Overview

This book addresses a simple question: why were the Anglo-Saxons obsessed with monsters, many of which did not exist? Drawing on literature and art, theology and a wealth of first-hand evidence, Basilisks and Beowulf reveals a people huddled at the edge of the known map, using the fantastic and the grotesque as a way of understanding the world around them and their place within it. For the Anglo-Saxons, monsters helped to distinguish the sacred and the profane; they carried God's message to mankind, exposing His divine hand in creation itself. At the same time, monsters were agents of disorder, seeking to kill people, conquer their lands and challenge what it meant to be human even. Learning about where monsters lived and how they behaved allowed the Anglo-Saxons to situate themselves in the world, as well as to apprehend something of the divine plan. It is for these reasons that monsters were at the very centre of their worldview. From map monsters to demons, dragons to Leviathan, we neglect them at our peril.

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9781789144338

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A bold and wide-ranging expedition into the wildest corners of the early medieval mind; Flight skillfully conjures the primal fears and ancient wonders that once lurked in England's shadowed groves and hollows. -- Thomas Williams, author of Viking Britain: A History Although he wears his learning lightly, Flight covers an impressive amount of ground to bring us his thoughtful, stimulating account of monsters in the early medieval world. Moving from Beowulf's historical context, through maps, wolves, dragons, devils, and the Grendelkin to present-day fears, Basilisks and Beowulf opens up a strange and yet hauntingly familiar world to anyone who has read the poem or any of its multitudinous offspring. -- Jennifer Neville, Royal Holloway, University of London

A bold and wide-ranging expedition into the wildest corners of the early medieval mind; Flight skillfully conjures the primal fears and ancient wonders that once lurked in England's shadowed groves and hollows. -- Thomas Williams, author of Viking Britain: A History

Author Information

Tim Flight studied at Royal Holloway, University of London, and Magdalen College, Oxford, from which he obtained a doctorate in Anglo-Saxon literature in 2016. Since then, he has been writing full time and has contributed to History Today and BBC History Magazine, among many other publications.

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