Overview

First modern text and English translation of an important Anglo-Saxon poem dealing with the liturgical year. WINNER of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists 2017 Publication Prize: Best Edition The late tenth-century Old English Metrical Calendar (traditionally known as Menologium) summarises, in the characteristicheroic diction and traditional metre of Old English poetry, the major course of the Anglo-Saxon liturgical year. It sets out, in a methodical structure based on the basic temporal framework of the solar/natural year, the locations of the major feasts widely observed in late Anglo-Saxon England. Such a work could have been a practical timepiece for reading the dates of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, for which it serves as a kind of prologue in the manuscript.The clearly domestic perspective of the poem, which fits in the manuscript context, is also noteworthy, while the poem also reveals various interesting characteristics in its grammar, vocabulary and prosody. This is the firstfull modern edition of the poem, and is accompanied by a facing translation. The introduction provides an extensive discussion of matter, content, style, and context, while the commentary offers further information. The volume also includes the texts and translations of a number of analogous works.

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9781843845997

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[Karasawa's] work reveals the Menologium to be a much richer, stranger poem than it had previously appeared, and this edition, equipped with a wealth of other supporting texts as well as detailed notes and introduction, will be essential reading for anyone interested in early medieval thought about time. JOURNAL OF ENGLISH AND GERMANIC PHILOLOGY This very welcome new edition, with full scholarly apparatus, facing-page translation, and a wealth of supporting material will do much to stimulate research into one of the most neglected pieces of Old English literature. It also significantly enhances our appreciation of the richness of late Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical learning and early medieval science. SPECULUM

Author Information

Kazutomo Karasawa is Professor of English philology at Rikkyo University, Tokyo.

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