Anglo-Saxon England: Volume 50

An Old English gloss written beside a psalm, three rare Agnus Dei pennies and a place-name preserved by Bede offer very different ways into Anglo-Saxon England. The fiftieth volume of this scholarly series brings such evidence together with questions about law-making, language and power. One study weighs the possible location of Bede’s urbs Giudi; another considers Eadgifu, a woman who governed Kent.

Edited by Rory Naismith, Simon Keynes and Rosalind Love, the essays range from Archbishop Theodore’s calculations of the calendar and Aldhelm’s Irish influences to the much later interpretation of Old English poetry. A survey of work on Archbishop Wulfstan and an index to the first fifty volumes sit alongside the research articles. There is no single narrative here: the interest lies in watching coins, manuscript fragments and disputed passages open up different parts of the early medieval past.