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04.04.03, Blair, Anglo-Saxon England

04.04.03, Blair, Anglo-Saxon England


This third edition of a classic in Anglo-Saxon studies is really a reprint of the second edition (1977) with a "Preface to the Third Edition" (x) and an "Introduction: Changing perceptions of Anglo-Saxon history" (xvii-xxxv) both contributed by Simon Keynes. The book also contains a critical "Select Bibliography" (364-374) divided into eight sub-sections, including electronic resources but sadly omitting N. R. Ker's classic Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon.

In his introduction Simon Keynes concentrates in particular on those areas of Anglo-Saxon studies in which progress has been made since the second edition of Blair's Introduction: e.g. archaeology, charters, laws, numismatics and the role of women in Anglo-Saxon society. Keynes also points out that some of the critical paradigms underlying Blair's book have moved from the centre to the periphery and that Anglo-Saxon history should be seen and evaluated in the context of (Western) European history. Indeed, this new introduction is a good and valuable guide for those readers who wish to explore this classic in Anglo-Saxon studies written, revised and updated in the second half of the twentieth century. They will find out that Blair's book remains a good point of departure in the first years of the twenty-first century.