Institute for Medieval Studies

Session	303
Title	Books Mediating Borders in Early Medieval England
Date/Time	Monday 4 July 2022: 16.30-18.00
Organiser	Thomas A. Bredehoft, Chancery Hill Books & Antiques, West Virginia
Moderator/Chair	Rachel A. Burns, Faculty of English Language & Literature, University of Oxford / School of English, University of St Andrews
Paper 303-a	Writing and Damnation: Inscribing Eternity in Early English Textual Culture (Language: English) Jill Hamilton Clements, Department of English, University of Alabama, Birmingham Index Terms: Language and Literature - Old English; Literacy and Orality
Paper 303-b	Books in Books of Old English (Language: English) Janet Schrunk Ericksen, Department of English, University of Minnesota, Morris Index Terms: Language and Literature - Old English; Literacy and Orality
Paper 303-c	'Holtes on ende' ('At the edge of the woods'): The Wooden Codex in The Dream of the Rood (Language: English) Thomas A. Bredehoft, Chancery Hill Books & Antiques, West Virginia Index Terms: Language and Literature - Old English; Literacy and Orality
Abstract	This session examines the ways books and writing mediate various boundaries in early medieval England, from material boundaries between books and other inscribable surfaces, to linguistic and cultural boundaries within and between Latin and English in early medieval textual culture. The proposed papers explore different features of the book as a malleable image and a metaphor that authors employed to express both earthly cultural identity and salvation after death, making the very concept of writing essential to early English conceptions of the border.