The Old English Eastertide

at Tranmer House, Sutton Hoo (map)
on Saturday 4th April 2009

We begin with a look at the Old English calendar, which reveals how the pre-Christian year was structured. We shall then consider how this calendar was transformed into the Christian year – how, for example, did the month of the Old English goddess Éostre become the great Easter festival? We shall also consider the Council of Whitby and some of the ways in which Eastertide came to be celebrated in England, with special attention to the Cult of the Cross, using examples from medieval art and literature.

Sam Newton was awarded his Ph.D at the University of East Anglia in 1991 and published his first book, The Origins of Beowulf and the pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia, in 1993, which has been reprinted three times since. He has lectured widely around the country as a free-lance scholar and has also contributed to many television and radio programmes. His latest book, The Reckoning of King Rædwald, was published in 2003. He is currently a Director of Wuffing Education, NADFAS lecturer, and Time Team historian.

Alexander, M., The First Poems in English (Penguin Classics 2008)
Alexander, M., The Earliest English Poems (Penguin 1966)
Alexander, M., Old English Literature (Macmillan 1983)
Backhouse, J., and others (ed.), The Golden Age of Anglo-Saxon Art (British Museum, 1984)
Bruce-Mitford, R., Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology (Gollancz 1974)
Farmer, D.H., The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford 1978)
Hutton, R., The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain (Oxford 1996).
Mayr-Harting. H., The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England (London 1972)
Mitchell, B., An Invitation to Old English and Anglo-Saxon England (Blackwell 1994).
Mitchell, B., & F.Robinson, A Guide to Old English (Blackwell 1986-2001)
Sherley-Price, L., Bede: A History of the English Church and People (Penguin Classics 1955, 1968)
Turville-Petre, G., Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia (London 1964)
Webster, L., and J.Backhouse, The Making of England: Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture AD 600-900 (British Museum 1991)

Bookings

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