Anglo-Saxon Attitudes

Did You Know?

• The television adaptation featured a 16-year-old Kate Winslet and Daniel Craig as Gilbert.
• Richard Johnson won an award from the Broadcasting Press Guild for his role.
• Andrew Davies won an award from the Writers' Guild of Great Britain for the screenplay.

Plot summary

The novel centres on two connected events from the same day, long before the story opens. The first is the excavation of a phallic idol from the tomb of an Anglo-Saxon bishop named Eorpwald, known as the Melpham excavation. Gerald Middleton, a history professor, has long been haunted by a drunken confession from his friend Gilbert that the idol was a hoax, planted to embarrass Gilbert's father. Gerald never acted on this knowledge and feels ashamed of his inaction. Gerald and Inge eventually separated. The novel includes many side-plots and eccentric characters, among them Gerald's children: Robin, a womaniser unable to choose between wife and mistress; Kay, embittered and blaming her father for her withered hand (actually caused by her mother); and John, whose homosexuality Inge refuses to acknowledge. Gerald resolves to investigate the Melpham affair, make peace with Dollie, and improve his relationships with his family.

Sources of inspiration

The novel's theme was inspired by archaeological disputes, particularly the Piltdown Man hoax and an accusation that the British Museum mishandled the Elgin Marbles. It alludes to the Sutton Hoo ship-burial discovery of 1939, set in a country-house near Woodbridge, Suffolk. The Melpham discovery is placed among the 'East Folk' on England's east coast. The name Eorpwald, also the bishop's name, is the unique Anglo-Saxon name of the successor of Raedwald, thought to be buried in the Sutton Hoo ship.

Other works

The phrase "Anglo-Saxon Attitudes" has reappeared in various contexts. John Maddocks used it as the headline for his 1963 review of Carleton S. Coon's The Origin of Races, published in the debut issue of the New York Review of Books. History Today also employed the title for a piece covering the inauguration of a museum at St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury, Kent. Additionally, a conference held at the University of Salford in July 1999 adopted the name, with the goal of tracing the development of England's cultural self-image.