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Saxon-England-lnks – 2/4/04

Web links to info on Saxon England by Dame Aoife Finn of Ynos Mon.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

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Stefan at florilegium.org

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From: "Lis" <liontamr at ptd.net>

Date: Wed May 28, 2003 9:33:11 AM US/Central

To: "Stefan li Rous" <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>

Subject: Links: Saxon England

Hwæt! Wes tu, cynn, Hal!

This, my readers, in my undoubtedly mangled attempt to write Old English,

means roughly "Hear Me! I bid you, my kindred, Hail!"

This is one of the many skills you can pick up by reading this week's links

list (heck, I can say this much after only 5 minutes perusal of the

site"Hwæt "). Perhaps you'd like to learn Old English, Dress like a Saxon,

cook like a Saxon, replicate the calligraphy in Beowulf's only survivng

manuscript, or learn about their artifacts. This week, it's all about Saxons

(and Angles, Jutes and Frissians by association), and it's all fascinating.

Please share this list wherever it is likely to find a ready readership.

AND, if you appreciate myattempts to put some of my finds in context with

the rest of culture, let me know! Got suggestions for future Links Lists?

Ditto.

Cheers

Aoife

liontamr at ptd.net

Dame Aoife Finn of Ynos Mon

Riverouge, Aethelmearc

Beowulf

http://www.lone-star.net/literatue/beowulf/

(Site excerpt) Beowulf , written in Old English sometime before the tenth

century A.D., describes the adventures of a great Scandinavian warrior of

the sixth century. A rich fabric of fact and fancy, Beowulf is the oldest

surviving epic in Britsh literature. Beowulf exists in only one manuscript.

This copy survived both the wholesale destruction of religious artifacts

during the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII and a disastrous

fire which destroyed the library of Sir Robert Bruce Coton (1571-1631).

(note: Facsimile of an original page included. Also included: Link to the

Beowulf Bookstore).

The Electronic Beowulf (CD ROMs with entire facsimile text)

http://www.press.umich.edu/titles/00260.html

(Site Excerpt) The great Old English pem, Beowulf, survives in a single

manuscript that was badly damaged by fire in 1731, and further deteriorated

before it was rebound in 1845. Some sections are now preserved only in the

two eighteenth-century transcripts by the Icelander Grímur Jónsson Thokelin

and his hired scribe. Making innovative use of a digital camera, ultraviolet

fluorescence, and fiber-optic backlighting, Kevin Kiernan has assembled an

archive of digital images that provides not only high-quality facsimiles of

what is readily visibe in the manuscript, but also of hundreds of letters

and parts of letters hidden by the nineteenth-century restoration binding.

Joining modern technology with knowledge of the poem in its manuscript

context, Kiernan significantly advances our understandin of the manuscript

and offers important new information about this major literary work.

ORB Anglo-Saxon England: A Guide to Online Resources

Section Editor: Brad Bedingfield, Tokyo Metropolitan University

http://orb.rhodes.edu/encyclop/early/pre1000/ASinex.html

(Site Excerpt) Introduction by Stuart Lee, Oxford University Computing

Services

This section of the On-Line Reference Book for Medieval Studies concentrates

on the period of English history dating from the mid-fifth century to the

mid-eleventh cenury. As with all dating in the medieval period these

chronological boundaries are open to question. The starting date represents

the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon invasions, i.e. the invasion/migration of

the tribes termed the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes fro the northern part of

modern Germany to the island of Britain. Similarly, the end-date of the

mid-eleventh century centres on the Battle of Hastings (14th October, 1066)

which saw the defeat of Harold Godwineson, the last Saxon king, at the hands

of Willim the Conqueror thus transferring control of England to the

Normans.

Saint Bede the Venerable 673-735

http://www.ehsbr.org/faculty/houghtonj/medstud/bede.htm

(Site Excerpt) Such scant information as we have on the life of St. Bede the

Venerable comes fro two principal sources: an autobiographical note

appended to his Ecclesiastical History of the English People and a

description of his death, contained in a letter from his student Cuthbert

(afterwards Abbot of Wearmouth and Jarrow) to an otherwise unknow lector

named Cuthwine.

Bede's World: The Museum of Early Medieval Northumbria at Jarrow.

http://www.bedesworld.co.uk/

(Site Excerpt) The extraordinary life of the Venerable Bede (AD 673-735)

created a rich legacy that is celebrated today at Bede's World Jarrow,

where Bede lived and worked 1300 years ago. Visit the:

*interactive Age of Bede exhibition in the stunning new museum building

*site of the Anglo-Saxon monastery of St Paul, and medieval monastic ruins

*herb garden

*rare breeds of animals and receated timber buildings on Gyrwe, the

Anglo-Saxon demonstration farm

*attractive café within historic Jarrow Hall

*museum gift and book shop

K E M B L E: THE WEBSITE OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY / ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

JOINT COMMITTEE ON ANGLO-SAXON CHARTER

http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/chartwww/

(Site Excerpt) KEMBLE named after John Mitchell Kemble (1807-57), of Trinity

College, Cambridge, editor and translator of Beowulf (1833, 1837), editor of

the Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici (1839-48), author of The Sxons in

England (1849), and author of Horae Ferales (1863).....The term 'Anglo-Saxon

charter' covers a multitude of documents ranging in kind from the royal

diplomas issued in the names of Anglo-Saxon kings between the last quarter

of the seventh century nd the Norman Conquest, which are generally in

Latin, to the wills of prominent churchmen, laymen, and women, which are

generally in the vernacular. A large proportion of the surviving corpus of

charters is made up of records of grants of land or privilegs by a king to

a religious house, or to a lay beneficiary. The corpus also includes records

of settlements of disputes over land or privileges, leases of episcopal

property, and records of bequests of land and other property.

The Voyage of Ohthere

first ection edited and translated by Grant Chevallier

http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/eduweb/engl401/texts/ohthfram.htm

A side-by-side translation of the work, with linked Anglo-Saxon dictionary

to each word in early-medieval English. There is also an audio functin

which I was not able to make work on my computer (Windows Media). An

excellent source, though I cannot judge the quality of the translation.

Hwæt! (A Course in Old English pronunciation)

http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ballc/hwaet/hwaet06.html (Clickthe

Contents link)

(Site Excerpt from Forward) Hwæt! This is the first word of Beowulf, where

translators render it variously as Lo, Listen, Hear me, and Yes. There is in

fact no translation equivalent in Modern English, and using a dictionary

isn't much elp. To understand this word, you must see how it is used in a

number of contexts: i.e., in Old English texts. It is the premise of the

present book that all words in another language ought to be learned in

context, and that they can be learned in this wa. Hwæt! (the electronic

book) is designed for those who would like to learn some basic Old English

without having to hold a grammar book in one hand and a dictionary in the

other. It is based on the notion that at least some aspects of the language

can b acquired simply by reading. Of course, you can't sit down and read a

difficult text like Beowulf without any pre-existing knowledge of Old

English: but using your knowledge of Modern English and how the world is,

you can read a number of samples from OldEnglish texts. In the process of

reading, your brain will figure out how Old English works.

Labrynth Library: Old English Literature

http://www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/library/oe/oe.html

Listed at this page are 25 texts presented as close to their origial as is

possible. Included are poetry, prose, a section on Runic text (under

development) and Litergical documents.

West Stowe Anglo-Saxon Village

http://www.stedmunds.co.uk/lifestyle/wstow/village.html

(Site Excerpt) Archaeology has provided most of th information we have, and

the West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village Trust has attempted to explore some of the

problems raised by practical experiment in the form of reconstructions. The

first of these were carried out by a group of Cambridge students, but the

wok has been continued by West Stow staff. Each reconstruction tests

different ideas. Wherever possible, tools and techniques available to the

Anglo-Saxons have been used. Oak timbers and planks have been shaped by

hand, mainly using axes. The thatch for th roofs is tied on, as there is no

evidence for metal fixings at West Stow.

Angelcynn: Anglo-Saxon Living History 400-900 AD

http://www.angelcynn.org.uk/

(Site Excerpt) "449 In this year Mauricius and Valentinian obtained the

Kingdom and reigned seven yeas. In their days Hengest and Horsa, invited by

Vortigern, King of the Britons, came to Britain at a place called Ebbsfleet

at first to help the Britons, but later they fought against them. The king

ordered them to fight against the Picts, and so they did nd had victory

wherever they came. They then sent to Angeln; ordered them to send them more

aid and to be told of the worthlessness of the Britons and of the excellence

of the land. They sent them more aid. These men came from three nations of

Germany: frm the Old Saxons, from the Angles, from the Jutes."

So wrote a monk in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles many centuries ago. The fifth

to ninth centuries were some of the most turbulent of British history. This

was the time when England was born, the time of Henest and Horsa, King

Arthur, Beowulf, Redwald of Sutton Hoo, St. Augustine, King Offa, King

Alfred, the Viking Invasions and the foundation of the English church.

Anglo-Saxon Cemetaries

http://www.gla.ac.uk/Acad/Archaeology/resources/Anglo-Saxon/cemeterie/index.html

(Site Excerpt) This site contains pointers to a series of resources and

datasets relating to early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. My PhD research involved

an analysis of social aspects of burial, and as part of this work an early

Anglo-Saxon cemeteris database was assembled, consisting primarily of

cemeteries from central and central southern England.

Germanic History and Culture

http://www.anglo-saxon.demon.co.uk/lyfja/ghp/history.html

(Site Excerpt) This page offers a collection of links which expore the

history and cultures of various Germanic peoples from ancient heathen times

through the middle ages.

ANGLO-SAXON WOMEN: MORE THAN "FRITHUWEBBAS" By Cathy Coone-McRary

http://parallel.park.uga.edu/~abruce/mathi3.html#women

(Site Excerpt) In the med-hall, gold-adorned Wealhtheow dispenses ale to

Hrothgar's warriors and pleads for Beowulf's kindness to her sons. By the

funeral pyre, despondent Hildeburh laments the loss of her son, brother, and

husband in battle and is returned, weeping, to her peope. Such is the

presentation of women in the great Anglo-Saxon work Beowulf; thanks to this

and other Old English works, we have been led to believe that women in

Anglo-Saxon times were helpless creatures struggling to survive in a

male-dominated society. t is erroneous, however, to think that Anglo-Saxon

women had no rights. In fact, women enjoyed many benefits under the sanction

of Anglo-Saxon law; they were not simply the tragic, powerless

"peaceweavers" found in Old English literature.

The Anglo-SaxonInvasion of Britain

http://www.angelcynn.org.uk/history_invasion.html

(Site Excerpt) This account of the migrations from Germany, following the

collapse of the Roman Empire, is taken from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, and

is how the later Anglo-Saxons saw te first arrival of their people. Since

then, until quite recently, it has remained the accepted view of what

happened. However, recent researches have shown it to be wrong in almost

every detail It is even uncertain whether Hengest andHorsa existed, or

whther they were actually the same person! #1 Although Hengest may have

been the first Germanic chieftain of Kent, he was probably no more than a

warlord. The first Germanic king was probably his son Oisc, giving the

Kentish royal house the name of the 'Oisingas'. Whilst it may be true that

a British king (who may or may not have been called Vortigern) employed

Germanic mercenaries to aid him in his battles against the Picts (or perhaps

just another British king), it would certainly not be the first instanc of

Germanic settlers in this country.

Ða Engliscan Gesiþas...

http://www.kami.demon.co.uk/gesithas/index.html

(Site Excerpt) Ða Engliscan Gesiþas is the only major historical society

devoted to the study of the Anglo-Saxon period. All aspects are covere,

including language and literature, archaeology, anthropology, architecture,

art, religion, mythology, folklore and material culture. Ða Engliscan

Gesiþas is Old English for 'The English Companions'.

It is pronounced approximately 'Tha Englishan yeseetha'

Readings of Old English Poetry

http://www.kami.demon.co.uk/gesithas/readings/readings.html

(Site Excerpt) Old English poetry was meant to be declaimed aloud before an

audience, the poet, or Scop, being both a creative and a performing artist.

Accompanid by harp he would entertain the guests of his patron with tales

of past deeds, battles of old and the prowess of his lord's ancestors. In

this manner was history kept alive for the Anglo-Saxons. The scop had to be

a master of his art, being able to recit thousands of lines from memory

(the epic Beowulf alone has 3182 lines) and no doubt poor performances would

mean ridicule for the scop and the withdrawal of patronage. This is not to

mean that the scop worked purely from memory as there is evidence that he

swift composition of fitting verse was also the mark of a skilled man.

Some Thoughts on the Origin of the Fuþark

by Steve Pollington (Anglo-Saxon Runic Writing)

http://www.kami.demon.co.uk/gesithas/runes/index.html

(Site Excerpt) The origins of the Gemanic writing system known as the

fuþark is a hotly debated issue in scholarly circles, and the present paper

is intended only to air some views and perhaps inspire others to contribute

to the debate. I name the script 'fuþark' in this article in order toavoid

the much misunderstood word 'runes': briefly, a rune (OE run) is a secret, a

mystery and the characters used for writing were called runstafas

'rune-staves' in Old English The characters are not themselves runes but

mere ciphers or symbols pointing o or marking out the mysteries proper. In

this piece, I shall use the word 'runstave' when referring to an alphabetic

character. The origins of the script have been sought in three main areas:

the Greek, Roman and North Italic alphabets. I shall deal wit each of these

in turn.

The Anglo-Saxon Calendar

http://www.kami.demon.co.uk/gesithas/calendar/index.html

(Site Excerpt) The calendar used by the Anglo-Saxons in pre-christian times

remains a mystery, albeit not a complete mystery. In De Temporum RationeBede left us enough information to paint a rough picture of the early

calendar, but not enough to understand the detail of how the calender was

applied and (more importantly) regulated. This collection of pages is

intended to shed a little light on what i known, or can be surmised, about

our ancient Englisc calendar.

Dr. Sam Newton's Wuffing's Website

http://www.wuffings.co.uk/index.htm#Mainmenu1

(Site Excerpt) Welcome to Dr Sam Newton's Wuffings' Website, which aims to

provide a focus for the study of te Wuffing Kingdom of East Anglia in

particular and for Anglo-Saxon England in general.

SEE ALSO: Sutton Hoo: Burial-Ground of the Wuffings

http://www.wuffings.co.uk/MySHPages/SHPage.html

An artist's rendering of the King Rædwald gravesite's contents on te wearer

(click on items in the painting for articles about them and photos at the

British Museum) http://www.wuffings.co.uk/WuffMapLinks/RedwaldFrm.html

Compass: The search Engine of Artifacts and Articles at the British Museum

http://www.british-museumac.uk/compass/ixbin/hixclient.exe?_IXDB_=compass&;search-form=graphical/main.html&submit-button=search

(Beware of wrapped URLs, whose entire length may not be included in

hyper-linked URLs in emails. To be sure you've got the correct address,

copy-paste th entire address into the address bar of your web browser.)

To view Ssutton Hoo Finds and articles, type "Sutton Hoo" into the Quick

Search bar and hit enter. Also useful for other collections. For instance,

entering the term Saxon brings up 119 items!

Th Sutton Hoo Society

http://www.suttonhoo.org/

(Site Excerpt) Welcome to the Sutton Hoo Society web site. It has been

produced to give you a brief introduction to the work of the Sutton Hoo

Society and the story behind the Anglo Saxon Royal Cemetery at Suton Hoo in

Suffolk in the UK. (Site include a newsletter, archaeology information, and

an interactive tour).

Anglo-Saxon History: A Select Bibliography by Simon Keynes

http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/rawl/keynes1/home.htm

(Site Excerpt) This bibliography isintended to serve as a general guide to

the primary and secondary sources for the study of Anglo-Saxon history.

No-one would be expected, able, or inclined to read more than a small

selection of the items listed...Section A is for general guidance. Sectio B

provides a rough classification of the primary sources for our knowledge of

Anglo-Saxon history. The aim is to indicate the range of the source material

at our disposal, and (in the case of written texts) to guide the reader

towards the most accessibleeditions and translations. The rest of the

bibliography comprises references organized under broad historical themes.

The coverage is by no means comprehensive, but within its own terms the

choice of reading should serve as a guide to the main areas of inerest and

debate. It should be noted that the numbering of the entries is deliberately

discontinuous, to allow for further expansion.

The Anglo-Saxon Homepage

Produced by Prof. Michael Hanly

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~hanly/oe/503.html

(Site Excerpt) This age was put together for the use of the graduate

students in Old English at Washington State University, and serves as the

virtual "command post" for all my students reading Anglo-Saxon texts. It's

not restricted to our students, however, so anyone happenng upon this page

should feel free to have a look and follow the links to some wonderful

sites. There's nothing very original here outside of my old slides (see

"Images from Anglo-Saxon England" at the bottom of this page); if you find

them useful somehow please drop me a line before reproducing them. And

while I'm on that subject: the "Anglo-Saxon clip art" reproduced on this

page is by Eva Wilson, Early Medieval Designs from Britain for Artists and

Craftspeople, Dover Books, 1983.

Richard Rawlinson Cener for Anglo-Saxon Sytudies and Manuscript Research

http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/rawl/index.html

(Site Excerpt) The Richard Rawlinson Center fosters teaching and research in

the history and culture of Anglo-Saxon England and in the broader field of

manusript studies. Dedicated to the memory of the founder of the chair of

Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University, and established through a gift from

Georgian Rawlinson Tashjian and the late David Reitler Tashjian, the Center

opened in May 1994. It houses a growing pecialist library of books,

microfiches, microfilms, and slides. Other resources are being actively

developed.

Map: Anglo-Saxon England

http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ballc/oe/oe-map.html

Image by Matthew White. Please do not reproduce without permisson of the

author (mwhite28 at richmond.infi.net).

Angel-cynn Anglo-Saxon Clothing (both Pagan and Christian)

http://www.angelcynn.org.uk/clothing.html

Menu includes: Anglo-Saxon Clothing : Pagan Dress :

Male Clothing | Female Clothing | Appearance | Clothin Photos |

Kentish-Frankish Dress

Christian Dress :

Male Clothing | Female Clothing | Clothing Photos

Clothing

http://www.octavia.net/9thclife/Clothing.htm

(Site Excerpt) Manuscript painting offers the greatest number of

illustrations of Anglo-Saxon garmets, with the kings, queens, saints and

clerics depicted in raiment appropriate to their respective classes. Be

mindful that our surmises are thus weighted towards the luxurious tastes of

the wealthy. Ivory, wood, and bone carvings, stone crosses and wal

paintings provide another glimpse into prevailing fashion. Lords and ladies,

thegns and merchants describe and name particular articles of clothing in

their wills, and leave them to favoured heirs. Grave finds and occasional

cess-pit remnants of clothingprovide additional, more egalitarian sources

for study. (Article goes on to talk about conjectured women's undergarments

or lack thereof, including those conjectured to have been worn during times

of flux).

Anglo-Saxon and Viking Works of the Needle: Som Artistic Currents in

Cross-Cultural Exchange

verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial private research

purposes provided the copyright notice and this permission noticeare

preserved on all copies.

http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/asvembroid.html

(Site Excerpt) This paper contains a typology and brief discussion of some

stitches that have been discovered on extant textiles from the period

between the seventh and elevenh centuries in Anglo-Saxon, Viking, and

related cultures. Embroidery, construction stitches, style, and usage are

considered. Information is organized in a comparative framework based on

techniques, not on culture or period, in order to facilitate a practcal

understanding by needleworkers. An appendix lists the cultures and sites

considered.

Anglo Saxon Women's Clothing for the 11th Century

http://members.lycos.co.uk/Wulfingas/11thdress.htm

(Site Excerpt) Overtunic: This Tunic is made again of wool, althugh the

very rich may have had elaborate heavy silk ones for best. As you can see

from the diagram the main difference is that the sleeves become much larger

at the wrist end, illustrations vary, but the hem comes mid calf to ankle

length usually. The insde of the sleeves may be of a contrasting colour.

Borders may have tablet woven or embroidered decoration.

Lothene Experimetnal Archaeology; Early Medieval Clothes Patterns

http://www.lothene.demon.co.uk/crafts6.html

(Site Excerpt) The patterns and descrptions given here are intended for

re-enactors rather than serious academic historians. Janet Arnold has

written an excellent series of books which are based on disections of actual

historical clothing from the 16th Century onwards and which give accuratepatterns.

Most of the evidence for Early Medieval clothing is in the form of fragments

of garments and illustrations in manuscripts and other historical records,

so there has to be a certain amount of guesswork involved in

recreations.SIMPLE T- TUNIC: Thepattern opposite can be used for a man's

tunic or a woman's dress. Variations on this style were worn from the time

of the Bronze Age. Arguably, the traditional peasant smock, which was worn

in Britain up until the last century was an evolution of the garent.

High class ladies began to wear fitted dresses which laced up the back in

the 11th Century, and in the 13th Century fashionable men began to wear more

fitted garments with buttons up the front.

Anglo-Saxon Architecture in England

http://www.britainepress.com/architecture/saxon.htm

(Site Excerpt) England is not blessed with an abundance of surviving

Anglo-Saxon buildings. There is good reason for this scarcity; the

Anglo-Saxon period was one beset by frequent warfare and violent invasions,

particulary by the Vikings in the period 800-950. These invaders, quite

naturally, burned and destroyed most of the settlements they came across, in

their search for plunder and martial glory. For this reason most surviving

examples of Anglo-Saxon architecture datefrom either 600-725 or 900-1050.

Unfortunately for posterity, most Saxon buildings were constructed of wood

with wattle and daub walls. The depredations of the Danes left very few of

these flammable buildings standing. The only buildings the Anglo-Saxons

ended to build in more permanent stone were their monasteries and churches.

Here, at least, there are several good examples remaining to see today. (See

our in-depth article on Anglo-Saxon churches here.)

A Nice Little Earner: Slavery in Anglo-Saxon Englnd

http://www.regia.org/earner.htm

(Site Excerpt) Slaves were an important part of early medieval society and

appear in large numbers in charters and Doomsday Book, but the evidence for

them is mostly fragmentary and widely scattered.

Viking/Anglo Saxon lothing- advanced and basic

http://www.thinkers.org/mel/Viking_and_Saxon_Garb.html

A list of links on the subject.

11th Century Anglo Saxon Men's Garb by Ethelwulf Kildare

http://www.vanishedwood.org/keep/garb1.htm

(Site Excerpt) Most of what we know on nglo Saxon clothing is found from

manuscripts and various archeological finds. From these we find that in many

cases, Anglo Saxon clothing differed only slightly in appearance to the

clothing on the continent during the same period. Fabrics: Most often,

wolen fabrics would have been used although there are descriptions of furs

being used on cloaks. Linen may have been used, especially among the wealthy

since it would have had to been imported from Ireland and the continent.

Woolen fabrics, as described atthe Sutton Hoo burial varied from the heavy

and rough textured to soft, lightweight and finer woolens. From the Sutton

Hoo burial we find examples of the colors used in clothing. Most of the

woolen fabrics at the site were dyed in indigo or woad, red and ellow

although there were examples of many natural shades from pale creme to dark

blackish brown. The burial also found pattern weaves and in other grave

sites gold thread was often woven into the fabric in a variety of designs.

As can be seen in the pictre of King Knut, there seems to be areas that

appear to be trim, around the sleeves, or of a different color, as can be

seen around the hem and the collar.

Regia Anglorum Food and Drink in Anglo Saxon England

http://www.regia.org/food.htm

(Site Excerpt) hen we visit the shops in England today, we are presented

with a wealth of fruit and vegetables from all corners of the planet from

which to choose. For people in this country in the tenth and eleventh

century this could not happen. They had only such foos as could be

cultivated seasonally or found wild. Exotic foods such as potatoes,

tomatoes, bananas, pineapples - fruits and vegetables of the New World, were

unknown here. Mediterranean fruits, such as lemons and oranges were, as far

as we know, not impoted, although we have documentary proof for the

importation of such things as figs and grapes ( Viking Age England, Julian

Richards, p94 ). We know that they grew wheat, rye, oats and barley. Wheat

for bread, barley for brewing and oats for animal fodder nd porridge. Along

with these crops grew various weeds of cultivation - some of them poisonous.

The harvesting methods made it difficult to separate the cereal from the

weed, and many illnesses must have been caused in this way.

Amazon.com Review: A Handook of Anglo-Saxon Food: Processing and

Consumption

by Ann Hagen

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0951620983/002-7880129-7408832?vi=glance

(Site Excerpt) For the first time information from various sources has been

brought together in order t build up a picture of how food was grown,

conserved, prepared and eaten during the period from the beginning of the

5th century to the 11th century. No specialist knowledge of the Anglo-Saxon

period or language is needed, and many people will find it fasinating for

the views it gives of an important aspect of Anglo-Saxon life and culture.

In addition to Anglo-Saxon England the Celtic west of Britain is also

covered. Subject headings include: drying, milling and bread making;

dairying; butchery; preservaton and storage; methods of cooking; meals and

mealtimes; fasting; feasting; food shortages and deficiency diseases. (Note:

Found a web reference to "A Second Handbook of Anglo.." etc. by the same

author). See also http://www.asbooks.co.uk/food.htm

CastleFurnishing Anglo-Saxon links

http://www.medievalbookstore.com/Anglo-Saxon.htm

Amazon.com: Anglo-Saxon Appetites: Food and Drink and Their Consumption in

Old English and Related Literatureby Hugh Magennis

http://isbn.nu/1851823824

Hard-to-find reference.

The Forme of Cury, A Roll Of Ancient English Cookery, Compiled, about A.D.

1390, by the Master-Cooks of King Richard II, Presented afterwards to Queen

Elizabeth, by Edward Lord Stafford, and now in the Possession of Gustavus

Brander, Esq. Illustrated wit Notes, And a copious Index, or Glossary. A

Manuscript of the Editor, of the same Age and Subject, with other congruous

Matters, are subjoined.

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/foc/

Webbed by Greg Lindahl (Gregory Blount of Isenfir?). This is a reproduction.

Se also http://texts01.archive.org/dp/ , where members can proofread webbed

copies of a translation of the Forme of Curye for Project Gutenburg---if you

have the skill to do so, you are encouraged to participate.

(NOTE: Though Forme of Curye post-dates theSaxon era according to the

statements above, many of the recipes are believed to hail from the 11th

century or so).

Were the West Saxons guilty of Ethnic Cleansing? A news debate

http://www.channel4.com/history/timeteam/archive/timeteamlive2001/feature_ehnic.html

(Site Excerpt) Bede also refers to the Hampshire mainland as 'the nation of

the Jutes'...Archaeology now supports these conclusions, as one of the only

other Byzantine buckets was found in the sixth-century cemetery of Chessell

Down on the Isle f Wight - also held by the Jutes...As the cemetery

excavated by Time Team is firmly dated to the sixth century, it can only be

Jutish as there were no Saxons in the region until over a century later,

when Caedwalla did his best to exterminate all the Jute living in those

areas and replace them with his own tribesmen (Bede) - a peculiarly nasty

example of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Anglo-Saxon 'planned town' revealed this month in Whitby

House platforms, artifacts and a cemetery near the abbey

http://ww.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba64/news.shtml

(Site Excerpt) The excavations revealed that Anglo-Saxon settlements

surrounding the royal abbey founded in 657 were far more extensive and

well-planned than had previously been thought. An area of sloping ground

northof the abbey, thought to have originally measured about 20 acres

before centuries of cliff erosion, had been organised like a 'new town' and

was covered in man-made terracing to provide level ground surfaces for

houses.

An Anglian Time Line

http://member.tripod.com/~midgley/anglosaxons.html

(Site Excerpt) The term "Anglo-Saxon" is a misnomer, used by the Normans for

legal purposes. The migrant groups were distinct enough for Bede to refer to

them as discrete groups, the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes and risians

(Site includes the following:)PAGE INDEX:

Anglians The Battle of Winwaed

Early Anglo-Saxon Settlement Mercia under Penda

The Christian Unconformity Early English Topographic Names

Anglian Grave Goods The origin of the Saxons, Angles and Jutes accrding to

Bede

Anglian Boundaries Anglian Deities

The Saints bring Christianity to The North Anglian Year according to Bede

Northumbrian Kings Anglian Social Hierarchy

Middle Anglo-Saxon Settlements Anglian place-names

Notes on Anglo-Saxon History

http:/www.geocities.com/fairauthor/pg25.html