A more permanent homeland
Land tenure in Guthlac A
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11451674 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stephanie Clark (0000-0002-1518-4135, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Pages | 75-102 |
| Publication date | 2011-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Anglo-Saxon England (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0263-6751 • E-ISSN: 1474-0532 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0263675111000068 |
| OpenAlex | W1998158354 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
To a greater extent than other saints' lives, Guthlac A is a poem about a land dispute. Through contextualizing the central ‘battle for the beorg ’ within Anglo-Saxon practices of land tenure, this article shows that Guthlac A represents the spiritual conflict between Guthlac and the devils as a land dispute between unworthy tenants who have been given temporary tenure of the land and a warrior of God who is granted permanent tenure as his reward for faithful service. By portraying the devils' loss of the beorg and Guthlac's acquisition of it through the framework of Anglo-Saxon customs of land-holding, the poem dramatizes replacement doctrine, the teaching that the number of the saved would equal the number of fallen angels and replace them in the heavenly kingdom
Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Battle · Doctrine · Economics · Economy · Homeland · Land tenure · Literature · Poetry · Political science · Service (business · History · Law · Medieval Literature and History
| Citations per year | 0.18 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2015 - 2016 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |