Maritime Woodbridge

One of the country’s leading authorities on the Anglo-Saxons and a historian from Channel 4’s Time Team programme tells the story of the discovery of the Sutton Hoo ship burial in 1939.  This not only revealed the most important treasure ever found in the UK, but also provided proof that even before King Alfred the early English on our coast possessed naval skills.

Sam Newton will describe, with visual support, some of the artistic and technical wonders found on board the ship. He will then explore how our understanding of the royal rite of ship-funeral is amplified by the Old English verse epic of Beowulf, the opening movement of which culminates in an exalted poetic account of such a rite.

About Dr Sam Newton
Sam Newton was awarded his Ph.D in 1991 and published his first book, The Origins of Beowulf and the pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia,  in 1993.  Since then he has been working as an independent scholar in Early Medieval Studies.  His latest book, The Reckoning of King Rædwald, was published in 2003.  He is also a Director of Wuffing Education, NADFAS lecturer, and Time Team historian
For more on his work, see his website at www.wuffings.co.uk

 

A Partial Background Reading List

Alexander, M., The Earliest English Poems (Penguin 1966) 
Alexander, M., Beowulf (Penguin 2003)
Bruce-Mitford, R., Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology (Gollancz 1974)
Evans, A., The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial (British Museum 1986)
Heaney, S., Beowulf: A New Translation (London 1999)
Lee, S. D. and Solopova, E. The Keys of Middle-earth: Discovering Medieval Literature through the Fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005)
Newton, S., The Origins of Beowulf and the pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia  (Brewer 1993, 1999, 2004)
Newton, S.,  The Reckoning of King Rædwald (Redbird 2003)
Shippey, T., The Road to Middle-Earth, rev. ed.  (Harper Collins 2005)
Tolkien, J.R.R., The Lost Road and Other Writings, ed. C.Tolkien (Unwin Hyman 1987)