John Osborne

Rosamond McKitterick

Joanna Story

Carol M. Richardson

Provides the first full study of the predecessor church of St Peter's Basilica in Rome, from late antique construction to Renaissance destruction.

Old Saint Peter's, Rome

Claire Breay

Manuscripts that were made and used in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms before the Norman conquest of England are treasure troves of art and text. Many of these books and documents were brought together in the British Library exhibition, 'Anglo-Saxon kingdoms: art, word, war.' Together, these manuscripts illuminate extensive intellectual connections as well as widespread scribal and artistic networks that developed within the islands of Britain and Ireland, and further afield across much of early medieval Europe. Using new scientific methods, as well as textual criticism, art historical analysis, and historical research, the essays in this richly illustrated volume, written by leading scholars, present innovative research that focuses on manuscripts that were copied, decorated, or used in the early English kingdoms and their neighbours across a 500-year period from the advent of Christianity among the English, c.600, to the age of conquest in the eleventh century.

Cultures and Connections

Manuscripts in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms

Elizabeth M. Tyler

W. Mark Ormrod

This is a ground-breaking volume into the phenomenon of migration in and to England over the medieval millennium. A series of subject specialists synthesise and extend recent research in a wide range of disciplines and marks an important contribution to medieval studies, and to modern debates on migration and the free movement of people.

Migrants in Medieval England, C. 500-C. 1500

The Anglo-Saxon influence on the Carolingian world has long been recognised by historians of the early medieval period. Wilhelm Levison, in particular, has drawn attention to the importance of the Anglo-Saxon contribution to the cultural and ecclesiastical development of Carolingian Francia in the central decades of the eighth century. What is much less familiar is the reverse process, by which Francia and Carolingian concepts came to influence contemporary Anglo-Saxon culture. In this book Dr Story offers a major contribution to the subject of medieval cultural exchanges, focusing on the degree to which Frankish ideas and concepts were adopted by Anglo-Saxon rulers. Furthermore, by concentrating on the secular context and concepts of secular government as opposed to the more familiar ecclesiastical and missionary focus of Levison's work, this book offers a counterweight to the prevailing scholarship, providing a much more balanced overview of the subject. Through this reassessment, based on a close analysis of contemporary manuscripts - particularly the Northumbrian sources - Dr Story offers a fresh insight into the world of early medieval Europe.

Anglo-Saxon England and Carolingian Francia, c. 750–870

Carolingian Connections

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.

Joanna Story

Books

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