Anglo-Saxon Studies

‘Squabbling siblings: gender and monastic life in late Anglo-Saxon Winchester’, Gender & History 23:3 (2011), 653-684

by Helen Foxhall Forbes

Also printed in Gender and the City before Modernity, pp. 163-94

In early medieval Winchester, three monastic communities were enclosed together in the south-eastern corner of the... more In early medieval Winchester, three monastic communities were enclosed together in the south-eastern corner of the town. By the later Anglo-Saxon period, Old Minster was a monastic cathedral and New Minster and Nunnaminster were monastic communities for men and women respectively. This paper addresses ways in which the three foundations collaborated and co-ordinated with each other and with the city. While gender segregated these communities, both liturgy and the urban context integrated them, as can be seen from the books used and produced by religious men and women in this city in later Anglo-Saxon England. The importance of prayer to the inhabitants of the city and the wider locale can be seen in the documents that request liturgical services – most often prayers and masses – in return for grants of land and other gifts. Ecclesiastical and lay individuals alike allied themselves to these religious houses, seeking commemoration and often also burial in their cemeteries and hoping to benefit spiritually from their prayers. The ways in which gender affected the religious experiences of Winchester's citizens and their consecrated brothers and sisters are complex, but they are also important in understanding how the saints and their servants on earth related to God, to each other and to the surrounding urban space.

Diuiduntur in Quattuor: The Interim and Judgement in Anglo-Saxon England

by Helen Foxhall Forbes

The division of souls in the afterlife into groups of three or four can be found in the works of many patristic and... more The division of souls in the afterlife into groups of three or four can be found in the works of many patristic and medieval authors, drawing on a number of traditions about the fate of the soul in the interim and at judgement. These groupings have often been the subject of confusion, not least because it is sometimes difficult to ascertain whether descriptions of the various groups of souls are intended to refer to the interim or to the judgement. This paper seeks to clarify and explore some of these divisions as they were discussed in Anglo-Saxon England: first in vision accounts by two eighth-century authors, Boniface, a missionary to the Continent, and the Venerable Bede; and secondly in the works of two later authors, Ælfric of Eynsham in the tenth century and Goscelin of Saint-Bertin in the eleventh.

The Byzantine Silver Bowls in the Sutton Hoo Ship Burial and Tree-Worship in Anglo-Saxon England

by Michael Bintley

Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, 21 (2011), 41-52

Aræred in The Dream of the Rood, and the Gospel of St. John

by John Flood

English Language Notes, 36:4 (1999), pp. 1-4

The Role of Bishops in Anglo-Saxon Succession Struggles, 955 x 978

by Dominik Waßenhoven

in: Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Church. From Bede to Stigand, ed. by Alexander R. Rumble. (Publications of the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies 12.) Woodbridge: Boydell, 2012, pp. 97–107.

SEDGEFORD AND WORMEGAY: INSIGHTS INTO THE CHRONOLOGY AND

by Gareth Davies

Origen or Original?: Apocatastasis in Old English Texts

by J. Holder Bennett

A powerpoint presentation on the existence of apocatastasis in Old English sources. A powerpoint presentation on the existence of apocatastasis in Old English sources.

Call for Papers––31st Haskins Society––Boston, November

by Robin Fleming

Au miroir de la violence : Anglais et Scandinaves au début du XIe siècle

by Alban Gautier

published in 'De la mer du Nord à la mer Baltique : identités, contacts et communications au Moyen Âge', Villeneuve d'Ascq, CEGES – Université Lille 3 Charles-de-Gaulle, 2012 (collection de l'IRHiS), pp. 129-142.

Scandinavians and 'vikings' are often presented as particularly violent in Anglo-Saxon sources of the early eleventh... more Scandinavians and 'vikings' are often presented as particularly violent in Anglo-Saxon sources of the early eleventh century. This image is analysed as a mirrored reflection of the Anglo-Saxons' uneasiness about their own place in the 'civilized' Christian world; it is also understood as the result of a conflict of representations between the North/East and the South of England.

Comment Harold prêta serment : circonstances et interprétations d'un rituel politique

by Alban Gautier

published in 'Cahiers de civilisation médiévale', vol. 55/1, 2012, pp. 33-55.

Earl Harold Godwineson’s journey to Normandy and oath to Duke William – as told by several chronicles and the Bayeux... more Earl Harold Godwineson’s journey to Normandy and oath to Duke William – as told by several chronicles and the Bayeux Tapestry – have often been discussed on both sides of the Channel. This article begins with a summary of old and current debates about the circumstances and forms of that oath, along with the motivations for it; it then offers an interpretation. If one takes into account the complex political game which was then played both at the English court and among Northern French princes, one may observe other reasons for Harold’s journey and oath. Instead of reading the ritual of the oath as a political error from the earl, as a trap which he barely escaped, or as a prelude to perjury, it could be interpreted as a moment of grand strategy and political communication, which both contenders did not necessarily understand in the same way.

Writing in Tongues: Mixed Scripts and Style in Insular Art

by Ben Tilghman

from Insular and Anglo-Saxon: Art and Thought in the Early Middle Ages, ed. Column Hourihane (University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2011), 92-108.

“Eldum Unnyt”: Treasure Spaces in Beowulf

by Cameron Hunt McNabb

"Nostalgia, Memory and the Rhetoric of Loss in Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People" in Inquiry: The Undergraduate Research Journal of the University of Arkansas 9 (2008): 92-102.

by John Terry

Morbidity in the Marshes: Using Spatial Epidemiology to Investigate Skeletal Evidence for Malaria in Anglo-Saxon England (AD410-1050).

by Gaynor Western

Gowland, R.L. & Western, A.G. 2012. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 147(2): 301-311.

Wulfstan’s Commonplace Book Revised: the Structure and Development of “Block 7,” on Pastoral Privilege and Responsibility

by Michael Elliot

forthcoming in The Journal of Medieval Latin

The so-called “Commonplace Book” of Archbishop Wulfstan refers to a family of manuscripts that preserves a corpus of... more The so-called “Commonplace Book” of Archbishop Wulfstan refers to a family of manuscripts that preserves a corpus of miscellaneous material ostensibly assembled by Wulfstan in the first two decades of the eleventh century. Despite its immense importance to the field of Anglo-Saxon studies, the Commonplace Book remains poorly understood as a coherent textual entity in its own right. Little is yet known of the conditions of its production or the principles behind its organization. Almost nothing is known about exactly how and by whom (other than Wulfstan) it was used. This study attempts to shed some light on the first two issues, namely the method of production and principles of organization of the Commonplace Book. In considering these issues, some interesting aspects of Wulfstan’s literary and editorial habits are brought to light. Several Latin texts authored by Wulfstan are also edited here for the first time.

New Evidence for the Influence of Gallic Canon Law in Anglo-Saxon England

by Michael Elliot

forthcoming in The Journal of Ecclesiastical History

The importance of canon law collections to Anglo-Saxon legal culture has long been thought negligible, especially in... more The importance of canon law collections to Anglo-Saxon legal culture has long been thought negligible, especially in comparison to the considerable importance of an alternative genre of canonical literature known as the penitential handbook. Over the past several decades, however, evidence for the use and circulation of Continental canon law collections in pre-Conquest England has been mounting, to the extent that it could challenge traditional notions about the dominance of penitential law in the early English Church. This study presents new evidence for the reception in Anglo-Saxon England of a major Continental collection known as the Collectio vetus Gallica.

Through the eyes of the Scop: The poetic figure of the Anglo-Saxon oral poet in'Beowulf

by Matthew Bardowell

Discontinuity in the Northern-Netherlands coastal area at the end of the Roman Period

by Annet Nieuwhof

2011
Published in: Transformations in North-Western
Europe (AD 300-1000)
Proceedings of the 60th Sachsensymposion
19.-23. September 2009 Maastricht

There are indications that inhabitation of the coastal area of the northern Netherlands (Figure 1) came to an end... more There are indications that inhabitation of the coastal area of the northern Netherlands (Figure 1) came to an end during the late Roman Period, and that immigrants from the northeast (‘Anglo-Saxons’) came to occupy the salt marsh area from the end of the fourth century AD onwards. This has already been discussed in various publications.1 However, as yet these ideas have not reached a wide audience beyond the small circle of archaeologists who work in the Dutch coastal area. Moreover, discontinuity is hard to prove from archaeological evidence, while migration is not a popular model to explain change in archaeology, so discontinuity and immigration are still not widely accepted as an explanation of the changes which occurred in this area at the time. This article means to rekindle the discussion on the subject. By presenting it to an international audience, it will hopefully become part of the discussion and research on the changes that occurred in many parts of the North Sea coastal area at the end of the Roman Period and the early Middle Ages, and contribute to a better understanding of these changes.
The arguments from the discussion thus far will be summarised.
The arguments for discontinuity are supported by new evidence from research of the pottery from the inland settlement of Midlaren-De Bloemert. Thereby, it is possible to show what continuity in this area might look like, implicitly showing how we may recognise discontinuity. Finally, the reasons for the break in habitation in this area will be discussed.

The Pœnitentiale Theodori in theological perspective: soteriological aspects of confession according to Theodore of Tarsus

by James Siemens

forthcoming

ABSTRACT

As cosmopolitan a figure as he is, that Theodore of Tarsus may have brought certain Greek... more ABSTRACT

As cosmopolitan a figure as he is, that Theodore of Tarsus may have brought certain Greek theological notions to bear on his archiepiscopal work in Britain would not be an unreasonable assumption. Indeed, work on Theodore and his legacy undertaken over the last twenty years has revealed that, if nothing else, he was an extraordinary synthesiser: evidence for which is plentiful in the penitential that bears his name. Assuming that the Pœnitentiale Theodori represents an authentic record of Theodore’s thought on the nature of sin and its remedy, then the fact that we encounter pastoral motifs drawn from the Christian East is not surprising (albeit a figure like Cassian appears as an influence across the tradition). In any case, of greater interest would be knowing why the learned archbishop not only acceded to the use of penitentials, but became known as a virtual master of penitential teaching in his own time and beyond. Fortunately, the answer to this question need not be so elusive as it once was, for the availability of the Laterculus Malalianus – the one known piece of sustained theological prose left to us by Theodore – serves as a veritable repository of his christological-soteriological conceptions, and as a key to understanding not only his mind on academic theological questions, as if these were somehow distinct from his pastoral work, but his worldview as a whole, and especially as it was borne out in his approach to penitential practice.

The Futures and End of Bede's De temporum ratione

by James Palmer

To be published in P. Darby & F. Wallis (eds.), Bede and the Future (?2013).