Courses I'm running elsewhere in England in 2008 and 2009
If you live far from our study-centre at Sutton Hoo, you might find one of the courses listed below more within reach.
|
TITLE (Provisional) |
DESCRIPTION |
LOCATION |
DATE |
TO BOOK, CONTACT |
| Formidable Women of Early England |
A reassessment of the power of English women from the 6th to the 10th centuries - we shall see how pre-Christian female power was realised in early Christian England by royal abbesses such as St Æthelthryth (Audrey), founding abbess of Ely. We shall also look at the farmer’s wife who famously chastised King Alfred for his poor cooking skills, as well as the formidable Queen Ælfthryth, who appears to have provided the model for Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth. . |
Cotswold Conference Centre, Farncombe Estate, Broadway, Worcestershire |
Friday 4th July - Sunday 6th July 2008
|
Farncombe Estate enquiries@farncombeestate.co.uk tel. 01386 854 100 |
| Formidable Abbesses of Early England | A reassessment of the power of early English women - we shall see how pre-Christian female power was realised in early Christian England by the impressive numbers of canonised royal abbesses such as St Æthelthryth (Audrey), founding abbess of Ely, or St Hilda of Whitby. We shall also look at the formidable Ælfthryth, who appears to have provided the model for Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth. . |
Belstead House, Ipswich, Suffolk
|
Friday 11th July - Sunday 13th July 2008 |
Belstead House belstead.house@educ.suffolkcc.gov.uk tel. 01473 686 321
|
| St Edmund and the Decline of the Wuffing Kingdom of East Anglia |
This course provides a guided exploration of the history and culture of East Anglia and England from the eighth to early eleventh centuries. Following mainly the splendid narrative of that Old Testament of English history, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, we shall consider closely the martyrdom of St Edmund in history and legend before charting the subsequent history of the region under the Danish and West Saxon overlords. |
Madingley Hall, Cambridge |
Tuesday 29th July – Friday 1st August 2008 |
course code 78R224 University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education Website www.cont-ed.cam.ac.uk tel. 01954 280 200 |
|
The Golden Age of Northumbria |
|
Higham Hall College, Bassenthwaite Lake, Cumbria |
Sunday 7th Sept. - Tuesday 9th Sept. 2008 |
Higham Hall College tel. 01768 776 276 |
|
An Introduction to the Old English Epic of Beowulf |
This course explores the Old English epic of Beowulf, the masterwork that stands at the beginning of literary art in the English language. Through this and related heroic poetry, we shall consider the richness of the pre-literary verse medium, through which we may rediscover something of that almost forgotten lost continent of the early English history, the Old English Heroic Age. Perhaps “we may still, against [the poet’s] great scene, hung with tapestries woven of ancient tales of ruin, see the hæleð [hero] walk” (Tolkien). |
Madingley Hall, Cambridge |
Friday 19th Sept. - Sunday 21st Sept. 2008 |
course code 89R001 University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education Website www.cont-ed.cam.ac.uk tel. 01954 280 200 |
|
Beowulf and the Old English Heroic Age |
We shall attempt to explore something of the almost lost continent of legends from the pre- and early history of the English through an exploration of the surviving manuscripts in Old English and related Germanic and Norse heroic literature. Our starting-point will be the epic which provides our best surviving window onto the Old English Heroic Age, Beowulf. Through this and related texts and manuscript fragments, especially the catalogue poem Widsith, we can begin to glimpse the richness of the great word-hoard of heroic verse in early England and of the epic scope of its historical and geographical scope. |
Madingley Hall, Cambridge |
Friday 30th Jan. - Sunday 1st Feb. 2009 |
course code 89R117 University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education Website www.cont-ed.cam.ac.uk tel. 01954 280 200 |
|
Sutton Hoo and the Golden Age of England |
|
Higham Hall College, Bassenthwaite Lake, Cumbria |
Sunday 15th Feb. - Wednesday 18th Feb. 2009 |
Higham Hall College tel. 01768 776 276 |
|
The Master Workshop of Sutton Hoo |
An exploration of some of the artistic and technical wonders found aboard the funeral-ship berthed beneath Mound One at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, burial place of the Wuffing kings of East Anglia. The central theme will be the superb jewellery of gold, garnet, and blue glass, which reveals such a brilliant synthesis of styles. These masterworks appear to have been made in the East Anglian royal workshop for the king who lay in state in this treasure-laden ship, thought most likely to have been Rædwald (died c.625), possibly the first king of all England. |
Cotswold Conference Centre, Farncombe Estate, Broadway, Worcestershire |
Friday 8th May - Sunday 10th May 2009 |
Farncombe Estate enquiries@farncombeestate.co.uk tel. 01386 854 100 |
|
Sutton Hoo, King Rædwald, and the Coming of Christianity to the English |
Who was the great Wuffing king who lay in state in the treasure-laden ship berthed beneath Mound One at Sutton Hoo? We shall begin the day with a new look at this discovery in the light of recent work, such as the East Saxon royal burial from Prittlewell. We shall explore the ways in which the character of the Sutton Hoo grave-goods may provide clues as to the identity of the king buried there. We shall then reappraise the history of East Anglia and England around the time of the burial, whence it will emerge that the Wuffing king Rædwald may have been a far more central figure in the early success of Christianity in England than has previously been acknowledged. We shall also consider the indications that he was also the first king of all the English in Britain. |
Madingley Hall, Cambridge |
Friday 3rd July - Sunday 5th July 2009 |
course code 89R194 University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education Website www.cont-ed.cam.ac.uk tel. 01954 280 200 |
|
King Alfred and the Cakes |
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle provides a dramatic and near-contemporary narrative of the events of the year 878, one of the great turning points in the history of England. From the Danish surprise attack on Wessex on Twelfth Night to Alfred’s victory at Edington and the subsequent baptism of the Danish king later in the year, we shall explore this narrative and attempt to locate the events in the English landscape. We may thus be consider the true significance of the well-known but curious little story of Alfred and the Cakes.
|
Cotswold Conference Centre, Farncombe Estate, Broadway, Worcestershire |
Friday 10th July - Sunday 12th July 2009 |
Farncombe Estate enquiries@farncombeestate.co.uk tel. 01386 854 100 |