author
John Earle
1824–1903
A Victorian scholar of Old English, he spent much of his career bringing Anglo-Saxon language and literature to a wider readership. His books on the chronicles, Beowulf, and the history of English helped shape how these subjects were studied at Oxford and beyond.
2 Audiobooks
Anglo-Saxon Literature
by John Earle
The Alfred Jewel: An Historical Essay
by John Earle
About the author
John Earle was born in South Devon on January 29, 1824, and was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, where he took first-class honors in classics. He became a fellow of Oriel in 1848 and went on to combine university life with church work, serving as rector of Swainswick near Bath and later as a prebendary of Wells.
He is best remembered as an Anglo-Saxon scholar and as twice holder of Oxford's Rawlinsonian Professorship of Anglo-Saxon. His published work ranged widely across early English language and literature, including Two Saxon Chronicles Parallel, The Philology of the English Tongue, Anglo-Saxon Literature, and The Deeds of Beowulf. The range of those books shows both his deep interest in Old English texts and his wish to make them usable for students and general readers.
Earle died on January 31, 1903. The sources found here describe him as a learned but wide-ranging man whose interests also included boating, riding, and gardening, adding a more human note to the picture of a serious Victorian scholar.