Morning Medieval Miscellany

Woohoo! I'm back! I'm not supposed to be out of grading jail yet, with 21 midterms left to go, two plagiarism appeals to review, and several revisions/late papers from various classes, but I've escaped regardless. There's no grading jail in the world that can hold me! I'm the John Dillinger of grading! So, while I'm on the lam, here are a few medieval items for your pleasure:

• Japes for Owre Tymes has a new Mary Worth, as well as a few others.
• Epea Pteroenta has a link to an XML edition of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
• Among the recent items from Hammered Out Bits are the details of their Icelandic smelter.
• Michael Drout has pictures and commentary on his trip to the Shire.
• Steven Till has had several things since last I posted, including the terms chancel and choir, with a very helpful image included.
• Steven Hart discusses the Telegraph's 50 Greatest Villains in literature. Of medievalist note are Steerpike (or is he more early modern?), The White Witch, Grendel's Mother, Sauron, Edmund from King Lear (it having a medieval setting), and Claudius from Hamlet (same reason). Where the heck is Mordred?
• Slouching Towards Extimacy has an abstract for the paper "Unnatural Births: Satan’s insceafte in 'Solomon and Saturn II.'"
• Mearcstapa has the others in that same session, and it is only at this minute that I realize that "Karma" is a real name, and not a nom de blog.
• I missed Norman Conquest day! How do we celebrate that? By shooting the English monarch in the eye?
• Jeff Sypeck discusses this monument to St. Olga.
• Per Omnia Saeculum has been overrun by medieval mice.
• Old Norse News discusses The North in the Old English Orosius: A Geographical Narrative in Context.
• News for Medievalists has a lot of links, some posts about conferences, and other things you should know.
• As always, The Heroic Age provides important announcements as well, including the Placenames Database of Ireland.
• The award-winning Naked Philologist discusses those rude and barbarous Anglo-Saxon invaders, tells us that she's a dragon*, and finds some Anglo-Saxons saints hiding in St. John's Cathedral in Brisbane.
• Here are three medievalism sessions that will be at K'zoo.
• Medieval Material Culture Blog tells us of Early Christian Celtic and Scandinavian Art on display at Cluny, and about two Leonardo exhibits, including one in Birmingham, which I may have to try to get up to see if I can catch a break in my schedule.
• Lingwe continues the series on Tolkien's "Errantry."
• In the Middle has a series of posts on SEMA, a great conference you should go to if you ever have the chance.
• As we get closer to Halloween, cruise on over the Heroic Dreams where there is a discussion of how to make costume weapons. While there, you may want to read the review of the classic The Tombs of Atuan.
• Heavenfield meditates upon the Grandfather Effect, the tendency for the dynastic founder to be the grandfather of the first great king.
• Got Medieval's Mmm ... Marginalia has a bit from Alaine de Lille's Anticlaudianus, and important dates in October. I'd like to point out that October 23rd is also the 277th anniversary of the Cotton Library fire.
• The start of Guthlac B is over at the Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poetry Project. You know, it occurs to me that someone could read a lot of medieval literature over time just by reading these various postings in ASNPP and other websites, without ever buying a book. I wonder if there's some precocious high schooler out there who's doing just that?
• A Corner of 10th Century Medieval Europe has a post (linking to some older ones) about weird funerary archaeology. I think I'll stipulate in my will that I be buried with some bizarre item, like a blender, a toilet seat, or a picture of Dora the Explorer, just to screw with future archeologists.

All that wasn't enough for you? Here's September's Carnivalesque!



*How did I do on the quiz? Like Ray Winstone, I am Beowulf!