We shall see how King Alfred the Great evolved from a guerrilla warrior hiding out in the Athelney Marshes to the founder of schools, builder of burhs, translator into Old English and religious reformer. We shall discover how he and his successors, including Aethelflaed Lady of the Mercians and King Athelstan, continued his reconquest of the Danelaw and how King Edgar and bishops Dunstan, Ethelwold and Oswald transformed the nature of the Church. We shall examine how Ethelred ‘Unraed’ weakened the West Saxon grip on the throne and how it passed to the Danish King Cnut and his queen, Emma and consider their policy of gift exchange and political PR.
This course will also focus on exploring the history of the period, up until the Norman Conquest, through the portal of its material and literary culture. The rich sculptural legacy of the Anglo-Scandinavian peoples, the wood and bone working from towns such as York, the ivories, metalwork and manuscripts of the reformed English Church and the great anthologies of poetry, homilies, laws and scientific works will help us to understand how England came to be formed, how it interacted with Europe and how for a time it was part of a massive Scandinavian trading empire.
Beowulf, the Dream of the Rood, the Exeter Book with its riddles, the Battle of Maldon, the Old English Hexateuch, the Junius MS, the Benedictional of St Ethelwold, the Alfred Jewel, the Fuller Brooch, the Sutton Isle of Ely brooch, the architectural monuments and the Bayeux Tapestry are amongst the treasures we shall set in their socio-historical context, as we explore the nature of the material and manuscript evidence for the age and its outlook.
What our students say
"Michelle was a great lecturer. She spoke effortlessly about all the topics she covered and with great energy. Excellent class."
