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Christian Heroism and the West Saxon Achievement: The Old English Poetic Evidence

Christian Heroism and the West Saxon Achievement: The Old English Poetic Evidence

Hare, Kent G.

Medieval Forum, vol.4 (2004)

Abstract

In its existing manuscript context, the Old English poetic corpus reflects a literary program having its origins in the Alfredian period, with aims both religious and political. An ethos of Christian heroism dominating the poems was of crucial importance in the historical context of resistance to the pagan Vikings and the consolidation of a single kingdom of England in the tenth century by Alfred the Great’s West Saxon heirs.

 

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