Chaney, William A.
Manchester University Press, 1999 (reprint of 1970 edition).
Book Number 21585
When the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity, their interpretation of the new religion was shaped by their tribal culture, itself shaped by paganism. A fundamental element of the old cult was sacral kingship, and in this study Chaney examines the continuity from paganism to Christianity as it relates to kingship and the religious nature that permeated the institution in both old and new cults. This study is one of the first to attempt a full analysis of the integration of the politicaland religious functions of early English kingship and its Germanic culture, and to do so from a cross-disciplinary perspective.