The essays in the first volume are concerned with the earliest period of literary activity in England. Following a general essay which surveys the field as a whole, the essays begin with the arrival of Theodore and Hadrian in the late-7th century and with the establishment of their school at Canterbury, investigating the range of Greek and Latin learning which they brought to bear on the study of the Bible and other curriculum texts. The achievements of their student Aldhelm are also examined. Evidence is presented for the English origin of two other anonymous works from this period, the Liber monstrorum and an Isidorian florilegium called De diversis rebus. The poetic achievement of Bede is seen in a new light, as is that of Aediluulf, an early ninth-century Northumbrian poet. Finally, two essays consider the evidence for books and learning in ninth-century England, a period which saw the interruption of scholarly activity in the face of Viking onslaughts, and the subsequent re-establishment of learning through the energies of King Alfred.