Context and content: a new reading of selected verses present in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

Abstract

This thesis argues that the presence of a variety of verse and alliterative prose passages in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle indicates a particular interest on the part of the chroniclers in the events recorded by such forms of heightened rhetoric. It asserts that, in the case of those passages of verse and alliterative prose which appear in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle between the annal years 959 and 1066, such emphasis reflects, as a result of specific cultural reforms, the historical perspective subscribed to by the monastic authors of the Chronicle. Therefore, it is argued, without a precise understanding of the historical events recorded by these passages, and an understanding of the cultural viewpoint of their authors, these passages cannot be properly interpreted within the context of the Chronicle. Thus, in order to offer a more comprehensive reading of each, this thesis examines ten of the seventeen passages of verse and alliterative prose present within the Chronicle in terms of both the social milieu which produced them and the historical events which they record.

Date of Award	2001
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Wales, Bangor
Sponsors	Frank W. Bradbrook Memorial Fund
Supervisor	Margaret Locherbie-Cameron (Supervisor)