Dr. Brian J. McFadden

Associate Professor of English

Anglo-Saxon Literature

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Do you feel like the poor creature in this riddle?

Littera me pavit, nec quid sit littera novi.
In libri vixi, nec sum studiosor inde.
Exedi Musas, nec adhuc tamen ipsa profeci.

Literature has fed me, but I do not know what literature is.
I have lived in books, but I'm not any more studious for it.
I have devoured the Muses, but have not made any progress myself.

Symphosius, Riddle 16

If so, and you want to make some progress with Old English literature, Middle English literature, the history of the language, and critical writing, check out this page and my courses....

(Want to guess the riddle? Email me...)

Contacting me

English Department
Texas Tech University
Box 43091
Lubbock, TX 79409-3091

Office: 430 English/Philosophy Building
Phone: 806-742-2500 ext. 241
Department Fax: 806-742-0989
Email: brian.mcfadden@ttu.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Office Hours, Fall 2009

I am on development leave in Fall 2009 and will not be keeping regular office hours.

Fall 2009

I will not be conducting classes or independent studies in Fall 2009 due to my development leave.

Fall 2010 Classes (Tentative)

ENGL 3302 - Undergraduate - Old and Middle English Literature

ENGL 5334 - Graduate - History of the English Language

Class-related Information

• Plagiarism Statement!  All students should see this website. Click here for a print-friendly version in PDF format..
  • The Citation Machine - thanks to Emily H. for bringing it to my attention. Enter info, get example - not bad.
• What will my classes be like? See my policies website and my general policy statement handout.
• Major Events in Medieval English History - my course handout in HTML.
• Essay proofreading marks
• To access E-Reserve documents for my classes:
  • Click on the E-reserve link below after reading these instructions.
  • When the dialogue comes up, enter "mcfadden" in the "Type word or phrase" search window.
  • A list of my E-reserve documents should come up; click on the appropriate link.
  • At the bottom of the window that comes up for the document, a "Download" button will appear; click it.
  • The computer will prompt you to agree to the terms of fair use; click the "Accept" link.
  • The PDF should either open or download to your computer.
  • Click here for E-reserve page
  • I will also put a link on the syllabi for the specific day for that assignment.

Monster Miscellany and Medieval Humor

• Beowulf Art
  • The Beowulf Wordle
• The Bayeux Tapestry, a la the Simpsons
• Wicipædia - for fun - Wikipedia in Old English!
• The Unlocked Wordhoard -blog at Blogspot.
• Animated British History Timeline from the BBC
• Historic Tale Construction Kit
• Grendel, the Opera from NPR
• The movie site for Beowulf: Prince of the Geats
• RI students to perform Beowulf in Scotland
• Beowulf fun -the Shrinklits version
• More Beowulf fun - Beowulf and Godzilla
• Beowabbit
• Grendel's Dog, from Beocat
• Historic Tale Construction Kit - If you ever wanted to rewrite history - like having the Anglo-Saxons beat the Normans! - this site is for you. Requires Flash 6.
• The Earlier Epic Battles of Grendel's Mother - this is a hoot!
• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Annal 2004
• Don't touch my red stapler.... (OK, so it's not really medieval, but it is somewhat monstrous. See Office Space!)
• Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog
• Beowulf For Business - yes, the book really exists!
• Beowulf - A Thousand Years of Baggage
• Beowulf - the Dick and Jane version.
• Eowyn's song in the extended version of The Two Towers
  • Transcription and translation

Links

Disclaimer

Here are some interesting links that relate to the courses and to Old and Middle English in general. Inclusion here does not necessarily constitute my endorsement of the sites or agreement with all of their contents. Caveat lector...

This section is perpetually under construction. As soon as interesting or important information comes to light, look for it here.

Treasure must wait in hoards for when men may divide it, and the gift-throne stand ready.

-Maxims I, Exeter Book fol. 90a

One more thing - just because you may find something here does not mean you can plagiarize it....

Gateways

• Online Medieval and Classical Library at Berkeley
• Online Reference Book at CUNY-Staten Island
• Labyrinth at Georgetown
• NETSERF at CUA
• Internet Medieval Sourcebook
• Medieval Bibliography at U of Giessen, Germany (hope your German is up to date...)
• Yale Medieval Studies Bibliography
• Bibliotheca Augustana at Augsburg (hope your Latin is up to date...)
• Stanford Medieval and Modern Thought Project
• Medievolution - a site for popular medievalism (the appropriation of the Middle Ages in later times)
• The Heroic Age online journal
• Digital Medievalism - podcast at U of Melbourne

Old and Middle English

• Concordance to Beowulf
• The Indo-European Language Family - lecture with Flash at Towson State
• Old English Language and Writing - lecture with Flash at Towson State
• Old English Online at University of Texas
• Old English Newsletter website
  • OEN Bibliography website
• Anglo-Saxons.net
• Anglo-French Law Language
• Thesaurus of Old English at Glasgow
• Historical resources for the 'Dark Ages' - as much as I dislike the term, some good stuff here.
• LC Call numbers for Germanic languages at Penn
• Roy Liuzza's Beowulf Study Guide
• King Alfred's Grammar at Wheaton
• Sean Crist's Germanic Lexicon at Swarthmore (beware - beta - bugs possible)
  • and don't you just love that alliterative warning!
• Anglo-Saxon Sources at Stanford
• Fontes Anglo-Saxonici at Oxford
• Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE) project
• Bosworth-Toller OE Dictionary at U of Kentucky
• Clark Hall OE Dictionary at Penn
• The Anglo Saxon Chronicle, XML encoded
• Bibliography for the Battle of Maldon at WMU
• An Eleventh Century Anglo-Saxon Glossary (Brussels, Royal Library 1650) at WMU
• Anglo Saxon Homilies - Bibliography of Source Studies at WMU
• The Dream of the Rood at Florida Southern Univ.
• Information on the E-edition of the Exeter Book
• The English Gesithas (companions)
• The Role of the Church in Anglo-Saxon England
• Misconceptions about Medieval Torture from Livescience.com
• ORB Old English page
  • Misconceptions about the Middle Ages from the Online Reference Book at Rhodes College
• Wipf and Stock publishers - The Elements of Old English for ordering online
• Old English Aloud
• Old English at the University of Lethbridge
  • Old English Pronunciation
• Old English at the University of Calgary
• Old English Page at U of Minnesota, Morris
• Aelfric's Homilies on Judith, Esther, and the Maccabees
• Beowulf in Steorarume (Beowulf in Cyberspace)
• OE Corpus search at U of Toronto
• The Tolkien Tour of Oxford - JRR Tolkien was a medievalist. Here are some photos of Oxford I took when on a research trip in June 2003.
• Monasteriales Indicia - monastic sign language at SJSU.
• Preface to Alfred's Translation of Augustine's Soliloquies at U of BC
• Electronic Sermo Lupi ad Anglos at FSU
• Ælfric's Grammar and Glossary at Archive.org
  • in PNG format
• Sievers' edition of the Heliand in facsimile - Old Saxon language text at U of Antwerp, Belgium
  • The Old Saxon Heliand at Washington U of St. Louis
• Edwin Duncan's electronic edition of Chaucer's General Prologue at Towson State U
• Performing Medieval Narrative at NYU - there is a good clip of Benjamin Bagby reciting from Beowulf and a neat Middle English reading of The Weddynge of Sir Gawayn and Dame Ragnell - Requires Quicktime 6.
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight at SMU - Sound files of the opening of SGGK.
• Old Norse for Beginners - want to get a look at one of Old English's linguistic relatives?
• Leaves of Yggdrasil
• Viking Society publications at ACMRS
• Medieval Fonts betas
• Concord-o-Matic - how to make your own concordances

Reference

• Oxford English Dictionary online - a great resource! HEL students, take note. You may need VPN or an E-Raider username to access this if you are not on the campus network.
• The Middle English Compendium - an excellent Middle English resource at the University of Michigan.
• MLA Language Census Map
• Put Your Writing on a Diet
• Why we don't trust Wikipedia all the time....
  • at Slashdot
  • satirical view at The Onion
• Center for Applied Linguistics
• Catholic Encyclopedia - e-version of the 1908 edition, so very out of date, but some useful basic historical information under the headings.
• The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas
  • Tips on Reading Thomas Aquinas
  • Citing Thomas Aquinas
• Fragments of the apocryphal Apocalypse of Thomas
• St. George at Brittania.com
• Viking History at the Smithsonian
• Behind the Name - want to check up the origin of your first name?
• The Gentium typeface
• Yogh and Ezh
• The Alchemy Website
• Dictionary of American Regional English
• Linguistic Atlas of the United States
• Edwin Duncan's HEL resources at Towson State

Artifacts/Manuscripts

• Fine Rolls of Henry III
• Old English Manuscript Database at Georgetown
• Medieval Manuscripts at St. John's College, Cambridge
• The Norse Edda from Iceland
• Fifth-Century Anglia
• East Anglian Archaeology
• Britain's "Oldest Door"
• Caxton's Chaucer at the British Library
• The Cuerdale Hoard
• St. Peter's Church, Barton-upon-Humber
• Old English builders stealing Roman stone - from British Archaeology Magazine
• The Patching Hoard of Roman coins.
• Medieval Manuscripts on the Web
• Medieval Manuscripts in Facsimile at Notre Dame
• NIXNET Medieval Manuscripts page
• Anglo-Saxon Charters
  • Digital Images of Anglo-Saxon Charters
• Battle of Brunanburh Site Found?
• Witham Bowl missing - Guardian
• The Ruthwell Cross
• St.. Gall MS website
• A-S Charters, Kemble: Anglo-Saxon Charters, and The Electronic Sawyer
• The Hereford Mappa Mundi page
• CollectBritain Mappa Mundi, Cotton Tiberius B.v
• In the Middle - blog on Anglo-Saxon monsters
• Discovery of Viking hoard from the BBC
• Viking Ship Ends Voyage in Dublin - BBC
• Tenth and Eleventh Century Clothing in England at U of Vermont
• The Orrmulum Project at Stockholm University
• The Scriptorium Project at Cambridge
• English Handwriting 1500-1700 at Cambridge
• The Laws of Wihtred from Google Search
• Catalog of Digitized Medieval Manuscripts - UCLA
• e-Codices at Freiburg
• Kentish Archaeology

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Page last modified XVIII May MMIX

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