Interlace and Early Britain Joanna M
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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2010 Interlace and Early Britain Joanna M. Beall Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES INTERLACE AND EARLY BRITAIN By JOANNA M. BEALL A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2010 The members of the committee approve the dissertation of Joanna M. Beall defended on March 24, 2010. __________________________________________ David. F. Johnson Professor Directing Dissertation __________________________________________ Lori Walters University Representative __________________________________________ Bruce Boehrer Committee Member __________________________________________ Eugene Crook Committee Member Approved: Nancy Bradley Warren Committee Member _______________________________________ Kathleen Yancey, Chair, Department of English The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members. ii I dedicate this to My Parents iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am glad of this opportunity to express my appreciation for the wisdom and patience of all my Committee Members. Thank you, Dr. Johnson, for your high standards as a medievalist, and also for understanding my independence–while always giving the right advice, or asking the right questions, at the right time. Thank you, Dr. Walters, for your knowledge of interlace and your encouragement; and Professor Crook for knowing so much about all things medieval, especially with regard to religion. Thanks also to Dr. Warren and Dr. Boehrer for being helpful and pleasant over the years. My gratitude is also due to Professor Jeremy Smith at Glasgow University, who supervised my MPhil. studies, including the first version of what appears here as Chapter 5, on the Lindisfarne Gospels. You are all wonderful models as scholars and teachers: I hope, in my brief turn, to follow your examples. I am indebted, as well, to the moral support of my family in England, and their encouragement to continue in my studies. I also owe much to a dear friend–Trixie was the best little dog in the world, and she stayed by me through it all: "Little Lamb, God bless thee!"1 1Blake, William. "The Lamb." Songs of Innocence and Experience. Romanticism: An Anthology. Ed. Duncan Wu. London: Blackwell, 1994. 56. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables........................................................................................................................................................vi List of Figures.....................................................................................................................................................vii Abstract................................................................................................................................................................viii 1. INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................................1 2. CONTEXT-TEXTILE-TEXT: TRANSMISSION OF INTERLACE TO GREAT BRITAIN...................................................................................................................................................8 3. HISTORICAL SURVEY: THE LINGUISTIC AND LITERARY CONTEXTS OF INTERLACE IN EARLY BRITAIN..........................................................................................................31 4. SCHOLARLY ANALYSES OF INTERLACE IN OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE........................53 5. INTERLACE AND THE LINDISFARNE GOSPELS............................................................................81 6. INTERLACE AND ENGLISH STONE CROSSES..............................................................................104 7. INTERLACE AND "THE DREAM OF THE ROOD".........................................................................131 7.1 The Dream of the Rood........................................................................................................................154 7.2 The Dream of the Rood (Translation).................................................................................................158 7.3 Outline of Scenes in “The Dream of the Rood,” According to Huppe...........................................162 8. CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................164 APPENDICES A. GLOSSARY OF TERMS ASSOCIATED WITH WEAVING............................................................167 B. TABLES SHOWING DEVELOPMENTS IN WEAVING...................................................................176 WORKS CITED..........................................................................................................................................181 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH...........................................................................................................................193 v LIST OF TABLES 2.1 Weaving in the Stone Age.........................................................................................................................176 2.2 Weaving in the Bronze Age ......................................................................................................................177 2.3 Weaving in the Iron Age ............... ...........................................................................................................178 2.4 Weaving in the Roman Era .......................................................................................................................179 2.5 Weaving in the Post-Roman Age..............................................................................................................180 4.1 Techniques and Their Purposes in Interlace–After Bartlett......................................................................78 4.2 Techniques and Their Purposes in Interlace– After Leyerle.....................................................................79 4.3 Techniques and Their Purposes in Interlace– After Vinaver..................................................................80 vi LIST OF FIGURES 2.1 Illustrations Showing Weaving Patterns from Anglo-Saxon England, and a Weaving Sword..............................................................................................................................................................28 2.2 Roman Mosaic from Hinton St. Mary, Dorset.............................................................................29 2 3 Map Showing Viking Insurgency and Settlement in Britain and Europe, 700-941 ..............................30 5.1 Map Showing Northern Dioceses 700-850................................................................................................99 5.2 The First St. Matthew Incipit Page of the Lindisfarne Gospels, f. 27r..................................................100 5.3 The St. John Incipit Page of the Lindisfarne Gospels, f. 211r................................................................101 5.4 Zoomorphic Bronze Mask from Late Shang China.................................................................................102 5.5 Crowned Zoomorph: Bronze Finial from Late Shang China.................................................................103 6.1 Christ Acclaimed by Two Animals–On Two Crosses............................................................................125 6.2 The Ruthwell Cross, Engraving After Drawings by Henry Duncan, 1833...........................................126 6.3 Illustrations of the Bewcastle Cross by W. G. Collingwood..................................................................127 6.4 Illustrations of the North Sandbach Cross................................................................................................128 6.5 Illustrations of the South Sandbach Cross................................................................................................129 6.6 Illustrations of the Gosforth Cross by W. G. Collingwood ...................................................................130 7.1 Map Showing Viking Settlement in 9th-10th Century England.............................................................163 vii ABSTRACT This dissertation presents an interdisciplinary approach to the understanding of interlace in Britain, while arguing that the Anglo-Saxons utilized the device as an instrument for uniting British cultures under Christianity. Interlace is firstly defined in terms of weaving; and its inception and evolution into other crafts, including literature, is summarized. The paths by which interlace is known to have reached Britain are thus identified, and reasons for its use are considered. The study then concentrates on development of interlace within the socio-historical and linguistic contexts of Great Britain, which help to identify the characteristics of the genre that emerges. Focus on those elements is refined by analysis and interpretation of interlace in the manuscript art of The Lindisfarne Gospels (BL, Cotton Nero Div, f. 27), and on stone crosses at Ruthwell, Bewcastle, Sandbach, and Gosforth. Finally, the text of the late tenth century poem, The Dream of the Rood, is analyzed as interlace and interpreted under the lens of its religio-political and historical contexts. viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The Celts who migrated to Great Britain after the