Latinity and Identity in Anglo-Saxon Literature

"Latinity and Identity in Anglo-Saxon Literature collects together essays that push the discourse of Anglo-Latin literature beyond its customary boundaries. The editors have brought together a wide cross-section of specialists to ensure that every part of the period is covered. The great strength of all the essays, without exception, is that they start from, and crucially stay with, the primary sources." -- Rosalind Love, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge

In this groundbreaking collection, ten leading scholars explore the intersections between identity and Latin language and literature in Anglo-Saxon England.

For the Anglo-Saxons, Latin was a language of choice that revealed a multitude of beliefs and desires about themselves as subjects, believers, scholars, and artists. In this groundbreaking collection, ten leading scholars explore the intersections between identity and Latin language and literature in Anglo-Saxon England. Ranging from the works of the Venerable Bede and St Boniface in the eighth century to Osbern’s account of eleventh-century Canterbury, Latinity and Identity in Anglo-Saxon Literature offers new insights into the Anglo-Saxons’ ideas about literary form, monasticism, language, and national identity.

Latin prose, poetry, and musical styles are reconsidered, as is the relationship between Latin and Old English. Monastic identity, intertwined as it was with the learning of Latin and reformation of the self, is also an important theme. By offering fresh perspectives on texts both famous and neglected, Latinity and Identity will transform readers’ views of Anglo-Latin literature.