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De Creatura
''De creatura'' ('On Creation') is an 83-line Latin polystichic poem by the seventh- to eighth-century Anglo-Saxon poet Aldhelm and an important text among Anglo-Saxon riddles. The poem seeks to express the wondrous diversity of creation, usually by drawing vivid contrasts between different natural phenomena, one of which is usually physically higher and more magnificent, and one of which is usually physically lower and more mundane. ''De creatura'' is one of two of Aldhelm's riddles known to have been translated into Old English (the other being the Leiden Riddle): a fairly close but expansive, albeit now fragmentary, translation survives as the 108-line Riddle 40 of the Exeter Book (according to the numbering of the Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records). This was itself shortened and reworked as the ten-line Riddle 66, and adapted even further as the now largely lost, presently six-line Riddle 94, both also found in the Exeter Book. These riddles stand as a rare example of an Old English p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aldhelm
Aldhelm ( ang, Ealdhelm, la, Aldhelmus Malmesberiensis) (c. 63925 May 709), Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey, Bishop of Sherborne, and a writer and scholar of Latin poetry, was born before the middle of the 7th century. He is said to have been the son of Kenten, who was of the royal house of Wessex.Walsh ''A New Dictionary of Saints'' pp. 21–22 He was certainly not, as his early biographer Faritius asserts, the brother of King Ine. After his death he was venerated as a saint, his feast day being the day of his death, 25 May. Life Early life and education Aldhelm received his first education in the school of the Irish scholar and monk Máeldub (also ''Maildubh'', ''Maildulf'' or ''Meldun'') (died ), who had settled in the British stronghold of Bladon (or ''Bladow'') on the site of the town called Mailduberi, Maldubesburg, Meldunesburg, etc., and finally Malmesbury, after him. In 668, Pope Vitalian sent Theodore of Tarsus to be Archbishop of Canterbury. At the same time the N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anglo-Saxon Riddles
Anglo-Saxon riddles are a significant genre of Anglo-Saxon literature. The riddle was a major, prestigious literary form in early medieval England, and riddles were written both in Latin and Old English verse. The pre-eminent composer of Latin riddles in early medieval England was Aldhelm (d. 709), while the Old English verse riddles found in the tenth-century Exeter Book include some of the most famous Old English poems. History Antique inspirations Riddles are an internationally widespread feature of oral literatures and scholars have not doubted that they were traditional to Old English culture. But the history of riddles as a literary genre in England seems to be rooted in an influential collection of late Antique Latin riddles, possibly from north Africa, attributed to a poet called Symphosius, whose work English scholars emulated and adapted. Aldhelm As the conversion of England to Christianity proceeded during the seventh century, Old English-speakers studied Latin a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th century, and the first Old English literary works date from the mid-7th century. After the Norman conquest of 1066, English was replaced, for a time, by Anglo-Norman (a relative of French) as the language of the upper classes. This is regarded as marking the end of the Old English era, since during this period the English language was heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into a phase known now as Middle English in England and Early Scots in Scotland. Old English developed from a set of Anglo-Frisian or Ingvaeonic dialects originally spoken by Germanic tribes traditionally known as the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. As the Germanic settlers became dominant in England, their language replaced the languages of Roman Britain: Com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leiden Riddle
The "Leiden Riddle" is an Old English riddle (which also survives in a similar form in the Exeter Book known as Exeter Book Riddle 33 or 35). It is noteworthy for being one of the earliest attested pieces of English poetry; one of only a small number of representatives of the Northumbrian dialect of Old English; one of only a relatively small number of Old English poems to survive in multiple manuscripts; and evidence for the translation of the Latin poetry of Aldhelm into Old English. Text Manuscript The Leiden Riddle is attested in MS Leiden, Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit, Voccius Lat. 4o 106, where it accompanies the Latin text on which it is based. The manuscript was described by Herbert Dean Merritt thus: : 25 leaves, Riddles of Symphosius and Aldhelm, ninth century. At the end of the Riddles, folio 25v, is the well-known Leiden Riddle in Old English. On folio 10r, in a space viiiat the end of chapter headings, are written in the hand of the text the Old English glos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exeter Book
The Exeter Book, also known as the Codex Exoniensis or Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3501, is a large codex of Old English poetry, believed to have been produced in the late tenth century AD. It is one of the four major manuscripts of Old English poetry, along with the Vercelli Book in Vercelli, Italy, the Nowell Codex in the British Library, and the Junius manuscript in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The book was donated to what is now the Exeter Cathedral library by Leofric, the first bishop of Exeter, in 1072. It is believed originally to have contained 130 or 131 leaves, of which the first 7 or 8 have been replaced with other leaves; the original first 8 leaves are lost. The Exeter Book is the largest and perhaps oldest known manuscript of Old English literature, containing about a sixth of the Old English poetry that has come down to us. In 2016, UNESCO recognized the book as "the foundation volume of English literature, one of the world's principal cultural artefac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records
The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records (ASPR) is a six-volume edition intended at the time of its publication to encompass all known Old English poetry. Despite many subsequent editions of individual poems or collections, it has remained the standard reference work for scholarship in this field. History The edition was conceived by George Philip Krapp (1872–1934), who edited volumes 1, 2, and 5 while Professor of English at Columbia University, with the assistance of his student and colleague Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie. Krapp died partway through editing volume 3, and Dobbie completed this edition before going on to complete the series by editing volumes 6 (which came out in 1942) and 4 (which emerged in 1953).. According to Henry Wiggins, the long gap before the publication of Volume 4 was partly due to Elliott's feeling that there was no urgency about completing the ''Beowulf'' volume, because there were so many competent editions. The Press, like any publisher, was troubled about the a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gale Owen-Crocker
Gale Owen-Crocker (born 16 January 1947) is a Professor Emerita of the University of Manchester, England. Before her retirement she was Professor of Anglo-Saxon Culture and Director of the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies. Early life and education Gale Redfern Owen was born and raised in Newcastle upon Tyne, and earned a first class degree with honours in English language and literature from Newcastle University in 1968 and a PhD with a thesis on Anglo-Saxon dress Anglo-Saxon dress refers to the clothing and accessories worn by the Anglo-Saxons from the middle of the fifth century to the eleventh century. Archaeological finds in Anglo-Saxon cemeteries have provided the best source of information on Anglo ... in 1976, also from Newcastle. Career After teaching at her former school and at Newcastle University while a student, Owen then took up a teaching position at the University of Manchester, where she remained until retiring as Professor of Anglo-Saxon Culture and D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aldfrith Of Northumbria
Aldfrith (Early Modern Irish: ''Flann Fína mac Ossu''; Latin: ''Aldfrid'', ''Aldfridus''; died 14 December 704 or 705) was king of Northumbria from 685 until his death. He is described by early writers such as Bede, Alcuin and Stephen of Ripon as a man of great learning. Some of his works and some letters written to him survive. His reign was relatively peaceful, marred only by disputes with Bishop Wilfrid, a major figure in the early Northumbrian church. Aldfrith was born on an uncertain date to Oswiu of Northumbria and an Irish princess named Fín. Oswiu later became King of Northumbria; he died in 670 and was succeeded by his son Ecgfrith. Aldfrith was educated for a career in the church and became a scholar. However, in 685, when Ecgfrith was killed at the battle of Nechtansmere, Aldfrith was recalled to Northumbria, reportedly from the Hebridean island of Iona, and became king. In his early-8th-century account of Aldfrith's reign, Bede states that he "ably restored th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symphosius
Symphosius (sometimes, in older scholarship and less properly, Symposius) was the author of the ''Aenigmata'', an influential collection of 100 Latin riddles, probably from the late antique period. They have been transmitted along with their solutions. Biography Nothing more is known of Symphosius's life than what can be gleaned from the riddles themselves: even his name is clearly 'a joking pseudonym, meaning “party boy” or the like'. Proposed dates of composition have ranged from the third century to the sixth. The prevailing view today is that they were probably composed in the late fourth or early fifth century. A range of circumstantial evidence in the content of the riddles suggests that Symphosius was writing in Roman North Africa. The riddles The riddles themselves, written in tercets of dactylic hexameters, are of elegant Latinity. The author's brief preface states that they were written to form part of the entertainment at the Saturnalia. This could be a literary co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Philip Krapp
George Philip Krapp (1872–1934) was a scholar of the English language who was born in Cincinnati. He graduated from Wittenberg College in 1894 and received a PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 1899. His doctoral thesis was on the Legend of the Purgatory of St. Patrick. In 1897 Krapp joined the faculty of Columbia University, becoming professor of English at the University of Cincinnati (1908–1910) before gaining the same title at Columbia (1910–1934). His best known achievement is conceiving and in large part undertaking the six volume Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records edition (begun in 1931, and concluded by Krapp's collaborator Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie in 1953). Krapp is also noted for his books ''Modern English: Its Growth and Present Use'' (1909) in which he argued "that 'good English' was not determined by the conformity to grammatical laws, but by the common use of language", and ''The English Language in America'' (1925) described by Henry Blake Fuller as "detailing the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie
Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie (May 9, 1907 – March 23, 1970) was an American scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature who taught English at Columbia University. Early life Dobbie was born in Brooklyn, New York City, in 1907. Education and academic career Dobbie studied at Columbia University, being awarded a bachelor's in 1927 and a first class master's in American Literature in 1929. He began teaching English in Long Island in the same year, but later returned to teach at Columbia in 1934. In 1937, he received his PhD from Columbia, and was promoted to the role of Instructor. He later became Assistant Professor in 1942, Associate Professor in 1945, and Professor in 1951. While studying and teaching, Dobbie began assisting George Philip Krapp on a six-volume edition entitled the ''Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records'', considered the standard edition of Old English poetry. The first three editions were mainly edited by Krapp (''The Junius Manuscript'' in 1931, and in 1932 ''The Vercelli Book'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dunstan
Saint Dunstan (c. 909 – 19 May 988) was an English bishop. He was successively Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, Bishop of Worcester, Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury, later canonised as a saint. His work restored monastic life in England and reformed the English Church. His 11th-century biographer Osbern, himself an artist and scribe, states that Dunstan was skilled in "making a picture and forming letters", as were other clergy of his age who reached senior rank. Dunstan served as an important minister of state to several English kings. He was the most popular saint in England for nearly two centuries, having gained fame for the many stories of his greatness, not least among which were those concerning his famed cunning in defeating the Devil. Early life (909–943) Birth and relatives According to Dunstan's earliest biographer, known only as 'B', his parents were called Heorstan and Cynethryth and they lived near Glastonbury. B states that Dunstan ''"oritur"'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
