By Weapons Made Worthy

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Publisher : Amsterdam University Press
ISBN 13 : 9053563253
Total Pages : 220 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (535 download)

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Book Synopsis By Weapons Made Worthy by : Jos Bazelmans

Download or read book By Weapons Made Worthy written by Jos Bazelmans and published by Amsterdam University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book Jos Bazelmans offers a new perspective on the relationship between lord and retainer in early medieval society. This perspective goes beyond established politico-economic interpretations and aims for an interpretation of this relationship in ritual-cosmological terms. Drawing on recent developments within French structuralist anthropology and the anthropology of gift exchange, Bazelmans develops a new model of early medieval socio-political structure (as represented in Old English Beowulf) which explicitly deals with exchange relations between the living and the supernatural, the commensurablity of subject and object in gift exchange, and the whole set of interdependent life-cycle rituals of lords and their warrior-followers. The value of gifts is considered to be determined not only by their function within a competitive game about prestige, status and power, but also by its equivalence with a constituent. The value of the gift is fundamental to the noble person and develops through a man's life-time. It is, ultimately, of a supernatural origin. The model enables us to understand certain acts at Beowulf's funeral pyre which at first sight appear to be no more than an ethnographic curiosity (Beowulf 3111b-3114a). The warrior's contributions to his pyre form the concluding part of a grand ritual undertaking in which society as a whole is involved and in which the constitution of the noble person, and the disarticulation of that person at his death, is realized. This ritual undertaking goes beyond the politico-economic concerns of the participants which are central to established power-based models of early medieval societal structure. The volume includes an extensive overview of the anthropology of gift exchange.

Creating Consilience

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Publisher : OUP USA
ISBN 13 : 0199794391
Total Pages : 467 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (997 download)

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Book Synopsis Creating Consilience by : Edward Slingerland

Download or read book Creating Consilience written by Edward Slingerland and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2012-01-19 with total page 467 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Calls for a "consilient" or "vertically integrated" approach to the study of human mind and culture have, for the most part, been received by scholars in the humanities with either indifference or hostility. One reason for this is that consilience has often been framed as bringing the study of humanistic issues into line with the study of non-human phenomena, rather than as something to which humanists and scientists contribute equally. The other major reason that consilience has yet to catch on in the humanities is a dearth of compelling examples of the benefits of adopting a consilient approach. Creating Consilience is the product of a workshop that brought together internationally-renowned scholars from a variety of fields to address both of these issues. It includes representative pieces from workshop speakers and participants that examine how adopting such a consilient stance -- informed by cognitive science and grounded in evolutionary theory -- would concretely impact specific topics in the humanities, examining each topic in a manner that not only cuts across the humanities-natural science divide, but also across individual humanistic disciplines. By taking seriously the fact that science-humanities integration is a two-way exchange, this volume takes a new approach to bridging the cultures of science and the humanities. The editors and contributors formulate how to develop a new shared framework of consilience beyond mere interdisciplinarity, in a way that both sides can accept.

Thinking through the Body

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 146150693X
Total Pages : 262 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (615 download)

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Book Synopsis Thinking through the Body by : Yannis Hamilakis

Download or read book Thinking through the Body written by Yannis Hamilakis and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the archaeology of the body and how can it change the way we experience the past? This book, one of the first to appear on the subject, records and evaluates the emergence of this new direction of cross-disciplinary research, and examines the potential of incorporating some of its insights into archaeology. It will be of interest to students, researchers, and teachers in archaeology, as well as in cognate disciplines such as anthropology and history.

Apples and Oranges

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022656410X
Total Pages : 348 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (265 download)

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Book Synopsis Apples and Oranges by : Bruce Lincoln

Download or read book Apples and Oranges written by Bruce Lincoln and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-08-22 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comparison is an indispensable intellectual operation that plays a crucial role in the formation of knowledge. Yet comparison often leads us to forego attention to nuance, detail, and context, perhaps leaving us bereft of an ethical obligation to take things correspondingly as they are. Examining the practice of comparison across the study of history, language, religion, and culture, distinguished scholar of religion Bruce Lincoln argues in Apples and Oranges for a comparatism of a more modest sort. Lincoln presents critiques of recent attempts at grand comparison, and enlists numerous theoretical examples of how a more modest, cautious, and discriminating form of comparison might work and what it can accomplish. He does this through studies of shamans, werewolves, human sacrifices, apocalyptic prophecies, sacred kings, and surveys of materials as diverse and wide-ranging as Beowulf, Herodotus’s account of the Scythians, the Native American Ghost Dance, and the Spanish Civil War. Ultimately, Lincoln argues that concentrating one's focus on a relatively small number of items that the researcher can compare closely, offering equal attention to relations of similarity and difference, not only grants dignity to all parties considered, it yields more reliable and more interesting—if less grandiose—results. Giving equal attention to the social, historical, and political contexts and subtexts of religious and literary texts also allows scholars not just to assess their content, but also to understand the forces, problems, and circumstances that motivated and shaped them.

Monarchs and Hydrarchs

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429535821
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (295 download)

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Book Synopsis Monarchs and Hydrarchs by : Christian Cooijmans

Download or read book Monarchs and Hydrarchs written by Christian Cooijmans and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-03-13 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the politico-economic exploits of vikings in and around the Frankish realm remain, to a considerable extent, obscured by the constraints of a fragmentary and biased corpus of (near-)contemporary evidence, this volume approaches the available interdisciplinary data on a cumulative and conceptual level, allowing overall spatiotemporal patterns of viking activity to be detected and defined – and thereby challenging the notion that these movements were capricious, haphazard, and gratuitous in character. Set against a backdrop of continuous commerce and knowledge exchange, this overarching survey demonstrates the existence of a relatively uniform, sequential framework of wealth extraction, encampment, and political engagement, within which Scandinavian fleets operated as adaptable, ambulant polities – or ‘hydrarchies’. By delineating and visualising this framework, a four-phased conceptual development model of hydrarchic conduct and consequence is established, whose validity is substantiated by its application to a number of distinct regional case studies. The parameters of this abstract model affirm that Scandinavian movements across Francia were the result of prudent and expedient decision-making processes, contingent on exchanged intelligence, cumulative experience, and the ongoing individual and collective need for socioeconomic subsistence and enrichment. Monarchs and Hydrarchs will appeal to both students and specialists of the Viking Age, whilst serving as an equally valuable resource to those investigating early medieval Francia, Scandinavia, and the North Sea world as a whole.

Early Medieval English Life Courses

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Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 900450186X
Total Pages : 381 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (45 download)

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Book Synopsis Early Medieval English Life Courses by :

Download or read book Early Medieval English Life Courses written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-11-22 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did the life course, with all its biological, social and cultural aspects, influence the lives, writings, and art of the inhabitants of early medieval England? This volume explores how phases of human life such as childhood, puberty, and old age were identified, characterized, and related in contemporary sources, as well as how nonhuman life courses were constructed. The multi-disciplinary contributions range from analyses of age vocabulary to studies of medicine, name-giving practices, theology, Old English poetry, and material culture. Combined, these cultural-historical perspectives reveal how the concept and experience of the life course shaped attitudes in early medieval England. Contributors are Jo Appleby, Debby Banham, Darren Barber, Caroline R. Batten, James Chetwood, Katherine Cross, Amy Faulkner, Jacqueline Fay, Elaine Flowers, Daria Izdebska, Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Thijs Porck, and Harriet Soper.

Weaving Words and Binding Bodies

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Publisher : University of Toronto Press
ISBN 13 : 1442624906
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (426 download)

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Book Synopsis Weaving Words and Binding Bodies by : Megan Cavell

Download or read book Weaving Words and Binding Bodies written by Megan Cavell and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2016-05-06 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: References to weaving and binding are ubiquitous in Anglo-Saxon literature. Several hundred instances of such imagery occur in the poetic corpus, invoked in connection with objects, people, elemental forces, and complex abstract concepts. Weaving Words and Binding Bodies presents the first comprehensive study of weaving and binding imagery through intertextual analysis and close readings of Beowulf, riddles, the poetry of Cynewulf, and other key texts. Megan Cavell highlights the prominent use of weaving and binding in previously unrecognized formulas, collocations, and type-scenes, shedding light on important tropes such as the lord-retainer “bond” and the gendered role of “peace-weaving” in Anglo-Saxon society. Through the analysis of metrical, rhetorical, and linguistic features and canonical and neglected texts in a wide range of genres, Weaving Words and Binding Bodies makes an important contribution to the ongoing study of Anglo-Saxon poetics.

Vikings Across Boundaries

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000204723
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (2 download)

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Book Synopsis Vikings Across Boundaries by : Hanne Lovise Aannestad

Download or read book Vikings Across Boundaries written by Hanne Lovise Aannestad and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-10-26 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the changes that occurred during the Viking Age, as Scandinavian societies fell in line with the larger forces that dominated the Insular world and Continental Europe, absorbing the powerful symbiosis of Christianity and monarchy, adapting to the idea of royal lineage and supremacy, and developing a buzzing urbanism coupled with large-scale trade networks. Presenting research on the grand context of the Viking Age alongside localised studies, it contributes to the furthering of collaborations between local and ‘outsider’ research on the Viking Age. Through a diversity of approaches on the Viking homelands and the wider world of the Vikings, it offers studies of a range of phenomena, including urban and rural settlements; continuity in the use of places as well as new types of places specific to the Viking Age; the social significance of change; the construction and maintenance of social identity both within the ‘homelands’ and across large territories; ethnicity; and ideas of identity and the creation and recreation of identity both at home and abroad. As such, it will appeal to historians and archaeologists with interests in Viking-Age studies, as well as scholars of Scandinavian studies.

Wealth and the Material World in the Old English Alfredian Corpus

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Publisher : Boydell & Brewer
ISBN 13 : 1783277599
Total Pages : 223 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (832 download)

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Book Synopsis Wealth and the Material World in the Old English Alfredian Corpus by : Amy Faulkner

Download or read book Wealth and the Material World in the Old English Alfredian Corpus written by Amy Faulkner and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2023-01-24 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new, materialistic reading of the Alfredian corpus, drawing on diverse approaches from thing theory to Augustinian principles of use and enjoyment to uncover how these works explore the material world. The Old English prose translations traditionally attributed to Alfred the Great (versions of Gregory's Regula pastoralis, Boethius' De consolatione philosophiae, Augustine's Soliloquia and the first fifty Psalms) urge detachment from the material world; but despite this, its flotsam and jetsam, from costly treasures to everyday objects, abound within them. This book reads these original and inventive translations from a materialist perspective, drawing on approaches as diverse as thing theory and Augustine's principles of use and enjoyment. By focussing on the material, it offers a fresh interpretation of this group of translations, bringing out their complex, often contradictory, relationship with the material world. It demonstrates that, as in the poetic tradition, wealth in Alfredian literature is not simply a tool to be used, or something to be enjoyed in excess; rather, in moving away from these two static binaries, it shows that wealth is a current, flowing both horizontally, as an exchange of gifts between humans, and vertically, as a salvific current between earth and heaven. The prose translations are situated in the context of Old English poetry, including Beowulf, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, the Exeter Book Riddles and The Dream of the Rood.

Writing Power in Anglo-Saxon England

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Publisher : DS Brewer
ISBN 13 : 1843843196
Total Pages : 207 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (438 download)

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Book Synopsis Writing Power in Anglo-Saxon England by : Catherine A. M. Clarke

Download or read book Writing Power in Anglo-Saxon England written by Catherine A. M. Clarke and published by DS Brewer. This book was released on 2012 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores how power is shaped and negotiated in later Anglo-Saxon texts, focusing on how hierarchical, vertical structures are presented alongside patterns of reciprocity and economies of mutual obligation, especially within the context of secular, spiritual, literal or symbolic patronage relationships.

A Companion to Beowulf

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0313027293
Total Pages : 246 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis A Companion to Beowulf by : Ruth A. Johnston

Download or read book A Companion to Beowulf written by Ruth A. Johnston and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2005-07-30 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perhaps the most important work written in Old English, Beowulf grew out of a culture very different from ours, and yet its story of war, violence, and heroism remains relevant to modern readers. Accessible to high school students, general readers, and undergraduates, this companion overviews the poem and its legacy. The initial chapters review the plot of Beowulf, while later chapters discuss its style and language, its cultural and historical contexts, and its afterlife in contemporary popular culture. The first part of the book provides information of interest to a wide range of readers, while the second covers more specialized topics. Thus the initial chapters review the merits of different translations and offer a detailed plot summary, while later chapters discuss the poem's language and style, its treatment of religion, its relation to Anglo-Saxon culture, and its legacy in popular culture. One of the greatest Beowulf scholars was J.R.R. Tolkien, and the book gives special attention to his use of the poem in his own fiction. High school students, undergraduates, and general readers will find this book a valuable guide to one of the most challenging yet enduring works of English literature.

Warfare in Bronze Age Society

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107185564
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (71 download)

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Book Synopsis Warfare in Bronze Age Society by : Christian Horn

Download or read book Warfare in Bronze Age Society written by Christian Horn and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-04-26 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Bronze Age represents the global emergence of a militarized society with a martial culture that constructed the warrior as a 'Hero' and warfare as 'Heroic'. The book takes a fresh look at warfare and its role in reshaping Bronze Age society from the Mediterranean to northern Europe.

Honour, Exchange and Violence in Beowulf

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Publisher : D. S. Brewer
ISBN 13 : 1843843463
Total Pages : 294 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (438 download)

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Book Synopsis Honour, Exchange and Violence in Beowulf by : Peter Stuart Baker

Download or read book Honour, Exchange and Violence in Beowulf written by Peter Stuart Baker and published by D. S. Brewer. This book was released on 2013 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues for a new reading of Beowulf in its contemporary context, where honour and violence are intimately linked. This book examines violence in its social setting, and especially as an essential element in the heroic system of exchange (sometimes called the Economy of Honour). It situates Beowulf in a northern European culture where violence was not stigmatized as evidence of a breakdown in social order but rather was seen as a reasonable way to get things done; where kings and their retainers saw themselves above all as warriors whose chief occupation was thepursuit of honour; and where most successful kings were those perceived as most predatory. Though kings and their subjects yearned for peace, the political and religious institutions of the time did little to restrain their violent impulses. Drawing on works from Britain, Scandinavia, and Ireland, which show how the practice of violence was governed by rules and customs which were observed, with variations, over a wide area, this book makes use of historicist and anthropological approaches to its subject. It takes a neutral attitude towards the phenomena it examines, but at the same time describes them fortnightly, avoiding euphemism and excuse-making on the one hand and condemnation on the other. In this it attempts to avoid the errors of critics who have sometimes been led astray by modern assumptions about the morality of violence. PETER S. BAKER is Professor of English at the Universityof Virginia.

Anglo-Saxon Kings and Warlords AD 400–1070

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1472855361
Total Pages : 65 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (728 download)

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Book Synopsis Anglo-Saxon Kings and Warlords AD 400–1070 by : Raffaele D’Amato

Download or read book Anglo-Saxon Kings and Warlords AD 400–1070 written by Raffaele D’Amato and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-10-26 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richly illustrated, this title describes Anglo-Saxon monarchs, warlords and their warriors and households in Anglo-Saxon Britain, from the first post-Roman mercenaries to the Norman Conquest. In a country fragmented by Roman withdrawal during the 5th century AD, the employment of Germanic mercenaries by local rulers in Anglo-Saxon Britain was commonplace. These mercenaries became settlers, forcing Romano-British communities into Wales and the West Country. Against a background of spreading Christianity, the struggles of rival British and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were exploited by the Vikings, but eventually contained by the Anglo-Saxon king, Alfred of Wessex. His descendants unified the country during the 10th century, however, subsequent weak rule saw its 25-year incorporation into a Danish empire before it finally fell to the Norman invasion of 1066. Scholars of the early Church have long known that the term 'Dark Ages' for the 5th to 11th centuries in Britain refers only to a lack of written sources, and gives a false impression of material culture. The Anglo-Saxon warrior elite were equipped with magnificent armour, influenced by the cultures of the late Romans, the Scandinavian Vendel people, the Frankish Merovingians, Carolingians and Ottonians, and also the Vikings. In this volume, co-authors Raffaele D'Amato and Stephen Pollington access their extended knowledge to paint a vivid picture of the kings and warlords of the time with the aid of colour illustrations, rare photos and the latest archaeological research.

Reflections on Medieval and Renaissance Thought

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Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1443873764
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (438 download)

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Book Synopsis Reflections on Medieval and Renaissance Thought by : Darci Hill

Download or read book Reflections on Medieval and Renaissance Thought written by Darci Hill and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2017-06-23 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The collection of articles gathered in this volume grew naturally and spontaneously out of the Second International Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Thought hosted by Sam Houston State University in April 2016. This anthology reflects the diverse fields of study represented at the conference. The purpose of the conference, and consequently of this book of essays, is partially to establish a place for medieval and renaissance scholarship to thrive in our current intellectual landscape. This volume is not designed solely for scholars, but also for generalists who wish to augment their knowledge and appreciation of an array of disciplines; it is an intellectual smorgasbord of philosophy, poetry, drama, popular culture, linguistics, art, religion, and history.

The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in 'Beowulf'

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Author :
Publisher : Open Book Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1783748303
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (837 download)

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Book Synopsis The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in 'Beowulf' by : Edward Pettit

Download or read book The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in 'Beowulf' written by Edward Pettit and published by Open Book Publishers. This book was released on 2020-01-14 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The image of a giant sword melting stands at the structural and thematic heart of the Old English heroic poem Beowulf. This meticulously researched book investigates the nature and significance of this golden-hilted weapon and its likely relatives within Beowulf and beyond, drawing on the fields of Old English and Old Norse language and literature, liturgy, archaeology, astronomy, folklore and comparative mythology. In Part I, Pettit explores the complex of connotations surrounding this image (from icicles to candles and crosses) by examining a range of medieval sources, and argues that the giant sword may function as a visual motif in which pre-Christian Germanic concepts and prominent Christian symbols coalesce. In Part II, Pettit investigates the broader Germanic background to this image, especially in relation to the god Ing/Yngvi-Freyr, and explores the capacity of myths to recur and endure across time. Drawing on an eclectic range of narrative and linguistic evidence from Northern European texts, and on archaeological discoveries, Pettit suggests that the image of the giant sword, and the characters and events associated with it, may reflect an elemental struggle between the sun and the moon, articulated through an underlying myth about the theft and repossession of sunlight. The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in 'Beowulf' is a welcome contribution to the overlapping fields of Beowulf-scholarship, Old Norse-Icelandic literature and Germanic philology. Not only does it present a wealth of new readings that shed light on the craft of the Beowulf-poet and inform our understanding of the poem’s major episodes and themes; it further highlights the merits of adopting an interdisciplinary approach alongside a comparative vantage point. As such, The Waning Sword will be compelling reading for Beowulf-scholars and for a wider audience of medievalists.

Topographies of Power in the Early Middle Ages

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Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9047404041
Total Pages : 630 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (474 download)

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Book Synopsis Topographies of Power in the Early Middle Ages by : Mayke de Jong

Download or read book Topographies of Power in the Early Middle Ages written by Mayke de Jong and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2001-06-28 with total page 630 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 19 papers presented in this volume by North American and European historians and archaeologists discuss how early medieval political and religious elites constructed ‘places of power’, and how such places, in turn, created powerful people. They also examine how the ‘high-level’ power exercised by elites was transformed in the post-Roman kingdoms of Europe, as Roman cities gave way as central stages for rituals of power to a multitude of places and spaces where political and religious power were represented. Although the Frankish kingdoms receive a large share of attention, contributions also focus on the changing topography of power in the old centres of the Roman world, Rome and Constantinople, to what ‘centres of power’ may have meant in the steppes of Inner Asia, Scandinavia or the lower Vistula, where political power was even more mobile and decentralised than in the post-Roman kingdoms, as well as to monasteries and their integration into early medieval topographies of power.