King – Sagas from the Sea

Alfred the Great, King of Wessex

In my final undergraduate year, I studied the work of JRR Tolkien, and it acted like a violent intellectual catalyst, for it was here that I first discovered Old English, Icelandic and Scandinavian literature, mythology, poetry and history. It was a gateway into a previously hidden world, and I was instantly hooked. I ransackedContinue reading “Alfred the Great, King of Wessex”

The Old That is Strong: Tolkien & the Anglo-Saxons

Glossary Churl – the OE word Ceorl, meaning common freeman, the lowest class of free citizen in Anglo-Saxon society Danegeld – money paid to Viking raiding armies to leave a territory, or to enlist them as mercenaries against other Viking forces; ‘set a thief to catch a thief…’ Old English – the language spoken byContinue reading “The Old That is Strong: Tolkien & the Anglo-Saxons”