Variorum Collected Studies
1 total work
CS 379
The principle issue with which these essays are concerned is the nature of relations between the English and the British in the period from the collapse of Roman authority in Britain to the end of the first Viking-Age. As in the previous collection "Histories and Pseudo-Histories of the Insular Middle Ages", Dr Dumville emphasizes the central importance of close study of manuscripts and texts as the key to understanding the early history of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and the 9th- to the 13th-century perceptions of these. Among the studies, several deal with the historical evaluation of Beowulf and other works of Old English and Welsh literature; others illustrate the need to include the Britons across the Channel, in Brittany, in any full consideration of Insular culture.