In a post at her blog, A Clerk of Oxford, this past January, entitled ​“Earendel at Epiphany,” Dr. Eleanor Parker refers back to another post of nearly a decade earlier, ​“Candlemas and The Carol of King Cnut,” putting the poem named in the title richly in a fuller context. That poem is by Charles William Stubbs (1845−1912), “‘Ad Natalem Domini’ (The Carol of King Canute),” and his starting point is an adaptive translation of what Dr. Parker calls ​“one of the earliest songs in Middle English”.

Those surviving four lines of Middle English song are familiar to readers of JRR Tolkien’s ​“The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son.” He quotes them in full at the end of the first section, where he points out that the ​“rhyming lines” near the end of his little verse drama which follows ​“are an echo” of this medieval song.…

Amazon Prime has released its first, unidentified, image from Season 1, Episode 1 of its Lord of the Rings series, set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, along with pictures of its multiracial cast, often without identifying who is playing who. Speculation is rampant: the guess is that the image above is the Noldorin city of Tirion in Valinor, with the Two Trees in the background.…

When Tolkien’s former house on 20 Northmoor Road went up for sale, Project Northmoor was conceived as an attempt to purchase the house, to be preserved and used as a literary study center. Although Project Northmoor failed to raise the necessary funds (and the house was sold), the literary study center project continues, under the name The Oxford Centre for Fantasy.… Currently online, it’s now seeking a permanent home in Oxford.…

Tolkien translated the Middle English alliterative poem ​“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” It has been filmed several times. This latest is directed by David Lowery and stars Dev Patel.…

From Weta Workshop: Mini Epic Saruman holding his and Gandalf’s staffs, ltd ed. 400, $49.99. Helms of the Ringwraiths of Khand, Harad, and Uruk Hai Captain, $79.99 ea.…

Mythcon 51 (July 31-Aug 1, 2021), virtual conference on Zoom and Discord. Info: http://​myth​soc​.org/.

The Mythopoeic Society’s annual conference, Mythcon 51, with the theme ​“The Mythic, the Fantastic, the Alien,” had originally been scheduled tor Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2020, but was cancelled due to COVID, later postponed to 2021. With the venue’s 2021 status still uncertain, the Albuquerque Mythcon — now dubbed Mythcon 52 — was again postponed to 2022, and a virtual ​“Halfling” Mythcon 51 took its place in 2021. So, many of the presentations still addressed the ​“Alien” theme.

But as a result of being virtual, people who would have been unable to attend a live gathering were able to participate. Mythcon 51 had ~150 attendees, with people participating from Japan, Australia, Mexico, Canada, and Europe as well as the United States.