Language Arts & Disciplines

Introduction to the use of runes as a practical script for a variety of purposes in Anglo-Saxon England.

Runes are quite frequently mentioned in modern writings, usually imprecisely as a source of mystic knowledge, power or insight. This book sets the record straight. It shows runes working as a practical script for a variety of purposes in early English times, among both indigenous Anglo-Saxons and incoming Vikings. In a scholarly yet readable way it examines the introduction of the runic alphabet (the futhorc) to England in the fifth and sixth centuries, the forms and values of its letters, and the ways in which it developed, up until its decline at the end of the Anglo-Saxon period. It discusses how runes were used for informal and day-to-day purposes, on formal monuments, as decorative letters in prestigious manuscripts, for owners' or makers' names on everyday objects, perhaps even in private letters.
For the first time, the book presents, together with earlier finds, the many runic objects discovered over the last twenty years, with a range of inscriptions on bone, metal and stone, even including tourists' scratched signatures found on the pilgrimage routes through Italy. It gives an idea of the immense range of informationon language and social history contained in these unique documents.

The late R.I. PAGE was former Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Cambridge.

Pioneer catalogue for one of the most important collections of English legal manuscripts.

The English legal manuscripts in Cambridge University Library form one of the most important collections in the world. The principal treasures derive from the renowned library, containing over 230 volumes, collected by John Moore(d.1714), Bishop of Ely, presented to the University by King George I in 1715. It includes some of the old manuscripts collected by Francis Tate (d.1616), and the working manuscript library of Mr Justice Nicholas (d.1667). The collection also contains medieval statute-books, year-books, medieval and early modern readings and moots in the inns of court, and law reports from the Tudor period down to the reign of Charles II, together with examples of every other major type of manuscript law book in use in England prior to the eighteenth century.
As well as being an essential finding-aid, this new catalogue includes a description of the contents of each manuscript, bibliographicalnotes on the text (listing hundreds of related manuscripts in other libraries), and full codicological descriptions of the medieval manuscripts by Dr Jayne Ringrose. No similar catalogue of English legal manuscripts has ever beenpublished before.

Professor J.H. BAKER is Professor of English Legal History at Cambridge University.