Designed for complete beginners, and tested for years with real learners, Complete Old English offers a bridge from the textbook to the real world, enabling you to learn the grammar, understand the vocabulary and even how to translate such canonical texts as Beowulf and the earliest version of the Lord's Prayer from a critical point in our history.Structured around authentic material, using online audio to aid pronunciation, and introducing both a grammar ...

During the tenth century England began to emerge as a distinct country with an identity that was both part of yet separate from 'Christendom'. The reigns of Athelstan, Edgar and Ethelred witnessed the emergence of many key institutions: the formation of towns on modern street plans; an efficient administration; and a serviceable system of tax. Mark Atherton here shows how the stories, legends, biographies and chronicles of Anglo-Saxon England reflected both this exciting time of innovation...

Depicting one of the defining conflicts of tenth-century England, The Battle of Maldon immortalises the bloody fight that took place along the banks of the tidal river Blackwater in 991, poignantly expressing the lore and language of a determined nation faced with the advance of a ruthless and relentless enemy. But, as Mark Atherton reveals, The Battle of Maldon is more than a heroic tale designed to inspire courage and unity in a time of crisis: rather, it celebrates ide...

Benedictine nun, poet and musician, Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was one of the most remarkable figures of the Middle Ages. She undertook preaching tours throughout the German empire at the age of sixty, and was consulted not only by her religious contemporaries but also by kings and emperors, yet it is largely for her apocalyptic and mystical writings that she is remembered. This volume includes selections from her three visionary works, her treatises on medicine and the natural world,...

'Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.' Addressed to Frodo as he prepared to travel from Lothlórien to Mordor to destroy the One Ring, the prophetic words of Galadriel in the film The Fellowship of the Ring are just as pertinent to J R R Tolkien's own fiction. For decades, hobbits, elves, dwarves, dragons and the other fantastical creatures of Middle-earth have captured the imaginations of a fiercely loyal tribe of readers, all enhanced by the immense success of Pet...

This product is most effective when used in conjunction with the corresponding double CD.- You can purchase the book and double CD as a pack (ISBN: 9781444104196)@font-face {}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: ""Times New Roman""; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }- The double CD is also sold separately (ISBN: 9781444104202)Learn Old English (Anglo-Saxon) with this best-selling cour...

Old English provides a clear linguistic introduction to English between the 5th century and the Norman invasion in 1066. Tailored to suit the needs of individual course modules, it assumes no prior knowledge of the subject, and presents the basic facts in a straightforward manner, making it the ideal beginners' text. Students are guided step-by-step through the main characteristics and developments of English during that period, aided by concise chapter summaries, suggestions for further r...

Darkness Will Bind Them… watch The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 on Prime VideoThis revised and expanded edition of Tolkien’s own Hobbit-inspired poetry includes previously unpublished poems and notes, and is beautifully illustrated by Narnia artist Pauline Baynes.‘Here is something that no devotee of the Hobbit epic can afford to miss, while awaiting a further instalment of the history of these fascinating people – a selection [of...

A charming new pocket edition of one of Tolkien’s major pieces of short fiction, and his only finished work dating from after publication of The Lord of the Rings.What began as a preface to The Golden Key by George MacDonald eventually grew into this charming short story, so named by Tolkien to suggest an early work by P.G. Wodehouse. Composed almost a decade after The Lord of the Rings, and when his lifelong occupation with the ‘Silmarillion’ was winding down, Smith of Wootton Maj...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERDeepen your insight into and appreciation for the writings J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis as you explore the untold story of how the First World War shaped their lives, faith, and writings.Had there been no Great War, there would have been no Hobbit, no Lord of the Rings, no Narnia—perhaps even no conversion to Christianity by C.S. Lewis.The First World War laid waste to a contine...

This revised and updated examination of how J.R.R.Tolkien came to write his original masterpiece The Hobbit includes his complete unpublished draft version of the story, together with notes and illustrations by Tolkien himself.The Hobbit was first published on 21 September 1937. Like its sequel, The Lord of the Rings, it is a story that ‘grew in the telling’, and many characters and plot threads in the published text are quite different f...

New York Times bestseller "An incomplete but highly compelling retelling . . . An action-packed, doom-haunted saga, full of vivid natural description."—New York Times Book ReviewThe Fall of Arthur recounts in alliterative verse the last campaign of King Arthur, who, even as he stands at the threshold of Mirkwood, is summoned back to Britain by news of the treachery of Mordred. Already weakened in spirit by Guinevere’s infidelity with the ...