Description
The art of Anglo-Saxon England allows a vivid insight into the radical changes, economic, political and social, that marked the area between the seventh and eleventh centuries. It is a period that saw a process of continual migration and settlement of Germanic peoples into the region, a movement that initially impacted on a Roman territory inhabited by Celtic peoples; subsequently, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, this process made its mark on a complex society with an economically powerful ruling elite that embraced both "Church" and "State". It is a period that saw the continual activity of Christian missions, both into Anglo-Saxon England from Ireland and the Continental mainland, and into Europe from England. It is thus a period that saw a meeting of cultures that were pagan and Christian, secular and religious, oral and literate, Northern European and Mediterranean.
By studying the art used to decorate the metalwork, manuscripts and stone monuments produced in the region during this period we will explore the complexities of a visual culture that could be shaped by such interactions and, at the same time, could be consciously employed in attempts to shape them.
Preliminary reading
The three books that should be consulted prior to the course are:
Primary Source:
*Bede, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (any edition, but Oxford World’s Classics, ed. J. McClure and R. Collins (Oxford, 1994/passim) is perhaps the best translation available at the moment)
Secondary Source:
* J. Campbell (ed.), The Anglo-Saxons (London, 1982/passim) – probably the best introduction to the period, its history, ecclesiastical and secular cultures, archaeology and art.
* L. Webster, Anglo-Saxon Art (London, 2012) – the first book to attempt an ‘art historical’ treatment of the subject
In addition the following might be usefully consulted:
Primary Source:
D. H. Farmer (ed.), The Age of Bede (Penguin / any edition) – a selection of primary sources, in translation, relating to Anglo-Saxon England, which usefully complement Bede’s Ecclesiastical History
Secondary Sources:
H. Mayr-Harting, The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England (London, 1987) – a good historical introduction.
T. Charles-Edwards (ed.), After Rome (Oxford, 2003) – a good selection of essays from different points of view, including the art historical.
D.M. Wilson, Anglo-Saxon Art from the Seventh Century to the Norman Conquest (London, 1984) – an archaeological approach that attempts to provide an ‘art historical’ commentary
L. Webster & J. Backhouse (eds), The Making of England, Exhibition Catalogue (London, 1991)
J. Hawkes, The Golden Age of Northumbria (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1996) – introductory text produced to accompany an exhibition of Northumbrian Anglo-Saxon art.
J. Backhouse, The Lindisfarne Gospels (London, 1989/passim) – introduction to one of the major illuminated manuscripts we will be looking at.
R.N. Bailey, England’s Earliest Sculptors (Toronto, 1996) – introduction to the sculptural arts.
