DOCSLIB.ORG

A Paradise Full of Monsters: India in the Old English Imagination

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Paradise Full of Monsters: India in the Old English Imagination LATCH: A Journal for the Study of the Literary Vol. 1 Artifact in Theory, Culture, or History (2008) A Paradise Full of Monsters: India in the Old English Imagination Mark Bradshaw Busbee Florida Gulf Coast University Abstract Between the ninth and the twelfth centuries in England, the idea of India began to figure into Anglo-Saxon statecraft, religion, and literature. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that in 883, Alfred the Great promised to send emissaries to India; a sermon preached by the Anglo-Saxon priest Ælfric in the tenth century tells about the passion of Saint Thomas and his trials and eventual death in India; and Old English translations of Alexander’s Letter to Aristotle and The Wonders of the East describe the amazing riches, unusual animals, and monstrous people found in India. Scholars applying post- colonial theory to these texts see them as essentially racist. This essay argues that such reductive readings miss the deep complexities in how Anglo-Saxons imagined India or what those fantastic ideas might reveal. The many notable ambivalences appearing in descriptions of India and its people show that Anglo- Saxons regarded India as an imaginative space where fears, hopes, and desires might be entertained freely. Rather than support the notion that the Anglo-Saxon mind was inherently racist, these texts, in their expressions of fear and fascination, reveal a willingness to engage and understand a mysterious Other. Keywords India, Old English, Anglo-Saxon, manuscripts, monsters, Wonders of the East, The Letter of Alexander to Aristotle, Cotton Tiberius, Cotton Vitellius, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ælfric, Alfred the Great Old English manuscripts dating from the late ninth through the early twelfth centuries contain what may be the most neglected 51 Mark Bradshaw Busbee A Paradise Full of Monsters: pp. 51-72 India in the Old English Imagination body of medieval Western texts regarding the nature of India and its inhabitants. These texts tell about the location, topography, and people of India; they offer stories about the martyrdom of Saints Bartholomew and Thomas in India; and some of them—like Latin and Old English renderings of The Letter of Alexander to Aristotle, the Liber monstrorum de diversis generibus (A Book of Monsters of Various Kinds), and a text called The Wonders of the East—include vivid illustrations that act as imaginative renderings in these texts about India and its people.1 Read collectively, this body of stories and the illustrations accompanying them offer readers a window into Anglo-Saxon thinking about India. The Anglo-Saxons imagined India not only as a paradise with mountains of gold and vineyards yielding precious stones but also as the domain of frightening creatures, like dog-headed men, speaking trees, ants as big as dogs, and sheep the size of donkeys. As offensive as they might seem to modern readers, these imaginative details fit within a conceptual framework that allowed medieval people in England a multidimensional understanding of India and, as a consequence, their own fears and desires. Versions of this paper were presented at the First International Conference “India in the World” at Universidad de Córdoba, Spain (March 9, 2007) and at the 42nd International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University (May 12, 2007). I am thankful to Douglass Harrison and Rebecca Toronto, my colleagues at Florida Gulf Coast University, for their comments and suggestions on this paper. 1 The Latin text of The Letter of Alexander to Aristotle appears in the British Library’s Royal 13.A.I, fols. 51v-78r; the Old English text appears in the so-called Beowulf ms, Cotton Vitellius A.xv. fols. 107r-131v (Brit. Lib.). The Liber monstrorum de diversis generibus exists in a singular extant ms: Royal 15.B.xix (Brit. Lib.). Normalized texts and translations of these mss and the ms of The Wonders of the East are available in Orchard’s Pride and Prodigies, whose texts and translations I rely on throughout this paper. The Wonders of the East exists in two Latin and two Old English texts. Bodleian Library 614, fols. 36r-48r (Oxford) contains one of the Latin versions, and Cotton Vitellius A.xv, fols. 98v-106v contains one Old English version. Cotton Tiberius B.v, fols. 78v-87r (Brit. Lib.) contains side-by-side Latin and Old English texts. The most useful compilation of these texts in facsimile was made by Rhodes in 1929. In my discussion, I will be focusing primarily on the images and texts in the Tiberius ms. 52 LATCH: A Journal for the Study of the Literary Vol. 1 Artifact in Theory, Culture, or History (2008) While similar accounts of India can be found in continental medieval texts, students of post-colonial Anglo-Indian relations have become interested in these texts’ presentation and discussion in Old English literature, since the presence of these texts represents the earliest surviving textual efforts of Englishmen to comprehend India. This attention has naturally benefitted a traditionally neglected part of English literary history by opening it up to more careful scrutiny. An unfortunate side-effect, however, has been that these texts are often summarily dismissed as racist. For example, in “Wonders of the Beast: India in Classical and Medieval Literature,” Andrea Rossi-Reder asserts that these texts “presuppose the superiority of Western peoples over non-Western peoples” and that scholars have generally examined the roots of Anglo- Indian colonial discourse only as far back as the Renaissance, but, in fact, classical and medieval literature, long before colonial expansion, contained the seeds of colonial thinking about natives of non-European countries such as India. (53) Such an assertion relies upon the shaky assumption that the Anglo- Saxons dreamed of colonizing India, or more specifically that a king like Alfred the Great (871-899) thought Alexander the Great and his conquest of India an admirable model. Though anachronistic,2 this approach has become a common tool for explicating The Letter of Alexander and the Liber monstrorum, two texts that seem to embody “colonial thinking” and that seem to stress the horrific and distasteful aspects of the monstrous races the Anglo-Saxons expected to find in India. I argue that, if used exclusively, post-colonial theory oversimplifies what Anglo-Saxons thought and believed about an 2 Gretta Austin makes the point that the term race, as we understand it, was coined only in the 17th century, by François Bernier in “Nouvelle division de la terre, par les differentees espéces ou races d’hommes qui l’habitent” (quoted in Austin 26, note 5); therefore, it could be argued (against Rossi-Reder) that any discussion of medieval racism is essentially anachronistic (Austin 26). I do not mean to engage this fine point here. 53 Mark Bradshaw Busbee A Paradise Full of Monsters: pp. 51-72 India in the Old English Imagination unknown, almost mythical place. While post-colonial theory explores the situation of colonized people during and after colonization, the term postcolonial is sometimes used to refer to relations between two groups of people that seem similar to postcolonial conditions but do not involve a former colony. Old English writings about India remain outside this discussion because there is no evidence of any sort of an Anglo-India relationship during the Anglo-Saxon period. Instead, a text like the Old English The Wonders of the East, when read in combination with its illustrations, can offer a richer account of how the Anglo-Saxons imagined India before Anglo-Indian relations began (if we can risk using the term “relations”). The Tiberius manuscript of The Wonders of the East vividly imagines Indian peoples living in an earthy paradise or a sort of early medieval El Dorado. And though it shows them as monstrous or grotesque hybrid beings, I will demonstrate that this text and other Old English accounts ultimately depict India with a sort of romantic curiosity, one characterized by awe and wonder. This wonder is a far cry from racial or imperial designs. Before getting to the text and images featured in the Old English Wonders of the East, it would be useful to explore the nature and background of Anglo-Saxon belief about India’s location. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that first recorded instance of Anglo- Indian intercourse occurred in the year 883 (884 in the “C” manuscript). The entire entry for that year reads as follows: In this year the [English] army went up the Scheldt to Condé, and stayed there for a year. And Pope Marinus sent some wood of the Cross to King Alfred. And that same year Sigehelm and Athelstan took to Rome the alms, and also to India to [the shines of] St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew, when the English were encamped against the enemy [Viking] army at London; and there, by the grace of God, their prayers were well answered after that promise. (Whitelock 50)3 3 Whitelock contends that the whole incident of the vow is suspicious. MS A contains only the first sentence, but all others contain the account. Contemporary accounts by Asser (Alfred’s biographer) and Æthelweard 54 LATCH: A Journal for the Study of the Literary Vol. 1 Artifact in Theory, Culture, or History (2008) Other historical records of this event mostly corroborate The Anglo- Saxon Chronicle entry. Written in Latin sometime between 1100 and 1125, the manuscripts of Florence of Worcester state that in 883 a churchman named Swithelm bore Alfred’s alms to the shrine of Saint Thomas in India (Thorpe 98-99). William of Malmsbury, an early thirteenth century English historian, also states that a journey to India was successfully carried out, writing that Sighelm penetrated successfully into India, a matter of astonishment even in the present time.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • © 2018 Kyle Joseph Williams
    ã 2018 Kyle Joseph Williams THE ASSEMBLED BODY: ANATOMICAL ENUMERATION AND EMBODIMENT IN ANGLO-SAXON DEVOTIONAL TEXTS BY KYLE JOSEPH WILLIAMS DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2018 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Renée R. Trilling, Chair Professor Charles D. Wright Professor Martin Camargo Associate Professor Jim Hansen ABSTRACT “The Assembled Body: Anatomical Enumeration and Embodiment in Anglo- Saxon Devotional Texts” argues that Anglo-Saxon Christians viewed the material body as a potent site for spiritual transformation. This notion finds its fullest expression in the rhetorical scheme of anatomical enumeration which appears across a diverse collection of Old English and Anglo-Latin devotional forms that range from the seventh to eleventh century, such as anonymous personal protective charms and prayers, confessional formulae, monastic execrations, scientific writing and diagrams produced Byrhtferth, as well as a number of Ælfric of Eynsham’s vernacular homilies. This project demonstrates how Anglo-Saxon authors employed such enumerative anatomical catalogs to highlight the vibrancy of the flesh at moments spiritual uncertainty. Casting the material body as an assemblage of agents, this rhetorical disarticulation of the flesh enables readers to envision the realignment and reintegration of their disordered and disobedient limbs into the unity of Christ’s spiritual body. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project was completed through the generous help of many kind people. My greatest debt is to my dissertation supervisor, Renée Trilling. Her meticulous and challenging feedback, unceasing patience to allow me the (many) opportunities to learn from my mistakes, and hearty encouragement gave me both the enthusiasm and nerve to complete this task.
    [Show full text]
  • Early Mercian Text Production: Authors, Dialects, and Reputations
    Early Mercian Text Production: Authors, Dialects, and Reputations Abstract There are suggestions that King Alfred’s legendary literary renaissance may have been a reaction to the efforts of the neighbouring kingdom of Mercia. According to Asser, Alfred assembled a group of literary scholars from this rival Mercian tradition at his court. But it is not clear what early literary activities these scholars could have been involved in to justify their pre-Alfredian reputation. This article tries to outline the historical and literary evidence for early Mercian text production, and the importance of this ‘other’ early literary corpus. What is our current knowledge of Mercian text production and the political and literary relationship of Mercia with Canterbury? What was the relationship of Alfred’s educational movement with its Mercian forerunner? Why is modern scholarship better informed about Alfred’s movement than any Mercian rival culture? If our current knowledge of this area is insufficient for the writing of a literary history of Mercia, a provisional list of texts and bibliography, published electronically for convenient updating, may prove useful in the meantime. Alfredian evidence for Mercian literary culture That King Alfred claims to have initiated an educational Renaissance is well known. Alfredian writings acknowledge a marked decline in learning and scholarship, at least in terms of Latin text composition and manuscript production, and at least in Wessex (Lapidge 1996, 436-439). But the same texts also suggest the existence of
    [Show full text]
  • The Representation of Animals and the Natural World in Late-Medieval
    The Representation of Animals and the Natural World in Late-Medieval Hagiography and Romance Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Leicester by David Salter BA (Leicester) Department of English University of Leicester September 1998 UMI Number: U113229 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 U113229 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. 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 The Representation of Animals and the Natural World in Late-Medieval Hagiography and Romance ABSTRACT This thesis takes as its subject the representation of animals and the natural world in two key genres of medieval literature: hagiography and romance. Focusing on the early Lives of St. Francis of Assisi, the romances Sir Gowther, Octavian, and Sir Orfeo, the Middle English Alexander Romances, and the Collatio Alexandri cum Dindimo, it examines the diverse ways in which animals are portrayed in these texts, and the range of mimetic, symbolic, and representative functions that they fulfil. Rather than endorsing the view that medieval culture was characterised by a unified and homogenous attitude towards nature and the natural, the thesis draws out the diversity of opinion and outlook evident in the imaginative literature of the period, and demonstrates in detail the crucial role of genre in determining the representative strategies of individual texts.
    [Show full text]
  • Inconceivable Beasts: E Wonders of the East in the Beowulf Manuscript
    Inconceivable Beasts: !e Wonders of the East in the Beowulf Manuscript Mittman.indb 1 1/31/13 4:43:26 PM MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE TEXTS AND STUDIES VOLUME 433 Mittman.indb 2 1/31/13 4:43:26 PM Inconceivable Beasts: !e Wonders of the East in the Beowulf Manuscript Asa Simon Mittman Department of Art and Art History, California State University, Chico and Susan M. Kim Department of English, Illinois State University Tempe, Arizona 2013 Mittman.indb 3 1/31/13 4:43:26 PM Published by ACMRS (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies), Tempe, Arizona. ©2013 Arizona Board of Regents for Arizona State University. All Rights Reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from the Millard Meiss Publication Fund of the College Art Association ∞ This book is made to last. It is set in Adobe Caslon Pro, smyth-sewn and printed on acid-free paper to library specifications. Printed in the United States of America Mittman.indb 4 1/31/13 4:43:26 PM To Christina von Nolcken and Suzanne Lewis: Thank you for teaching and inspiring us. Mittman.indb 5 1/31/13 4:43:26 PM Mittman.indb 6 1/31/13 4:43:26 PM T C List of Figures ix Acknowledgments xiii 1. Introduction: Conceiving of the Inconceivable 1 2. The Wonders of the East 25 Unworthy Bodies: Editing the Female Wonders of the East Foliation Chart Facsimile Transcription and Literal Translation Translation 3. The Dittology of the Tripled Double Men 73 4.
    [Show full text]
  • “Sitte Ge Sigewif, Sigað to Eorðe”: Settling the Anglo-Saxon Bee Charm Within Its Christian Manuscript Context
    https://doi.org/10.7592/Incantatio2018_7_O’Connor “SITTE GE SIGEWIF, SIGAÐ TO EORÐE”: SETTLING THE ANGLO-SAXON BEE CHARM WITHIN ITS CHRISTIAN MANUSCRIPT CONTEXT. Patricia O’Connor The Anglo-Saxon Bee Charm is one of a select number of Old English charms that were previously described as being “strange companions” to the Old English Bede (Grant 5). Written in the outer margin of page 182 of Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 41 (CCCC41), the Bee Charm accompanies a passage from Chapter XVII of Book III of the Old English Bede which narrates the consecration of a monastic site. Curiously, however, the Bee Charm’s connection to this passage of the Old English Bede and its influence on our reading of this important text has hitherto been inadequately addressed. Consequently, the objective of this article is to critically reconsider the Bee Charm within its immediate manuscript context and to highlight and evaluate the correspondences shared between the Anglo-Saxon charm and the adjacent passage of the Old English Bede. This codi- cological reassessment seeks to present a new interpretation of the Anglo-Saxon Bee Charm through encouraging a more inclusive reading experience of CCCC41, which incorporates both the margins and the central text. In doing so, this study endeavours to offer significant insights into the function of theBee Charm within Anglo-Saxon society and to contribute to our understanding of how these charms were perceived and circulated within late Anglo-Saxon England. Keywords: Marginalia, Bees, Old English Bede, New Philology, Old English Literature, Palaeography, Scribal Practices. The Anglo-Saxon Bee Charm is one of a number of interesting texts that were inserted anonymously into the margins of a well-known manuscript witness of the Old English Bede.
    [Show full text]
  • 51St International Congress on Medieval Studies
    51st lntemational Congress on Medieval Studies May 12-15,2016 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies May 12–15, 2016 Medieval Institute College of Arts and Sciences Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5432 wmich.edu/medieval 2016 Table of Contents Welcome Letter iii Registration iv-v On-Campus Housing vi Off-Campus Accommodations vii Travel viii Driving and Parking ix Food x-xi Campus Shuttles xii Construction xiii Hotel Shuttles xiv Hotel Shuttle Schedules xv Facilities xvi Logistics xvii Varia xviii Lecture/Performance xix Exhibits Hall xx Exhibitors xxi Plenary Lectures xxii Advance Notice—2017 Congress xxiii The Congress: How It Works xxiv Travel Awards xxv Richard Rawlinson Center xxvi Center for Cistercian and Monastic Studies xxvii M.A. Program in Medieval Studies xxviii Medieval Institute Affiliated Faculty xxix Medieval Institute Publications xxx–xxxi About Western Michigan University xxxii Endowment and Gift Funds xxxiii The Otto Gründler Book Prize xxxiv 2016 Congress Schedule of Events 1–175 Index of Sponsoring Organizations 177–183 Index of Participants 185–205 List of Advertisers A-1 Advertising A-2 – A-48 Maps M-1 – M-7 ii The Medieval Institute College of Arts and Sciences Dear Colleague, Summer passed with the Call for Papers; fall came with a change of colors to Kalamazoo and the organization of sessions; we are now in winter here at Western Michigan University, starting to look forward to the spring and the arrival of you, our fellow medievalists, to the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies. The Valley III cafeteria and adjoining rooms will host booksellers and vendors; cafeteria meals will be served in Valley II’s dining hall.
    [Show full text]
  • Gerald Dyson
    CONTEXTS FOR PASTORAL CARE: ANGLO-SAXON PRIESTS AND PRIESTLY BOOKS, C. 900–1100 Gerald P. Dyson PhD University of York History March 2016 3 Abstract This thesis is an examination and analysis of the books needed by and available to Anglo-Saxon priests for the provision of pastoral care in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Anglo-Saxon priests are a group that has not previously been studied as such due to the scattered and difficult nature of the evidence. By synthesizing previous scholarly work on the secular clergy, pastoral care, and priests’ books, this thesis aims to demonstrate how priestly manuscripts can be used to inform our understanding of the practice of pastoral care in Anglo-Saxon England. In the first section of this thesis (Chapters 2–4), I will discuss the context of priestly ministry in England in the tenth and eleventh centuries before arguing that the availability of a certain set of pastoral texts prescribed for priests by early medieval bishops was vital to the provision of pastoral care. Additionally, I assert that Anglo- Saxon priests in general had access to the necessary books through means such as episcopal provision and aristocratic patronage and were sufficiently literate to use these texts. The second section (Chapters 5–7) is divided according to different types of priestly texts and through both documentary evidence and case studies of specific manuscripts, I contend that the analysis of individual priests’ books clarifies our view of pastoral provision and that these books are under-utilized resources in scholars’ attempts to better understand contemporary pastoral care.
    [Show full text]
  • Downloaded1 from Brill.Com09/28/2021 08:16:42AM Via Free Access 542 Rauer
    Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik 77 (�0�7) 54�–558 brill.com/abag Early Mercian Text Production: Authors, Dialects, and Reputations Christine Rauer University of St Andrews, UK [email protected] Abstract There are suggestions that King Alfred’s legendary literary renaissance may have been a reaction to the efforts of the neighbouring kingdom of Mercia. According to Asser, Alfred assembled a group of literary scholars from this rival Mercian tradition at his court. But it is not clear what early literary activities these scholars could have been involved in to justify their pre-Alfredian reputation. This article tries to outline the historical and literary evidence for early Mercian text production, and the impor- tance of this ‘other’ early literary corpus. What is our current knowledge of Mercian text production and the political and literary relationship of Mercia with Canterbury? What was the relationship of Alfred’s educational movement with its Mercian forerun- ner? Why is modern scholarship better informed about Alfred’s movement than any Mercian rival culture? If our current knowledge of this area is insufficient for the writ- ing of a literary history of Mercia, a provisional list of texts and bibliography, published electronically for convenient updating, may prove useful in the meantime. Keywords Old English literature – Anglo-Saxon history – ethnicity – borders – Old English dialects – text production – King Alfred – authorship * An earlier version of this paper was presented to the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists (ISAS, Glasgow, 2015). I am grateful for the feedback received from members of ISAS and the Vereniging van Oudgermanisten. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi �0.��63/�87567�9-��34009Downloaded� from Brill.com09/28/2021 08:16:42AM via free access 542 Rauer 1 Alfredian Evidence for Mercian Literary Culture That King Alfred claims to have initiated an educational Renaissance is well known.
    [Show full text]
  • The Visual Craft of Old English Verse: Mise-En-Page in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts
    The visual craft of Old English verse: mise-en-page in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts Rachel Ann Burns UCL PhD in English Language and Literature 1 I, Rachel Ann Burns confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Rachel Ann Burns 2 Table of Contents Abstract 8 Acknowledgements 10 Abbreviations 12 List of images and figures 13 List of tables 17 CHAPTER ONE: Introduction 18 Organisation of the page 26 Traditional approaches to Old English verse mise-en-page 31 Questions and hypotheses 42 Literature review and critical approaches 43 Terminology and methodologies 61 Full chapter plan 68 CHAPTER TWO: Demarcation of the metrical period in the Latin verse texts of Anglo-Saxon England 74 Latin verse on the page: classical and late antiquity 80 Latin verse in early Anglo-Saxon England: identifying sample sets 89 New approach 92 Identifying a sample set 95 Basic results from the sample set 96 Manuscript origins and lineation 109 Order and lineation: acrostic verse 110 3 Order and lineation: computistical verse and calendars 115 Conclusions from the sample set 118 Divergence from Old English 119 Learning Latin in Anglo-Saxon England: the ‘shape’ of verse 124 Contrasting ‘shapes’: Latin and Old English composition 128 Hybrid layouts, and the failure of lineated Old English verse 137 Correspondences with Latin rhythmic verse 145 Conclusions 150 CHAPTER THREE: Inter-word Spacing in Beowulf and the neurophysiology of scribal engagement with Old English verse 151 Thesis and hypothesis 152 Introduction of word-spacing in the Latin West 156 Previous scholarship on the significance of inter-word spacing 161 Robert D.
    [Show full text]
  • Iron-Clad Evidence in Early Mediaeval Dialectology: Old English Ïsern, Ïsen, and Ïren
    Iron-Clad Evidence in Early Mediaeval Dialectology: Old English ïsern, ïsen, and ïren Nearly a quarter of a century ago, Helmut Gneuss argued that the standard variety of late West Saxon Old English originated at Winchester. In discussing his methodology, he predicted the direction of future research. In the future, I think, one may confidently expect significant findings … from the study of word usage and word geography; the project of a new, comprehensive Old English dictionary, to be based on computer-made concordances of all Old English texts … is a decisive step in this direction.1 Gneuss identifies two major developments in philological and linguistic research: the exploration of ‘word usage and word geography’ and the adoption of new research methodologies and techniques. Both of these issues are relevant to the subject of this paper, an examination of the usage and geographical distribution of the three forms of the Old English word for ‘iron’: ïsern, ïsen, and ïren. The aim of the study is to provide a contribution to the canon of new dialect criteria which will become available as a result of the increasing use of electronic text searches and which may, once it has grown large enough, provide a new basis for our understanding of the Old English dialects. Although a number of early studies have looked at word dialectology in Old English, the greatest body of evidence in the philological canon is phonological and morphological.2 However, since Gneuss’ prediction, a number of tools have become or are becoming available which are set to place a new emphasis in research on the lexical history of early English.
    [Show full text]
  • Liturgy As History: the Origins of the Exeter Martyrology
    ORE Open Research Exeter TITLE Liturgy as history: the origins of the Exeter martyrology AUTHORS Hamilton, S JOURNAL Traditio: Studies in Ancient and Medieval History, Thought, and Religion DEPOSITED IN ORE 01 November 2019 This version available at http://hdl.handle.net/10871/39448 COPYRIGHT AND REUSE Open Research Exeter makes this work available in accordance with publisher policies. A NOTE ON VERSIONS The version presented here may differ from the published version. If citing, you are advised to consult the published version for pagination, volume/issue and date of publication 1 Liturgy as History: The Origins of the Exeter Martyrology Sarah Hamilton, University of Exeter Abstract Through an Anglo-Norman case study, this article highlights the value of normative liturgical material for scholars interested in the role which saints’ cults played in the history and identity of religious communities. The records of Anglo-Saxon cults are largely the work of Anglo-Norman monks. Historians exploring why this was the case have therefore concentrated upon hagiographical texts about individual Anglo-Saxon saints composed in and for monastic communities in the post-Conquest period. This article shifts the focus away from the monastic to those secular clerical communities which did not commission specific accounts, and away from individual cults, to uncover the potential of historical martyrologies for showing how such secular communities remembered and understood their own past through the cult of saints. Exeter Cathedral Library, Ms 3518, is a copy of the martyrology by the ninth-century Frankish monk, Usuard of Saint-Germain-des-Prés , written in and for Exeter cathedral’s canons in the mid-twelfth century.
    [Show full text]
  • Towns in Anglo-Saxon England
    From Dark Earth to Domesday: Towns in Anglo-Saxon England Author: David Crane Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104070 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2014 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. Boston College The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Department of History FROM DARK EARTH TO DOMESDAY: TOWNS IN ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND a dissertation by David D. Crane submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May, 2014 © copyright by DAVID DANIEL CRANE 2014 Dissertation Abstract From Dark Earth to Domesday: Towns in Anglo-Saxon England David D. Crane Robin Fleming, Advisor 2014 The towns that the Norman invaders found in England in 1066 had far longer and far more complex histories than have often been conveyed in the historiography of the Anglo-Saxon period. This lack of depth is not surprising, however, as the study of the towns of Anglo-Saxon England has long been complicated by a dearth of textual sources and by the work of influential historians who have measured the urban status of Anglo-Saxon settlements using the attributes of late medieval towns as their gage. These factors have led to a schism amongst historian regarding when the first towns developed in Anglo-Saxon England and about which historical development marks the beginning of the continuous history of the English towns. This dissertation endeavors to apply new evidence and new methodologies to questions related to the development, status, and nature of Anglo-Saxon urban communities in order to provide a greater insight into their origins and their evolutionary trajectories.
    [Show full text]