Date

Title

Readings

Book report

Aug. 29

Introduction

 

 

Sept. 5

NO CLASS - LABOR DAY

 

 

Sept. 12

The fifth century:  the End of Roman Britain

Gildas, De Excidio Britanniae: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/gildas-full.html

Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book I.1-22.

Sims-Williams, P.  "Gildas and the Anglo-Saxons," (1983), pp. 1-30. 

Sims-Williams, P.  "The Settlement of England in Bede and the Chronicle," (1983), pp. 1-41.

Higham, N. J., King Arthur:  Myth-making and History (2002).

Thompson, E. A., Saint Germanus of Auxerre and the End of Roman Britain (1984).

Sept. 19

The sixth century:  the Anglo-Saxon settlement

Kleinschmidt, H.  "Beyond Conventionality. Recent Work on the Germanic Migration to the British Isles," (1995), pp. 975-1010. 

Hines, J. "The Becoming of the English: Identity, Material Culture and Language in Early Anglo-Saxon England," (1994), pp. 49-59.

Tristram, H.  "Why don't the English speak Welsh?" (2007), pp. 192-214. 

Hills, C. M. "Anglo-Saxon DNA?" (2009), pp. 123-40.

Ward-Perkins, B.  "Why Did the Anglo-Saxons Not Become More British?" (2000), pp. 513-533.

 

Sept. 26

Anglo-Saxon Archaeology

 

Statement of paper topic due

Richards, Julian

Wickham-Crowley, K.  "Looking Forward, Looking Back:  Excavating the Field of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology," (1999), pp. 1-24.

Hamerow, H. "The archaeology of early Anglo-Saxon settlements: past, present and future," (2004), pp. 301-16.

Carver, Martin. "Burial as poetry: the context of treasure in Anglo-Saxon graves," (2000), pp. 25-48.

 

Lucy, Sam.  The Anglo-Saxon way of death:  burial rites in early England (2000).

Carver, M. O. H., Sutton Hoo:  Burial Ground of Kings? (1998).

Pollington, S., Anglo-Saxon burial mounds: princely burial in the 6th & 7th centuries (2008).

Reynolds, Andrew, Anglo-Saxon Deviant Burial Customs (2009).

Oct. 3

Early Anglo-Saxon Society

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," (1986), pp. 131-8. 

HŠrke, H.  "Changing Symbols in a Changing Society:  The Anglo-Saxon Weapon Burial Rite in the Seventh Century,"  (1992), pp. 149-165.

Hadley, D. M. "Negotiating gender, family and status in Anglo-Saxon burial practices, c. 600-950," (2004), pp. 301-23.

Arnold, C. J.  An archaeology of the early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, 2nd ed. (1997).

Oct. 10

Kingship and the Bretwalda question

Yorke, B. "The vocabulary of Anglo-Saxon overlordship," (1981), pp. 171-200.

Wormald, P.  "Bede, the Bretwaldas and the origins of the gens Anglorum,"  (1983), pp. 99-129.

Fanning, S. "Bede, Imperium, and the Bretwaldas," (1991), pp. 1-26.

Dumville, D. "The Terminology of Overkingship in Early Anglo-Saxon England," (1997), pp. 345-65.

Keynes, S.  S.v. "Bretwalda," in The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England (1999), p. 74.  googlebook

Yorke, B.  "The Bretwaldas and the origins of overlordship in Anglo-Saxon England," (2009), pp. 81-96.

Yorke, B., Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England (1990).

Oct. 17

The Conversion to Christianity

 

Preliminary Bibliography due

Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book I. 23-34 and Book II. 2-17

Wood, I. N.  "The Mission of St. Augustine to the English," (1994), pp. 1-17.

Church, S. D. "Paganism in Conversion-Age Anglo-Saxon England: The Evidence of Bede's Ecclesiastical History Reconsidered," (2008), pp. 162-80.

Brooks, N. "From British to English Christianity:  Deconstructing Bede's Interpretation of the Conversion," (2006), pp. 1-30.

Hoggett, R.  "Charting Conversion:  Burial as a Barometer of Belief?" (2007, pp. 28-37).

Carver, M. O. H., Signals of belief in early England:  Anglo-Saxon paganism revisited (2010).

Dunn, M., The Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons, c. 597-700:  discourses of life, death and afterlife (2009).

Yorke, B., The Conversion of Britain:  Religion, Politics and Society in Britain c. 600-800 (2006).

Higham, N. J., The Convert Kings:  Power and Religious Affiliation in Early Anglo-Saxon England (1997).

Foot, S., Monastic life in Anglo-Saxon England, c. 600-900 (2006).

Yorke, B., Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon royal houses (2003).

Oct. 24

Bede and the Northumbrian Renaissance

Look at the Lindisfarne Gospels (Click on "Pinnacle of Anglo-Saxon Art"; play the audio or read "Text" as you look at each page.  Feel free to use the "Magnify" button - the reproductions are spectacular!)

Look at the powerpoint on Oncourse, called FranksCasket.ppt, and read about the latter at the British Museum website.

Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book V. 22-24; in the same book, "Cuthbert's Letter on the Death of Bede" and "Bede's Letter to Egbert".

DeGregorio, S.  "The New Bede,"  (2006), pp. 1-10.

Brown, M. P.  "Bede's Life in Context,"  (2010), pp. 3-24.

Abels, Richard. "What Has Weland to Do with Christ? The Franks Casket and the Acculturation of Christianity in Early Anglo-Saxon England," (2009), pp. 549-81.

Gunn, V. A., Bede's Historiae: genre, rhetoric and the construction of Anglo-Saxon church history (2009).

Higham, N. J., (Re-)reading Bede:  the Ecclesiastical History in Context  (2006).

Brown, M., The Lindisfarne Gospels:  society, spirituality and the scribe (2003).

Dodwell, C. R., Anglo-Saxon Art:  a New Perspective (1982).

Oct. 31

class rescheduled due to Halloween

Old English and its literature

Read The Anglo-Saxons and their Language

Review Beowulf if you have already read it, or 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!

Tolkien, J. R. R.  "The Monsters and the Critics,"(1936, repr. 1991), pp. 14-44.

Frank, Roberta.  "Beowulf and Sutton Hoo:  the Odd Couple," (1992), pp. 47-64.  online via IUCAT

Liuzza, R. M.  "On the Dating of Beowulf," (1995), pp. 281-302.

Hill, J. M., The Anglo-Saxon warrior ethic:  reconstructing lordship in Early English literature (2000).

Fletcher, R. A., Bloodfeud:  murder and revenge in Anglo-Saxon England (2003).

Dockray-Miller, M., Motherhood and Mothering in Anglo-Saxon England (2000).

Pollington, Stephen.  The mead hall:  the feasting tradition in Anglo-Saxon England (2003).

Nov. 7

The eighth century:  Mercia and the missionaries

Keynes, S.  "The Kingdom of the Mercians in the Eighth Century," (2005), pp. 1-26. 

Squatriti, P.  "Offa's Dyke Between Nature and Culture," (2004), 37-56.

Williams, A.  "Offa's Dyke:  a Monument without a History?" (2009), pp. 31-56.

McKitterick, R. "Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany:  personal connections and local influences," (1991), pp. 1-40.

Hooke, D., The Landscape of Anglo-Saxon England (1998).

Story, J., Carolingian connections:  Anglo-Saxon England and Carolingian Francia, c. 750-870 (2003).

Nov. 14

The ninth century:  Vikings and Alfred

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, read for the years 776-901.

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 World, read "Letter from Alcuin to ®thelred, King of Northumbria", pp. 185-188.

Keynes, S.  "On the Authenticity of Asser's 'Life of Alfred'," (1996), pp. 529-619.

Kershaw, P.  "Illness, power and prayer in Asser's Life of King Alfred," (2001), pp. 201-224.

Pratt, D. R.  "The Illnesses of King Alfred the Great," (2001), pp. 39-90.

Hadley, D. M., The Northern Danelaw:  its Social Structure, c. 800-1100 (2000).

Nov. 21

The tenth century:  Alfred's successors

Anglo-Saxon World, read the "Colloquy" by Aelfric, pp. 220-227.

Regularis Concordia, selections Oncourse PDF

The so-called Canons of Edgar [note: you can find the necessary username and password on Oncourse Announcements]

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, read for the years 978-1035.

Wulfstan, Sermon to the English

Anglo-Saxon World:  read "The Battle of Maldon" and "The Battle of Brunanburh", pp. 11-21

Barrow, J. S.  "The Ideology of the Tenth-Century English Benedictine 'Reform'," (2009), pp. 141-154.

Keynes, S.  "A Tale of Two Kings:  Alfred the Great and ®thelred the Unready," (1986), pp. 195-217.

Abels, Richard.  "From Alfred to Harold II: the military failure of the late Anglo-Saxon state," (2001), pp. 15-30.

 

Lees, C. A. and G. R. Overing, Double agents:  women and clerical culture in Anglo-Saxon England (2001).

Jolly, K. L., Popular religion in late Saxon England:  elf charms in context (1996).

Filotas, B., Pagan Survivals, Superstitions and Popular Cultures in Early Medieval Pastoral Literature (2005).

Giandrea, M. F., Episcopal Culture in Late Anglo-Saxon England (2007).

Gretsch, M., Aelfric and the Cult of Saints in Late Anglo-Saxon England (2005).

Karkov, C. E., The ruler portraits of Anglo-Saxon England (2004).

Baxter, S. D., The Earls of Mercia: Lordship and Power in Late Anglo-Saxon England (2007).

Klein, S., Ruling Women: Queenship and Gender in Anglo-Saxon Literature (2006).

Hill, P., The Age of Athelstan:  Britain's Forgotten History (2004).

Williams, A., ®thelred the Unready:  the Ill-Counselled King (2003).

Nov. 28

The eleventh century:  Cnut and Edward the Confessor

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, read for the years 1057-1067.

Carefully study the Bayeux Tapestry in the powerpoint BayeuxTapestry.ppt on Oncourse.  Look at the captions, the pictures, the marginal illustrations.

Sheridan, Maia.  "Mothers and sons: Emma of Normandy's role in the English succession crisis, 1035-42,"  (2005), pp. 39-48.

Baxter, S.  "Edward the Confessor and the Succession Question," (2009), pp. 77-118.

O'Brien, B. R., God's Peace and King's Peace:  the Laws of Edward the Confessor (1999).

Stafford, P., Queen Emma and Queen Edith:  Queenship and Women's Power in Eleventh-century England (1997).

Higham, N. J., The Death of Anglo-Saxon England (1997).

Dec. 5

Presentations

 

 

 

 

Papers due in my email on Friday December 16 at 9:15 pm