Suggested Secondary Reading

The following readling lists have been compiled to offer current students on the Tripos with the suggested secondary reading for the Part I course:

Paper 1: England before the Norman Conquest

  • M. Lapidge, J. Blair, S. Keynes & D. Scragg (edd.), The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England (Blackwell, 1999; 2nd ed. Wiley, 2014)
  • N. J. Higham and M. J. Ryan, The Anglo-Saxon World (Yale, 2013)
  • F. M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford University Press, 1943; 3rd ed. 1971)
  • P. H. Sawyer, From Roman Britain to Norman England, 2nd ed. (London, 1998)
  • A. Williams, Kingship and Government in Pre-Conquest England, c. 500–1066 (Basingstoke, 1999)
  • P. Hunter Blair, An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England (Cambridge University Press, 1956; 2nd ed., 1977; re-issued with updated bibliography, 1995; revised edition with introduction by S. Keynes (Folio Society, 1997)
  • H. R. Loyn, Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest, 2nd ed. (Longman, 1991)
  • J. Campbell, P. Wormald and E. John, The Anglo-Saxons, ed. J. Campbell (Penguin, 1982)
  • D. Hill, An Atlas of Anglo-Saxon England (Blackwell, 1981)

Paper 2: Scandinavian history in the Viking Age

  • C. Batey et al., Cultural atlas of the Viking world (New York 1994)
  • M. Blackburn and D.M. Metcalf, (edd.), Viking-age coinage in the northern lands, BAR International Series 122 (Oxford 1981)
  • S. Brink, ‘Political and social structures in early Scandinavia: a settlement-historical pre-study of the central place’, Tor 28 (1996), 235-81
  • J.L. Byock, Medieval Iceland: society, sagas and power (Berkeley 1988; repr. Enfield Lock 1993)
  • B.E. Crawford, Scandinavian Scotland, Studies in the early history of Britain: Scotland in the early middle ages 2 (Leicester 1987)
  • P.G. Foote and D.M. Wilson, The Viking achievement: the society and culture of early medieval Scandinavia, 2nd edn (London 1980)
  • S. Franklin and J. Shepard, The emergence of Rus 750-1200 (London 1996)
  • J. Graham-Campbell et al., The Viking world, 2nd edn (London 1989)
  • J. Jóhannesson, A history of the old Icelandic commonwealth: Íslendinga saga, transl. H. Bessason, University of Manitoba Icelandic studies 2 (Winnipeg 1974)
  • R. Mazo Karras, Slavery and society in medieval Scandinavia, Yale Historical Publications 135 (New Haven 1988)
  • E. Roesdahl, Viking age Denmark, transl. S. Margeson and K. Williams (London 1982)
  • E. Roesdahl, The Vikings, transl. S.M. Margeson and K. Williams (London 1991)
  • P. Sawyer, Kings and Vikings: Scandinavia and Europe AD 700-1100 (London 1982)
  • K. Helle et al., Norway: A History from the Vikings to Our Own Times, transl. M. Drake (Oslo 1995)
  • P. Sawyer, (ed.), The Oxford illustrated history of the Vikings (Oxford 1997)
  • W. W. FitzHugh and E. I. Ward, eds, The North Atlantic Saga (Washington, D.C. 2000)
  • S. Brink and N. Price, eds, The Viking World (New York 2008)

Paper 5: Old English language and literature

  • M. C. Amodio, The Anglo-Saxon Literature Handbook (Chichester, 2014)
  • P. S. Baker, ed., Beowulf: Basic Readings (New York, 1995); reprinted as The Beowulf Reader (New York, 2000)
  • J. M. Bately, The Literary Prose of King Alfred’s Reign: Translation or Transformation? (London, 1980)
  • J. B. Bessinger and S. J. Kahrl, eds., Essential Articles for the Study of Old English Poetry (Hamden, 1968)
  • P. Clemoes, Interactions of Thought and Language in Old English Poetry, Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England 12 (Cambridge, 1995)
  • R. D. Fulk, ed., Interpretations of Beowulf: A Critical Anthology (Indiana, 1991)
  • R. D. Fulk and C.M. Cain, A History of Old English Literature (Oxford, 2003)
  • M. McC. Gatch, ‘Beginnings Continued: a Decade of Studies of Old English Prose’ Anglo-Saxon England 5 (1976), 225-243
  • M. McC. Gatch, Preaching and Theology in Anglo-Saxon England: Ælfric and Wulfstan (Toronto, 1977)
  • M. Godden and M. Lapidge, eds., The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature rev. ed. (Cambridge, 2013)
  • S. B. Greenfield and D. G. Calder, A New Critical History of Old English Literature (New York, 1986)
  • D. F. Johnson and E. Treharne, eds., Readings in Medieval Texts: Interpreting Old and Middle English Literature (Oxford, 2005)
  • C. A. Lees, ed., The Cambridge History of Early Medieval English Literature (Cambridge, 2013)
  • H. Magennis, The Cambridge Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Literature (Cambridge, 2011)
  • R. North and J. Allard, Beowulf and Other Stories: A New Introduction to Old English, Old Icelandic and Anglo-Norman Literatures (Harlow, 2007)
  • K. O’Brien O’Keeffe, Reading Old English Texts (Cambridge, 1997)
  • P. Pulsiano and E. Treharne, eds., A Companion to Anglo-Saxon Literature (Oxford, 2001)
  • C. Pasternack, The Textuality of Old English Poetry, Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England 13 (Cambridge, 1995)
  • C. Saunders, ed., A Companion to Medieval Poetry (Oxford, 2010), chapters 1–8
  • D. G. Scragg, ed., The Battle of Maldon AD 991 (Oxford, 1991)
  • T. A. Shippey, Old English Verse (London, 1972)
  • K. Sisam, Studies in the History of Old English Literature (Oxford, 1953)
  • E. G. Stanley, ed., Continuations and Beginnings: Studies in Old English Literature (London, 1966)
  • J. Stodnick and R. R. Trilling, eds., A Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Studies (Chichester, 2012)
  • P. E. Szarmach and B. F. Huppé, eds., The Old English Homily and its Backgrounds (Albany, 1978)
  • P. E. Szarmach, ed., Studies in Earlier Old English Prose (New York, 1986)
  • P. E. Szarmach, ed., Old English Prose: Basic Readings (New York, 2000)
  • E. Treharne and G. Walker, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Literature in English (Oxford, 2010)
  • C. Williamson, A Feast of Creatures: The Old English Riddles of the Exeter Book (London, 1983)
  • C. L. Wrenn, A Study of Old English Literature (London, 1967)

Paper 6: Old Norse language and literature

  • Paul Acker and Carolyne Larrington, eds. The Poetic Edda. Essays in Old Norse Mythology (New York and London, 2002)
  • Paul Acker and Carolyne Larrington, eds. Revisiting the Poetic Edda. Essays on Old Norse Heroic Legend (New York and London, 2013)
  • Theodore M. Andersson, The Growth of the Medieval Icelandic Sagas (Ithaca, 2006)
  • Theodore M. Andersson and Willian Ian Miller, Law and Literature in Medieval Iceland. Ljósvetninga saga and Valla-Ljóts saga (Stanford, 1989)
  • Jesse Byock, Feud in the Icelandic Saga (Berkeley, 1982)
  • Carol J. Clover, The Medieval Saga (Ithaca, 1982)
  • Carol Clover and John Lindow, eds. Old Norse-Icelandic Literature. A Critical Guide. Islandica XLV (Ithaca and London, 1985)
  • Margaret Clunies Ross, Prolonged Echoes: Old Norse Myths in Medieval Northern Society. Vol 1: The Myths. The Viking Collection 10 (Odense, 1994)
  • Margaret Clunies Ross, A History of Old Norse Poetry and Poetics (Cambrige, 2005)
  • Margaret Clunies Ross, The Cambridge Introduction to the Old Norse–Icelandic Saga (Cambrige, 2010)
  • Anthony Faulkes, ed. 1988. Snorri Sturluson Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning (London, 1998)
  • Anthony Faulkes, ed. 1998. Snorri Sturluson Edda: Skáldskaparmal (London, 1998)
  • Carolyne Larrington, Judy Quinn and Brittany Schorn, eds. A Handbook to Eddic Poetry (Cambridge, 2016)
  • Rory McTurk, ed. A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture (Oxford, 2005)
  • Guðrún Nordal, Tools of Literacy. The Role of Skaldic Verse in Icelandic Textual Culture of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries (Toronto, 2001)
  • Vésteinn Ólason, Dialogues with the Viking Age: Narration and Representation in the Sagas of the Icelanders, trans. Andrew Wawn (Reykjavík, 1998)
  • Russell Poole, ed. Skaldsagas: Text, Vocation and Desire in the Icelandic Sagas of Poets (Berlin and New York, 2001)
  • Gísli Sigurðsson, The Medieval Icelandic Saga and Oral tradition: A Discourse on Method (Cambridge, Mass, 2004)
  • Torfi Tulinius, The Matter of the North: The Rise of Literary Fiction in Thirteenth-Century Iceland, trans. Randi C. Eldevik, The Viking Collection 13 (Odense, 2002)
  • Kevin J. Wanner, Snorri Sturluson and the Edda: the Conversion of Cultural Capital in Medieval Scandinavia (Toronto, 2008)

Paper 7: Medieval Welsh language and literature

  • A Guide to Welsh Literature, ed. A. O. H. Jarman and G. R. Hughes, 2 vols (Christopher Davies, Swansea, 1976–9) E151 JAR.
  • The Arthur of the Welsh, ed. R. Bromwich and others (Cardiff, 1991).
  • Ifor Williams, The Beginnings of Welsh Poetry.
  • B. F. Roberts, Studies on Middle Welsh Literature (Lampeter, 1992).
  • K. Jackson, The International Popular Tale and Early Welsh Tradition (Cardiff, 1961).
  • A. O. H. Jarman, 'The heroic ideal in early Welsh poetry', in Beiträge zur Indogermanistik und Keltologie, ed. W. Meid (Innsbruck, 1967), pp. 193–211.
  • Early Welsh Poetry. Studies in the Book of Aneirin, ed. B. F. Roberts (1988) [particularly the essays by Dumville and Koch].
  • Ifor Williams, Lectures on Early Welsh Poetry (Dublin, 1944).
  • 'Introduction' to Culhwch and Olwen. An Edition and Study of the Oldest Arthurian Tale, ed. R. Bromwich and D. S. Evans (Cardiff, 1992), pp. ix–lxxxiii.
  • Ifor Williams (ed.), The Poems of Taliesin, edition translated by J. E. C. Williams (1968), Introduction.
  • J. Rowland, Early Welsh Saga Poetry (1990).
  • J. E. C. Williams, The Poets of the Welsh Princes (UWP, 1978). 734:25.b.95.1.
  • McKenna, The Medieval Welsh Religious Lyric (1991) [see above, Primary Works].
  • Rachel Bromwich, Aspects of the Poetry of Dafydd ap Gwilym (1986).
  • A. O. H. Jarman, The Cynfeirdd. Early Welsh Poets and Poetry (Cardiff, 1981). E151 JAR.

Paper 8: Medieval Irish language and literature

  • Edel Bhreathnach, Tara: a select bibliography (Dublin, 1995), 1-42
  • John Carey, ‘The location of the Otherworld in Irish tradition’, Éigse 19 (1982-3), pp. 36-43
  • James Carney, Studies in Irish Literature and History (Dublin, 1955)
  • James Carney (ed.), Early Irish Poetry (Cork, 1965)
  • Máire Herbert, ‘The world, the text and the critic of Early Irish heroic narrative’, Text and Context III (Autumn, 1988), pp. 1-8
  • Máire Herbert, ‘Goddess and king: the sacred marriage in early Ireland’, in Louise Fradenburg (ed.) Women and Sovereignty (Edinburgh, 1992), pp. 264-75
  • Fergus Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin, 1988)
  • Proinsias Mac Cana, Literature in Irish (Dublin, 1980)
  • Proinsias Mac Cana, The Learned Tales of Medieval Ireland (Dublin, 1980)
  • J.P. Mallory (ed.), Aspects of the Táin (Belfast, 1992)
  • Kim McCone, Pagan Past and Christian Present in Early Irish Literature (Maynooth, 1990)
  • J.F. Nagy, Conversing with Angels and Ancients: Literary Myths of Medieval Ireland (Dublin, 1997)
  • Tomás Ó Cathasaigh, The Heroic Biography of Cormac Mac Airt (Dublin, 1977)
  • Tomás Ó Cathasaigh, ‘Pagan survivals: the evidence of Early Irish narrative’, in Proinséas Ní Chatháin and Michael Richter (eds), Irland und Europa, Die Kirche im Frühmittelalter: Ireland and Europe, The Early Church (Stuttgart, 1984), pp. 291-307
  • Donncha Ó Corráin, Ireland before the Normans (Dublin and London, 1972), especially pp. 28-79
  • Donnchadh Ó Corráin, ‘Historical need and literary narrative’, in D. Ellis Evans et al. (eds), Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Celtic Studies, Oxford 1983 (Oxford, 1986), pp. 141-58
  • Donnchadh Ó Corráin, ‘Early Irish hermit poetry?’, in Liam Breatnach et al. (eds), Sages, Saints and Storytellers: Celtic Studies in Honour of Professor James Carney (Maynooth, 1989), pp. 251-67
  • Philip O’Leary, ‘The honour of women in early Irish literature’, Ériu, 38 (1987), pp. 27-44
  • Philip O’Leary, ‘Honour-bound – the social context of early Irish heroic geis’, Celtica, 20 (1988), pp. 85-107
  • Thomas F. O’Rahilly, Early Irish History and Mythology (Dublin, 1946)
  • Pádraig Ó Riain, ‘Early Irish Literature’ in Glanville Price (ed.), The Celtic Connection (Gerrard’s Cross, 1992), pp. 65-80
  • Rudolf Thurneysen, Die irische Helden- und Königsage (Halle, 1921)
  • J.C.E. Williams and P.K. Ford, The Irish Literary Tradition (Cardiff, 1992)

Paper 9: Insular Latin language and literature

  • M. Lapidge, Anglo-Latin Literature 600–899 (London and Rio Grande, OH, Hambledon Press, 1996) and Anglo-Latin Literature 900–1066 (London and Rio Grande, OH, Hambledon Press, 1993)
  • R.C. Love, ‘Insular Latin literature to 900’, in The Cambridge History of Early Medieval English Literature, ed. C.A. Lees (Cambridge, 2013), pp. 120–57
  • Aldhelm: The Prose Works, trans. M. Lapidge and M. Herren (Cambridge, 1979) and Aldhelm: The Poetic Works, trans. M. Lapidge and J. Rosier (Cambridge, 1985), especially the introductions to each volume.
  • S. Degregorio, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Bede (Cambridge, 2010) [available online via the UL Digital Resources page, under e-books >Cambridge Companions.]
  • Columbanus. Studies on the Latin Writings, ed. M. Lapidge (Woodbridge, 1997)
  • Gildas: New Approaches, ed. D.N. Dumville and M. Lapidge (Woodbridge, 1984)
  • M. Lapidge, ‘The Saintly Life in Anglo-Saxon England’, in The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature, ed. M. Godden and M. Lapidge (Cambridge, 1991), pp. 243-63
  • Saint Patrick, A.D. 493-1993, ed. D.N. Dumville (Woodbridge, 1993)
  • P. Sims-Williams, Religion and Literature in Western England, 600-800 (Cambridge, 1990)
  • After Rome, Short Oxford History of the British Isles, ed. T. Charles-Edwards (Oxford, 2003)
  • T.M. Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland (Cambridge, 2000)