Heroic Poetry provides a wide-ranging introduction to selected aspects of Britain's principal works of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon heroic poetry regarding their dating, method of composition, and use as historical sources. The historical and cultural context in which these poems were composed is recounted by examining court poets and their poetry, and the importance that they were accorded by the warrior-elite for whom they sang. The author also gives a brief review of oral theory and examines the applicability of oral theory to the examples of dark-age poetry. Under consideration is the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf and the Old Welsh poems The Gododdin and the poetry of Taliesin. The dating and transmission of these poems are discussed, plus a wide range of arguments to assign dates for composition. Beowulf's oral genesis is placed in the sixth century and a written version in the early seventh century. The author assigns Gododdin's composition to the mid-sixth century, while Taliesin's poetry is viewed to have been composed ca. 560-80. This book is unique in providing a clear and concise introduction for the heroic poetry of both the Britons and Anglo-Saxons.

In examining the image of the "comitatus", or war-band, as it is portrayed in literary and historical sources from Britain's early-medieval period, this work attempts to determine the extent to which this image reflects an historical reality.

Some of the most important authors in British poetry left their mark onliterature before 1600, including Geoffrey Chaucer, Edmund Spenser, and, of course, William Shakespeare. "The Facts On File Companion to British Poetry before 1600"is an encyclopedic guide to British poetry from the beginnings to theyear 1600, featuring approximately 600 entries ranging in length from300 to 2,500 words.

The discovery in Sonderhausen of a fragmentary psalter glossed in Latin and Old English allows fresh inferences to be drawn regarding the study of the psalter in Anglo-Saxon England, and of the transmission of the corpus of vernacular psalter glosses. A detailed textual and palaeographical study of the Wearmouth-Jarrow bibles leads to the exciting possibility that the hand of Bede can be identified, annotating the text of the Bible which he no doubt played an instrumental role in establishing. Two Latin texts from the circle of Archbishop Wulfstan are published here in full, whilst disciplined philological and historical analysis helps to clarify a puzzling reference in 'thelbert's law-code to the early medieval practice of providing food render for the king. Finally, the volume contains two pioneering essays in the histoire des mentalités. The usual comprehensive bibliography of the previous year's publications in all branches of Anglo-Saxon studies rounds off the book.

The epic fragments of Waldere yield some of the earliest lore concerning migration-period heroes such as Attila the Hun, Theodoric the Ostrogoth, Walter son of Ælfhere, and Gunther and Hagen of the Nibelungs, while at the same time expressing political concerns that the Viking-age poet shared with his audience. Imagery and themes such as armaments and the worthiness of warriors to bear them point to the climax of Walter’s victory over Guðhere in single combat, a duel presenting an ethical dilemma for Hagen as indicated in both of the extant leaves. This critical edition resolves some long-standing textual cruces while also providing background on Old English heroism, weapons, and versification.

The editorial policy of Anglo-Saxon England has been to encourage an interdisciplinary approach to the study of all aspects of Anglo-Saxon culture. This approach is pursued in exemplary fashion by many of the essays in this volume. Fresh light is thrown on the dating and form of Cynewulf's poem The Fates of the Apostles through a comprehensive study of the historical martyrologies of the Carolingian period on which Cynewulf is presumed to have drawn. The literary form of Ælfric's Preface to his translation of Genesis is illustrated through a wide-ranging study of the rhetorical genre of preface-writing in the early Middle Ages (the genre which subsequently was known as the ars dictaminis), and the problems which Ælfric faced and solved in composing a Life of St Æthelthryth are illustrated through detailed comparison of the sources which he utilized. The usual comprehensive bibliography of the previous year's publications in all branches of Anglo-Saxon studies rounds off the book.