Richard Marsden is Emeritus Professor of Old English at the University of Nottingham. In addition to numerous articles on Old English literature and language and the history of the Latin Bible, he has published The Text of the Old Testament in Anglo-Saxon England (Cambridge, 1995) and an edition of The Old English Heptateuch for the Early English Text Society (2008).
Preface to the second edition
Preface to the first edition
List of abbreviations
Introduction
Beginning Old English
1. Getting started
2. Practice sentences
3. Practice texts
4. Keys to test sentences and texts
5. Beginning poetry
The Texts: Part I. Teaching and Learning: 1. In the Schoolroom (from Ælfric's Colloquy)
2. A Personal Miscellany (from Ælfwine's Prayerbook)
3. Medicinal Remedies (from Bald's Leechbook)
4. Learning Latin (from Ælfric's Excerptiones de arte grammatica anglice)
5. A New Beginning (Alfred's 'preface' to his translation of Gregory's Cura pastoralis)
6. The Wagonwheel of Fate (from Alfred's translation of Boethius's De consolatione Philosophiae)
Part II. Keeping a Record: 7. Laws of the Anglo-Saxon Kings
8. England under Attack (from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: annals for 981-93, 995-8 and 1002-3)
9. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People
10. The Battle of Brunanburh
11. The Will of Ælfgifu
12. The Fonthill Letter
Part III. Spreading the Word: 13. After the Flood (from the Old English Hexateuch: Gen 8.6-18 and 9.8-13)
14. The Crucifixion (from the Old English Gospels: Mt 27.11-54)
15. King Alfred's Psalms
16. A Translator's Problems (Ælfric's preface to his translation of Genesis)
17. Satan's Challenge (Genesis B, lines 338-441)
18. The Drowning of Pharaoh's Army (Exodus, lines 447-564)
19. Judith
Part IV. Example and Exhortation: 20. Bede's Death Song
21. Two Holy Women
22. A Homily for Easter Sunday (from Ælfric's Sermones catholicae)
23. The Dream of the Rood
24. On False Gods (Wulfstan's De falsis deis)
25. The Sermon of the Wolf (Wulfstan's Sermo Lupi)
26. The Seafarer
Part V. Telling Tales: 27. Falling in Love (from Apollonius of Tyre)
28. The Trees of the Sun and the Moon (from The Letter of Alexander)
29. Cynewulf and Cyneheard (from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: annal for 755)
30. The Battle of Maldon
31. Beowulf
32. The Fight at Finnsburh
Part VI. Reflection and Lament: 33. Truth is Trickiest (Maxims II)
34. The Durham Proverbs
35. Five Anglo-Saxon Riddles
36. Deor
37. The Ruin
38. The Wanderer
39. Wulf and Eadwacer
40. The Wife's Lament
Manuscripts and textual emendations
The writing and pronunciation of Old English
Reference grammar of Old English
Glossary
Guide to terms
Index.
