and Latin definitions. (London or ‘homestead’), suggesting Magnús Ólafsson, Specimen lexici 1763). another Germanic language, with close kinship runici, obscuriorum qvarundam vocum, Eiríkur perhaps that a Viking took qvae in priscis occurrunt historiis & Benedikz to Old Norse, so it is plausible that Old poëtis danicis (Copenhagen 1650) Icelandic over an Anglo-Saxon farm. Special Collection Oversize PD2093.W6 Collection English and Old Norse speakers could, to a PT7245.E5 certain extent, understand one another. Early The Scandinavians also brought their system medieval Scandinavians had a notable effect on of writing with them: runes. The runic the development of modern English: words alphabet the Viking settlers employed is such as skirt, sky, window, and egg are all derived known as the Younger Futhark and consists from Old Norse.
    [Show full text]
  • University of London Deviant Burials in Viking-Age
    UNIVERSITY OF LONDON DEVIANT BURIALS IN VIKING-AGE SCANDINAVIA Ruth Lydia Taylor M. Phil, Institute of Archaeology, University College London UMI Number: U602472 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U602472 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ABSTRACT DEVIANT BURIALS IN VIKING-AGE SCANDINAVIA The thesis brings together information yielded from archaeology and other sources to provide an overall picture of the types of burial practices encountered during the Viking-Age in Scandinavia. From this, an attempt is made to establish deviancy. Comparative evidence, such as literary, runic, legal and folkloric evidence will be used critically to shed perspective on burial practices and the artefacts found within the graves. The thesis will mostly cover burials from the Viking Age (late 8th century to the mid- 11th century), but where the comparative evidence dates from other periods, its validity is discussed accordingly. Two types of deviant burial emerged: the criminal and the victim. A third type, which shows distinctive irregularity yet lacks deviancy, is the healer/witch burial.
    [Show full text]
  • Sighted Surfaces Ocular Agency in Early Anglo-Saxon Cremation Burials
    Sighted Surfaces Ocular Agency in Early Anglo-Saxon Cremation Burials Ruth Nugent & Howard Williams Abstract The art of early Anglo-Saxon cremation urns is rich, diverse and rarely explored beyond its presumed status as reflecting the earliest Germanic settlers in fifth-century eastern and southern England (Williams 2005a). We consider why and how decorated cinerary urns operated in funerals through their haptic and visual qualities. In particular, recurring overt and abstract depictions of eyes, as well as apertures in the urn body, suggest the cremated dead were perceived as being inherently sensing and ‘sighted’ even after their fiery transformation. Introduction Alluding in no small measure to Julian D. Richards’ (1987; 1992) ground-breaking investigation of the mortuary symbolism of early Anglo-Saxon urn form and decora- tion, Neil Price has recently noted what an ‘… extraordinary resource [Anglo-Saxon funerary urns] represent for the symbolic repertoire of early English mortuary behaviour’ (Price 2010a:xvi). This paper aims to build on this statement. Rather than seeking to decode urn decoration in the manner suggested by Richards, we explore the sensory agency of the art on cinerary urns in early Anglo-Saxon England. In doing so, the study draws upon recent debates that have foregrounded the active roles of imagery in constituting links with the supernatural and shared senses of past and present in Migration Period Europe (e.g. Behr 2010) and wider discussions of the material agency of art (Gell 1992; 1998). While this discussion has, to date, largely focused on metalwork, we argue that the decoration of cinerary urns held a commemorative significance in the mortuary arena by emphasising the pot as containing, protecting, storing and perhaps also ‘reanimating’ the dead.
    [Show full text]
  • Purpose, Wells Should Have Been Able to Abandon the Descriptive Level Of
    110 111 purpose, Wells should have been I,15) . Although we can tentatively Merovingian period metalwork from Roman to Medieval times . able to abandon the descriptive identify 'Angles' and 'Saxons' in Lower Saxony. level of his analysis and expand the material from archaeological The six English papers tackle A useful feature of this fest­ the general model through its ap­ excavations, 'Jutes' have always a wide range of subjects on settle­ schrift must be the comprehensive plication to the specific situa­ proved difficult to locate with ments, artefacts and cemeteries. bibliography of Myres' published tion, and such work has been done certainty. These eternal problems , Catherine Hills discusses the works . However, the book has a few with far greater expertise and suc­ then, could be seen as inspira­ origin and dating of barred zoo­ shortcomings. There is no index and cess by Frankenstein and Rowlands. tional for the papers in this book. morphic bone combs, many of which some of the Continental papers hav~ It is therefore difficult to see All the contributors refer, in some have been found in her excavation been translated into English and that Wells' book makes any original way, to one of these three peoples, at Spong Hill. Vera Evison presents seem to have lost their original contribution to, or expands on, whether on the Continent or in distribution maps of certain early crispness in the process . The these earlier studies of essential­ England, The title of this fest­ artefact types and aims to demon­ figures and maps and bibliographies ly the same problem. schrift could be called an all­ strate parallels between some for each paper come after the embracing one; it signifies not English grave groups and 4th/5th paper's text but the plates are * * * only the peoples on whose material century 'Germanic' burials on the grouped together at the back of the culture Myres based most of his Continent.
    [Show full text]
  • Sniðmát Meistaraverkefnis HÍ
    MA ritgerð Norræn trú Að hitta skrímslið í skóginum Animal Shape-shifting, Identity, and Exile in Old Norse Religion and World-view Caroline Elizabeth Oxley Leiðbeinandi: Terry Adrian Gunnell Október 2019 Að hitta skrímslið í skóginum Animal Shape-shifting, Identity, and Exile in Old Norse Religion and World-view Caroline Elizabeth Oxley Lokaverkefni til MA–gráðu í Norrænni trú Leiðbeinandi: Terry Adrian Gunnell 60 einingar Félags– og mannvísindadeild Félagsvísindasvið Háskóla Íslands Október, 2019 Að hitta skrímslið í skóginum Ritgerð þessi er lokaverkefni til MA-gráðu í Norrænni trú og er óheimilt að afrita ritgerðina á nokkurn hátt nema með leyfi rétthafa. © Caroline Elizabeth Oxley, 2019 Prentun: Háskólaprent Reykjavík, Ísland, 2019 Caroline Oxley MA in Old Nordic Religion: Thesis Kennitala: 181291-3899 Október 2019 Abstract Að hitta skrímslið í skóginum: Animal Shape-shifting, Identity, and Exile in Old Norse Religion and World-view This thesis is a study of animal shape-shifting in Old Norse culture, considering, among other things, the related concepts of hamr, hugr, and the fylgjur (and variations on these concepts) as well as how shape-shifters appear to be associated with the wild, exile, immorality, and violence. Whether human, deities, or some other type of species, the shape-shifter can be categorized as an ambiguous and fluid figure who breaks down many typical societal borderlines including those relating to gender, biology, animal/ human, and sexual orientation. As a whole, this research project seeks to better understand the background, nature, and identity of these figures, in part by approaching the subject psychoanalytically, more specifically within the framework established by the Swiss psychoanalyst, Carl Jung, as part of his theory of archetypes.
    [Show full text]
  • ALPHABET and PRONUNCIATION Old English (OE) Scribes Used Two
    OLD ENGLISH (OE) ALPHABET AND PRONUNCIATION Old English (OE) scribes used two kinds of letters: the runes and the letters of the Latin alphabet. The bulk of the OE material — OE manuscripts — is written in the Latin script. The use of Latin letters in English differed in some points from their use in Latin, for the scribes made certain modifications and additions in order to indicate OE sounds which did not exist in Latin. Depending of the size and shape of the letters modern philologists distinguish between several scripts which superseded one another during the Middle Ages. Throughout the Roman period and in the Early Middle Ages capitals (scriptura catipalis) and uncial (scriptura uncialis) letters were used; in the 5th—7th c. the uncial became smaller and the cursive script began to replace it in everyday life, while in book-making a still smaller script, minuscule (scriptura minusculis), was employed. The variety used in Britain is known as the Irish, or insular minuscule. Insular minuscule script differed from the continental minuscule in the shape of some letters, namely d, f, g. From these letters only one is used in modern publications of OE texts as a distinctive feature of the OE alphabet – the letter Z (corresponding to the continental g). In the OE variety of the Latin alphabet i and j were not distinguished; nor were u and v; the letters k, q, x and w were not used until many years later. A new letter was devised by putting a stroke through d or ð, to indicate the voiceless and the voiced interdental [θ] and [ð].
    [Show full text]
  • Context Analysis and Bracteate Inscriptions in Light of Alternative Iconographic Interpretations
    Context analysis and bracteate inscriptions in light of alternative iconographic interpretations Nancy L. Wicker Although nearly 1000 Scandinavian Migration Period (fifth- and sixth-century) gold pendants called bracteates have been discovered in Scandinavia and throughout northern and central Europe, only about twenty percent of these objects have inscriptions. The writing is mostly in the elder futhark but also in corrupted Latin copied from inscriptions on Late Roman coins and medallions, which are presumably the models for bracteate imagery. Relatively few of the 170 bracteates with runic inscriptions—which are known from only 110 different dies (Düwel 2008: 46)—are semantically meaningful. While the research of the late Karl Hauck has dominated bracteate scholarship for the past forty years, his theory of bracteate iconography is not the only possible interpretation of this imagery that may illuminate our understanding of the inscriptions. In this paper, I will high- light other interpretations of bracteates, not as definitive answers to the meaning of bracteates but instead to emphasize the tenuous nature of all such theories. I also propose the use of what Michaela Helmbrecht (2008) has termed ‗context analysis‘ to focus on the various contexts in which bracteates have been discovered in order to shed additional light upon their meaning. Before presenting alternate explanations, I will review basic information about bracteates and their inscriptions, and I will summarize the basic tenets of Hauck‘s thesis. Bracteate classification and iconography From the earliest research on bracteates, scholars including C. J. Thomsen (1855), Oscar Montelius (1869), and Bernhard Salin (1895) focused on organizing these artifacts by classi- fying them into types according to details of images depicted in the central stamped field of decoration.
    [Show full text]
  • 9. Freyr's Solar Power and the Purifying Sword
    The Waning Sword E Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in Beowulf DWARD The Waning Sword Conversion Imagery and EDWARD PETTIT P The image of a giant sword mel� ng stands at the structural and thema� c heart of the Old ETTIT Celestial Myth in Beowulf English heroic poem Beowulf. This me� culously researched book inves� gates the nature and signifi cance of this golden-hilted weapon and its likely rela� ves within Beowulf and beyond, drawing on the fi elds of Old English and Old Norse language and literature, liturgy, archaeology, astronomy, folklore and compara� ve mythology. In Part I, Pe� t explores the complex of connota� ons surrounding this image (from icicles to candles and crosses) by examining a range of medieval sources, and argues that the giant sword may func� on as a visual mo� f in which pre-Chris� an Germanic concepts and prominent Chris� an symbols coalesce. In Part II, Pe� t inves� gates the broader Germanic background to this image, especially in rela� on to the god Ing/Yngvi-Freyr, and explores the capacity of myths to recur and endure across � me. Drawing on an eclec� c range of narra� ve and linguis� c evidence from Northern European texts, and on archaeological discoveries, Pe� t suggests that the T image of the giant sword, and the characters and events associated with it, may refl ect HE an elemental struggle between the sun and the moon, ar� culated through an underlying W myth about the the� and repossession of sunlight. ANING The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celesti al Myth in Beowulf is a welcome contribu� on to the overlapping fi elds of Beowulf-scholarship, Old Norse-Icelandic literature and Germanic philology.
    [Show full text]
  • Old English Literature: a Brief Summary
    Volume II, Issue II, June 2014 - ISSN 2321-7065 Old English Literature: A Brief Summary Nasib Kumari Student J.k. Memorial College of Education Barsana Mor Birhi Kalan Charkhi Dadri Introduction Old English literature (sometimes referred to as Anglo-Saxon literature) encompasses literature written in Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) in Anglo-Saxon England from the 7th century to the decades after the Norman Conquest of 1066. "Cædmon's Hymn", composed in the 7th century according to Bede, is often considered the oldest extant poem in English, whereas the later poem, The Grave is one of the final poems written in Old English, and presents a transitional text between Old and Middle English.[1] Likewise, the Peterborough Chronicle continues until the 12th century. The poem Beowulf, which often begins the traditional canon of English literature, is the most famous work of Old English literature. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has also proven significant for historical study, preserving a chronology of early English history.Alexander Souter names the commentary on Paul's epistles by Pelagius "the earliest extant work by a British author".[2][3] In descending order of quantity, Old English literature consists of: sermons and saints' lives, biblical translations; translated Latin works of the early Church Fathers; Anglo-Saxon chronicles and narrative history works; laws, wills and other legal works; practical works ongrammar, medicine, geography; and poetry.[4] In all there are over 400 survivingmanuscripts from the period, of which about 189 are considered "major".[5] Besides Old English literature, Anglo-Saxons wrote a number of Anglo-Latin works.
    [Show full text]