THE ICE PICK

Tha Engliscan Gesithas. http://www.tha-engliscan-gesithas.org.uk/index.html. "The home of Tha Engliscan Gesithas, the society for people interested in all aspects of Anglo-Saxon language and culture."

Claiming to be "the only major historical society devoted to the Anglo-Saxon period . . . the society does not follow any particular interpretation of history, and maintains a strictly neutral line on political and religious matters."

This very attractively laid out website is loaded with scholarly information and is easy to navigate. Navigation buttons run down the side of the homepage so you can either click on one of them or on one of the subjects listed there.

Information about the Gesithas and what they do is the first thing listed and includes details on their newsletters, quarterly magazine, and membership if you are interested in joining. However, the e-mail address for their U.S. branch did not work when I tried it.

The site offers information about the birds of Anglo-Saxon England. Climate and environment are discussed, and there is a list of all the birds with bibliographic citations for each. The modern species which were present in Anglo-Saxon times, as well as the ones which weren’t, are discussed, so you can avoid anachronisms. Also discussed are: the birds of Roman Britain, falconry, literary references to Anglo-Saxon birds, birds named in medicinal recipes, and the naming of birds in Anglo-Saxon with modern interpretations.

A brief discussion of Old English poetry plus an audio reading is offered for "Deor," "The Funeral of Scyld Scefing," and "The Battle of Brunanburh." The poems are written out in both Old and Modern English.

The Firsby Saxon village reconstruction project in Lincolnshire is discussed with photos from the site.

There is a selected bibliography for Anglo-Saxon studies. In addition to the expected scholarly publications, the list includes fiction, plays, poems, and music. Children’s nonfiction books, which are often more accessible to the non-expert than scholarly works, are listed along with novels.

"First Steps in Old English" provides an interactive "introduction to an absolute beginner’s course in Old English." I found this fun to do, and in fact became intrigued with the language. A correspondence course is offered with a book and cassette, or you can order the text and study on your own.

Runes are defined, and runelore is discussed, with links to sites from which you can download font files for Windows. I was interested to learn, for example, that "a rune is a secret, a mystery, and the characters used for writing were called runstafas ‘rune-staves’ in Old English. The characters are not themselves runes but mere ciphers or symbols pointing to or marking out the mysteries proper." The origin, patterns, and matrices of runes are explained along with maybe more than you ever wanted to know about runes. Or, rune-staves, that is!

The Anglo-Saxon calendar is discussed in detail, including both the heathen calendar and the Venerable Bede’s calendar.

And finally, there is an Anglo-Saxon Ring site with links to Viking sites and all kinds of interesting early British history.

This is a wonderful website if you are interested in writing anything about early Britain or in using ideas from early Britain to create your own culture in your fantasy or science fiction.

{Published in SF & Fantasy Workshop Newsletter, July 2001.}