In a circle of trees

A tree God set in paradise, and its fruit forbade to Adam and Eve. And him bi twegin beamas stodon þa wæron utan ofætes gehlædene, gewered mid wæstme, swa hie waldend god, heah heofoncyning handum gesette, þæt þær yldo bearn moste on ceosan godes and yfeles, gumena æghwilc, welan and wawan. Næs se wæstm gelic!…

Now open: Anglo-Saxon Exhibition at the British Library

Hwæt!  The British Library’s new exhibition, Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War, has now opened.  I have had the great privilege of working alongside the curators, being one of the first to see the completed exhibition, and of celebrating the official opening. A number of the manuscripts which I have written about in my blogposts are…

Living on loaned time

Autumn has come to London: a mostly hot summer suddenly turned in the final week of September. I like early autumn, the time just before and just after the emniht (or ‘equal-night’, as an Anglo-Saxon would have called the equinox), when there is still some warmth and plenty of sunlight, but a slight nip in…

Anglo-Saxon Riddles

I hope you’re enjoying the summer (or winter)!  I’m spending it adapting my doctoral thesis into a book, which is taking up a lot of my writing time at the moment, and I don’t have much left in which to write this blog.  Still, I’d hate to miss a fortnightly post date. A couple of…

Strange beings: translating some Exeter Riddles

I saw four strange beings travel together: black were their tracks, very dark traces.  Fast on its journey, bolder than birds, it flew in the air, dived beneath the waves.  The labouring fighter suffered restlessly, he who shows all four of them the paths over ornamented gold. The four strange beings, if you were wondering,…