Anglo-Saxon England (No. 11)

Several unusual fields of study are extensively explored in this volume: a distinctive politico-religious cult, penitentials, inscriptions, the Sutton Hoo whetstone and medical knowledge; while treatments of more ‘standard’ subjects like late Anglo-Saxon law, King Alfred’s Boethius and Beowulf, lead to unusual conclusions. A phenomenon special to Anglo-Saxon England is given a full and separate treatment in a careful and imaginative analysis of the ecclesiastical and political significance of the cults of murdered royal saints. Elizabeth Okasha’s Hand-List which has been indispensable to any work on Anglo-Saxon non-runic inscriptions for some time has been refreshed by the description and illustration of twenty-six additional items and by other addenda and corrigenda. The usual comprehensive bibliography of the previous year’s publications in all branches of Anglo-Saxon studies rounds off the book.

List of illustrations; 1. The cults of murdered royal saints in Anglo-Saxon England D. W. Rollason; 2. The tradition of penitentials in Anglo-Saxon England Allen J. Frantzen; 3. Cnut\'s law code of 1018 A. G. Kennedy; 4. A supplement to Hand-List of Anglo-Saxon Non-Runic Inscriptions Elisabeth Okasha; 5. The Sutton Hoo whetstone sceptre: a study in iconography and cultural milieu Michael J. Enright; 6. The sources of medical knowledge in Anglo-Saxon England M. L. Cameron; 7. King Alfred\'s Boethius and its Latin sources: a reconsideration Joseph S. Wittig; 8. ‘Warriors\' in Beowulf: an analysis of the nominal compounds and an evaluation of the poet\'s use of them Caroline Brady; 9. The formative stages of Beowulf textual scholarship: part I Birte Kelly; 10. Bibliography for 1981 Carl T. Berkhout, Martin Biddle, T. J. Brown, Peter A. Clayton, C. R. E. Coutts and Simon Keynes.