A HISTORY OF OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE A History of Old English Literature has been significantly revised to provide an unequivocal response to the renewed historicism in medieval studies. Focusing on the production and reception of Old English texts and on their relation to Anglo-Saxon history and culture, this new edition covers an exceptionally broad array of genres. These range from riddles and cryptograms to allegory, liturgical texts, and romance, as well as lyric poetry and heroic legend. The authors also integrate discussions of Anglo-Latin texts, crucial to understanding the development of Old English literature. This second edition incorporates extensive reference to scholarship that has evolved over the past decade, with new chapters on both Anglo-Saxon manuscripts and on incidental and marginal texts. There is expanded treatment throughout, including increased coverage of legal texts and scientific and scholastic texts. The book concludes with a retrospective outline of the reception of Anglo-Saxon literature and culture in subsequent periods.

A HISTORY OF OLD ENGLISH LITERATUREA History of Old English Literature has been significantly revised to provide an unequivocal response to the renewed historicism in medieval studies. Focusing on the production and reception of Old English texts and on their relation to Anglo-Saxon history and culture, this new edition covers an exceptionally broad array of genres. These range from riddles and cryptograms to allegory, liturgical texts, and romance, as well as lyric poetry and heroic legend. The authors also integrate discussions of Anglo-Latin texts, crucial to understanding the development of Old English literature.This second edition incorporates extensive reference to scholarship that has evolved over the past decade, with new chapters on both Anglo-Saxon manuscripts and on incidental and marginal texts. There is expanded treatment throughout, including increased coverage of legal texts and scientific and scholastic texts. The book concludes with a retrospective outline of the reception of Anglo-Saxon literature and culture in subsequent periods.

List of IIIustrations viPreface to the First Edition (2003) viiPreface to the Second Edition ixAbbreviations xIntroductionAnglo-Saxon England and Its Literature: A Social History 11 The Chronology and Varieties of Old English Literature 422 Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts 583 Literature of the Alfredian Period 834 Homilies 1125 Saints' Legends (Rachel S. Anderson) 1336 Biblical Literature 1577 Liturgical and Devotional Texts 1778 Legal Texts 2119 Scientific and Scholastic Texts 22710 Wisdom Literature and Lyric Poetry 24111 Germanic Legend and Heroic Lay 27812 Additions, Annotations, and Marginalia 329Conclusion Making Old English New: Anglo-Saxonism and the Cultural Work of Old English Literature 354Works Cited 367Index 481