Category Archives: Books

In Our Time: Melvyn Bragg gets jiggy with the Icelandic Sagas

Posted on May 17, 2013 by nenna

Melvyn Bragg had done his homework. He is terrifying, yes, but he certainly knows his parchment from his paper, his saga from his settler and his author from his oral tradition. I am of course talking about BBC 4’s In Our … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, History, Norse, Pop Culture, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

New Manuscript Fragments at Rolduc Abbey

Posted on March 27, 2012 by JB

I’ve blogged before about the amazing palaeographical work happening over at the “Turning Over A New Leaf” project in Leiden. This week, Dr. Kwakkel and some of his students are at Rolduc Abbey hunting for medieval manuscript fragments – and … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Books, Paleography | Leave a comment

Telling Medieval Stories

Posted on September 30, 2011 by thaetwaesgodcyning

“I must work fast, faster than Scheherazade, if I am to end up meaning – yes, meaning – something. I admit it: above all things, I fear absurdity.” (Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s Children) It might seem somewhat incongruous to begin a … Continue reading →

Posted in Anglo-Saxon/Old English, Books | Leave a comment

The Beowulf Debate Response: Reassessing Beowulf’s Humanity

Posted on September 21, 2011 by JB

In a previous post in this series, Ryan presented a view of Beowulf as profoundly human hero, situated in a world shifting from a pagan to a christian paradigm. This is my response. I completely agree with Ryan’s characterization of … Continue reading →

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The Beowulf Debate

Posted on August 26, 2011 by thaetwaesgodcyning

This is probably going to be the beginning of a debate. I had another first post in mind, but it’s stalled a bit, so I’m going with this one. It will be short, but that’s OK. I just want to … Continue reading →

Posted in Anglo-Saxon/Old English, Books | Leave a comment

Misconceptions About the Middle Ages

Posted on July 6, 2011 by JB

Medievalists.net just posted about Stephen Harris and Byron L. Grigsby’s book Misconceptions About The Middle Ages. This is the first I’ve heard of it, but it looks interesting. The table of contents, from Medievalists.net, is: Contents Introduction (by Stephen J. … Continue reading →

Posted in Bah Humbug, Books | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments