Keynes, Simon. King Athelstan’s Books

• Author: Keynes, Simon
• Title: King Athelstan’s Books
• Published in: Learning and Literature in Anglo-Saxon England. Studies Presented to Peter Clemoes on the Occasion of His Sixty-fifth Birthday
• Place, Publisher: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 1985
• Pages: 143-201
• E-text:
• Reference: Keynes, Simon. “King Athelstan’s Books.” In Learning and Literature in Anglo-Saxon England. Studies Presented to Peter Clemoes on the Occasion of His Sixty-fifth Birthday. Eds. Michael Lapidge and Helmut Gneuss. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985, pp. 143-201.

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Annotation

Keynes discusses the books owned by King Athelstan of England to show the king’s political and ecclesiastical connections to the continental Europe, as well as his efforts to revive religion and learning at his court. In footnote 16, his only reference to Egil's Saga, Keynes contests the view that Egill Skallagrímsson was a ‘learned man’ in Athelstan’s court. Keynes, then, compiles, reproduces, and analyzes the inscriptions of eight manuscripts that attest to King Athelstan’s proclivity to collect manuscripts and donate them to monasteries.

Lýsing

Simon Keynes fjallar um þær bækur sem voru í eigu Aðalsteins Englandskonungs til að varpa ljósi á pólitískar og kirkjulegar tengingar hans við Evrópu sem og tilraun hans til að endurvekja trúarbragðaiðkun og lærdóm við hirð sína. Einu vísunina sem finna má í Egils sögu er að finna í 16. neðanmálsgrein greinarinnar, í henni mælir Keynes móti því að Egill hafi verið „lærður maður“ við hirð Aðalsteins, í framhaldinu safnar hann saman og greinir áletranir átta handrita sem nefna afkastasemi Aðalsteins við handritasöfnun og elju hans við að gefa klaustrum handrit.

References

Chapter 55: Egill dvaldist með Aðalsteini: "Wood includes Egill Skallagrímsson among the learned men who visited Athelstan’s court, but I dare say Egill was more at home with Eric Bloodaxe" (p. 145).

Links

• Written by: Jennifer Grayburn
• Icelandic translation: Andri M. Kristjánsson