Register Today for Summer School: Early-Bird Rate Expires Soon

My prep-school headmaster, an Englishman named Robert Jackson, was more a quiet example of virile Catholic piety than a dispenser of rules to live by, but I remember the day he ridiculed a hapless classmate for using the word “domicile” in a paper. “The word is house!” Dr. Jackson declared in his West Country accent. “When you have a choice between the Latinate word and the Anglo-Saxon word, use the Anglo-Saxon word!” Good advice for pretentious adolescent boys.

[To enroll, call Cindy Link at (800) 383-0680.  For more details, click here.]

More than that, however, Dr. Jackson, a former footballer, was proud of his origins, and Thomas Jefferson felt the same. Today most people recognize Romulus and Remus, but few know Hengist and Horsa, the legendary chiefs (or historical, if you believe Tolkien) who, according to the Venerable Bede, led the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain in the fifth century. Americans ought to know this pair because Jefferson wanted images of the “Saxon chiefs from whom we claim the honor of being descended, and whose political principles and form of government we assumed” included in the Great Seal of the United States. Alas, Jefferson was outvoted. Otherwise, Americans might better understand that so much of what is great in the American character and temperament is Anglo-Saxon. If you want to know from where our traditions of the sanctity of private property and of free men assembling to govern themselves come, then join us for The Rockford Institute’s Thirteenth Annual Summer School:

Arthur and Alfred: The Anglo Saxons
Rockford, Illinois ♦ July 6-11, 2010

Sound political traditions—traditions we desperately need to relearn—are only part of the story. The Anglo-Saxon world is a thrilling place of broadswords and battles, bloody combat with dragons and monsters, and with men not far removed from monsters, Danes, who terrorized England until Alfred either converted them or drove them away.

[To enroll, call Cindy Link at (800) 383-0680.  For more details, click here.]

It is also the world of the Christian quest. Over the centuries, heroic missionaries, first sent by Pope Gregory the Great, reestablished this warrior spirit in Christ. Joining us from England, Michael McMahon will follow the Venerable Bede’s brilliant and entertaining account of the growth of the Church in England as she patiently brought the Gospel to Saxon savages. You have read the superb travel essays that Michael has written for Chronicles, so you know how well he narrates a tale. Little wonder: In addition to his career as an author and a print and broadcast journalist, Michael, a graduate of the University of Durham, has taught for decades in the schools and colleges of England.

We will also trace the baptism of England in the literature. Our special guest lecturer, Professor Frank Brownlow, chair of the English Department at Mount Holyoke, will discuss the convergence of pagan and Christian ethics in Beowulf and explain the hold that the epic’s heroic code of life and action had on the English people, a hold manifested not only in later poems but also in the real-life battles of Brunanburh and Maldon.

[To enroll, call Cindy Link at (800) 383-0680.  For more details, click here.]

Dr. Brownlow will explain the tradition of oral poetry in the elegiac poems: The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Wife’s Lament, and The Ruin, poems that have been given a Christian meaning yet communicate a strong sense of the mind-ways of pre-Christian England. He will also lecture on The Dream of the Rood, which uses the form, style, and language of heroic poetry to create a powerful meditation upon the Crucifixion.

Dr. James Patrick, Chancellor of the College of Saint Thomas More in Fort Worth, will survey the Arthurian legends and, with an examination of the spiritual and intellectual vibrancy of Alfred’s Wessex court, argue that things were not so “dark.” Looking at the legend of Arthur and the history of Alfred, Dr. Patrick will explain the ideal of Christian kingship, an ideal the Anglo-Saxons understood, perhaps, better than any other people.

Our own Dr. Thomas Fleming will praise the free society of the Anglo-Saxons: armed peasants owning their land, avenging injuries, and meeting in assemblies and courts, in other words, living out the ideal of self-rule. He will also trace the enduring myth of Anglo-Saxon England in English law and in the Whigs, and in Hume, Scott, and Jefferson.

[To enroll, call Cindy Link at (800) 383-0680.  For more details, click here.]

Occasionally I meet Chronicles readers who are surprised to learn that most of the Summer School students are adults. The fact is the Summer School is designed for “lifetime students.” Undergraduates to retirees gather each summer to share friendship and wisdom. The lectures and the discussions in the Institute’s classroom are only part of the joy of our Summer School. After a week around the dinner table and raising a glass with fellow Chronicles readers, you will understand why our Summer School has taken on the character of a family reunion—one into which newcomers are instantly welcomed.

For undergraduate and graduate students, and for high-school teachers, we are offering two scholarships for full registration (double occupancy), and five partial scholarships (registration reduced to $200). To be considered, submit a 500-word summary of background, education, and interests; a letter of recommendation from a professor; and an essay of 750-1,000 words defending one aspect of America’s Anglo-Saxon heritage. Applications must be postmarked by April 30, 2010 and include a cover letter that provides the student’s/teacher’s name, address, telephone number, name of current school, college, or university, and e-mail address. Mail applications to my attention at: The Rockford Institute, 928 N. Main St., Rockford, IL, 61103.

P.S. The Rockford Institute takes seriously its role in forming the next generation of Christendom’s defenders. Help us by contributing to the Institute’s Scholarship Fund. For a gift of $500 or more, I will send you a complete set of the CDs from the Summer School.

P.P.S. Last year’s Summer School sold out. Please do not delay registering. If you register before April 15, you may deduct $70.00.

[To enroll, call Cindy Link at (800) 383-0680.  For more details, click here.]