| Old Age in Early Medieval England: A Cultural History Contributor(s): Porck, Thijs (Author) |
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ISBN: 1783276347 ISBN-13: 9781783276349 Publisher: Boydell Press OUR PRICE: $36.05 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: June 2021 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Medieval - History | Europe - Medieval - History | Europe - Great Britain - Middle Ages (449-1066) |
| Dewey: 940.1 |
| LCCN: 2018275561 |
| Physical Information: 0.61" H x 6.14" W x 9.21" (0.90 lbs) 288 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: How did Anglo-Saxons reflect on the experience of growing old? Was it really a golden age for the elderly, as has been suggested? This first full survey of the Anglo-Saxon cultural conceptualisation of old age, as manifested and reflected in the texts and artwork of the inhabitants of early medieval England, presents a more nuanced and complicated picture. The author argues that although senescence was associated with the potential for wisdom and pious living, the Anglo-Saxons also anticipated various social, psychological and physical repercussions of growing old. Their attitude towards elderly men and women - whether they were saints, warriors or kings - was equally ambivalent. Multidisciplinary in approach, this book makes use of a wide variety of sources, ranging from the visual arts to hagiography, homiletic literature and heroic poetry. Individual chapters deal with early medieval definitions ofthe life cycle; the merits and drawbacks of old age as represented in Anglo-Saxon homilies and wisdom poetry; the hagiographic topos of elderly saints; the portrayal of grey-haired warriors in heroic literature; Beowulf asa mirror for elderly kings; and the cultural roles attributed to old women. |