Winters in the World: A Journey through the Anglo-Saxon Year with Eleanor Parker

Eleanor Parker is Lecturer in Medieval English Literature at Brasenose College, Oxford. She writes regularly for publications including History Today and BBC History Magazine, and is the author of Dragon Lords: The History and Legends of Viking England (2018) and Conquered: The Last Children of Anglo-Saxon England (2022).

Winters in the World is a beautifully observed journey through the cycle of the year in Anglo-Saxon England, exploring the festivals, customs and traditions linked to the different seasons.

Drawing on a wide variety of source material, including poetry, histories and religious literature, Eleanor Parker investigates how Anglo-Saxons felt about the annual passing of the seasons and the profound relationship they saw between human life and the rhythms of nature.

Many of the festivals we celebrate in Britain today have their roots in the Anglo-Saxon period, and this book traces their surprising history, as well as unearthing traditions now long forgotten. It celebrates some of the finest treasures of medieval literature and provides an imaginative connection to the Anglo-Saxon world.

"[Parker's] prose is as lyrical as the poetry that she so deftly translates . . . Parker's larger point is to show how older ways of experiencing the seasons continue to run steadily through our lives, even if we don't quite register the tug. This lovely book acts as a portal back to an older time, using the poetry of medieval England to unlock a world where the seasons, and the changing weather, are a subject of deep pleasure and renewing wonder." ~ The Guardian