The Power of a Word

The word Anglo-Saxon has been carried across time and space by the currents of history, ideology, and cultural interpretation. This collection of essays explores the evolving significance of the term, revealing how it has been constructed, contested, and reimagined from the early medieval period to the present day.

Like a ship navigating shifting tides, the word Anglo-Saxon has been carried across time and space by the currents of history, ideology, and cultural interpretation. This collection of essays explores the evolving significance of the term, revealing how it has been constructed, contested, and reimagined from the early medieval period to the present day. Bringing together perspectives from history, literature, archaeology, and political thought from a non-Anglophone perspective, the contributors examine how Anglo-Saxon has been used to shape national identities, scholarly traditions, and social narratives across Europe.

From medieval chronicles to modern political discourse, this volume uncovers the many lives of a term that continues to spark debate. Addressed to scholars, students, and anyone interested in the power of historical narratives, this work invites us to reconsider not just a label, but the broader questions of heritage, identity, and belonging that it represents.

Anglo-Saxon. A Vexed Question
   Omar Khalaf

In Other Words: Synonyms of Anglo-Saxon in Old English Prose Texts
   Rosella Tinaburri

Wynter nas wors: Anglo-Saxonism and English Identity in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
   Angélica Varandas

Identity, Purity, and Liberty: The Early Modern Roots of (Anglo-) Saxon Nationhood
   Massimiliano Morini

“Sturdy Home-dated Angles-bred Words”. Anglo-Saxonism and the Racialization of American English
   Anna Scacchi

Anglo-Saxon England and Snorri’s Political Envisaging: Border Narrative and the Battle of Brunanburh in Egils saga Skallagrímssonar   
   Chen Cui

Reinforcing Teutonism. The Abuse of Anglo-Saxon in Italy (and Elsewhere)
   Luca Riccardelli

The “(Anglo-)Saxons, Our Ancestors”, “Our Alfred” and the “Saxon Language:” Coleridge’s Ideological Appraisal of the Early English Past    
   Gabriele Cocco

“Ancient Manners in Modern Language:” Sir Walter Scott’s Use of “(Anglo-)Saxon” in Ivanhoe
   Andreea M. Toma

“Sæxisce men beoð hæðene hundes:” The (Anglo-)Saxons in Britain in Dryden and Purcell’s King Arthur between Tradition and Contemporary Representations
   Alessandro Zironi

Ancestral Roots: Anglosajón in Jorge Luis Borges
   Omar Khalaf

“To […] minum fægran Angelcynne ond þeode:” An Analysis of the “Anglo-Saxon” Linguistic and Cultural Heritage in a Web Corpus
   Dario Capelli

• Edited by Omar Khalaf

This book offers a fresh look at the vexed issue of the term Anglo-Saxon in the context of the study of early Medieval England. In recent years, the use of this word has come to be perceived as problematic and has turned into a challenge for our scholarly practice and community. The present volume collects a set of multidisciplinary essays, which span the pre- and post-Conquest history of England, eventually reaching the present day, as Anglo-Saxon is a word with a lengthy history.

Its chapters assess the meaning of the term in early English history and its subsequent developments. They also focus on the sixteenth century, when the word in question was revived in England; a few essays are devoted to the peaks of Anglo-Saxonism in different countries and times. All the essays acknowledge and explore the consequences of the legacy of so many different usages, as Anglo-Saxon, beginning in the modern age, acquired distinct political and cultural connotations that have contributed to contemporary issues of racism and white supremacy. However, as the book perspicuously shows, the use of the term was never neutral from the very beginning. The essays assess the use and origin of the word itself and, in several cases, conclude with a balanced suggestion, far from calling for radical changes in our field of research.

The trump card of this volume, which appears several years after the outbreak of the issue, a time span that contributes to due scholarly detachment, is that it has gathered a group of scholars, so to speak, not “emotionally involved” in the use and misuse of the term Anglo-Saxon. Each one elaborated on the subject in accordance with the underlying guidelines set by the editor, whose judicious contribution to the whole book is evident also in the valuable introduction.

— Prof. Patrizia Lendinara – Emerita Professor of Germanic Philology, University of Palermo