Annales Neophilologiarum


ISSN: 1734-4557     eISSN: 2353-2823    OAI    DOI: 10.18276/an.2016.10-08
CC BY-SA   Open Access 

Issue archive / 10 (2016)
The Ostrogothic Kingdom in the Old English "Boethius" and the Germanic myth of Origin in Anglo-Saxon England

Authors: Jacek Olesiejko
Wydział Anglistyki Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
Keywords: The Old English "Boethius" Alfred the Great Old English literature Early Medieval Literature English Literature
Data publikacji całości:2016
Page range:15 (111-125)
Cited-by (Crossref) ?:

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to elucidate the Old English "Boethius", Old English translation of Boethius’s "Consolation of Philosophy", the translation of which is attributed to King Alfred the Great (849-899 A.D). The article provides a special focus on the versified proem to the prosometric version of "Boethius". The proem, arguably, represents a view of Ostrogothic Kingdom of Theodoric that counters the notion of Germanic myth of origin pervading Anglo-Saxon textual culture and the memory of Theodoric as Germanic ruler of Rome that is evident in Old English poetic tradition. The Old English "Boethius", arguably, contests the established tradition to promote a Christian grooming of the Anglo-Saxon notion kingship in keeping with the Alfredian programme of cultural reform.
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