IMC 2025: Sessions
Session 835: Reflection, Emotion, and Knowledge in Insular Texts and Manuscripts
Tuesday 8 July 2025, 16:30-18:00
| Organiser: | IMC Programming Committee |
|---|---|
| Moderator/Chair: | Michael Bintley, Department of English, University of Southampton |
| Paper 835-a | From Defiance to Despair: Analysing Satan's Identity in Genesis B and Christ and Satan (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Mentalities |
| Paper 835-b | Uncovering the Heart: Ekphrasis and Meditatio as Conduits to Visual Exegesis in Insular Manuscript Decoration (Language: English) Index terms: Art History - Decorative Arts, Theology |
| Paper 835-c | Fear, Noise, and the Beasts of Battle: Prophetic Failures of Pagan Practice in Exodus (Language: English) Index terms: Biblical Studies, Language and Literature - Old English, Theology |
| Abstract | Paper 835-a: In the Old English poems Genesis B and Christ and Satan, we encounter distinct versions of the fall of the angels with Satan as the main protagonist. Whereas Genesis B places much emphasis on a defiant Satan and his intention to deprive Adam of the joys of the heavenly kingdom that he himself has lost, Christ and Satan presents a very different picture, focusing on a lamenting Satan who dwells exclusively on his loss of heaven and his suffering in hell. In my paper, I will explore the various aspects of Satan’s identity, agency and emotions as they are portrayed in the two poems, with particular attention to each poem's literary and cultural context. Paper 835-b: This paper explores the nature of decorated gospel books as tangible conduits for visual exegesis and multi-sensory experience. Insular motifs such as spirals and interlace may reflect the Roman and early medieval study of ekphrasis, linking imagination with understanding images. My research explores how this concept is physically translated onto the page by the artist-scribe, combined with sacred text, culminating in meditatio. This is closely aligned with Late Antique kataskopos, a meditative approach blending philosophy with pictures, inviting the viewer to imagine the physical sensation of movement. Manuscripts to be addressed explore continuity and innovation in these concepts, including the Book of Armagh, the Book of Durrow, the Book of Kells, Harley MS 1023, and Harley MS 1802. Paper 835-c: I seek to expand on what Stephen Hopkins’ calls a “hermeneutics of fear” in order to explore the usage of the Beasts of Battle typescene in the Old English Exodus. This hermeneutics of fear is useful to understand how the poet aligns their medieval English audience with the Israelites, and through that alignment we can see the Beasts’ failure to predict battle as a sign of the dominance of Christianity over paganism, as Judeo-Christian prophecy defeats Germanic poetics. This has particular relevance for the poet and their English audience, who themselves were suffering from the depredations of the Vikings. |