This thesis seeks to understand the changing place of angels in the religious culture of Anglo-Saxon England between AD 700 and 1000. From images carved in stone to reports of prophetic apparitions, angels are a remarkably ubiquitous presence in the art, literature and theology of early medieval England. That very ubiquity has, however, meant that their significance in Anglo-Saxon thought has largely been overlooked, dismissed as a commonplace of fanciful monkish imaginations. But angels were always bound up with constantly evolving ideas about human nature, devotional practice and the workings of the world. By examining the changing ways that Anglo-Saxon Christians thought about the unseen beings which shared their world, it is possible to detect broader changes in religious thought and expression in one part of the early medieval West. The six chapters of this thesis each investigate a different strand from this complex of ideas. Chapters One and Two begin with Anglo-Saxon beliefs at their most theological and speculative, exploring ideas about the early history of the angels and the nature of their society – ideas which were used to express and promote changing ideals about religious practice in early England. Chapters Three and Four turn to the ways that angels were believed to interact more directly in earthly affairs, as guardians of the living and escorts of the dead, showing how even apparently traditional beliefs reveal changing ideas about intercession, moral achievement and the supernatural. Lastly, Chapters Five and Six investigate the complicated ways that these ideas informed two central aspects of Anglo-Saxon religion: the cult of saints, and devotional prayer. A final Conclusion considers the cumulative trajectory of these otherwise distinct aspects of Anglo-Saxon thought, and asks how we might best explain the changing importance of angels in early medieval England.

This thesis investigates the representation of the human life course in Old English poetry. It attends to constructions of the lifespan as a durational unit, as well as the ‘stages’ or discrete age-related experiences which together form patterns for life development, shared across a diverse range of texts. Throughout this study, the importance of close-reading is emphasised; the bulk of the analysis is concerned with issues of style, lexis and narrative. By these means, it becomes possible to perceive how concepts of the human life course shade into other networks of meaning: these include ideas of ensoulment and embodiment, life experiences of non-human entities, wider narrative patterns which impact representations of life progression, mechanisms and hierarchies of social role and communal existence, and systems of memory collection and the nurturing of ‘wisdom’. The introductory chapter addresses various possible modes of ‘life course’ structuring, in both Anglo-Saxon writings and modern scholarly traditions. Latin and Old English vocabularies of ageing are summarised and an overview is given of previous scholarship attendant on the Anglo-Saxon material. The following three chapters of the thesis then assess representations of different parts of the life course in different groups of texts. The second chapter is concerned with depictions of early life in the Exeter Book Riddles; it contends that these texts have been unduly passed over in discussions of ageing in Old English, seemingly due to their (mostly) non-human subjects. The third chapter addresses the treatment of early and late adulthood in the verse holy lives Andreas, Guthlac A, Juliana and Judith: it is in this chapter that concepts of the life course most clearly intersect with issues of social organisation. The fourth chapter is concerned with the characterisation of old age in Beowulf and Cynewulf’s epilogue to Elene, alongside other texts; the concept of ‘wisdom’ acquired through experience is closely scrutinised, and the verbal and poetic elements of good judgment are elucidated. This thesis concludes that Old English poetry presents human ageing in a manner which encompasses a diverse range of experiences and interrelates with a multitude of wider conceptual frameworks. As such, the texts do not subscribe neatly to an ‘ages of man’ idea. Nonetheless, attention paid to the patterns of human ageing which do emerge from the poems can facilitate more sensitive and productive readings of the texts themselves. The thesis closes with some examples of passages which may be newly interpreted and appreciated in the light of how the life course is conceived across the Old English poetic corpus.

This thesis surveys the children's literary accounts of Anglo-Saxon history and literature that have been written since the mid-nineteenth century. Authors of different ages emphasize different aspects of Anglo-Saxon culture as societal need for and interpretation of the past change. In studying these changes, I show not only why children's authors would choose to depict the Saxons in their writing, but why medievalists would want to study the resulting literature. My second chapter looks at children's historical fiction and nonfiction, charting the trends which appear in the literature written between 1850 and the present day. I survey the changes made in authors' representations of Anglo-Saxon England as children's publication trends have changed. I show how these changes are closely related to the changes made in popular conceptions of the past. My third chapter discusses the way in which children's retellings of Beowulf have placed the poem into a less culturally-dependent, more universal setting as they have separated the tale from its linguistic and cultural heritage. Children's authors have gradually removed the poem's poetic and linguistic devices and other cultural elements from their retellings, instead favoring a more courtly medieval setting, or even a generic universal one. Children's literature is an important indicator of the societal values contemporary with its publication. Authors and publishers often write the literature to reflect their own ideologies and agendas more openly in children's literature than in other literature. As I show in this thesis, the attitudes toward Anglo-Saxon England which pervade children's literature of any age make it a particularly useful tool to those scholars interested in the study of popular reception of the Middle Ages.

<p>Many questions are still left unanswered regarding the period c. 450-700 AD, when hordes of Anglo-Saxon migrants landed on the British Isles and by doing so made the starting point in the foundation of England. Who were these Germanic tribes? The theories of how the migration proceeded are today many. The two major theories today concerns whether it was a question of a mass migration or a gradual migration proceeded by smaller groups of military elite. Another interesting point, well worth discussing, is the concept of cultural identity, and especially of these Anglo-Saxon migrants. How do you strengthen your identity as a newcomer in foreign country? Is this reflected in the material culture, in the way you build your houses or how you choose to bury your dead? The purpose of this essay is to shed more light on the migrants that were to become the English.</p>

Many questions are still left unanswered regarding the period c. 450-700 AD, when hordes of Anglo-Saxon migrants landed on the British Isles and by doing so made the starting point in the foundation of England. Who were these Germanic tribes? The theories of how the migration proceeded are today many. The two major theories today concerns whether it was a question of a mass migration or a gradual migration proceeded by smaller groups of military elite. Another interesting point, well worth discussing, is the concept of cultural identity, and especially of these Anglo-Saxon migrants. How do you strengthen your identity as a newcomer in foreign country? Is this reflected in the material culture, in the way you build your houses or how you choose to bury your dead? The purpose of this essay is to shed more light on the migrants that were to become the English.

This thesis explores the impact of Rome upon Anglo-Saxon politics, religion, and culture in the ninth century. From the Gregorian mission onwards, Rome helped shape the ecclesiastical and devotional contexts of Anglo-Saxon Christianity and occupied a central place in the imaginations of early English writers. Yet the extent to which these links continued into and throughout the ninth century remains obscure, with scholarship about religion and culture often treating the period as a hiatus. In political narratives, the ninth century is treated as a crucial period, and Roman involvement is most visible in this sphere. By redressing the imbalance between religion and politics, this thesis achieves a thorough appreciation of the part played by Rome in these various fields of experience, as well as showing how Anglo-Saxon writers located themselves and their pasts in relation to the city. It does so over the course of five thematic chapters, which progress from an analysis of the most fundamental issues to more imaginative ones. Chapter one examines contact and communication between England and Rome, arguing that the two areas were closely and constantly connected across the century. The second and third chapters explore the impact of Rome on religion and kingship respectively, finding that while Roman influence on the church was most pronounced in the first half of the century, in political terms the city played a significant and changing role throughout the period. Chapters four and five consider the position of Rome in Anglo-Saxon historical thought and geographical understanding, examining how writers continued to define their position in a wider Christian world with reference to the city and its past. This thesis argues that, in the ninth century, Rome continued to play an important role in English life, while also influencing Anglo-Saxon thought and experience in new and dynamic ways.

O objetivo deste trabalho consiste em entender-se como ocorreu a escolha, por volta do ano 1000, dos textos em inglês antigo reunidos no manuscrito conhecido como Nowell Codex ou manuscrito de Beowulf. O manuscrito aqui enfocado é a parte chamada de Nowell Codex, que somado ao Southwick Codex, integra o Cotton Vitellius A.xv, hoje em poder da British Library, em Londres. O Nowell Codex é composto pelos seguintes textos: Vida de São Cristovão, em prosa; Maravilhas do Oriente, em prosa; Carta de Alexandre para Aristóteles, em prosa; Beowulf, em poesia e Judite, em poesia. Ao buscar-se entender a unidade temática do manuscrito, é fundamental tocar em questões codicológicas juntamente com as textuais, isto é, questões materiais acerca da produção do codex. Esta abordagem foi muito pouco explorada pelos estudiosos que já se dedicaram aos textos do Nowell Codex, especialmente àqueles que se dedicam ao poema Beowulf. Defende-se aqui que os textos foram escolhido devido a uma semelhança em um arco maior de ideias que abarca todos os conteúdos do manuscrito: o Oriente. Não somente um Oriente geográfico, mas um Oriente como origem ancestral para os anglo-saxões. A palavra Níðwundor (terrível maravilha) resume todos os paradoxos e semelhanças deste Oriente construído pelos anglo-saxões e escolhido como tema para unir estes textos no manuscrito / The aim of this study is identify how happened the choice, around the year 1000, of Old English texts gathered in the manuscript known as Nowell Codex or Beowulf manuscript. The manuscript focused on here is the part called Nowell Codex, which added to Southwick Codex, includes the Cotton Vitellius A.xv, now held by the British Library in London. The Nowell Codex consists of the following texts: Life of Saint Christopher, in prose; Wonders of the East, in prose; Letter of Alexander to Aristotle, in prose; Beowulf, and Judith, in poetry. By be sought for understanding the thematic unity of the manuscript, it is essential to touch codicológicas issues along with the context, that is, material issues regarding the production of the codex. This approach has been very little explored by scholars who have devoted themselves to the Nowell Codex texts, especially those engaged in the poem Beowulf. It is argued here that the texts were chosen because of a similarity in a larger arc of ideas which all the contents of the manuscript: the East. This East is not only a geographical East, but it is an East as ancestral origin to the Anglo-Saxons. The word Níðwundor (terrible wonder) summarizes all the paradoxes and similarities of the East as is thought by the Anglo-Saxons and chosen as a theme to unite these texts in the manuscript

O objetivo deste trabalho consiste em entender-se como ocorreu a escolha, por volta do ano 1000, dos textos em inglês antigo reunidos no manuscrito conhecido como Nowell Codex ou manuscrito de Beowulf. O manuscrito aqui enfocado é a parte chamada de Nowell Codex, que somado ao Southwick Codex, integra o Cotton Vitellius A.xv, hoje em poder da British Library, em Londres. O Nowell Codex é composto pelos seguintes textos: Vida de São Cristovão, em prosa; Maravilhas do Oriente, em prosa; Carta de Alexandre para Aristóteles, em prosa; Beowulf, em poesia e Judite, em poesia. Ao buscar-se entender a unidade temática do manuscrito, é fundamental tocar em questões codicológicas juntamente com as textuais, isto é, questões materiais acerca da produção do codex. Esta abordagem foi muito pouco explorada pelos estudiosos que já se dedicaram aos textos do Nowell Codex, especialmente àqueles que se dedicam ao poema Beowulf. Defende-se aqui que os textos foram escolhido devido a uma semelhança em um arco maior de ideias que abarca todos os conteúdos do manuscrito: o Oriente. Não somente um Oriente geográfico, mas um Oriente como origem ancestral para os anglo-saxões. A palavra Níðwundor (terrível maravilha) resume todos os paradoxos e semelhanças deste Oriente construído pelos anglo-saxões e escolhido como tema para unir estes textos no manuscrito / The aim of this study is identify how happened the choice, around the year 1000, of Old English texts gathered in the manuscript known as Nowell Codex or Beowulf manuscript. The manuscript focused on here is the part called Nowell Codex, which added to Southwick Codex, includes the Cotton Vitellius A.xv, now held by the British Library in London. The Nowell Codex consists of the following texts: Life of Saint Christopher, in prose; Wonders of the East, in prose; Letter of Alexander to Aristotle, in prose; Beowulf, and Judith, in poetry. By be sought for understanding the thematic unity of the manuscript, it is essential to touch codicológicas issues along with the context, that is, material issues regarding the production of the codex. This approach has been very little explored by scholars who have devoted themselves to the Nowell Codex texts, especially those engaged in the poem Beowulf. It is argued here that the texts were chosen because of a similarity in a larger arc of ideas which all the contents of the manuscript: the East. This East is not only a geographical East, but it is an East as ancestral origin to the Anglo-Saxons. The word Níðwundor (terrible wonder) summarizes all the paradoxes and similarities of the East as is thought by the Anglo-Saxons and chosen as a theme to unite these texts in the manuscript

My thesis examines social conceptions framing rights and obligations by reviewing how possessions are used and exchanged in the poems of MS Junius XI. I identify several major additions to the scriptural source material of the poetic narrative where the poems present a unique treatment of possessions in a social environment. These poetic additions often feature novel combinations of events and even entirely new sub-stories. In reviewing these departures I focus specifically on possessions and examine how they frame the rights and obligations within social interactions. Focusing on objects of social exchange enables the discussion of the literary narrative to relate to secondary historical literature on possessions as well as social conceptions. This has not yet been done for the poems of Junius XI. This thesis is divided into four thematic chapters ordered from the most tangible to the most abstract: moveable objects, landed possessions, degrees of possession of people, and abstract notions of authority framing social interactions tied to holding and exchanging possessions. In chapter two moveable possessions will be discussed in relation to social status, cultural identity, exchange and hierarchy. The third chapter will examine the interplay between the allegorical and practical notions of land possession. The fourth chapter will discuss social hierarchy framed as a range of rights and obligations discussing to what degree people are themselves treated as possessions. The discussion will examine what types and levels of relative personal freedom is detectable in the Junius XI poems. The final chapter will amalgamate findings and issues of the previous chapters by examining how the exchange and treatment of possessions impact various types of authority which frame social interactions, hierarchies and values.

Vers la fin du VIIe siècle, dans le monde anglo-saxon, Aldhelm de Malmesbury publia son opus geminatum, la Prosa et le Carmen de uirginitate. Il dédia son oeuvre à des moniales du monastère double de Barking, dont l’abbesse Hildelith. Le De uirginitate est un traité sur la virginité qui comporte une partie théorique, mais aussi des catalogues de figures virginales tirées de la Bible, mais surtout de textes hagiographiques. L’historiographie eut tendance à sous-estimer le rôle de ces catalogues au sein du traité, n’en faisant qu’un simple florilegium assemblé sans logique. Notre travail consistera à répondre à cette idée afin d’affirmer le rôle essentiel de ces figures virginales à titre d’exempla. Ainsi, nous pensons que ces personnages sont des figures exemplaires dont la fonction est de refléter la partie théorique du De uirginitate. Le traité d’Aldhelm nous paraitra dès lors posséder une double fonction, soit celle de défendre les monastères doubles et l’autorité des moniales dans un contexte de plus en plus hostile à ces aspects, mais aussi afin de servir de guide à la renonciation sexuelle. / Near the end of the 7th century, in the anglo-saxon world, Aldhelm of Malmesbury published his opus geminatum, the Prosa and Carmen de uirginitate. He dedicated his work to the nuns of the double monastery of Barking, particularly the abbess Hildelith. The De uirginitate is a treaty on virginity, which includes a theoretical part and catalogs of virginal figures found in hagiographical as well as in Biblical sources. Historiography has tended to underestimate the role of these catalogs within the treaty, portraying them as a mere florilegium without logic. This dissertation will propose that the virginal figures mentioned in the catalogs served as exempla. More specifically, we propose that these characters are exemplary figures whose function is to mirror the theoretical part of the De uirginitate. Ald-helm’s treaty will then appear to possess a double function, which is to defend the double monas-teries and the nuns’ authority in an increasingly hostile environment as well as to serve as a guide to sexual renunciation.