Shaping buildings and society in Anglo-Saxon England
Speaker: Clifford Sofield
17 May 19:30 to 20:30
University Church (above the Vaults and Garden Café), High St, Oxford OX1 4BJ Old Library
Dr Cliff Sofield, Anglo-Saxon archaeologist, will talk us through the architecture of Anglo-Saxon houses and ‘great halls’. He will consider whether the way in which people shaped their buildings in the early medieval period mirrored the way they shaped their society, and consider the questions of ‘funerals’ for Anglo-Saxon buildings.
This is part of a six-part series of talks on the important role that architecture – both physical and representational – played in the imaginative, artistic, and theological life of early medieval England.
Talks will range from the layout and construction of actual early medieval buildings to the symbolic use of architecture in literary texts in order to demonstrate the pervasive importance of architecture in early medieval thought.