Stasis in the Medieval West?

This volume questions the extent to which Medieval studies has emphasized the period as one of change and development through reexamining aspects of the medieval world that remained static. The Medieval period is popularly thought of as a dark age, before the flowerings of the Renaissance ushered a return to the wisdom of the Classical era. However, the reality familiar to scholars and students of the Middle Ages – that this was a time of immense transition and transformation – is well known. This book approaches the theme of ‘stasis’ in broad terms, with chapters covering the full temporal range from Late Antiquity to the later Middle Ages. Contributors to this collection seek to establish what remained static, continuous or ongoing in the Medieval era, and how the period’s political and cultural upheavals generated stasis in the form of deadlock, nostalgia, and the preservation of ancient traditions.

1 ‘Introduction: Stasis in the Medieval West? Questioning Change and Continuity’, Victoria Symons, Mary Wellesley, Michael D. J. Bintley.- 2  ‘Beacons of Belief: Trees and Religion in Britain from Prehistory to the Later Middle Ages’, Michael D. J. Bintley.- 3  ‘The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same: Decorative Continuity in Early Anglo-Saxon England’, Melissa Herman.- 4 ‘Art History in the Dark Ages: (Re)considering Space, Stasis and Modern Viewing Practices in Relation to Anglo-Saxon Imagery’, Meg Boulton.- 5 ‘Set in Stone or Food for Worms: the Stasis of Writing in the Exeter Book Riddles’, Victoria Symons.- 6 ‘Stitched Up? Cynewulf, Authorial Attribution and Textual Stasis in Anglo-Saxon England’, Tom Birkett.- 7 ‘The House of Stilled Time: Stasis and Eternity in Anglo-Saxon Churches’, Michael Shapland.- 8 ‘There and Back Again: Creating the Pilgrimage Experience in Text’ , Martin Locker.- 9 ‘“But that will not be the end of the calamity”: Why Emphasize Viking Disruption?’, Katherine Cross.- 10 ‘Configuring Stasis: the Appeal to Tradition in the English Reign of Cnut the Great’, Simon C. Thomson.- 11 ‘Sleeping Dogs and Stasis in the Franklin’s Tale’, Richard North.- 12 ‘Static “Menyng” and Transitory “Melodye” in Lydgate’s Seying of the Nightingale’, Mary Wellesley.- 13 ‘Dress, Fashion and Anti-Fashion in the Medieval Imagination’, Louise Sylvester.- Index.