Anglo-Saxon England (No. 28)

This volume is framed by articles that throw interesting light on the achievement and reputation of the greatest of Anglo-Saxon kings - Alfred. It opens with a wide-ranging study of the literary and archaeological evidence for the novel design of Alfred’s ships, design which in later times led to his being regarded as the father of the English navy. The book closes with a survey of the development of the Alfredian legend from the tenth to the twentieth century, with material drawn from a wide variety of different sources, including art and literature, much of which may be unfamiliar to students of Anglo-Saxon England. Between these two articles on King Alfred lies a variety of studies which illustrate Anglo-Saxon England’s aim of encouraging the interdisciplinary study of surviving records. The usual comprehensive bibliography of the previous year’s publications in all branches of Anglo-Saxon studies rounds off the book.

• Published in the 1100th anniversary year of the death of King Alfred • Encouraged interdisciplinary study of surviving records • Includes the invaluable annual bibliography

List of illustrations; 1. King Alfred’s ships: text and context M. J. Swanton; 2. What use are the Thorkelin transcripts of Beowulf? Johan Gerritsen; 3. The iconography of the Utrecht Psalter and the Old English Descent into Hell Jessica Brantley; 4. Anti-Judaism in Ælfric’s Lives of Saints Andrew P. Scheil; 5. The earliest texts with English and French David W. Porter; 6. Unfulfilled promise: the rubrics of the Old English prose Genesis Benjamin C. Withers; 7. The West Saxon Gospels and the gospel-lectionary in Anglo-Saxon England: manuscript evidence and liturgical practice Ursula Lenker; 8. The scribe of the Paris Psalter Richard Emms; 9. The Office of the Trinity in the Crowland Psalter (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Douce 296) Barbara C. Raw; 10. Hereward and Flanders Elisabeth van Houts; 11. The cult of King Alfred Simon Keynes; Bibliography for 1998 Debby Banham, Carl T. Berkhout, Carole P. Biggam, Mark Blackburn and Simon Keynes.