Description
Book SynopsisHow did the life course, with all its biological, social and cultural aspects, influence the lives, writings, and art of the inhabitants of early medieval England? This volume explores how phases of human life such as childhood, puberty, and old age were identified, characterized, and related in contemporary sources, as well as how nonhuman life courses were constructed. The multi-disciplinary contributions range from analyses of age vocabulary to studies of medicine, name-giving practices, theology, Old English poetry, and material culture. Combined, these cultural-historical perspectives reveal how the concept and experience of the life course shaped attitudes in early medieval England. Contributors are Jo Appleby, Debby Banham, Darren Barber, Caroline R. Batten, James Chetwood, Katherine Cross, Amy Faulkner, Jacqueline Fay, Elaine Flowers, Daria Izdebska, Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Thijs Porck, and Harriet Soper.
Trade Review"Every so often an edited volume comes along where the essays are significant in themselves, but taken together are field-defining. This is such a volume." Christina Lee, University of Nottingham "Early Medieval English Life Courses presents evidence that supports - and in many cases, corrects - our assumptions about how lives were lived in early medieval England. The volume is valuable both as a reference and as foundational knowledge for scholars at all stages of their careers. These essays build upon one another well, but are also all able to stand alone as items of immense interest that enhance our understanding of the experience of living a life from beginning to end in early medieval England." Leah Pope Parker, University of Southern Mississippi, in The Medieval Review, 22.10.18. Read the full review here.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Illustrations and Tables Abbreviations Notes on Contributors Introduction: Conceptualizing the Life Course in Early Medieval England Thijs Porck and Harriet Soper Part 1: Defining and Dividing the Life Course 1 The Ages of Man and the Ages of Woman in Early Medieval England: From Bede to Byrhtferth of Ramsey and the Tractatus de quaternario Thijs Porck 2 Weapon-Boys and Once-Maidens: A Study of Old English Vocabulary for Stages of Life Daria Izdebska 3 Alcuin and the Student Life Cycle Darren Barber part 2: The Life Course and the Human Body 4 Treating Age in Medical Texts from Early Medieval England Jacqueline Fay 5 ‘Lazarus, Come Forth’: Pregnancy and Childbirth in the Life Course of Early Medieval English Women Caroline R. Batten 6 The Theology of Puberty in Early Medieval England Elaine Flowers Part 3: Intergenerational Dynamics 7 Naming and Renaming: Names and the Life Course in Early Medieval England James Chetwood 8 Moving On from ‘the Milk of Simpler Teaching’: Weaning and Religious Education in Early Medieval England Katherine Cross 9 Treasure and the Life Course in Genesis A and Beowulf Amy Faulkner part 4: Life Beyond the Human 10 The Life Course of Artefacts Gale R. Owen-Crocker 11 From Field to Feast: The Life (and Afterlife) Course of Cereal Crops in Early Medieval England Debby Banham 12 Afterword: History, Archaeology and Osteology in Conversation Jo Appleby Bibliography Index
