Overview

How did Anglo-Saxons reflect on the experience of growing old? Was it really a golden age for the elderly, as has been suggested? This first full survey of the Anglo-Saxon cultural conceptualisation of old age, as manifested and reflected in the texts and artwork of the inhabitants of early medieval England, presents a more nuanced and complicated picture. The author argues that although senescence was associated with the potential for wisdom and pious living, the Anglo-Saxons also anticipated various social, psychological and physical repercussions of growing old. Their attitude towards elderly men and women - whether they were saints, warriors or kings - was equally ambivalent. Multidisciplinary in approach, this book makes use of a wide variety of sources, ranging from the visual arts to hagiography, homiletic literature and heroic poetry. Individual chapters deal with early medieval definitions ofthe life cycle; the merits and drawbacks of old age as represented in Anglo-Saxon homilies and wisdom poetry; the hagiographic topos of elderly saints; the portrayal of grey-haired warriors in heroic literature; Beowulf asa mirror for elderly kings; and the cultural roles attributed to old women.

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9781783276349

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A detailed and interesting cultural study, which provides a useful model for studies of later periods.--FACHRS NEWSLETTER A pleasure to read. Highly recommended.--CHOICE Combining good judgment with ample learning in both Germanic philology and intellectual history, Porck has produced a valuable contribution to knowledge that is as stimulating as it is rigorous.--MODERN PHILOLOGY

Author Information

THIJS PORCK is senior lecturer of Medieval English at Leiden University.

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