Trees in Anglo-Saxon England
Literature, Lore and Landscape
Published on 18. April 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
206 pages
978-1-84383-829-6 (ISBN)
Description
A powerful exploration of trees in both the real and the imagined Anglo-Saxon landscape.
Trees played a particularly important part in the rural economy of Anglo-Saxon England, both for wood and timber and as a wood-pasture resource, with hunting gaining a growing cultural role. But they are also powerful icons in many pre-Christian religions, with a degree of tree symbolism found in Christian scripture too. This wide-ranging book explores both the "real", historical and archaeological evidence of trees and woodland, and as they are depicted in Anglo-Saxon literature and legend. Place-name and charter references cast light upon the distribution of particular tree species (mapped here in detail for the first time) and also reflect upon regional character in a period that was fundamental for the evolution of the present landscape.
Della Hooke is Honorary Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Research in Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Birmingham.
Trees played a particularly important part in the rural economy of Anglo-Saxon England, both for wood and timber and as a wood-pasture resource, with hunting gaining a growing cultural role. But they are also powerful icons in many pre-Christian religions, with a degree of tree symbolism found in Christian scripture too. This wide-ranging book explores both the "real", historical and archaeological evidence of trees and woodland, and as they are depicted in Anglo-Saxon literature and legend. Place-name and charter references cast light upon the distribution of particular tree species (mapped here in detail for the first time) and also reflect upon regional character in a period that was fundamental for the evolution of the present landscape.
Della Hooke is Honorary Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Research in Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Birmingham.
Reviews / Votes
Clearly written, well-illustrated, and impressively broad-ranging in its methodology. The footnotes and bibliography make it an invaluable resource for further study. * PARERGON * Della Hooke's book is the first large-scale treatment of its subject, and could hardly be surpassed in its patient and thorough accumulation of data. Lovers of trees and students of early England have equal reason to be grateful to her. -- Ronald Hutton * TIME AND MIND * An enjoyable read and [...] a useful addition to our understanding of pre-Medieval landscapes. * SCOTTISH FORESTY * To look at any tree after reading [the] book is to have a clearer grasp of what someone might have made of it (literally and metaphorically) a thousand years ago. * SALON * An enormously detailed and authoritative study [which] has much to offer Anglo-Saxon scholarship. [...] An excellent volume. * LANDSCAPE HISTORY * [A] well-written and thoughtfully constructed book. * MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY * [A] deeply researched and engagingly written book. * THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Woodbridge
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
5 b/w, 7 line illus.
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 170 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
558 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84383-829-6 (9781843838296)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
10/2010
Boydell Press
€94.40
Article exhausted; check different version
E-Book
10/2010
1st Edition
De Gruyter
€48.99
Available for download
E-Book
10/2010
1st Edition
Boydell & Brewer
€48.99
Available for download
Person
Della Hooke