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History Medieval

Families of the King

Writing Identity in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

by (author) Alice Sheppard

Publisher
University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Initial publish date
Nov 2004
Category
Medieval, Medieval
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802089847
    Publish Date
    Nov 2004
    List Price
    $81
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442674790
    Publish Date
    Nov 2004
    List Price
    $98.00

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Description

The annals of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are fundamental to the study of the language, literature, and culture of the Anglo-Saxon period. Ranging from the ninth to the twelfth century, its five primary manuscripts offer a virtually contemporary history of Anglo-Saxon England, contribute to the body of Old English prose and poetic texts, and enable scholars to document how the Old English language changed.

In Families of the King, Alice Sheppard explicitly addresses the larger interpretive question of how the manuscripts function as history. She shows that what has been read as a series of disparate entries and peculiar juxtapositions is in fact a compelling articulation of collective identity and a coherent approach to writing the secular history of invasion, conquest, and settlement. Sheppard argues that, in writing about the king's performance of his lordship obligations, the annalists transform literary representations of a political ethos into an identifying culture for the Anglo-Saxon nobles and those who conquered them.

About the author

Alice Sheppard is an assistant professor in the Department of English at Pennsylvania State University.

Alice Sheppard's profile page