Multilingualism in Early Medieval Britain (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781009467896)

In the words of its own historians, pre-Norman Britain held five languages and four peoples. Yet in modern scholarship, Old English is too often studied separately from the other languages that surrounded it. This Element offers a comprehensive synthesis of the evidence from the pre-Norman period that situates Old English as one of several living languages that together formed the basis of a vibrant oral and written literary culture in early medieval Britain. Each section centres around a key thematic topic and is illustrated through a series of memorable case studies that encapsulate the extent to which multilingualism appeared in every facet of life in early medieval Britain: religious and scholarly; political and military; economic and cultural; intellectual and artistic. The Element makes an overall argument for the dynamic extent of transcultural literary and linguistic culture in early medieval Britain before the arrival of the Normans.

Author: Lindy Brady
ISBN-10: 1009467891
ISBN-13: 9781009467896
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 10/12/2023
Pages: 75
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.63lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.25d