Michael Swanton

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Michael James Swanton (born 1939) is a British polymath: literary critic, translator, archaeologist, metallurgist and architectural historian specializing in Old English literature and the Anglo-Saxon period.

Born in London dockland, Swanton was educated at Dartford Technical School, student of the University of Durham (elected President of the students' union; chairman of the standing Congress of Northern Student Unions) and later of Bath, gaining research degrees in both arts and science and a higher doctorate, D. Litt., Dunelm. He taught English Literature at the University of Manchester, then at Giessen in Germany, Lausanne in Switzerland, and finally at Exeter, where he also acted as the university's Public Orator for several years. In retirement, he is Emeritus Professor of Medieval Studies at Exeter. 2010 in collaboration with Tom Blaen he founded The Medieval Press. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Society of Antiquaries and is considered an authority on Anglo-Saxon England.[1]

Swanton's published work includes translations of Beowulf, the Gesta Herewardi (a life of Hereward the Wake), Vitae duorum Offarum (The Lives of Two Offas), and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as well as books on early English literature, art, architecture, and archaeology. He was Honorary Editor of the Royal Archaeological Institute's Journal and in 1971 established the successful series Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies.[1]

Major publications

  • 1970: The Dream of the Rood (University of Manchester) ISBN 7190 0414 4
  • 1971: An Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (University of Exeter) ISBN 9780 8598 93534 [2]
  • 1973: Spearheads of the Anglo-Saxon Settlements (London, Royal Archaeological Institute) ISBN 0 903986 01 9
  • 1974: A Corpus of Pagan Anglo-Saxon Spear-Types (Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 7) ISBN 0 90453104X
  • 1975: Anglo-Saxon Prose (J.M. Dent, London) ISBN 0 460 10809 3
  • 1975: Studies in Medieval Domestic Architecture (London, Royal Archaeological Institute) ISBN 0 903986 04 3 [2]
  • 1975: Arthurian Sites in the West (Exeter: University of Exeter ISBN 0859890260) (with C. A. R. Radford) [2]
  • 1977: Exploring Early Britain (EP Publishing, Wakefield) ISBN 0 7158 0472 3
  • 1978: Beowulf (University of Manchester) ISBN 0 7190 0716 X [2]
  • 1978: Medieval Woodwork in Exeter Cathedral (Dean and Chapter of Exeter) (with Marion Glasscoe) ISBN 0 9503320 1 1 [2]
  • 1979: Roof-bosses and Corbels of Exeter Cathedral (Dean and Chapter of Exeter) ISBN 0 9503320 2 X
  • 1981: Medieval Art in Britain: a select bibliography (London)[2]
  • 1982: Crisis and Development in Germanic Society 700 - 800: Beowulf and the burden of kingship (Göppingen : Kümmerle Verlag) ISBN 3874525406 [2]
  • 1984: Three Lives of the Last Englishmen (Garland Library of Medieval Literature, vol. 10, Ser. B) (New York: Garland ISBN 0824094220) The life of King Harold Godwinson - The life of Hereward the Wake - The life of Bishop Wulfstan.
  • 1991: Exeter Cathedral, a Celebration; foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales. (Dean and Chapter of Exeter) ISBN 0 9503320 5 4
  • 1999: Opening the Franks Casket (University of Leicester) ISBN 0 901507 69 5
  • 2001: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (J.M. Dent, London) ISBN 0 460 87737 2 [2]
  • 2002: English Poetry before Chaucer (University of Exeter) ISBN 0 85989 681 1 [2]
  • 2010: The Lives of Two Offas: Vitae Offarum Duorum (Crediton: The Medieval Press) ISBN 978 0 9557636 8 7 [1]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Michael Swanton at medievalpress.com, accessed 15 July 2011
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Swanton, Michael James, at regesta-imperii.de, accessed 15 July 2011
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