Alaric Hall | |
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 Hall in 2021 | |
| Born | 1979 (age 43–44) |
| Nationality | British |
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| Institutions | University of Leeds |
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Alaric Hall (born 1979) is a British philologist who is an associate professor of English and director of the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds. He has,since 2009,been the editor of the academic journal Leeds Studies in English and its successor Leeds Medieval Studies . [1] [2]
Hall received his B.A. in Anglo-Saxon,Norse and Celtic from the University of Cambridge,his M.Phil. in Medieval Studies from the University of Glasgow,and his Ph.D. in English from the University of Glasgow. His Ph.D. thesis was on elves in Anglo-Saxon England. [3]
He has subsequently become an associate professor of English and director of the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds. Hall researches and teaches the languages,cultures and history of Northwest Europe in the Middle Ages. He has written and edited several works on these subjects. Hall is also an authority on Icelandic language and literature. [4]
His 2007 book Elves in Anglo-Saxon England received positive academic reviews. The medievalist and Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey described the work as an "exceptionally thorough study",while the Tolkien scholar Dimitra Fimi called it a "solidly scholarly work,with meticulous discussion of philological matters,and also an open-minded (although strictly evidence-based) attempt to look at the bigger picture." [5] [6] [7]
Hall is an environmental campaigner,and since 2018 has regularly stood for election to Leeds City Council for the Green Party of England and Wales. [8] [9] [10] For most of the 2010s he was a resident of the Leeds eco-building Greenhouse and was active in community organising in the local area of Beeston and Holbeck. [11] [12] [13] [14] His activities included campaigning in relation to the United Kingdom cladding crisis. [15]
Within academia,Hall supports open-access publishing and has made his own research freely available online. [16] Correspondingly,he edits Wikipedia,and incorporates editing into his teaching and research at the University of Leeds. [17] [18] [19] He is a member of the University and College Union,campaigning during the 2013 and 2018–2020 UK higher education strikes. [20] [21] [22]
An elf is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology,being mentioned in the Icelandic Poetic Edda and Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda.
In the works of J. R. R. Tolkien,the Noldor are a kindred of Elves who migrate west to the blessed realm of Valinor from the continent of Middle-earth,splitting from other groups of Elves as they went. They then settle in the coastal region of Eldamar. The Dark Lord Morgoth murders their first leader,Finwë. The majority of the Noldor,led by Finwë's eldest son Fëanor,then return to Beleriand in the northwest of Middle-earth. This makes them the only group to return and then play a major role in Middle-earth's history;much of The Silmarillion is about their actions. They are the second clan of the Elves in both order and size,the other clans being the Vanyar and the Teleri.
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional legendarium,Beleriand was a region in northwestern Middle-earth during the First Age. Events in Beleriand are described chiefly in his work The Silmarillion,which tells the story of the early ages of Middle-earth in a style similar to the epic hero tales of Nordic literature,with a pervasive sense of doom over the character's actions. Beleriand also appears in the works The Book of Lost Tales,The Children of Húrin,and in the epic poems of The Lays of Beleriand.
Álfröðull is a term and common kenning in Norse mythology. It is ambiguous,referring both to the sun-chariot of the sun goddess Sól and to the rider. Álfröðull is pulled by two horses,Árvakr and Alsviðr. The chariot is pursued by the wolf Sköll. According to Norse mythology,prior to Ragnarök,Álfröðull will give birth to a daughter and after she is eaten by the wolf,the daughter will take her place.
The Drúedain are a fictional race of Men,living in the Drúadan Forest,in the Middle-earth legendarium created by J. R. R. Tolkien. They were counted among the Edain who made their way into Beleriand in the First Age,and were friendly to the Elves. In The Lord of the Rings,they assist the Riders of Rohan to avoid ambush on the way to the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
In Norse cosmology,svartálfar,also called myrkálfar,are beings who dwell in Svartálfheim. Both the svartálfar and Svartálfaheimr are primarily attested in the Prose Edda,written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. Scholars have noted that the svartálfar appear to be synonymous with the dwarfs and potentially also the dökkálfar. As dwarfs,the home of the svartálfar could possibly be another description for Niðavellir.
Songs for the Philologists is a collection of poems by E. V. Gordon and J. R. R. Tolkien as well as traditional songs. It is the rarest and most difficult to find Tolkien-related book. Originally a collection of typescripts compiled by Gordon in 1921–1926 for the students of the University of Leeds,it was given by A. H. Smith of University College London,a former student at Leeds,to a group of students to be printed privately in 1935 or 1936,and printed in 1936 with the impressum "Printed by G. Tillotson,A. H. Smith,B. Pattison and other members of the English Department,University College,London."
The Lacnunga ('Remedies') is a collection of miscellaneous Anglo-Saxon medical texts and prayers,written mainly in Old English and Latin. The title Lacnunga,an Old English word meaning 'remedies',is not in the manuscript:it was given to the collection by its first editor,Oswald Cockayne,in the nineteenth century. It is found,following other medical texts,in London,British Library Harley MS 585,a codex probably compiled in England in the late tenth or early eleventh century. Many of its herbal remedies are also found,in variant form,in Bald's Leechbook,another Anglo-Saxon medical compendium.
"Wiðfǣrstice" is an Old English medical text surviving in the collection known now as Lacnunga in the British Library. Wiðfǣrstiċe means 'against a sudden/violent stabbing pain';and according to Felix Grendon,whose collection of Anglo-Saxon charms appeared in the Journal of American Folklore in 1908,“the charm is intended to cure a sudden twinge or stitch,possibly rheumatism that can be due to being shot by witches,elves,and other spirits that fly through the air.”Scholars have often sought to identify this as rheumatism,but other possibilities should not be excluded. The remedy describes how to make a salve,but its main interest lies in the unique charm which follows. This describes how the færstice has been caused by the projectiles of 'mighty women',whom the healer will combat. The charm also mentions elves,believed responsible for elfshot,and provides the only attestation outside personal names of the Old English form of the name of the old Germanic gods,known as the Æsir in Norse mythology.
Deutsche Mythologie is a treatise on Germanic mythology by Jacob Grimm. First published in Germany in 1835,the work is an exhaustive treatment of the subject,tracing the mythology and beliefs of the ancient Germanic peoples from their earliest attestations to their survivals in modern traditions,folktales and popular expressions.
J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy books on Middle-earth,especially The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion,drew on a wide array of influences including language,Christianity,mythology,archaeology,ancient and modern literature,and personal experience. He was inspired primarily by his profession,philology;his work centred on the study of Old English literature,especially Beowulf,and he acknowledged its importance to his writings.
In English folklore,elf-arrows,elf-bolts and pixie arrows were names given to discovered arrowheads of flint,used in hunting and war by the Pre-Indo-Europeans of the British Isles and of Europe generally. The name derives from the folklore belief that the arrows fell from the sky,and were used by the elves to kill cattle and inflict elf-shot on human beings.
In J. R. R. Tolkien's writings,Elves are the first fictional race to appear in Middle-earth. Unlike Men and Dwarves,Elves are immortal,though they can be killed in battle. If so,their souls go to the Halls of Mandos in Aman. After a long life in Middle-earth,Elves yearn for the Earthly Paradise of Valinor,and can sail there from the Grey Havens. They feature in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Their history is described in detail in The Silmarillion.
The Royal Prayer Book is a collection of prayers believed to have been copied in the late eighth century or the early ninth century. It was written in West Mercia,likely either in or around Worcester.
England and Englishness are represented in multiple forms within J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings;it appears,more or less thinly disguised,in the form of the Shire and the lands close to it;in kindly characters such as Treebeard,Faramir,and Théoden;in its industrialised state as Isengard and Mordor;and as Anglo-Saxon England in Rohan. Lastly,and most pervasively,Englishness appears in the words and behaviour of the hobbits,both in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings.
J. R. R. Tolkien was attracted to medieval literature,and made use of it in his writings,both in his poetry,which contained numerous pastiches of medieval verse,and in his Middle-earth novels where he embodied a wide range of medieval concepts.
Scholars have identified numerous themes in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings,among them paganism. Despite Tolkien's assertion that The Lord of the Rings was a fundamentally Christian work,paganism appears in that book and elsewhere in his fictional world of Middle-earth in multiple ways. These include a pantheon of god-like beings,the Valar,who function like the Norse gods,the Æsir;the person of the wizard Gandalf,who Tolkien stated in a letter is an "Odinic wanderer";Elbereth,the Elves' "Queen of the Stars",associated with Venus;animism,the way that the natural world seems to be alive;and a Beowulf-like "northern courage" which is determined to press on,no matter how bleak the outlook.
In Tolkien's legendarium,ancestry provides a guide to character. The apparently genteel Hobbits of the Baggins family turn out to be worthy protagonists of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Bilbo Baggins is seen from his family tree to be both a Baggins and an adventurous Took. Similarly,Frodo Baggins has some relatively outlandish Brandybuck blood. Among the Elves of Middle-earth,as described in The Silmarillion,the highest are the peaceful Vanyar,whose ancestors conformed most closely to the divine will,migrating to Aman and seeing the light of the Two Trees of Valinor;the lowest are the mutable Teleri;and in between are the conflicted Noldor. Scholars have analysed the impact of ancestry on Elves such as the creative but headstrong Fëanor,who makes the Silmarils. Among Men,Aragorn,hero of The Lord of the Rings,is shown by his descent from Kings,Elves,and an immortal Maia to be of royal blood,destined to be the true King who will restore his people. Scholars have commented that in this way,Tolkien was presenting a view of character from Norse mythology,and an Anglo-Saxon view of kingship,though others have called his implied views racist.
J. R. R. Tolkien derived the characters,stories,places,and languages of Middle-earth from many sources. Among these are the Celtic legends and languages,which for Tolkien were principally Irish and Welsh. He gave multiple conflicting reasons for his liking for Welsh. Tolkien stated directly that he had made use of Welsh phonology and grammar for his constructed Elvish language Sindarin. Scholars have identified multiple legends,both Irish and Welsh,as likely sources of some of Tolkien's stories and characters;thus for example the Noldorin Elves resemble the Irish Tuatha DéDanann,while the tale of Beren and Lúthien parallels that of the Welsh Culhwch and Olwen. Tolkien chose Celtic names for the isolated settlement of Bree-land,to distinguish it from the Shire with its English names.
Philology,the study of comparative and historical linguistics,especially of the medieval period,had a major influence on J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth. He was a professional philologist,and made use of his knowledge of medieval literature and language to create families of Elvish languages and many details of the invented world.
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