Land and Book : Literature and Land Tenure in Anglo-Saxon England

__Land and Book__ places a variety of texts in a dynamic conversation with the procedures and documents of land tenure, showing how its social practice led to innovation across written genres in both Latin and Old English.

In this original and innovative study, Scott T. Smith traces the intersections between land tenure and literature in Anglo-Saxon England. Smith aptly demonstrates that as land became property through the operations of writing, it came to assume a complex range of conceptual values that Anglo-Saxons could use to engage a number of vital cultural concerns beyond just the legal and practical – such as political dominion, salvation, sanctity, status, and social and spiritual obligations.

Land and Book places a variety of texts – including charters, dispute records, heroic poetry, homilies, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle – in a dynamic conversation with the procedures and documents of land tenure, showing how its social practice led to innovation across written genres in both Latin and Old English. Through this, Smith provides an interdisciplinary synthesis of literary, legal, and historical interests.

In this original and innovative study, Scott T. Smith traces the intersections between land tenure and literature in Anglo-Saxon England. Smith aptly demonstrates that as land became property through the operations of writing, it came to assume a complex range of conceptual values that Anglo-Saxons could use to engage a number of vital cultural concerns beyond just the legal and practical - such as political dominion, salvation, sanctity, status, and social and spiritual obligations. Land and Book places a variety of texts - including charters, dispute records, heroic poetry, homilies, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - in a dynamic conversation with the procedures and documents of land tenure, showing how its social practice led to innovation across written genres in both Latin and Old English. Through this, Smith provides an interdisciplinary synthesis of literary, legal, and historical interests contents 7 Acknowledgments 9 Abbreviations 11 Introduction: The Terms of Possession 13 1. The Most Solemn Instrument 34 2. Storied Land 82 3. Tenure in Translation 120 4. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as Dynastic Landbook 162 5. Poetic Possession 202 Conclusion: The Question of Limits 242 Bibliography 250 Index of Charters Cited 275 General Index 278