The five authoritive papers presented here are the product of long careers of research into Anglo-Saxon culture. In detail the subject areas and approaches are very different, yet all are cross-disciplinary and the same texts and artefacts weave through several of them. Literary text is used to interpret both history and art; ecclesiastical-historical circumstances explain the adaptation of usage of a literary text; wealth and religious learning, combined with old and foreign artistic motifs are blended into the making of new books with multiple functions; religio-socio-economic circumstances are the background to changes in burial ritual. The common element is transformation, the Anglo-Saxon ability to rework older material for new times and the necessary adaptation to new circumstances. The papers originated as five recent Toller Memorial Lectures hosted by the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies (MANCASS).

About the Author
Charles Insley is Senior Lecturer in medieval History at the University of Manchester. He is currently Director of the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies. He has written extensively on Anglo-Saxon and Welsh charters and his edition of the Anglo-Saxon Charters of Exeter Cathedral is forthcoming, as is a biography of the first king of the English, AEthelstan (924-939). Gale R. Owen-Crocker is Professor Emerita of The University of Manchester, UK. She has published extensively on early medieval culture, especially dress and textiles.

Reviews
This book will be essential reading for specialists in the fields of archaeology, history, art history, and literature. Simultaneously it functions splendidly as a survey text for non-specialists. * Parergon *



Book Information
ISBN 9781785704970
Author Charles Insley
Format Paperback
Page Count 144
Imprint Oxbow Books
Publisher Oxbow Books