Anglo-Saxon England (No. 25)

Material evidence brought to light in this book includes a niello disc from Limpsfield Grange (Surrey) and two fragments of a composite Old English homily discovered in Westminster Abbey. Many previously accepted scholarly positions are reassessed and challenged. A comprehensive assessment of the palaeography of the Exeter Book situates it in the context of late tenth-century book production, and shows that there are no grounds for thinking that the manuscript originated in Exeter itself and that its origin must as yet remain unknown. As always, the interpretation of Old English poetry figures largely in this book. One of the most intriguing of the Old English riddles is explained convincingly. The influence of Aldhelm’s Latin poetry on Old English verse is also convincingly demonstrated. The usual comprehensive bibliography of the previous year’s publications rounds off the book; and a full index of the contents of volumes 1–25 is provided, with a separate index to volumes 21–25. (Previous indexes have appeared in volumes 5, 10, 15 and 20.)

List of illustrations; 1. Record of the seventh conference of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists, at Stanford University, 6–12 August 1995; 2. The blood of Abel and the branches of sin: Genesis A, Maxims I and Aldhelm’s Carmen de uirginitate Charles D. Wright; 3. Regula canonicorum or Regula monasterialis uitae? The Rule of Chrodegang and Archbishop Wulfred’s reforms at Canterbury Brigitte Langefeld; 4. The originality of the Old English gloss of the Vespasian Psalter and its relation to the gloss of the Junius Psalter Phillip Pulsiano; 5. The Limpsfield Grange disc Elizabeth Okasha and Susan Youngs; 6. Traditions concerning Jamnes and Mambres in Anglo-Saxon England Frederick M. Biggs and Thomas N. Hall; 7. The author of the Fonthill Letter Mark Boynton and Susan Reynolds; 8. Palaces or minsters? Northampton and Cheddar reconsidered John Blair; 9. The advent of poetry: Christ I Edward B. Irving Jr; 10. The origin of the Exeter Book of Old English poetry Richard Gameson; 11. Exeter Book Riddle 57 (55) - a double solution? Audrey L. Meaney; 12. An Old English fragment from Westminster Abbey R. I. Page; 13. The glosses on Bede’s De temporum ratione attributed to Byrhtferth of Ramsey Michael Gorman; 14. Bibliography for 1995 Lesley J. Abrams, Carl T. Berkhout, Mark Blackburn, Debby Banham, Alexander Rumble and Simon Keynes; Index to volumes 21–25; Index of contents, volumes 1–25.