Entertainment, Pleasure, and Meaning in Early England

This Element gives the history of Anglo-Saxon entertainment and merriment, including dance, music, games, sport, and drinking and feasting.

This Element shows why entertainment and festivity had important functions, in ritual, in community, in assuming power, and in resistance to power of early English life. The activities are child's play; drinking and feasting; music, dance, and performance; the pleasures of literature, festivals and celebrations; hunting and sport; and games.The people of early England (c. 450–1100 CE) enjoyed numerous kinds of entertainment, recreation and pleasure, but the scattered records of such things have made the larger picture challenging to assemble. This volume illuminates the merrier aspects of early English life, extending our understanding of the full range of early medieval English culture. It shows why entertainment and festivity were not merely trivial aspects of culture, but had important functions, in ritual, in community-building, in assuming power, and in resistance to power. Among the activities explored are child's play; drinking and feasting; music, dance, and performance; the pleasures of literature, festivals and celebrations; hunting and sport; and games.