Writing Power in Anglo-Saxon England: Texts, Hierarchies, Economies

207 Pages·2012·4.5 MB·English

by  Catherine A. M. Clarke

Writing Power in
W
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i Anglo-Saxon England
systems of power and patronage in t
i
Anglo-Saxon England are currently the n
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focus of concerted scholarly attention.

This book explores how power is shaped P TEXTS, HIERARCHIES, ECONOMIES
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and negotiated in later Anglo-Saxon texts,
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focusing in particular on how hierarchical,
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vertical structures are presented alongside Catherine A. M. Clarke
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patterns of reciprocity and economies
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of mutual obligation, especially within n

the context of patronage relationships, A
secular, spiritual, literal or symbolic. n
Through close analysis of a wide g
selection of sources in the vernacular and l
o
Latin, including the Guthlac poems of the -
S
Exeter Book, Old English verse epitaphs,
a
the acrostic poetry of Abbo of Fleury, the x
Encomium Emmae Reginae and Libellus o
n
Æthelwoldi Episcopi, the study examines

how texts sustain dual ways of seeing and E
King Edgar with Æthelwold and
understanding power, generating a range n
Dunstan, Regularis Concordia, BL
of imaginative possibilities along with g
MS Cotton Tiberius A.iii, fol. 2 v, l
tensions, ambiguities and instances of a
© British Library.
n
disguise or euphemism. It also advances
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new arguments about the ideology and
rhetoric of power in the early medieval
period.
CAthERInE A. M. CLARkE is Professor in C
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English, University of Southampton. a
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Series: Anglo-Saxon Studies e
GENERAL EDITORS: John Hines (Cardiff ), Catherine Cubitt (York)
An imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge IP12 3DF (GB) and
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Anglo-Saxon Studies 17
Writing PoWer in Anglo-SAxon englAnd
textS, HierArcHieS, economieS
Anglo-Saxon Studies
iSSn 1475–2468
generAl editorS
John Hines and catherine cubitt
‘Anglo-Saxon Studies’ aims to provide a forum for the best scholarship on
the Anglo-Saxon peoples in the period from the end of roman Britain to the
norman conquest, including comparative studies involving adjacent populations
and periods; both new research and major re-assessments of central topics are
welcomed.
Books in the series may be based in any one of the principal disciplines
of archaeology, art history, history, language and literature, and inter- or
multi-disciplinary studies are encouraged.
Proposals or enquiries may be sent directly to the editors or the publisher at
the addresses given below; all submissions will receive prompt and informed
consideration.
Professor John Hines, School of History and Archaeology, cardiff University,
colum drive, cardiff, Wales, UK cF10 3eU
dr catherine cubitt, centre for medieval Studies, University of York, the King’s
manor, York, england, UK Yo1 7eP
Boydell & Brewer, Po Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk, england, UK iP12 3dF
Previously published volumes in the series
are listed at the back of this book
Writing PoWer in
Anglo-SAxon englAnd
textS, HierArcHieS, economieS
catherine A. m. clarke
d. S. BreWer
© catherine A. m. clarke 2012
All Rights Reserved. except as permitted under current legislation
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner
The right of Catherine A. M. Clarke to be identified
as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the copyright, designs and Patents Act 1988
First published 2012
d. S. Brewer, cambridge
iSBn 978–1–84384–319–1
d. S. Brewer is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer ltd
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and of Boydell & Brewer inc.
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For my daughter, Ellen

Contents
Acknowledgements(cid:3) (cid:3)ix
Abbreviations(cid:3) (cid:3)xi

Introduction(cid:3) (cid:3)1
1 Order and Interlace: the Guthlac Poems of the Exeter Book(cid:3) (cid:3)11
2 Sites of Economy: Power and Reckoning in the Poetic Epitaphs of the 44
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle(cid:3) (cid:3)
3 ‘Absens ero … presens ero’: Writing the Absent Patron(cid:3) (cid:3)80
4 Power and Performance: Authors and Patrons in late Anglo-Saxon Texts(cid:3) (cid:3)112
5 Remembering Anglo-Saxon Patronage: the Libellus Æthelwoldi Episcopi 145
and its Contexts(cid:3) (cid:3)
Afterword(cid:3) (cid:3)171

Bibliography(cid:3) (cid:3)175

Index(cid:3) (cid:3)187

Acknowledgements
I wrote the majority of this book during a period of research leave supported by the
Research Institute for Arts and Humanities, Swansea University, which gave me the
time and freedom to focus on the project. I was also fortunate to be invited to
participate in the AHRC-funded workshop series ‘Crossing Conquests: Literary
Culture in Eleventh-Century England’, led by Elizabeth Tyler and Matthew
Townend at the University of York, which gave me the opportunity to test and
develop many of my ideas and engage with different perspectives. Many colleagues
and friends have contributed to the completion of this book through their help,
advice and support. In particular, I am grateful to my former colleagues at Swansea
University, Liz Herbert McAvoy and Rachel Farebrother, for reading draft material
and always grasping a question or problem with such clarity and imagination.
Elizabeth Tyler provided very valuable advice and guidance, especially during my
research for Chapter Four. The text and translation of the Libellus Æthelwoldi
Episcopi in Chapter Five are from the forthcoming edition by Simon Keynes and
Alan Kennedy, shared with me by Simon Keynes and used with kind permission. The
editors of the Boydell Press ‘Anglo-Saxon Studies’ series, John Hines and Catherine
Cubitt, have been supportive and encouraging throughout the development of this
project and I am lucky to have benefited from their generosity as mentors and
friends. It has been a real pleasure to publish with Boydell & Brewer again and
particularly to work with Caroline Palmer, who matches her formidable skills as an
editor with such a sense of humour. I would also like to express my thanks to the
anonymous reader for Boydell & Brewer, who offered constructive insights and
helped the book to find its final shape. Paul Vetch helped me once again to prepare
the camera-ready copy, for which I’m hugely grateful. Whilst this book has benefited
from the knowledge and insights of many other scholars, any errors or
misapprehensions which remain are of course my own.
The completion of this project coincided with the arrival of my baby daughter,
Ellen. I could not have finished the book without the very practical help and support
of my parents and my husband, Peter. And special thanks to Ellen, too, for doing her
bit by being so good, and by turns giving me time to work and providing the best
possible distraction.