Interrogations of materiality and geography, narrative framework and boundaries, and the ways these scholarly pursuits ripple out into the wider cultural sphere. Early medieval England as seen through the lens of comparative and interconnected histories is the subject of this volume. Drawn from a range of disciplines, its chapters examine artistic, archaeological, literary, and historical artifacts, converging around the idea that the period may not only define itself, but is often defined from other perspectives, specifically here by modern scholarship. The first part considers the transmission of material culture across borders, while querying the possibilities and limits of comparative and transnational approaches, taking in the spread of bread wheat, the collapse of the art-historical "decorative" and "functional", and the unknowns about daily life in an early medieval English hall. The volume then moves on to reimagine the permeable boundaries of early medieval England, with perspectives from the Baltic, Byzantium, and the Islamic world, including an examination of Vercelli Homily VII (from John Chrysostom's Greek Homily XXIX), Harun ibn Yahya's Arabic descriptions of Bartiniyah ("Britain"), and an consideration of the Old English Orosius. The final chapters address the construction of and responses to "Anglo-Saxon" narratives, past and present: they look at early medieval England within a Eurasian perspective, the historical origins of racialized Anglo-Saxonism(s), and views from Oceania, comparing Hiberno-Saxon and Anglican Melanesian missions, as well as contemporary reactions to exhibitions of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and Pacific Island cultures. Contributors: Debby Banham, Britton Elliott Brooks, Caitlin Green, Jane Hawkes, John Hines, Karen Louise Jolly, Kazutomo Karasawa, Carol Neuman de Vegvar, John D. Niles, Michael W. Scott, Jonathan Wilcox

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

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.