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.
