Ēast Mēteþ West: Eastern Europe and Anglo-Saxon England
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Special Session
Organizer Name
Jeremy DeAngelo
Organizer Affiliation
Univ. of Connecticut
Presider Name
Jeremy DeAngelo
Paper Title 1
An Anglo-Saxon Orientalism in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries
Presenter 1 Name
Stefany Wragg
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Univ. of Oxford
Paper Title 2
The Influence of Eastern Patristic Almsgiving Texts in the Exeter Book
Presenter 2 Name
Holly Tipton Hamby
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Fisk Univ.
Start Date
16-5-2015 1:30 PM
Session Location
Schneider 1145
Description
The archaeological record has established a connection between Anglo-Saxon England and Eastern Europe, both the Byzantine South and the Baltic North. This proposed session explores what effect this contact may have had on the literature and culture of early medieval England. Papers with several different foci will be appropriate for this session: explorations of direct or indirect influence between Eastern and Western Europe and an examinations of their routes of transmission; depictions of Eastern Europe in Anglo-Saxon literature; Eastern Christian influence on Anglo-Saxon works and belief; and comparative study of the literature or history of both regions would all be welcome. By emphasizing the interconnectedness of cultures in the early Middle Ages by examining more distant rather than more proximate examples, this session would be emphasizing the breadth of cultural influence in early England and the extent of the Anglo-Saxons' reach. Moreover, it brings into conversation scholarship on two distinct regions of Europe that nevertheless have much in common (the reorganization of political boundaries due to migration, an expanding zone of Christian belief administered through a central imperial city, the beginnings of expansionist northern empires) and may benefit from dialogue.
Jeremy DeAngelo
Ēast Mēteþ West: Eastern Europe and Anglo-Saxon England
Schneider 1145
The archaeological record has established a connection between Anglo-Saxon England and Eastern Europe, both the Byzantine South and the Baltic North. This proposed session explores what effect this contact may have had on the literature and culture of early medieval England. Papers with several different foci will be appropriate for this session: explorations of direct or indirect influence between Eastern and Western Europe and an examinations of their routes of transmission; depictions of Eastern Europe in Anglo-Saxon literature; Eastern Christian influence on Anglo-Saxon works and belief; and comparative study of the literature or history of both regions would all be welcome. By emphasizing the interconnectedness of cultures in the early Middle Ages by examining more distant rather than more proximate examples, this session would be emphasizing the breadth of cultural influence in early England and the extent of the Anglo-Saxons' reach. Moreover, it brings into conversation scholarship on two distinct regions of Europe that nevertheless have much in common (the reorganization of political boundaries due to migration, an expanding zone of Christian belief administered through a central imperial city, the beginnings of expansionist northern empires) and may benefit from dialogue.
Jeremy DeAngelo