Anglo Saxon Myths

Author : Brice Stratford
Publisher : Batsford Books
Page : 253 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2022-09-29
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781849948289

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Anglo-Saxon Myths by Brice Stratford Pdf

Enchanting tales of the gods, kings, and monsters that populated the Anglo-Saxon world. An atmospheric collection of 30 folk tales exploring stories of cosmology, monsters, conflicts and courtship from the Seven Kingdoms to Middle Earth. This is an entertaining portal into a world overflowing with mythology, magic and all manner of beguiling creatures, which has inspired everything from the Lord of the Rings to Game of Thrones. The book is divided into 3 parts: Scop is a set of stories told by the Anglo-Saxon storyteller Scop, from the creation to the destruction of the world. It explores what remains of the gods and monsters of the Anglo-Saxon cosmology. Wreccan is pagan stories exploring self-discovery and development through exile. Variations of these tales would have told by the Anglo-Saxons themselves, including Sigemund's rebellion and the trials of Beowulf. Bretwalda stories revolve around Bretwalda the chief Anglo-Saxon king who ruled over the majority of the Seven Kingdoms. These stories reflect a period when both the old gods and Christianity existed simultaneously. Remarkable illustrations by Jesús Sotés breathe new life into these tales of the past.

Author : Nicholas Brooks
Publisher : A&C Black
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 1998-07-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780826457929

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Anglo-Saxon Myths: State and Church, 400-1066 by Nicholas Brooks Pdf

In this collection of essays Nicholas Brooks explores some of the earliest and most problematic sources, both written and archaeological, for early English history. In his hands, the structure and functions of Anglo-Saxon origin stories and charters (whether authentic or forged) illuminate English political and social structures, as well as ecclesiastical, urban and rural landscapes. Together with already published essays, this work includes an account of the developments in the study of Anglo-Saxon charters over the last 20 years.

Author : Alwyn D. Rees,Brinley Roderick Rees
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 427 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 1978
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 0500110085

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Celtic Heritage by Alwyn D. Rees,Brinley Roderick Rees Pdf

Author : Richard North
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 104 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 1997-12-11
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 0521551838

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Heathen Gods in Old English Literature by Richard North Pdf

Heathen gods are hard to find in Old English literature. Most Anglo-Saxon writers had no interest in them, and scholars today prefer to concentrate on the Christian civilization for which the Anglo-Saxons were so famous. Richard North offers an interesting view of Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian paganism and mythology in the pre-Viking and Viking age. He discusses the pre-Christian gods of Bede's history of the Anglo-Saxon conversion with reference to an orgiastic figure known as Ingui, whom Bede called 'god of this age'. Using expert knowledge of comparative literary material from Old Norse-Icelandic and other Old Germanic languages, North reconstructs the slender Old English evidence in a highly imaginative treatment of poems such as Deor and The Dream of the Rood. Other gods such as Woden are considered with reference to Odin and his family in Old Norse-Icelandic mythology. In conclusion, it is argued that the cult of Ingui was defeated only when the ideology of the god Woden was sponsored by the Anglo-Saxon church. The book will interest students interested in Old English, Old Norse-Icelandic and Germanic literatures, Anglo-Saxon history and archaeology.

Author : Tony Linsell
Publisher : Anglo-Saxon Books
Page : 184 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 1994
Category : Fiction
ISBN : UOM:39015050024655

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Anglo-Saxon Mythology, Migration, & Magic by Tony Linsell Pdf

This is a large format introduction to the Anglo-Saxon world, focusing on its spiritual and literary heritage. A large part of the book is dedicated to the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem, the most complete account of runic writing we have inherited. The runic signs and riddles which accompany each of them (presented in Old English and modern translation) are dramatically brought to life by Brian PartridgeAes evocative drawings.

Author : S. A. Swaffington
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 170 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2017-12-23
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1973588463

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The Supernatural World of the Anglo-Saxons by S. A. Swaffington Pdf

The Supernatural World of the Anglo-Saxons is illustrated and unique, covering all aspects of Anglo-Saxon Paganism and folklore, including the Anglo-Saxon calendar. It is written with great knowledge and passion, exploring the Pagan Roots of Christmas and Halloween, of Wōden, the Wild Hunt and all the ancient Yule traditions. The Anglo-Saxons gave their name to England. Learn who they were, what they believed, who their Gods and Goddesses were. Discover the mythological beings found in Bēowulf and all across England's ancient landscape, and learn about the Pagan roots of Morris Dancing, along with other dances and Pagan traditions.Also includes German folklore such as Holda, Perchta and Krampus.Reviews for The Supernatural World of the Anglo-Saxons:Wonderful!!Another masterpiece from my favorite author!Absolutely enthralling, brilliant read!Superb content based on anglosaxon loreA incredible source of Anglosaxon traditions and folklore compiled in a simple to read book.Gods, faeries, people and events are some the topics included. Those shed a light on how the anglosaxon world was.Great chapters involving some of the world's most infamous traditions such as Halloween and Christmas.A great read that might need an index because of the vast amount of the subjects covered.

Author : T. M. Doran
Publisher : Ignatius Press
Page : 468 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2011-01-01
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781586176334

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Toward the Gleam by T. M. Doran Pdf

Between the two world wars, on a hike in the English countryside, Professor John Hill takes refuge from a violent storm in a cave. There he nearly loses his life, but he also makes an astonishing discovery -- an ancient manuscript housed in a cunningly crafted metal box. Though a philologist by profession, Hill cannot identify the language used in the manuscript and the time period in which it is was made, but he knows enough to make an educated guess -- that the book and its case are the fruits of a long-lost, but advanced civilization. The translation of the manuscript and the search for its origins become a life-long quest for Hill. As he uncovers an epic that both enchants and inspires him, he tracks down scholars from Oxford to Paris who can give him clues. Along the way, he meets several intriguing characters, including a man keenly interested in obtaining artifacts from a long-lost civilization that he believes was the creation of a superior race, and will help him fulfill his ambition to rule other men. Concluding that Hill must have found something that may help him in this quest, but knowing not what it is and where it is hidden, he has Hill, his friends at Oxford, and his family shadowed and threatened until finally he and Hill face off in a final, climatic confrontation. A story that features a giant pirate and slaver, a human chameleon on a perilous metaphysical journey, a mysterious hermit, and creatures both deadly and beautiful, this is a novel that explores the consequences of the predominant ideas of the 20th Century.

Author : Edward Pettit
Publisher : Open Book Publishers
Page : 344 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2020-01-14
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781783748303

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

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.

Author : Jamie Lang
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 348 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2021-05-23
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9798736420438

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Anglo-Saxon Paganism by Jamie Lang Pdf

How Anglo-Saxons in Britain Understood their World 1,500 Years Ago When Anglo-Saxon tribes first settled in Britain in the mid fifth century CE, their beliefs, though varied and developing over time, were essentially pagan and polytheistic. The history of the ways in which the early English understood their world is told here in terms of both the character of specific deities they followed, and the broader nature of their pre-Christian culture. Key themes include the ways in which Anglo-Saxon paganism differed from Scandinavian (Viking) spirituality, and how early English deities compared to those of other early polytheistic cultures, such as the Greek and Sumerian. In order to better comprehend the pagan Anglo-Saxon mind-set, basic Germanic materialist philosophy is contrasted with aspects of ancient Greek idealist philosophy, in particular neoplatonism, and related changing perceptions of the goddess Hecate. Loki's role as an agent of cultural dissent and gender diversity is analysed, and differing views of life after death reviewed. Particular attention is paid to what the Old English Beowulf poem might tell us about English tribal foundation myths, and chapters on the uses of runes and the place of trees in pagan culture are also included. The author seeks to make a case that the early English revered the divine feminine to a degree not found in either Scandinavian paganism or Roman Christianity. As part of this analysis eight north European myths are adapted, retold in short story formats, and evaluated in terms of what they can tell us about important features of early English pagan belief. Early Anglo-Saxon ways of looking at and understanding the world were complex, sophisticated, diverse and pluralistic, and very different from 21st century belief systems. This book seeks to help us comprehend the thought processes of the early English living in Britain one and a half thousand years ago.

Author : Hugh A. MacDougall
Publisher : Harvest House, Limited, Publishers
Page : 164 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 1982
Category : History
ISBN : UCBK:B000966381

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Racial Myth in English History by Hugh A. MacDougall Pdf

"Myths of origin enable people to locate themselves in time and space. They offer an explanation of the unknown and hallow traditions by linking them to heroic events and personages of the distant past. In addition, they form the ground for belief systems or ideologies which, providing a moral validation for attitudes and activities, bind men together in a society" writes the author, who in his interesting and solidly based short study synthesizes several generations of English and continental scholarship in a way that enables a broad readership to obtain a clearer recognition of those elements in accepted mythologies which both unite and divide men.

Author : Beda (Venerabilis.),Beda Venerabilis (helgon.),el Venerable Beda (Santo),Bede Venerabilis Staff,Bede, the Venerable, Saint, 673-735
Publisher : Liverpool University Press
Page : 585 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 1999-01-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780853236931

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Bede, The Reckoning of Time by Beda (Venerabilis.),Beda Venerabilis (helgon.),el Venerable Beda (Santo),Bede Venerabilis Staff,Bede, the Venerable, Saint, 673-735 Pdf

From the patristic age until the Gregorian calendar reform of 1582, computus -- the science of time reckoning and art of calendar construction -- was a matter of intense concern. Bede's The Reckoning of Time (De temporum ratione) was the first comprehensive treatise on this subject and the model and reference for all subsequent teaching discussion and criticism of the Christian calendar. It is a systematic exposition of the Julian solar calendar and the Paschal table of Dionysius Exiguus, with their related formulae for calculating dates. But it is more than a technical handbook. Bede sets calendar lore within a broad scientific framework and a coherent Christian concept of time, and incorporates themes as diverse as the theory of tides and the doctrine of the millennium. This translation of the full text of The Reckoning of Time includes an extensive historical introduction and a chapter-by-chapter commentary. It will interest historians of medieval science, theology, and education, Bede scholars and Anglo-Saxonists, liturgists, and Church historians. It will also serve as an accessible introduction to computus itself. Generations of medieval computists nourished their expertise in Bede's orderly presentation; modern scholars in quest of safe passage through this complex terrain can hope for no better guide.

Author : Galina Krasskova
Publisher : Red Wheel/Weiser
Page : 221 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2005-01-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781564147912

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Exploring the Northern Tradition by Galina Krasskova Pdf

Provides an overview of Heathenry, a modern polytheistic religious movement based on the ancient religion of the Germanic and Scandinavian peoples.

Author : Claire Breay,Joanna Story
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2018
Category : Anglo-Saxons
ISBN : 0712352074

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Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms by Claire Breay,Joanna Story Pdf

The Anglo-Saxon period stretches from the arrival of Germanic groups on British shores in the early 5th century to the Norman Conquest of 1066. During these centuries, the English language was used and written down for the first time, pagan populations were converted to Christianity, and the foundations of the kingdom of England were laid. This richly illustrated new book - which accompanies a landmark British Library exhibition - presents Anglo-Saxon England as the home of a highly sophisticated artistic and political culture, deeply connected with its continental neighbours. Leading specialists in early medieval history, literature and culture engage with the unique, original evidence from which we can piece together the story of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, examining outstanding and beautiful objects such as highlights from the Staffordshire hoard and the Sutton Hoo burial. At the heart of the book is the British Library's outstanding collection of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, the richest source of evidence about Old English language and literature, including Beowulf and other poetry; the Lindisfarne Gospels, one of Britain's greatest artistic and religious treasures; the St Cuthbert Gospel, the earliest intact European book; and historical manuscripts such as Bede's Ecclesiastical History and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. These national treasures are discussed alongside other, internationally important literary and historical manuscripts held in major collections in Britain and Europe. This book, and the exhibition it accompanies, chart a fascinating and dynamic period in early medieval history, and will bring to life our understanding of these formative centuries.

Author : Richard W. Barber
Publisher : Boydell & Brewer
Page : 622 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Legends
ISBN : 0851157483

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Myths and Legends of the British Isles by Richard W. Barber Pdf

THE BRITISH ISLES have a long tradition of tales of gods, heroes and marvels, hinting at a mythology once as relevant to the races which settled the islands as the Greek and Roman gods were to the classical world.The tales drawn together in this book, from a wide range of medieval sources, span the centuries from the dawn of Christianity to the age of the Plantagenets. The Norse gods which peopled the Anglo-Saxon past survive in Beowulf/I>; Cuchulainn, Taliesin and the magician Merlin take shape from Celtic mythology; and saints include Helena who brought a piece of the True Cross to Britain, and Joseph of Arimathea whose staff grew into the Glastonbury thorn. Tales of the British Arthur are followed by legends of later heroes, including Harold, Hereward and Godiva. These figures and many others were part of a familiar national mythology on which Shakespeare drew for Lear, Macbeth and Hamlet, creating the famous versions that are known today. Here the original stories are presented again. RICHARD BARBER's other books include King Arthur: Hero and Legend, Arthurian Legends: An Anthology, and The Knight and Chivalry; he is currently working on a study of the legend of the Holy Grail.Borders.com: England and the British Isles have a rich and still thriving tradition of myths and legends - and this wonderful volume collects together more than thirty of the best from a number of sources... an incredible insight into the fascinating yet complex history of the British Isles and its peoples... Those fascinated by mythology will want to add this wonderful book to their collections.

Author : Christopher R. Fee
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 260 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2004-03-18
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 019803878X

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Gods, Heroes, & Kings by Christopher R. Fee Pdf

The islands of Britain have been a crossroads of gods, heroes, and kings-those of flesh as well as those of myth-for thousands of years. Successive waves of invasion brought distinctive legends, rites, and beliefs. The ancient Celts displaced earlier indigenous peoples, only to find themselves displaced in turn by the Romans, who then abandoned the islands to Germanic tribes, a people themselves nearly overcome in time by an influx of Scandinavians. With each wave of invaders came a battle for the mythic mind of the Isles as the newcomer's belief system met with the existing systems of gods, legends, and myths. In Gods, Heroes, and Kings, medievalist Christopher Fee and veteran myth scholar David Leeming unearth the layers of the British Isles' unique folkloric tradition to discover how this body of seemingly disparate tales developed. The authors find a virtual battlefield of myths in which pagan and Judeo-Christian beliefs fought for dominance, and classical, Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, and Celtic narrative threads became tangled together. The resulting body of legends became a strange but coherent hybrid, so that by the time Chaucer wrote "The Wife of Bath's Tale" in the fourteenth century, a Christian theme of redemption fought for prominence with a tripartite Celtic goddess and the Arthurian legends of Sir Gawain-itself a hybrid mythology. Without a guide, the corpus of British mythology can seem impenetrable. Taking advantage of the latest research, Fee and Leeming employ a unique comparative approach to map the origins and development of one of the richest folkloric traditions. Copiously illustrated with excerpts in translation from the original sources,Gods, Heroes, and Kings provides a fascinating and accessible new perspective on the history of British mythology.