Anglo-Saxon England (No. 19)

The principal emphasis of this book is the relationship between England and its neighbours in the pre-Conquest period. It brings together fresh information of England’s place in the early medieval world, with essays concentrating on finance and trade, travel, learning and education. A detailed analysis of the Old English vocabulary for money and wealth shows different usage over two centuries reflects a developing awareness, particularly on the part of Ælfric, of the relationship between wealth and power. Medical recipes in Bald’s Leechbook, which stipulate the use of exotic spices from Arabia, have stimulated a fascinating essay on how these ingredients may have made their way from Arabia and the Mediterranean to England. Other essays in this wide-ranging book examine the Old English Rune Poem in the context of its two later Scandinavian analogues; the use in England of Jerome’s Hebracium translation of the psalter; and the study in English schools of the difficult verse of Abbo of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The usual comprehensive bibliography of the previous year’s publications in all branches of Anglo-Saxon studies rounds off the book.

List of illustrations; Editors\' preface; 1. Record of the fourth conference of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists, at Durham, 7–11 August 1989; 2. Bald\'s Leechbook and cultural interactions in Anglo-Saxon England M. L. Cameron; 3. Place-names as a reflection of cultural interaction Gillian Fellows-Jensen; 4. The Anglo-Saxon and Norse Rune Poems: a comparative study Margaret Clunies Ross; 5. Money, power and morality in late Anglo-Saxon England M. R. Godden; 6. Hebrew and the Hebraicum in late Anglo-Saxon England Sarah Larratt Keefer and David R. Burrows; 7. England and Aquitaine in the century before the Norman Conquest George Beech; 8. Oaks, ships, riddles and the Old English Rune Poem Paul Sorrell; 9. Bones of contention: the context of Ælfric\'s homily on St Vincent Susan E. Irvine; 10. The Abbo glossary in London, British Library, Cotton Domitian i Patrizia Lendinara; 11. The production of de luxe manuscripts and the patronage of King Cnut and Queen Emma T. A. Heslop; 12. Archbishop Sigeric’s journey to Rome in 990 Veronica Ortenberg; 13. Bibliography for 1989 Carl T. Berkhout, Martin Biddle, Mark Blackburn, Sarah Foot, Alexander Rumble and Simon Keynes.