Anglo-Saxon England (No. 8)

Through close analysis and careful weighing of evidence the authors of this volume tackle a wide range of questions in Anglo-Saxon history and culture and often arrive at opinions different from those generally accepted. Contributions are made on subjects as diverse as the Anglo-Saxon settlement, early Northumbrian history, the ‘weapon’ vocabulary of Beowulf, world history in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a woman’s stock of clothes in the mid-tenth century and vernacular preaching before Ælfric. Historical studies are represented by an examination of the position of the ætheling in matters of royal succession, by a refutation of the doctrine of muddle in the records of earliest Northumbria and by an identification of the sources of the Chronicle’s knowledge of world history, showing in particular that the compilation of the Chronicle and the composition of the Old English Orosius are not likely to have been closely connected, as has often been thought. 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 ætheling: a study in Anglo-Saxon constitutional history David N. Dumville; 2. The dates of Deira Molly Miller; 3. Bede and the church paintings at Wearmouth-Jarrow Paul Meyvaert; 4. ‘Weapons’ in Beowulf: an analysis of the nominal compounds and an evaluation of the poet\'s use of them Caroline Brady; 5. Cain\'s monstrous progeny in Beowulf: part I, Noachic tradition Ruth Mellinkoff; 6. Cynewulf\'s traditions about the apostles in Fates of the Apostles J. E. Cross; 7. World history in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: its sources and its separateness from the Old English Orosius Janet M. Bately; 8. Wynflæd\'s wardrobe Gale R. Owen; 9. The corpus of vernacular homilies and prose saints\' lives before Ælfric D. G. Scragg; 10. Manuscript evidence for knowledge of the poems of Venantius Fortunatus in late Anglo-Saxon England R. W. Hunt; Appendix: Knowledge of the poems in the earlier period Michael Lapidge; 11. The archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England in the pagan period: a review Catherine Hills; 12. Short titles of Old English texts: addenda and corrigenda Bruce Mitchell, Christopher Ball and Angus Cameron; 13. Bibliography for 1978 Carl T. Berkhout, Martin Biddle, T. J. Brown, Peter A. Clayton and Simon Keynes.