Alaric Hall | |
|---|---|
 Hall in 2021 | |
| Born | 1979 (age 44–45) |
| Nationality | British |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | |
| Institutions | University of Leeds |
| Main interests | |
| Notable works |
|
Alaric Hall (born 1979) is a British philologist who is an associate professor of English and former 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 then became 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 has written 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 the 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.
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.
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 the British Library's 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 J. R. R. Tolkien's writings,Elves are the first fictional race to appear in Middle-earth. Unlike Men and Dwarves,Elves do not die of disease or old age. Should they die in battle or of grief,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 Cleopatra Glossaries are three Latin-Old English glossaries all found in the manuscript Cotton Cleopatra A.iii. The glossaries constitute important evidence for Old English vocabulary,as well as for learning and scholarship in early medieval England generally. The manuscript was probably written at St Augustine's,Canterbury,and has generally been dated to the mid-tenth century,though recent work suggests the 930s specifically.
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.
The "Leiden Riddle" is an Old English riddle. It is noteworthy for being one of the earliest attested pieces of English poetry;one of only a small number of representatives of the Northumbrian dialect of Old English;one of only a relatively small number of Old English poems to survive in multiple manuscripts;and evidence for the translation of the Latin poetry of Aldhelm into Old English.
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,a fantasy author and professional philologist,drew on the Old English poem Beowulf for multiple aspects of his Middle-earth legendarium,alongside other influences. He used elements such as names,monsters,and the structure of society in a heroic age. He emulated its style,creating an impression of depth and adopting an elegiac tone. Tolkien admired the way that Beowulf,written by a Christian looking back at a pagan past,just as he was,embodied a "large symbolism" without ever becoming allegorical. He worked to echo the symbolism of life's road and individual heroism in The Lord of the Rings.
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.
Anachronism,chronological inconsistency,is seen in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth in the juxtaposition of cultures of evidently different periods,such as the classically-inspired Gondor and the medieval-style Rohan,and in the far more modern hobbits of the Shire,a setting which resembles the English countryside of Tolkien's childhood. The more familiar lifestyle and manner of the hobbits,complete with tobacco,potatoes,umbrellas,and mantelpiece clocks,allows them to mediate between the reader and the far older cultures of Middle-earth. They were introduced for The Hobbit,a children's story not planned to be set in Middle-earth;their anachronistic role is extended in The Lord of the Rings.
Tolkien,Race,and Cultural History:From Fairies to Hobbits is a 2008 book by Dimitra Fimi about J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings. Scholars largely welcomed the book,praising its accessibility and its skilful application of a biographical-historical method which sets the development of Tolkien's legendarium in the context of Tolkien's life and times. Major themes of the book include Tolkien's constructed languages,and the issues of race and racism surrounding his work.
The English author J. R. R. Tolkien has often been supposed to have spoken of wishing to create "a mythology for England". It seems he never used the actual phrase,but various commentators have found his biographer Humphrey Carpenter's phrase appropriate as a description of much of his approach in creating Middle-earth,and the legendarium behind The Silmarillion.
The Old Straight Road,the Straight Road,the Lost Road,or the Lost Straight Road,is J. R. R. Tolkien's conception,in his fantasy world of Arda,that his Elves are able to sail to the earthly paradise of Valinor,realm of the godlike Valar. The tale is mentioned in The Silmarillion and in The Lord of the Rings,and documented in The Lost Road and Other Writings. The Elves are immortal,but may grow weary of the world,and then sail across the Great Sea to reach Valinor. The men of Númenor are persuaded by Sauron,servant of the first Dark Lord Melkor,to attack Valinor to get the immortality they feel should be theirs. The Valar ask for help from the creator,Eru Ilúvatar. He destroys Númenor and its army,in the process reshaping Arda into a sphere,and separating it and its continent of Middle-earth from Valinor so that men can no longer reach it. But the Elves can still set sail from the shores of Middle-earth in ships,bound for Valinor:they sail into the Uttermost West,following the Old Straight Road.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
