Representing Beasts in Early Medieval England and Scandinavia Williams, Thomas J

Title: Representing Beasts in Early Medieval England and ScandinaviaEditor: Bintley, MichaelPublisher: Boydell PressBinding: PaperbackPages: 312Dimensions: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.65dProduct Weight: 0.97 lbs.Language: EnglishISBN: 9781783273690Essays on the depiction of animals, birds and insects in early medieval material culture, from texts to carvings to the landscape itself. For people in the early Middle Ages, the earth, air, water and ether teemed with other beings. Some of these were sentient creatures that swam, flew, slithered or stalked through the same environments inhabited by their human contemporaries. Others were objects that a modern beholder would be unlikely to think of as living things, but could yet be considered to possess a vitality that rendered them potent. Still others were things half glimpsed on a dark night or seen only in the mind's eye; strange beasts that haunted dreams and visions or inhabited exotic lands beyond the compass of everyday knowledge. Thi