Multilingualism in Early Medieval Britain

Pre-Norman Britain held five languages and four peoples and contained a vibrant oral and written multilingual intellectual milieu.

Lindy Brady (Author)

9781009467896, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 October 2023

86 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 1 cm, 0.27 kg

In the words of its own historians, pre-Norman Britain held five languages and four peoples. Yet in modern scholarship, Old English is too often studied separately from the other languages that surrounded it. This Element offers a comprehensive synthesis of the evidence from the pre-Norman period that situates Old English as one of several living languages that together formed the basis of a vibrant oral and written literary culture in early medieval Britain. Each section centres around a key thematic topic and is illustrated through a series of memorable case studies that encapsulate the extent to which multilingualism appeared in every facet of life in early medieval Britain: religious and scholarly; political and military; economic and cultural; intellectual and artistic. The Element makes an overall argument for the dynamic extent of transcultural literary and linguistic culture in early medieval Britain before the arrival of the Normans.

Introduction: multilingualism in early medieval Britain
1. Manuscripts and multilingual texts
2. Saints and scholars
3. Kings and captives
4. Travellers and traders
5. Conclusion: multilingual Britain after the Norman conquest of England
Conclusion
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: British & Irish history [HBJD1]