During the fifteen years which have elapsed since the publication of the first edition, this Encyclopedia has remained constantly in print, and has sold in satisfying numbers. But inevitably there have been changes: Blackwell Publishers have become Wiley Blackwell Publishers; the volume of publication in the field of Anglo-Saxon studies has continued unabated; and many new discoveries, particularly in the field of archaeology - one thinks especially of the Prittlewell princely burial and the Staffordshire Hoard - have brought many new Anglo-Saxon artifacts to light. And there have been huge advances in fields relating to archaeological discovery, notably archaeobotany and palaeopathology. A number of large-scale publications, such as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) and the Oxford Handbook to Anglo-Saxon Archaeology (OHASA), have facilitated research on many aspects of the wider field. Developments such as these suggested to Wiley Blackwell, and to Tessa Harvey in particular, that there was a strong case for producing a second, revised, edition of the original Encyclopedia.
In some ways the undertaking was relatively straightforward: the original team of four general editors (John Blair, Simon Keynes, Donald Scragg and myself) all agreed on the merits of a new edition and all were willing to devote their time and energies to achieving it. But there were problems. There were some 150 contributors to the first edition; during the intervening fifteen years, a number of these have changed institutions, making it difficult to locate their present whereabouts, and many have left the field altogether; some, indeed, have left this life. We made a concerted effort to contact all the original contributors, and succeeded in contacting some 115 of them; and, with a very few exceptions, all were willing to undertake revision and updating of their original entries. (In the case of the thirty-five or so unlocatable or deceased contributors, the general editors have supplied updated references to obvious secondary sources, such as ODNB or OHASA, but have not thought it appropriate to undertake more extensive revision without the original authors’ permission.) The general editors have also written or commissioned some fifty-two new entries, so as to fill perceived lacunae in the first edition, and to provide coverage of new and important subjects (notably the Prittleweh princely burial and the Staffordshire Hoard). And Simon Keynes has compiled a comprehensive list of all Anglo-Saxon archbishops and bishops as a new, second, appendix, to accompany the (now lightly revised) Appendix of Rulers of the English which formed part of the first edition.
In many ways it is more difficult to revise a work on this scale than it would be simply to begin afresh. Particularly in the business of contacting original contributors, we have had excellent help and support from the desk editors at Wiley Blackwell, especially Anna Maria Mendeh and Sally Cooper. At the copyediting stage, the volume has had the benefit of the acute and intelligent attention of Janet Moth, to the great improvement of its layout and stylistic consistency. Throughout the several years of discussion, negotiation, and production, Tessa Harvey has been a wonderful pillar of support (as she was fifteen and more years ago with the first edition), and that the revised edition appears at all is largely due to her unflagging enthusiasm for the project. Finally, I am very grateful for the support which I have had throughout from my three co-editors, each of whom has many other academic commitments, but has somehow found time to help bring this revised edition of the Encyclopedia to completion.
Michael Lapidge (for the Editors) January 2013
World History
