The Sword in Early Medieval Northern Europe

The Sword in Early Medieval Northern Europe

Author: Sue Brunning

Publisher: Anglo-Saxon Studies

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781783274062

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A wide-ranging study of the significance of swords throughout the whole Anglo-Saxon period, offering valuable insights into the meaning of and attitude towards swords. Swords were special in Anglo-Saxon England. Their names, deeds and pedigrees were enshrined in writing. Many were curated for generations, revealed by their worn and mended condition. Few ended their lives as casual discards, placed instead in graves, hoards and watercourses as part of ritualised acts. Contemporary sources leave no doubt that complex social meanings surrounded these weapons, transcending their use on the battlefield; but they have yet to transcend the traditional view that their primary social function was as status symbols. Even now, half a century after the first major study of Anglo-Saxon swords, their wider significance within their world has yet to be fully articulated. This book sets out to meet the challenge. Eschewing modern value judgements, it focuses instead on contemporary perceptions - exploring how those who made, used and experienced swords really felt about them. It takes a multidisciplinary and holistic approach, bringing together insights from art, archaeology and literature. Comparison with Scandinavia adds further nuance, revealing what was (and was not) distinctive of Anglo-Saxon views of these weapons. Far from elite baubles, swords are revealed to have been dynamic "living" artefacts with their own identities, histories and places in social networks - ideas fuelled by their adaptability, durability and unique rolein bloodshed. Sue Brunning is Curator of European Early Medieval Collections at The British Museum.


Book Synopsis The Sword in Early Medieval Northern Europe by : Sue Brunning

Download or read book The Sword in Early Medieval Northern Europe written by Sue Brunning and published by Anglo-Saxon Studies. This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A wide-ranging study of the significance of swords throughout the whole Anglo-Saxon period, offering valuable insights into the meaning of and attitude towards swords. Swords were special in Anglo-Saxon England. Their names, deeds and pedigrees were enshrined in writing. Many were curated for generations, revealed by their worn and mended condition. Few ended their lives as casual discards, placed instead in graves, hoards and watercourses as part of ritualised acts. Contemporary sources leave no doubt that complex social meanings surrounded these weapons, transcending their use on the battlefield; but they have yet to transcend the traditional view that their primary social function was as status symbols. Even now, half a century after the first major study of Anglo-Saxon swords, their wider significance within their world has yet to be fully articulated. This book sets out to meet the challenge. Eschewing modern value judgements, it focuses instead on contemporary perceptions - exploring how those who made, used and experienced swords really felt about them. It takes a multidisciplinary and holistic approach, bringing together insights from art, archaeology and literature. Comparison with Scandinavia adds further nuance, revealing what was (and was not) distinctive of Anglo-Saxon views of these weapons. Far from elite baubles, swords are revealed to have been dynamic "living" artefacts with their own identities, histories and places in social networks - ideas fuelled by their adaptability, durability and unique rolein bloodshed. Sue Brunning is Curator of European Early Medieval Collections at The British Museum.

Swords of the Viking Age

Swords of the Viking Age

Author:

Publisher: Boydell Press

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 170

ISBN-13: 1843830892

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This title surveys some 60 examples of swords made and used in northern Europe during the Viking Age, from the mid 8th to the mid-11th century. It contains an illustrated overview of blade types and construction, pattern-welding, inscriptions and handle forms and Jan Petersen's classification.


Book Synopsis Swords of the Viking Age by :

Download or read book Swords of the Viking Age written by and published by Boydell Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title surveys some 60 examples of swords made and used in northern Europe during the Viking Age, from the mid 8th to the mid-11th century. It contains an illustrated overview of blade types and construction, pattern-welding, inscriptions and handle forms and Jan Petersen's classification.

Dorestad and Its Networks

Dorestad and Its Networks

Author: Annemarieke Willemsen

Publisher:

Published: 2021-05-12

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 9789464260038

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Dorestad was the largest town of the Low Countries in the Carolingian era. This book presents new research into the Vikings at Dorestad, assemblages of jewelry, playing pieces and weaponry from the town, recent excavations at other Carolingian sites in the Low Countries, and the use and trade of glassware and broadswords.


Book Synopsis Dorestad and Its Networks by : Annemarieke Willemsen

Download or read book Dorestad and Its Networks written by Annemarieke Willemsen and published by . This book was released on 2021-05-12 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dorestad was the largest town of the Low Countries in the Carolingian era. This book presents new research into the Vikings at Dorestad, assemblages of jewelry, playing pieces and weaponry from the town, recent excavations at other Carolingian sites in the Low Countries, and the use and trade of glassware and broadswords.

The Sword

The Sword

Author: Lisa Deutscher

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 1783274271

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A multidisciplinary overview of current research into the enduringly fascinating martial artefact which is the sword.


Book Synopsis The Sword by : Lisa Deutscher

Download or read book The Sword written by Lisa Deutscher and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2019 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A multidisciplinary overview of current research into the enduringly fascinating martial artefact which is the sword.

Mediaeval Swords from Southeastern Europe

Mediaeval Swords from Southeastern Europe

Author: Marko Aleksić

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 9788691090500

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Book Synopsis Mediaeval Swords from Southeastern Europe by : Marko Aleksić

Download or read book Mediaeval Swords from Southeastern Europe written by Marko Aleksić and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Introduction to Early Medieval Western Europe, 300-900

Introduction to Early Medieval Western Europe, 300-900

Author: Matthew Innes

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 552

ISBN-13: 9780415215077

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This comprehensive survey synthesises a quarter of a century of pathbreaking research in an accessible manner for undergraduate students. Matthew Innes combines an account of the historical background of the period with discussion of the social, economic, cultural and political structures within it.


Book Synopsis Introduction to Early Medieval Western Europe, 300-900 by : Matthew Innes

Download or read book Introduction to Early Medieval Western Europe, 300-900 written by Matthew Innes and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 552 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive survey synthesises a quarter of a century of pathbreaking research in an accessible manner for undergraduate students. Matthew Innes combines an account of the historical background of the period with discussion of the social, economic, cultural and political structures within it.

Why Did Hitler Hate the Jews?

Why Did Hitler Hate the Jews?

Author: Peter den Hertog

Publisher: Frontline Books

Published: 2020-09-30

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 1526772396

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This investigation into the Nazi leader’s mindset is “an inherently fascinating study . . . a work of meticulously presented and seminal scholarship”(Midwest Book Review). Adolf Hitler’s virulent anti-Semitism is often attributed to external cultural and environmental factors. But as historian Peter den Hertog notes in this book, most of Hitler’s contemporaries experienced the same culture and environment and didn’t turn into rabid Jew-haters, let alone perpetrators of genocide. In this study, the author investigates what we do know about the roots of the German leader’s anti-Semitism. He also takes the significant step of mapping out what we do not know in detail, opening pathways to further research. Focusing not only on history but on psychology, forensic psychiatry, and related fields, he reveals how Hitler was a man with highly paranoid traits, and clarifies the causes behind this paranoia while explaining its connection to his anti-Semitism. The author also explores, and answers, whether the Führer gave one specific instruction ordering the elimination of Europe’s Jews, and, if so, when this took place. Peter den Hertog is able to provide an all-encompassing explanation for Hitler’s anti-Semitism by combining insights from many different disciplines—and makes clearer how Hitler’s own particular brand of anti-Semitism could lead the way to the Holocaust.


Book Synopsis Why Did Hitler Hate the Jews? by : Peter den Hertog

Download or read book Why Did Hitler Hate the Jews? written by Peter den Hertog and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2020-09-30 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This investigation into the Nazi leader’s mindset is “an inherently fascinating study . . . a work of meticulously presented and seminal scholarship”(Midwest Book Review). Adolf Hitler’s virulent anti-Semitism is often attributed to external cultural and environmental factors. But as historian Peter den Hertog notes in this book, most of Hitler’s contemporaries experienced the same culture and environment and didn’t turn into rabid Jew-haters, let alone perpetrators of genocide. In this study, the author investigates what we do know about the roots of the German leader’s anti-Semitism. He also takes the significant step of mapping out what we do not know in detail, opening pathways to further research. Focusing not only on history but on psychology, forensic psychiatry, and related fields, he reveals how Hitler was a man with highly paranoid traits, and clarifies the causes behind this paranoia while explaining its connection to his anti-Semitism. The author also explores, and answers, whether the Führer gave one specific instruction ordering the elimination of Europe’s Jews, and, if so, when this took place. Peter den Hertog is able to provide an all-encompassing explanation for Hitler’s anti-Semitism by combining insights from many different disciplines—and makes clearer how Hitler’s own particular brand of anti-Semitism could lead the way to the Holocaust.

The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in 'Beowulf'

The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in 'Beowulf'

Author: Edward Pettit

Publisher: Open Book Publishers

Published: 2020-01-14

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 1783748303

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The image of a giant sword melting stands at the structural and thematic heart of the Old English heroic poem Beowulf. This meticulously researched book investigates the nature and significance of this golden-hilted weapon and its likely relatives within Beowulf and beyond, drawing on the fields of Old English and Old Norse language and literature, liturgy, archaeology, astronomy, folklore and comparative mythology. In Part I, Pettit explores the complex of connotations surrounding this image (from icicles to candles and crosses) by examining a range of medieval sources, and argues that the giant sword may function as a visual motif in which pre-Christian Germanic concepts and prominent Christian symbols coalesce. In Part II, Pettit investigates the broader Germanic background to this image, especially in relation to the god Ing/Yngvi-Freyr, and explores the capacity of myths to recur and endure across time. Drawing on an eclectic range of narrative and linguistic evidence from Northern European texts, and on archaeological discoveries, Pettit suggests that the image of the giant sword, and the characters and events associated with it, may reflect an elemental struggle between the sun and the moon, articulated through an underlying myth about the theft and repossession of sunlight. The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in 'Beowulf' is a welcome contribution to the overlapping fields of Beowulf-scholarship, Old Norse-Icelandic literature and Germanic philology. Not only does it present a wealth of new readings that shed light on the craft of the Beowulf-poet and inform our understanding of the poem’s major episodes and themes; it further highlights the merits of adopting an interdisciplinary approach alongside a comparative vantage point. As such, The Waning Sword will be compelling reading for Beowulf-scholars and for a wider audience of medievalists.


Book Synopsis The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in 'Beowulf' by : Edward Pettit

Download or read book The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in 'Beowulf' written by Edward Pettit and published by Open Book Publishers. This book was released on 2020-01-14 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The image of a giant sword melting stands at the structural and thematic heart of the Old English heroic poem Beowulf. This meticulously researched book investigates the nature and significance of this golden-hilted weapon and its likely relatives within Beowulf and beyond, drawing on the fields of Old English and Old Norse language and literature, liturgy, archaeology, astronomy, folklore and comparative mythology. In Part I, Pettit explores the complex of connotations surrounding this image (from icicles to candles and crosses) by examining a range of medieval sources, and argues that the giant sword may function as a visual motif in which pre-Christian Germanic concepts and prominent Christian symbols coalesce. In Part II, Pettit investigates the broader Germanic background to this image, especially in relation to the god Ing/Yngvi-Freyr, and explores the capacity of myths to recur and endure across time. Drawing on an eclectic range of narrative and linguistic evidence from Northern European texts, and on archaeological discoveries, Pettit suggests that the image of the giant sword, and the characters and events associated with it, may reflect an elemental struggle between the sun and the moon, articulated through an underlying myth about the theft and repossession of sunlight. The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in 'Beowulf' is a welcome contribution to the overlapping fields of Beowulf-scholarship, Old Norse-Icelandic literature and Germanic philology. Not only does it present a wealth of new readings that shed light on the craft of the Beowulf-poet and inform our understanding of the poem’s major episodes and themes; it further highlights the merits of adopting an interdisciplinary approach alongside a comparative vantage point. As such, The Waning Sword will be compelling reading for Beowulf-scholars and for a wider audience of medievalists.

Living with Disfigurement in Early Medieval Europe

Living with Disfigurement in Early Medieval Europe

Author: Patricia Skinner

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-12-21

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 1137544392

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This book is open access under a CC-BY 4.0 license. This book examines social and medical responses to the disfigured face in early medieval Europe, arguing that the study of head and facial injuries can offer a new contribution to the history of early medieval medicine and culture, as well as exploring the language of violence and social interactions. Despite the prevalence of warfare and conflict in early medieval society, and a veritable industry of medieval historians studying it, there has in fact been very little attention paid to the subject of head wounds and facial damage in the course of war and/or punitive justice. The impact of acquired disfigurement —for the individual, and for her or his family and community—is barely registered, and only recently has there been any attempt to explore the question of how damaged tissue and bone might be treated medically or surgically. In the wake of new work on disability and the emotions in the medieval period, this study documents how acquired disfigurement is recorded across different geographical and chronological contexts in the period.


Book Synopsis Living with Disfigurement in Early Medieval Europe by : Patricia Skinner

Download or read book Living with Disfigurement in Early Medieval Europe written by Patricia Skinner and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-12-21 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is open access under a CC-BY 4.0 license. This book examines social and medical responses to the disfigured face in early medieval Europe, arguing that the study of head and facial injuries can offer a new contribution to the history of early medieval medicine and culture, as well as exploring the language of violence and social interactions. Despite the prevalence of warfare and conflict in early medieval society, and a veritable industry of medieval historians studying it, there has in fact been very little attention paid to the subject of head wounds and facial damage in the course of war and/or punitive justice. The impact of acquired disfigurement —for the individual, and for her or his family and community—is barely registered, and only recently has there been any attempt to explore the question of how damaged tissue and bone might be treated medically or surgically. In the wake of new work on disability and the emotions in the medieval period, this study documents how acquired disfigurement is recorded across different geographical and chronological contexts in the period.

An Economic and Social History of Later Medieval Europe, 1000-1500

An Economic and Social History of Later Medieval Europe, 1000-1500

Author: Steven Epstein

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-04-27

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 052188036X

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This book examines the most important themes in European social and economic history from the beginning of growth around the year 1000 to the first wave of global exchange in the 1490s. These five hundred years witnessed the rise of economic systems, such as capitalism, and the social theories that would have a profound influence on the rest of the world over the next five centuries. The basic story, the human search for food, clothing, and shelter in a world of violence and scarcity, is a familiar one, and the work and daily routines of ordinary women and men are the focus of this volume. Surveying the full extent of Europe, from east to west and north to south, Steven Epstein illuminates family life, economic and social thought, war, technologies, and other major themes while giving equal attention to developments in trade, crafts, and agriculture. The great waves of famine and then plague in the fourteenth century provide the centerpiece of a book that seeks to explain the causes of Europe's uneven prosperity and its response to catastrophic levels of death. Epstein also sets social and economic developments within the context of the Christian culture and values that were common across Europe and that were in constant tension with Muslims, Jews, and dissidents within its boundaries and the great Islamic and Tartar states on its frontier.


Book Synopsis An Economic and Social History of Later Medieval Europe, 1000-1500 by : Steven Epstein

Download or read book An Economic and Social History of Later Medieval Europe, 1000-1500 written by Steven Epstein and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-04-27 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the most important themes in European social and economic history from the beginning of growth around the year 1000 to the first wave of global exchange in the 1490s. These five hundred years witnessed the rise of economic systems, such as capitalism, and the social theories that would have a profound influence on the rest of the world over the next five centuries. The basic story, the human search for food, clothing, and shelter in a world of violence and scarcity, is a familiar one, and the work and daily routines of ordinary women and men are the focus of this volume. Surveying the full extent of Europe, from east to west and north to south, Steven Epstein illuminates family life, economic and social thought, war, technologies, and other major themes while giving equal attention to developments in trade, crafts, and agriculture. The great waves of famine and then plague in the fourteenth century provide the centerpiece of a book that seeks to explain the causes of Europe's uneven prosperity and its response to catastrophic levels of death. Epstein also sets social and economic developments within the context of the Christian culture and values that were common across Europe and that were in constant tension with Muslims, Jews, and dissidents within its boundaries and the great Islamic and Tartar states on its frontier.