Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War at the British Library

Before I went home after the Dresden Dolls gig, I went to the British Library to visit their new exhibition, Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War.

It was a little frustrating, as they have clearly underestimated the time people would need, and how many people can see the exhibition at any one time, so despite going on a Wednesday  morning when it was not fully booked, it was very overcrowded ,so visiting was rather like being in an (admittedly very educational)  queue.

However, despite that irritation, the exhibition is very impressive.

It has a broadly chronological approach, beginning with the Loveden Hill Urn, which dates from the 5th Century, which has a runic inscription being  one of the earliest pieces of evidence of the English language.

Also on display, Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People (731AD), a 12th image of Woden, the Lindesfarne Gospels, The Codex Amiatinus, which is apparently the oldest surviving complete Latin bible, and which was made in Jarrow, in the early 700s. It was sent to the Pope, in 716, and this is the first time it has returned to England since then.

The Book of Durrow has been borrowed from Dublin, and the Echternach Gospels from Paris.

Although many of the books on display are religious in nature, not all are. There is a very early copy of Beowulf, the Vercelli Book, a 10th C collection of poems , the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, and a number of land grants and wills, including some given by Offa, some by King Alfred, (and the library has also managed to borrow the Alfred Jewel from the Ashmolean Museum, to go with the manuscripts)

They had also borrowed some items from the Sutton Hoo burial, and the Winfarthing Pendent.
 

The Winfarthing Pendent

But the majority of what is on display, are manuscripts. And they are glorious. It says something about the quality of the exhibition that when you reach the end, and find that one of the final items on display is Domesday Book, it comes almost as an anticlimax! 

It is fascinating, and I would have loved to have had the chance to look around with more time and fewer people! 

The exhibition is on until February, so plenty of time to visit.