Anglo-Saxon England (No. 26)

In the present volume, the two essays that frame the book provide exciting insight into the mental world of the Anglo-Saxons by showing on the one hand how they understood the processes of reading and assimilating knowledge and, on the other, how they conceived of time and the passage of the seasons. In the field of art history, two essays treat two of the best-known Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. The lavish symbol pages in the ‘Book of Durrow’ are shown to reflect a programmatic exposition of the meaning of Easter, and a posthumous essay by a distinguished art historian shows how the Anglo-Saxon illustrations added to the ‘Galba Psalter’ are best to be understood in the context of the programme of learning instituted by King Alfred. 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. Rœdan, areccan, smeagan: how the Anglo-Saxons read M. B. Parkes; 2. The Book of Durrow and the question of programme Martin Werner; 3. The liturgy of St Willibrord Yitzhak Hen; 4. The case for a West Saxon minuscule Julia Crick; 5. Power, skill and virtue in the Old English Boethius Nicole Guenther Discenza; 6. The Galba Psalter: pictures, texts and context in an early medieval prayerbook Robert Deshman; 7. On the date, provenance and relationship of the ‘Solomon and Saturn’ dialogues Patrick P. O’Neill; 8. The origin and development of the Anglo-Saxon Pychomachia illustrations Gernot R. Wieland; 9. Lost in translation: omission of episodes in some Old English prose saints\' legends E. Gordon Whatley; 10. ‘Evil Tongues’: a previously unedited Old English sermon David and Ian McDougall; 11. The seasons of the year in Old English Earl R. Anderson; 12. Bibliography for 1996 Carl T. Berkhout, Carole P. Biggam, Mark Blackburn, Debby Banham, Alexander Rumble and Simon Keynes.