Crossley-Holland--the widely acclaimed translator of Old English texts--introduces the Anglo-Saxons through their chronicles, laws, letters, charters, and poetry, with many of the greatest surviving poems printed in their entirety.

The Anglo-Saxon World introduces the Anglo-Saxons in their own words - their chronicles, laws and letters, charters and charms, and above all their magnificent poems. Most of the greatest surviving poems are printed here in their entirety: the reader will find the whole of Beowulf, The Battle of Maldon, and the haunting elegiac poems. Here is a word picture of a people who came to these islands as pagans, subscribing to the Germanic heroic code, and yet within 200 years had become Christian to such effect that England was the centre of missionary endeavour and, for a time, the heart of European civilisation.Kevin Crossley-Holland places the poems and prose in context with his skilful interpretation of the Anglo-Saxon world; his translations have been widely acclaimed, and of BeowulfCharles Causley has written `the poem has at last found its translator'. The many illustrations draw on the splendours of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts and jewellery and a wealth of archaeological finds.KEVIN CROSSLEY-HOLLAND is a poet and writer who takes a particular interest in the middle ages and in traditional tale: in addition to his translations from the Anglo-Saxon, he is also the author of versions of the Norse myths.

R.M. Liuzza’s Broadview edition of Beowulf was published at almost exactly the same time as Seamus Heaney’s; in reviewing the two together in July 2000 for The New York Review of Books, Frank Kermode concluded that both translations were superior to their predecessors, and that it was impossible to choose between the two: “the less celebrated translator can be matched with the famous one,” he wrote, and “Liuzza’s book is in some respects more useful than Heaney’s.” Ever since, the Liuzza Beowulf has remained among the top sellers on the Broadview list. With this volume readers will now be able to enjoy a much broader selection of Old English poetry in translations by Liuzza. As the collection demonstrates, the range and diversity of the works that have survived is extraordinary—from heartbreaking sorrow to wide-eyed wonder, from the wisdom of old age to the hot blood of battle, and to the deepest and most poignant loneliness. There is breathless storytelling and ponderous cataloguing; there is fervent religious devotion and playful teasing. The poems translated here are meant to provide a sense of some of this range and diversity; in doing so they also offer significant portions of three of the important manuscripts of Old English poetry—the Vercelli Book, the Junius Manuscript, and the Exeter Book.

The essential primary-source history of the British Isles through the early Middle Ages, fully annotated and illustrated with paintings and engravings. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is one of the most important sets of historical documents concerning the history of the British Isles. These vital accounts, thought to be first set down in the late ninth century by a scribe in Wessex, illuminate events through the Dark Ages that would otherwise be lost to history. Without this chronicle, it would be impossible to write the history of the English from the Romans to the Norman Conquest. The compilers of this chronicle included contemporary events they themselves witnessed, as well as those recorded by earlier annalists whose work is in many cases preserved nowhere else. With nine known versions of the Chronicle in existence, this translated edition presents a conflation of passages from different versions. Relying heavily on Rev. James Ingram’s 1828 translation, the footnotes provided are all those of Rev. Ingram. This edition also includes the complete Parker Manuscript.

Presents the Anglo-Saxon period of English history from the fifth century up to the late eleventh century, covering such events as the spread of Christianity, the invasions of the Vikings, the composition of Beowulf, and the Battle of Hastings.