1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910881501203321

Autore

Pitt Georgina

Titolo

The Persuasive Agency of Objects and Practices in Alfred the Great's Reform Program

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Amsterdam : , : Arc Humanities Press, , 2024

©2024

ISBN

9781802702279

180270227X

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (241 pages)

Collana

CARMEN Visual and Material Cultures Series

Disciplina

942.0164

Soggetti

HISTORY / Medieval

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- AUTHOR’S NOTE -- ABBREVIATIONS -- Prelude. The Enigmatic Alfred Jewel -- Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Military Innovation: Performing Alfredian Ideology -- Chapter 3. Alfredian Ideology -- Chapter 4. Alfredian Learning and Its Implications for Alfredian Reform -- Chapter 5. Text-Bodies: A Crucial Actant -- Chapter 6. Social Practices: Routinized Ways of Doing Things -- Chapter 7. The Enigmatic Alfred Jewel: A Powerful Player in Alfredian Reform -- Coda. Looking Forward: Alfred’s Successors -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Alfred the Great's early English kingdom was the only one to resist Viking conquest. His reform program strengthened the kingdom and enabled it to hold fast against the Vikings. But texts are largely silent on the process of reform. There has been a tendency to assume that these reforms would obviously be beneficial, but Alfred's elites were not to know that in advance. What motivated them to do as their king bid them?This book analyzes how objects and behaviours shaped aristocratic response to the reform program, using assemblage theory and social practice theory. The Alfred Jewel (as shown on the cover) exercised a powerful persuasive agency in Alfredian reform. Broadening



the frame of inquiry beyond textual evidence, giving objects and behaviours their due, permits a richer and more nuanced understanding.