|
Date |
Title |
Discussion questions |
Readings |
Book report |
|
Aug. 29 |
Introduction |
|
|
|
|
Aug. 31 |
King Arthur |
|
|
|
|
Sept. 5 |
Romans, Irish, and
Picts |
How are the Romans portrayed by Gildas and
Bede? What about the Picts and Scots? What is the relationship of all these people
to each other? What biases do Gildas and
Bede have when writing about them? |
Blair pp. 1-6 Gildas, De
Excidio Britanniae, chs.
3-22: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/gildas-full.html Bede, Ecclesiastical
History, Book I.1-14 |
|
|
Sept. 7 |
The Anglo-Saxon
'invasion'? |
Read Gildas and Bede first, if possible. How would you write the history of the
Anglo-Saxon arrival based on these two texts? How
does your version compare with Blair's? |
Blair pp. 6-54 Gildas, De
Excidio Britanniae, chs.
23-26: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/gildas-full.html Bede, Ecclesiastical
History, Book I. 15-22 |
|
|
Sept. 12 |
The Anglo-Saxon
settlement |
Everyone read the article by Hills; then
also read the article that you have been assigned.
On which side of the argument about Anglo-Saxon
settlement, outlined by Hills, does your author fall?
On what evidence does he/she base his/her argument? You will have to go to the library to read
your individual article; please do not check out the book without
discussing it with the other person who is also reading your article. |
Everyone read: Hills,
Catherine. "Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon
England," History Today 40
(1990): 46-52. [note: use your IU username and password] Read article
you are assigned: Dumville, David N.
"Sub-Roman Britain: History and Legend", History 62 (1977): 173-92. Wells D1 .H6: Bare,
Cook Yorke, Barbara,
"Fact or Fiction? The Written Evidence for
the fifth and sixth centuries," Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology
and History 6 (1993):
45-50. Wells DA155. A65: Moore,
Popplewell Kleinschmidt, H. "Beyond Conventionality. Recent Work on the
Germanic Migration to the British Isles", Studi Medievali, 3rd ser. 36 (1995):
975-1010. Wells PN661 .S93: Short, Smith Wood, Ian. "Before
and After the Migration to Britain", in The Anglo-Saxons from the
Migration period to the Eighth Century: an Ethnographic Perspective, ed. J. Hines (1997), pp. 41-54. Wells DA152 .A729 1997: Reynolds, Sabelhaus Hines, J. "The
Becoming of the English: Identity, Material Culture and Language in
Early Anglo-Saxon England", Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and
History 7 (1994), pp.
49-59. Wells DA155. A65: Springer,
Storrs |
Hooke, Della. The landscape of Anglo-Saxon England |
|
Sept. 14 |
Old English and
its literature |
Everything you read in this class is read
in modern English translation. You have
already read some Bede, which was written in Latin (as was Gildas); the
texts for this week were written in Old English. What
sort of a society do they represent? Do
you feel that they give you a better picture of society than Gildas and
Bede? |
Blair pp. 301-311,
329-349 Review Beowulf if you have already read it In The
Anglo-Saxon World, read
the following: The Wanderer, The
Wife's Lament, The Ruin, The Dream of the Rood, and "Thirty-One Riddles".
Note that each section in this book has an introduction;
you will probably get more out of the texts if you read the
introductions. Note also that solutions to
the riddles are found at the end! |
Hill, John M. The Anglo-Saxon warrior ethic: reconstructing
lordship in Early English literature. |
|
Sept. 19 |
Early Anglo-Saxon
life: West Stow |
How much do we really know about
Anglo-Saxon daily life? Are you convinced
by the conclusions of archaeology? |
Blair pp. 245-276 Hamerow, Helena. "The archaeology of early Anglo-Saxon
settlements: past, present and future." In
Landscapes of Change: Rural Evolutions in Late Antiquity and
the Early Middle Ages, ed.
Neil Christie, pp. 301-316. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004.
Wells GF90 .L383 2004 |
Pollington,
Stephen. The mead hall: the
feasting tradition in Anglo-Saxon England. |
|
Sept. 21 |
The Conversion to
Christianity |
According to Bede, what are the reasons
that the Anglo-Saxons converted or did not convert to Christianity? How do the articles you read (including Blair)
argue or attempt to debunk this view? |
Blair pp. 116-141 Bede, Ecclesiastical
History, I. 23-34, II. 2-16 Wood, Ian N. "The Mission of St. Augustine to the English,"
Speculum 69 (1994): 1-17. Oncourse |
|
|
Sept. 26 |
Sutton Hoo |
Martin Carver offers a rather passionate
reading of the burials at Sutton Hoo in both of his pieces. Given what was found there, especially
in Mound 1, do you agree with his assessment of religion, politics,
economics, etc. in his interpretation of the graves? |
Read information
on the British
Museum website regarding Sutton Hoo, and look at the items found
in Mound 1 (when you are at the Compass website, search for "Sutton
Hoo") Read in The
Anglo-Saxon World the following part of Beowulf: pp. 150-154. Carver, M. O. H. C. Sutton hoo: Burial
Ground of Kings?,
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998, pp. 107-136.
Oncourse Carver, Martin. "Burial as poetry: the context of treasure in
Anglo-Saxon graves." In Treasure in
the Medieval West, ed.
Elizabeth M. Tyler, pp. 25-48. York: York
Medieval Press, 2000. Oncourse; read
esp. pp. 31 forward |
Lucy, Sam. The Anglo-Saxon way of death: burial
rites in early England. |
|
Sept. 28 |
Kingship and
society |
Based on what you read in the texts and
what we have talked about for archaeology, how might you expect to see
some of these specific class distinctions expressed in burial? |
Blair pp. 194-222,
257-76 Read the Laws
of Aethelberht, King of Kent. Note
that there is a glossary at the bottom of this webpage. Campbell, J. "Early Anglo-Saxon Society According to the
Written Sources." In Essays in
Anglo-Saxon History
(London: Hambledon, 1986), pp. 131-8. Oncourse |
Arnold, C. J. An archaeology of the early Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms. |
|
Oct. 3 |
The Northumbrian
Renaissance: meet at the Lilly Library |
How do the Lindisfarne Gospels and the
Ruthwell Cross represent a fusion of learning and art?
How do you feel this link would be perceived by the
average person? |
Blair pp. 142-162,
311-329 Look at the Lindisfarne
Gospels ("Pinnacle of Anglo-Saxon Art"; play the audio as you look
at each page) online Look at the Franks
Casket online (go to British
Museum Compass, and search "Franks Casket") Read about the Ruthwell
Cross online |
|
|
Oct. 5 |
Bede |
Bede was Anglo-Saxon England's greatest
scholar. Justify this statement, based on
these readings (and the earlier readings you have done by Bede). |
[Blair pp. 311-329] Bede, Ecclesiastical
History, V. 22-24; in the
same book, "Cuthbert's Letter on the Death of Bede" and "Bede's Letter
to Egbert". In The Age of
Bede, read "Bede: Lives of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow" On Oncourse, read some selections from Bede, The
Reckoning of Time(I
apologize that some of the pages in the file are upside-down; let me
know if you have trouble rotating the file) Bonner, Gerald. "Bede: scholar and spiritual teacher." In Northumbria's Golden Age, ed. Jane Hawkes and Susan Mills, pp.
365-370. Stroud: Alan Sutton, 1999. Oncourse |
|
|
Oct. 10 |
Library
research presentation |
Meet in the Main Library, location TBA |
|
|
|
Oct. 12 |
Offa and Mercia |
Was Offa one of Anglo-Saxon England's
greatest kings? Why do you think Blair
covers him in the way that he does? |
Look for Offa in
Blair. Keynes, Simon. "Changing Faces of Offa, King of Mercia," History
Today 40 (1980): 14-19. Oncourse |
|
|
Oct. 17 |
The Anglo-Saxons
and the continent |
Where do Wilfrid, Boniface, and Willibald
go? With whom do they come in contact? What is the impact of their travels back home
in England? |
Blair pp. 162-166 In The Age of
Bede, read Eddius
Stephanus, "Life of Wilfrid" Boniface, Letters, selection, on Oncourse |
Story, Joanna. Carolingian connections: Anglo-Saxon
England and Carolingian Francia, c. 750-870. |
|
Oct. 19 |
The Vikings |
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was begun at the
time of King Alfred in the late ninth century; how does it depict the
Viking raids? Is this different from
Alcuin's take on an early raid? From what
sources does Keynes fill in the picture provided by the ASC? |
Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, read for
the years 776-870 (note: when you get to
799, you will have to click on the link for the "Ninth Century") Anglo-Saxon
World, read "Letter from
Alcuin to Ethelred, King of Northumbria", pp. 185-188. Keynes, Simon. "The Vikings in England," in The Oxford
Illustrated History of the Vikings, ed. P. H. Sawyer (1997), pp. 48-82. Oncourse |
|
|
Oct. 24 |
Alfred |
For what is Alfred famous?
How do you see this differently in his biography and in
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle? |
Blair pp. 75-99,
350-355 Alfred the Great: Read
Asser's Life of Alfred,
preface to the translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care (pp. 124-127), and Extracts from the laws
of King Alfred (pp. 163-170). Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, read for
the years 871-901 |
Fletcher, Richard
A. Bloodfeud: murder
and revenge in Anglo-Saxon England. |
|
Oct. 31 |
Religious reform |
The religious reform was primarily
monastic; how did this reform involve people who were not monks, and
how did monks interact with people outside the monastery? |
Blair pp. 173-193,
356-363 Anglo-Saxon
World, read the "Colloquy"
by Aelfric, pp. 220-227. Regularis
Concordia, selections Oncourse |
Lees, Clare A. and
Gillian R. Overing. Double agents: women
and clerical culture in Anglo-Saxon England. Jolly, Karen
Louise. Popular religion in late Saxon
England: elf charms in context. |
|
Nov. 2 |
Alfred's successors |
From the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, do you get
a sense that Alfred's successors brought peace and unity to England? |
Blair pp. 80-99 Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, read for
the years 902-978. |
|
|
Nov. 7 |
The Danes |
Was Aethelred II to blame for England's
situation? |
Blair pp. 90-104 Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, read for
the years 978-1035. Anglo-Saxon
World:
read "The Battle of Maldon" and "The Battle of
Brunanburh", pp. 11-21 Abels, Richard. "From Alfred to Harold II: the military
failure of the late Anglo-Saxon state." In
The Normans and their Adversaries at War: Essays in Memory of
C. Warren Hollister, ed.
Richard P. Abels and Bernard S. Bachrach, pp. 15-30.
Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer, 2001. Oncourse |
Karkov, Catherine
E. The ruler portraits of
Anglo-Saxon England. |
|
Nov. 14 |
Edward the
Confessor |
Finally, a woman involved in politics! Draw a family tree of Emma, her husbands and
all their sons. |
Blair pp. 104-115 Sheridan, Maia. "Mothers and sons: Emma of Normandy's role in
the English succession crisis, 1035-42." In
Victims or Viragos?,
ed. Christine Meek and Catherine Lawless (Studies on Medieval and Early
Modern Women, 4), pp. 39-48. Dublin: Four
Courts Press, 2005. Oncourse |
|
|
Nov. 16 |
1066 |
William of Normandy was the best candidate
for king of England in 1066: yes or no? |
Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, read for
the years 1057-1067. Have a look at the
Bayeux Tapestry
|
|
|
Nov. 21 |
Aftermath |
How do the authors of the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle distinguish between the old and the new regime?
or do they? |
Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, read for
the years 1067-1099. |
|
|
Nov. 23 |
NO CLASS -
Thanksgiving |
|
|
|
|
Nov. 28 |
Presentations |
|
|
|
|
Nov. 30 |
Presentations |
|
|
|
|
Dec. 5 |
Presentations |
|
|
|
|
Dec. 7 |
Presentations |
|
|
|