A01=Thijs Porck
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Anglo-Saxons
Author_Thijs Porck
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Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=HB
Category=HD
Category=N
COP=United Kingdom
cultural conceptualization
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
early medieval England
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
historical attitude
Language_English
multidisciplinary approach
old age
PA=Available
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
softlaunch
Product details
- ISBN 9781783276349
- Weight: 434g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 18 Jun 2021
- Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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First full-length study of the notion and concept of old age in early medieval England.
How did Anglo-Saxons reflect on the experience of growing old? Was it really a golden age for the elderly, as has been suggested? This first full survey of the Anglo-Saxon cultural conceptualisation of old age, as manifested and reflected in the texts and artwork of the inhabitants of early medieval England, presents a more nuanced and complicated picture. The author argues that although senescence was associated with the potential for wisdom and pious living, the Anglo-Saxons also anticipated various social, psychological and physical repercussions of growing old. Their attitude towards elderly men and women - whether they were saints, warriors or kings - was equally ambivalent.
Multidisciplinary in approach, this book makes use of a wide variety of sources, ranging from the visual arts to hagiography, homiletic literature and heroic poetry. Individual chapters deal with early medieval definitions ofthe life cycle; the merits and drawbacks of old age as represented in Anglo-Saxon homilies and wisdom poetry; the hagiographic topos of elderly saints; the portrayal of grey-haired warriors in heroic literature; Beowulf asa mirror for elderly kings; and the cultural roles attributed to old women.
THIJS PORCK is senior lecturer of Medieval English at Leiden University.
