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Inhabited Spaces: Anglo-Saxon Constructions of Place
We tend to think of early medieval people as unsophisticated about geography because their understandings of space and place often differed from ours, yet theirs were no less complex. Anglo-Saxons conceived of themselves as living at the centre of a cosmos that combined order and plenitude, two principles in a constant state of tension.
In Inhabited Spaces, Nicole Guenther Discenza examines a variety of Anglo-Latin and Old English texts to shed light on Anglo-Saxon understandings of space. Anglo-Saxon models of the universe featured a spherical earth at the centre of a spherical universe ordered by God. They sought to shape the universe into knowable places, from where the earth stood in the cosmos, to the kingdoms of different peoples, and to the intimacy of the hall. Discenza argues that Anglo-Saxon works both construct orderly place and illuminate the limits of human spatial control.
In Inhabited Spaces, Nicole Guenther Discenza examines a variety of Anglo-Latin and Old English texts to shed light on Anglo-Saxon understandings of space. Anglo-Saxon models of the universe featured a spherical earth at the centre of a spherical universe ordered by God. They sought to shape the universe into knowable places, from where the earth stood in the cosmos, to the kingdoms of different peoples, and to the intimacy of the hall. Discenza argues that Anglo-Saxon works both construct orderly place and illuminate the limits of human spatial control.
- GenresMedieval
277 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 6, 2017
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 5, 2024
A book recommended to me by my tutor, a few months before my exams.
I toiled and toiled, revising for weeks. Hwaet, or was it Hweat...? Nevertheless one of my prepared topics was on geography.
The essay was okay. Fine. Passable. Until it was graced by pen markings: "You might find Inhabited Spaces helpful". Well... okay, I said, ignoring the suggestion.
As time passed I became more desperate to correct this essay and revision became even more frantic. A day before the exams I succumbed to the recommendation. Travelling to the library I didn't know what to expect, clutching my breast as my heart drummed from the nerves.
Retreating back to my room, I opened the book (I focused on chapters 2 and 3), and by Jove! The answers were here all along. The archives were complete, yet I, the solitary traveller, was merely too lazy to consult them.
I toiled and toiled, revising for weeks. Hwaet, or was it Hweat...? Nevertheless one of my prepared topics was on geography.
The essay was okay. Fine. Passable. Until it was graced by pen markings: "You might find Inhabited Spaces helpful". Well... okay, I said, ignoring the suggestion.
As time passed I became more desperate to correct this essay and revision became even more frantic. A day before the exams I succumbed to the recommendation. Travelling to the library I didn't know what to expect, clutching my breast as my heart drummed from the nerves.
Retreating back to my room, I opened the book (I focused on chapters 2 and 3), and by Jove! The answers were here all along. The archives were complete, yet I, the solitary traveller, was merely too lazy to consult them.
Displaying 1 of 1 review