Essays on the depiction of animals, birds and insects in early medieval material culture, from texts to carvings to the landscape itself. For people in the early Middle Ages, the earth, air, water and ether teemed with other beings. Some of these were sentient creatures that swam, flew, slithered or stalked through the same environments inhabited by their human contemporaries. Others were objects that a modern beholder would be unlikely to think of as living things, but could yet be considered to possess a vitality that rendered them potent. Still others were things half glimpsed on a dark night or seen only in the mind's eye; strange beasts that haunted dreams and visions or inhabited exotic lands beyond the compass of everyday knowledge.
This book discusses the various ways in which the early English and Scandinavians thought about and represented these other inhabitants of their world, and considers the multi-faceted nature of the relationship between people and beasts. Drawing on the evidence of material culture, art, language, literature, place-names and landscapes, the studies presented here reveal a world where the boundaries between humans, animals, monsters and objects were blurred and often permeable, and where to represent the bestial could be to holda mirror to the self.
MICHAEL D.J. BINTLEY is Lecturer in Early Medieval Literature and Culture at Birkbeck, University of London; THOMAS WILLIAMS is a former curator of Early Medieval Coins at the British Museum.
Contributors: Noel Adams, John Baker,
Michael D. J. Bintley,
Sue Brunning, Laszlo Sandor Chardonnens,
Della Hooke, Eric Lacey, Richard North, Marijane Osborn, Victoria Symons, Thomas J. Williams
Between Myth and Reality: Hunter and Prey in Early Anglo-Saxon Art - Noël Adams '(Swinger of) the Serpent of Wounds': Swords and Snakes in the Viking Mind - Sue Brunning Wreoþenhilt ond wyrmfah: Confronting Serpents in Beowulf and Beyond - Victoria Symons The Ravens on the Lejre Throne: Avian Identifiers, Odin at Home, Farm Ravens - Marijane Osborn Beowulf's Blithe-Hearted Raven - Eric Lacey Do Anglo-Saxons Dream of Exotic Sheep? - László Sándor Chardonnens You Sexy Beast: The Pig in a Villa in Vandalic North Africa and Boar-Cults in Old Germanic Heathendom - Richard North 'For the Sake of Bravado in the Wilderness': Confronting the Bestial in Anglo-Saxon Warfare - Thomas J.T. Williams Where the Wild Things Are in Old English Poetry - Michael D.J. Bintley Entomological Etymologies: Creepy-Crawlies in English Place-Names - John Baker Beasts, Birds and Other Creatures in Pre-Conquest Charters and Place-Names in England - Della Hooke
MICHAEL BINTLEY is Associate Professor in Medieval English Literature at the University of Southampton. He is author of Trees in the Religions of Early Medieval England (2015), and Settlements and Strongholds in Early Medieval England: Texts, Landscapes, and Material Culture (2020), and co-author of Landscapes and Environments of the Middle Ages (2023). MICHAEL BINTLEY is Associate Professor in Medieval English Literature at the University of Southampton. He is author of Trees in the Religions of Early Medieval England (2015), and Settlements and Strongholds in Early Medieval England: Texts, Landscapes, and Material Culture (2020), and co-author of Landscapes and Environments of the Middle Ages (2023).
Reviews for Representing Beasts in Early Medieval England and Scandinavia
An engaging and thought-provoking overview of various types of evidence that shed light on both medieval perceptions of beasts and the often blurred boundaries between them and humans....The varieties of beasts and diverse source materials considered here make this volume valuable not only to those interested in natural history, but also for those interested in medieval allegories for, and expressions of, identity, warfare and the supernatural. EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE This collection of essays combines rigorous analysis with insightful guidance. REVIEW OF ENGLISH STUDIES An excellent volume for anyone with an interest in early medieval England and Scandinavia. TIME & MIND A welcome addition to the growing collection of studies of medieval human-animal relations. Its contribution is that it goes beyond the simple juxtaposition of traditional zooarchaeological analyses and more discursive artistic/literary pieces. MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY The essays in Representing Beasts cogently and vividly convey a broader understanding of human and non-human interaction during the Middle Ages in England and Scandinavia . This tightly constructed collection of essays would be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in ecomedievalism and/or animal studies.THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW
