This volume in the Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Sculpture surveys the counties of Derbyshire and Staffordshire and provides an analytical catalogue of the Anglo-Saxon stone sculptures of that region. Introductory chapters set the material within historical, topographical, archaeological and art-historical contexts, as well as its scholarly framework, and there are specialist contributions concerning the geology of the monuments and the sculpture from the (originally) royal ecclesiastical site at Repton in Derbyshire. There is a full photographic record of each monument, and many of the images were taken specially for the volume. The monuments include important collections of material from Derby (St Alkmund's) and Repton, as well as individual sculptures of the highest quality such as the Lichfield Angel, cross-shafts from Bakewell and Bradbourne, the unique column standing at Wolverhampton and the sarcophagus cover from Wirksworth. Much of the material was carved at a time when Mercian art was at its zenith in the late 8th to early 10th centuries, but there is also a significant body of carvings from the later 10th and 11th centuries when the Scandinavians are known to have been active, although the region marks the fluctuating border between Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon controlled Mercia. This volume thus represents a synthesis of resent research and a complete survey of the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Scandinavian sculpture of the two counties, and will provide a major contribution to the study of pre-Conquest sculpture in Britain. It shows that in the early Middle Ages Derbyshire and Staffordshire offered a vibrant milieu in which influential artistic ideas could develop and spread, not just in carved stone but also in manuscripts, metalwork and other materials, and that craftsmen, working for ecclesiastical and secular patrons, produced works of the highest quality.

About the Author
Jane Hawkes is Professor of Medieval Art History at the University of York, with a special interest in the iconography of Anglo-Saxon sculpture. She is currently working on the historiography of Insular sculpture, with particular reference to antiquarian and medievalist interpretations, textual and visual. Philip Sidebottom is a graduate and post-graduate from the University of Sheffield, obtaining a PhD from the latter in 1994. His doctoral research concerned the identification of regional groups of Anglo-Saxon stone sculpture in the north Midlands and southern Yorkshire. He was, latterly, a university lecturer and the Programme Co-ordinator for archaeology at the Institute for Lifelong Learning, University of Sheffield. Dr. Sidebottom has also worked as a field archaeologist for the Peak District National Park and English Heritage and is the current President of the Hunter Archaeological Society and, recently, archaeological advisor to the Sheffield Church of England Diocesan Advisory Committee.

Reviews
This is a long - awaited and magnificent addition to the now almost - complete Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture ... this book is a tremendous achievement that does credit to the scholars involved, and the Corpus team as a whole. * Victoria Thompson Whitworth, Early Medieval Europe *
Overall, this book is a tremendous achievement that does credit to the scholars involved, and the Corpus team as a whole. * Victoria Thompson Whitworth, Early Medieval Europe *
All of the Corpus volumes are collaborative productions to some degree, butthat is very much in evidence here, with important contributions from Barbara Yorke on the Anglo-Saxon history of the region and a chapter by Martin Biddleon the Repton sculptures which covers the still-debated history of St Wystan'schurch. * John Hines, MEDIUM AEVUM *
There is much useful material here, not least the discussions of the Historical Background (Barbara Yorke), Anglian Period Sculpture (Hawkes) and Scandinavian Period Sculpture (Sidebottom). * Blaise Vyner *



Book Information
ISBN 9780197266212
Author Jane Hawkes
Format Hardback
Page Count 500
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 2452g
Dimensions(mm) 286mm * 223mm * 40mm