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Global Perspectives on Early Medieval England
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Edited by:
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With contributions by:
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2022
About this book
Interrogations of materiality and geography, narrative framework and boundaries, and the ways these scholarly pursuits ripple out into the wider cultural sphere.
Early medieval England as seen through the lens of comparative and interconnected histories is the subject of this volume. Drawn from a range of disciplines, its chapters examine artistic, archaeological, literary, and historical artifacts, converging around the idea that the period may not only define itself, but is often defined from other perspectives, specifically here by modern scholarship.
The first part considers the transmission of material culture across borders, while querying the possibilities and limits of comparative and transnational approaches, taking in the spread of bread wheat, the collapse of the art-historical "decorative" and "functional", and the unknowns about daily life in an early medieval English hall. The volume then moves on to reimagine the permeable boundaries of early medieval England, with perspectives from the Baltic, Byzantium, and the Islamic world, including an examination of Vercelli Homily VII (from John Chrysostom's Greek Homily XXIX), Hārūn ibn Yaḥyā's Arabic descriptions of Barṭīniyah ("Britain"), and an consideration of the Old English Orosius. The final chapters address the construction of and responses to "Anglo-Saxon" narratives, past and present: they look at early medieval England within a Eurasian perspective, the historical origins of racialized Anglo-Saxonism(s), and views from Oceania, comparing Hiberno-Saxon and Anglican Melanesian missions, as well as contemporary reactions to exhibitions of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and Pacific Island cultures.
Contributors: Debby Banham, Britton Elliott Brooks, Caitlin Green, Jane Hawkes, John Hines, Karen Louise Jolly, Kazutomo Karasawa, Carol Neuman de Vegvar, John D. Niles, Michael W. Scott, Jonathan Wilcox
Early medieval England as seen through the lens of comparative and interconnected histories is the subject of this volume. Drawn from a range of disciplines, its chapters examine artistic, archaeological, literary, and historical artifacts, converging around the idea that the period may not only define itself, but is often defined from other perspectives, specifically here by modern scholarship.
The first part considers the transmission of material culture across borders, while querying the possibilities and limits of comparative and transnational approaches, taking in the spread of bread wheat, the collapse of the art-historical "decorative" and "functional", and the unknowns about daily life in an early medieval English hall. The volume then moves on to reimagine the permeable boundaries of early medieval England, with perspectives from the Baltic, Byzantium, and the Islamic world, including an examination of Vercelli Homily VII (from John Chrysostom's Greek Homily XXIX), Hārūn ibn Yaḥyā's Arabic descriptions of Barṭīniyah ("Britain"), and an consideration of the Old English Orosius. The final chapters address the construction of and responses to "Anglo-Saxon" narratives, past and present: they look at early medieval England within a Eurasian perspective, the historical origins of racialized Anglo-Saxonism(s), and views from Oceania, comparing Hiberno-Saxon and Anglican Melanesian missions, as well as contemporary reactions to exhibitions of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and Pacific Island cultures.
Contributors: Debby Banham, Britton Elliott Brooks, Caitlin Green, Jane Hawkes, John Hines, Karen Louise Jolly, Kazutomo Karasawa, Carol Neuman de Vegvar, John D. Niles, Michael W. Scott, Jonathan Wilcox
Author / Editor information
Contributor: Karen Louise Jolly
Karen Louise Jolly is professor of medieval European history at the University of Hawai'i Mānoa. Her research focuses on popular religion, marginal manuscripts, and re-imagining early medieval Britain through historical fiction.
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Contributor: Britton Elliott Brooks
Britton Elliott Brooks is assistant professor of English at Kyushu University. His research centres on the environmental humanities, focusing most recently on non-human soundscapes in early medieval literature and the role of the ocean in literature more broadly.
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Contributor: Debby Banham
DEBBY BANHAM is a tutor and special supervisor at Newnham College, Cambridge and an affiliated lecturer in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic.
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Contributor: Britton Elliott Brooks
Britton Elliott Brooks is assistant professor of English at Kyushu University. His research centres on the environmental humanities, focusing most recently on non-human soundscapes in early medieval literature and the role of the ocean in literature more broadly.
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Contributor: Jane Hawkes
JANE HAWKES is Professor of Art History at the University of York.
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Contributor: John Hines
JOHN HINES is Professor of Archaeology at Cardiff University.
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Contributor: Karen Louise Jolly
Karen Louise Jolly is professor of medieval European history at the University of Hawai'i Mānoa. Her research focuses on popular religion, marginal manuscripts, and re-imagining early medieval Britain through historical fiction.
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Contributor: Kazutomo Karasawa
Kazutomo Karasawa is Professor of English philology at Rikkyo University, Tokyo.
Reviews
The collection offers new and established scholars engaging avenues to reconsider the place of "Anglo-Saxon England" in our research, allowing us the opportunity to question long-held beliefs about the early English period and arrive at a more robust and insightful view of the lives of early English peoples.
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Global Perspectives on Early Medieval England lives up to its ambitious name. I praise the authors for their ability to tackle head-on several emergent challenges rooted in the premodern world, namely the contentions of identity, the ethics of propagation, and the rights and wrongs of conquest. These authors demonstrate how scholars of medieval letters, sciences, and cultures can collaborate to serve the general public, utilizing their expertise to elucidate the past, untangling its intricate presence.
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A welcome collection by distinguished scholars that is excellent throughout but especially so when exploring Oceania and islander perspectives.
Topics
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Frontmatter
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Contents
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List of Illustrations
vii -
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List of Contributors
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Acknowledgements
xiii -
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Abbreviations
xv -
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Introduction: Global Perspectives on Early Medieval England
1 - I: Material Culture
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1. The Global Triumph of Bread Wheat: The Role of Early Medieval England
19 -
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2. Globalizing Anglo-Saxon Art
34 -
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3. Minding the Gaps: Early Medieval Elite Sites in England and the Perimeters of Current Knowledge
53 - II: Crossing Borders
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4. Imagination at the Edge of the World: Luxuriating Women in Vercelli Homily VII and a Resistant Audience
77 -
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5. Britain, the Byzantine Empire, and the Concept of an Anglo-Saxon ‘Heptarchy’: Hārūn ibn Yahyā’s Ninth-century Arabic Description of Britain
94 -
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6. Wulfstan in Truso: Old English Text, Baltic Archaeology, and World History
115 - III: Origins and Comparisons
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7. Reassessing Anglo-Saxon Origins from a Eurasian Perspective
139 -
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8. Historical Origins of a Mythical History: The Formation of the Myth Supporting Anglo-Saxonism Reconsidered
171 -
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9. Boniface and Bede in the Pacific: Exploring Anamorphic Comparisons between the Hiberno-Saxon Missions and the Anglican Melanesian Mission
190 -
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10. Anglo-Saxons on Exhibit: Displaying the Sacred
217 -
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Index
245
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
January 4, 2024
eBook ISBN:
9781800105089
Original publisher:
Boydell Press
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9781800105089
Keywords for this book
early medieval England; comparative history; interconnected histories; material culture; geography; narrative framework; cultural sphere; Anglo-Saxon narratives; historical perspectives; British history
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
