H. Munro Chadwick – författare

Originally published in 1945, this book examines the development of nationalism in Europe, primarily through the connections between language development and the growth of national feeling associated with them. Chadwick also suggests ways in which the British could work to prevent another European war through greater understanding of other cultures and changing Britain's imperialist mindset. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in European history, European linguistics or the rise of nationalism in pre-WWII Europe.

Originally published in 1950, this book was produced as a memorial for the leading Cambridge historian and literary scholar Hector Munro Chadwick (1870-1947). Written by former pupils of Chadwick at Cambridge University, the text contains numerous contributions on various aspects of early culture in Northwestern Europe. The contributions discuss Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic history, together with archaeological discoveries. Illustrative figures are also included throughout. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Chadwick and the history of Northwestern Europe.

First published in 1905, H. Munro Chadwick's Studies on Anglo-Saxon Institutions applied his study of philology to a re-analysis of the historical evidence for early English law and administration. In the first part he examines the development of the monetary and social systems, coming to some controversial interpretations. The second part of the book looks at the administration at national and local levels, land tenure and the origin of the nobility. He shows that there was considerable variation between different Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and their legal and social organisation. Chadwick combined his knowledge of languages, history and archaeology to highlight new areas for further research, and he had considerable influence on the development of the study of Anglo-Saxon and related subjects at Cambridge.

In this 1907 work, H. Munro Chadwick (1870-1947) re-examines the early history of the English nation from a new perspective. By training a philologist, he uses the tools of ethnology, history, tradition, language, customs, religion and archaeology, to understand how the various Germanic tribes established themselves in Britain, founding new kingdoms. Despite an almost total lack of English historical documents from the period, Chadwick uses a range of historical and literary sources, from both sides of the English Channel, which relied on oral traditions. By close linguistic analysis he shows how the Saxon and other invaders retained close cultural ties with their continental kinsmen. He shows that although the Dark Ages may be obscure due to lack of contemporary sources, careful scholarly analysis of later texts can reveal a great deal about the history, culture and society of the earlier period.

In this book, first published in 1912 as part of the Cambridge Archaeological and Ethnological Series, Chadwick compares Teutonic and Greek heroic literature, to shed light on both. This was the first discussion of his theory of a Heroic Age, which he was to expand in a three-volume work written with his wife, Nora Kershaw Chadwick, The Growth of Literature. Chadwick examines topics such as supernatural, religious, and mythic elements in Germanic, Scandinavian, and Homeric literature deriving from an older oral tradition, and also what they can tell us about the societies from which they derive. He uses philology and archaeological evidence as well as historical and literary sources, and shows how many common themes emerge in the different traditions. He argues that a heroic literature is something that appears in many cultures at different periods in history and which therefore requires a knowledge of anthropology for full understanding.

First published between 1932 and 1940, this is a three-volume study of the historical development of literature. It explores the oral and written literatures of regions from Iceland and the British Isles, to Russia, the Balkans, Africa, India and the Pacific, placing them in their historical context and examining similarities between them. The authors discuss both ancient and recent texts, illustrating the connections within each group and considering the question of whether all literary growth is influenced by common factors. Praised on publication as '... a work that is not, probably could not be, superseded' (International Journal of Comparative Sociology), the book remains a benchmark for those studying comparative literature or the history of literary criticism. Volume 1 analyses a range of medieval British and Icelandic poetry and sagas, drawing analogies with the literature of early Greece and focusing particularly on the concept of heroic literature.

First published between 1932 and 1940, this is a three-volume study of the historical development of literature. It explores the oral and written literatures of regions from Iceland and the British Isles, to Russia, the Balkans, Africa, India and the Pacific, placing them in their historical context and examining similarities between them. The authors discuss both ancient and recent texts, illustrating the connections within each group and considering the question of whether all literary growth is influenced by common factors. Praised on publication as '... a work that is not, probably could not be, superseded' (International Journal of Comparative Sociology), the book remains a benchmark for those studying comparative literature or the history of literary criticism. Volume 2 focuses particularly on Russia and the Balkans, and also surveys both early Indian and early Hebrew literature.