The Anglo-Saxon World Pdf, Epub, Ebook

THE ANGLO-SAXON WORLD PDF, EPUB, EBOOK

Product Details Price. Earn money by sharing your favorite books through our Affiliate program. Become an affiliate. About the Author N. Higham is professor emeritus, University of Manchester. Ryan is a former lecturer in early medieval history, University of Manchester. Drawing on a rich array of sources and disciplines such as historical genetics, paleobotany, and numismatics, the authors use primary material, illustrations, maps, photographs and genealogies to bring alive a part of history which 'witnessed the birth of the English people, the establishment of Christianity and the development of the English language. You could hardly have a better, more timely, and more attractive demonstration of why the Anglo-Saxons still matter to us. Complementing this treasure trove of information is a series of superb maps, we well as generous quantities of big, coloum either. But this is no picture book. Higham and Ryan do not dumb down for their readers. The authors demonstrate that they are writing about a serious subject worthy of serious consideration. Higham and Ryan, marshalling the latest research from archaeology, genetics, paleobotany, and even plain old literary studies By its very nature, The Anglo Saxon World represents a factual advance over all similar volumes that have preceded it, but the passion of its enthusiasms is its main recommendation. Our authors have a big, sprawling story to tell — of ornate tombs and sword-hacked skulls, of gorgeous handcrafts and marauding Vikings, and of some remarkable warrior-kings who stitched a country together out of fragments left behind by the most powerful empire the world had ever seen — and they tell it exceedingly well. You could hardly have a better, more timely, and more attractive demonstration of why the Anglo-Saxons still matter to us. The book is immensely readable, and the new scientific and archaeological evidence it presents is bound to fascinate students. Karkov, University of Leeds, UK. The prestige, and indeed the pretensions, of the monarchy increased, the institutions of government strengthened, and kings and their agents sought in various ways to establish social order. David Dumville suggests that Edward may have extended this policy by rewarding his supporters with grants of land in the territories newly conquered from the Danes and that any charters issued in respect of such grants have not survived. From that point on there was no contest for the throne, so the house of Wessex became the ruling house of England. He was uncompromising in his insistence on respect for the law. However this legislation also reveals the persistent difficulties which confronted the king and his councillors in bringing a troublesome people under some form of control. His claim to be "king of the English" was by no means widely recognised. In his formal address to the gathering at Winchester the king urged his bishops, abbots and abbesses "to be of one mind as regards monastic usage. Athelstan's court had been an intellectual incubator. This put all the monks and nuns in England under one set of detailed customs for the first time. In , Edgar received a special second, 'imperial coronation' at Bath, and from this point England was ruled by Edgar under the strong influence of Dunstan, Athelwold, and Oswald , the Bishop of Worcester. Raids began on a relatively small scale in the s but became far more serious in the s, and brought the people to their knees in —12, when a large part of the country was devastated by the army of Thorkell the Tall. The raids exposed tensions and weaknesses which went deep into the fabric of the late Anglo-Saxon state, and it is apparent that events proceeded against a background more complex than the chronicler probably knew. The final struggles were complicated by internal dissension, and especially by the treacherous acts of Ealdorman Eadric of Mercia, who opportunistically changed sides to Cnut's party. After the defeat of the English in the Battle of Assandun in October , Edmund and Cnut agreed to divide the kingdom so that Edmund would rule Wessex and Cnut Mercia, but Edmund died soon after his defeat in November , making it possible for Cnut to seize power over all England. In the 11th century, there were three conquests: one by Cnut in ; the second was an unsuccessful attempt of Battle of Stamford Bridge in ; and the third was conducted by William of Normandy in The consequences of each conquest changed the Anglo- Saxon culture. Politically and chronologically, the texts of this period are not Anglo-Saxon; linguistically, those written in English as opposed to Latin or French, the other official written languages of the period moved away from the late West Saxon standard that is called "Old English". Yet neither are they "Middle English"; moreover, as Treharne explains, for around three-quarters of this period, "there is barely any 'original' writing in English at all". These factors have led to a gap in scholarship, implying a discontinuity either side of the Norman Conquest, however this assumption is being challenged. At first sight, there would seem little to debate. Cnut appeared to have adopted wholeheartedly the traditional role of Anglo-Saxon kingship. Edward became king in , and given his upbringing might have been considered a Norman by those who lived across the English Channel. Following Cnut's reforms, excessive power was concentrated in the hands of the rival houses of Leofric of Mercia and Godwine of Wessex. Problems also came for Edward from the resentment caused by the king's introduction of Norman friends. A crisis arose in when Godwine defied the king's order to punish the men of Dover, who had resisted an attempt by Eustace of Boulogne to quarter his men on them by force. Godwine and his sons came back the following year with a strong force, and the magnates were not prepared to engage them in civil war but forced the king to make terms. Some unpopular Normans were driven out, including Archbishop Robert , whose archbishopric was given to Stigand ; this act supplied an excuse for the Papal support of William's cause. The fall of England and the Norman Conquest is a multi-generational, multi-family succession problem caused in great part by Athelred's incompetence. By the time William of Normandy, sensing an opportunity, landed his invading force in , the elite of Anglo-Saxon England had changed, although much of the culture and society had stayed the same. Michael's mass, and soon as his men were ready, they built a fortress at Hasting's port. This was told to King Harold, and he gathered then a great army and come towards them at the Hoary Apple Tree, and William came upon him unawares before his folk were ready. But the king nevertheless withstood him very strongly with fighting with those men who would follow him, and there was a great slaughter on either side. Then Harald the King was slain, and Leofwine the Earl, his brother, and Gyrth, and many good men, and the Frenchmen held the place of slaughter. Following the Norman conquest , many of the Anglo-Saxon nobility were either exiled or had joined the ranks of the peasantry. However, the survival of Anglo-Saxon heiresses was significantly greater. Many of the next generation of the nobility had English mothers and learnt to speak English at home. The chronicler Orderic Vitalis , who was the product of an Anglo-Norman marriage, writes: "And so the English groaned aloud for their lost liberty and plotted ceaselessly to find some way of shaking off a yoke that was so intolerable and unaccustomed". Many Anglo-Saxon people needed to learn Norman French to communicate with their rulers, but it is clear that among themselves they kept speaking Old English, which meant that England was in an interesting tri-lingual situation: Anglo-Saxon for the common people, Latin for the Church, and Norman French for the administrators, the nobility, and the law courts. In this time, and because of the cultural shock of the Conquest, Anglo-Saxon began to change very rapidly, and by or so, it was no longer Anglo-Saxon English, but what scholars call early Middle English. Research has shown that a form of Anglo-Saxon was still being spoken, and not merely among uneducated peasants, into the thirteenth century in the West Midlands. Tolkien 's major scholarly discovery when he studied a group of texts written in early Middle English called the Katherine Group , because they include the Life of St. Katherine also, the Life of St. Margaret, the Life and the Passion of St. Juliana, Ancrene Wisse, and Hali Meithhad—these last two teaching how to be a good anchoress and arguing for the goodness of virginity. Old English had been a central mark of the Anglo-Saxon cultural identity. With the passing of time, however, and particularly following the Norman conquest of England, this language changed significantly, and although some people for example the scribe known as the Tremulous Hand of Worcester could still read Old English into the thirteenth century, it fell out of use and the texts became useless. The Exeter Book , for example, seems to have been used to press gold leaf and at one point had a pot of fish- based glue sitting on top of it. For Michael Drout this symbolises the end of the Anglo-Saxons. The larger narrative, seen in the history of Anglo-Saxon England, is the continued mixing and integration of various disparate elements into one Anglo-Saxon people. The development of Anglo-Saxon kingship is little understood, but the model proposed by York [] considered the development of kingdoms and writing down of the oral law-codes to be linked to a progression towards leaders providing mund and receiving recognition. These leaders who developed in the sixth century were able to seize the initiative and to establish a position of power for themselves and their successors. Anglo-Saxon leaders, unable to tax and coerce followers, extracted surplus by raiding and collecting food renders and 'prestige goods'. By , the establishment of the first Anglo-Saxon 'emporia' was in prospect. There seem to have been over thirty of such units, many of which were certainly controlled by kings, in the parts of Britain which the Anglo-Saxons controlled. Bede's use of the term imperium has been seen as significant in defining the status and powers of the bretwaldas, in fact it is a word Bede used regularly as an alternative to regnum ; scholars believe this just meant the collection of tribute. Military overlordship could bring great short-term success and wealth, but the system had its disadvantages. Many of the overlords enjoyed their powers for a relatively short period. An example of this tendency for later boundaries to preserve earlier arrangements is Sussex; the county boundary is essentially the same as that of the West Saxon shire and the Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It attested his grants of land to churches or laymen, consented to his issue of new laws or new statements of ancient custom, and helped him deal with rebels and persons suspected of disaffection. Only five Anglo-Saxon kingdoms are known to have survived to , and several British kingdoms in the west of the country had disappeared as well. The major kingdoms had grown through absorbing smaller principalities, and the means through which they did it and the character their kingdoms acquired as a result are one of the major themes of the Middle Saxon period. Beowulf , for all its heroic content, clearly makes the point that economic and military success were intimately linked. A 'good' king was a generous king who through his wealth won the support which would ensure his supremacy over other kingdoms. In the case of the king, the resources and tools with which to rule are that he have his land fully manned: he must have praying men, fighting men and working men. You know also that without these tools no king may make his ability known. Another aspect of his resources is that he must have the means of support for his tools, the three classes of men. These, then, are their means of support: land to live on, gifts, weapons, food, ale, clothing and whatever else is necessary for each of the three classes of men. This is the first written appearance of the division of society into the 'three orders'; the 'working men' provided the raw materials to support the other two classes. The advent of Christianity brought with it the introduction of new concepts of land tenure. The role of churchmen was analogous with that of the warriors waging heavenly warfare. However what Alfred was alluding to was that in order for a king to fulfil his responsibilities towards his people, particularly those concerned with defence, he had the right to make considerable exactions from the landowners and people of his kingdom. The nobility under the influence of Alfred became involved with developing the cultural life of their kingdom. However the Anglo- Saxons believed in 'luck' as a random element in the affairs of man and so would probably have agreed that there is a limit to the extent one can understand why one kingdom failed while another succeeded. Danish and Norman conquests were just the manner in which God punished his sinful people and the fate of great empires. Pagan Anglo-Saxons worshipped at a variety of different sites across their landscape, some of which were apparently specially built temples and others that were natural geographical features such as sacred trees , hilltops or wells. Most poems from before the Norman Conquest are steeped in pagan symbolism, and their integration into the new faith goes beyond the literary sources. Thus, as Lethbridge reminds us, "to say, 'this is a monument erected in Christian times and therefore the symbolism on it must be Christian,' is an unrealistic approach. The rites of the older faith, now regarded as superstition, are practised all over the country today. It did not mean that people were not Christian; but that they could see a lot of sense in the old beliefs also" []. Horses were closely associated with gods, especially Odin and Freyr. Horses played a central role in funerary practices as well as in other rituals. The rituals associated with these include horse fights, burials, consumption of horse meat, and horse sacrifice. By his verse the minds of many were often excited to despise the world, and to aspire to heaven. Instead, he converts it into something that helps the Church. Anglo-Saxon England finds ways to synthesize the religion of the Church with the existing "northern" customs and practices. Thus the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons was not just their switching from one practice to another, but making something new out of their old inheritance and their new belief and learning. Monasticism , and not just the church, was at the centre of Anglo-Saxon Christian life. Western monasticism, as a whole, had been evolving since the time of the Desert Fathers , but in the seventh century, monasticism in England confronted a dilemma that brought to question the truest representation of the Christian faith. The two monastic traditions were the Celtic and the Roman, and a decision was made to adopt the Roman tradition. Monasteria seem to describe all religious congregations other than those of the bishop. In the 10th century, Dunstan brought Athelwold to Glastonbury , where the two of them set up a monastery on Benedictine lines. For many years, this was the only monastery in England that strictly followed the Benedictine Rule and observed complete monastic discipline. What Mechthild Gretsch calls an "Aldhelm Seminar" developed at Glastonbury, and the effects of this seminar on the curriculum of learning and study in Anglo-Saxon England were enormous. This happened first at the Old Minster in Winchester , before the reformers built new foundations and refoundations at Thorney, Peterborough, and Ely, among other places. Benedictine monasticism spread throughout England, and these became centers of learning again, run by people trained in Glastonbury, with one rule, the works of Aldhelm at the center of their curricula but also influenced by the vernacular efforts of Alfred. From this mixture sprung a great flowering of literary production. Soldiers throughout the country were summoned, for both offensive and defensive war; early armies consisted essentially of household bands, while later on men were recruited on a territorial basis. The mustering of an army, annually at times, occupied an important place in Frankish history, both military and constitutional. The English kingdoms appear to have known no institution similar to this. This may explain the delay, and it is probably no more than coincidence that the army mustered at the beginning of May, a time when there would have been sufficient grass for the horses. There is also information about the mustering of fleets in the eleventh century. From to fleets were assembled at London, or returned to the city at the end of their service, on several occasions. Where they took up station depended on the quarter from which a threat was expected: Sandwich if invasion was expected from the north, or the Isle of Wight if it was from Normandy. Once they left home, these armies and fleets had to be supplied with food and clothing for the men as well as forage for the horses. Yet if armies of the seventh and eighth centuries were accompanied by servants and a supply train of lesser free men, Alfred found these arrangements insufficient to defeat the Vikings. One of his reforms was to divide his military resources into thirds. One part manned the burhs and found the permanent garrisons which would make it impossible for the Danes to overrun Wessex, although they would also take to the field when extra soldiers were needed. The remaining two would take it in turns to serve. They were allocated a fixed term of service and brought the necessary provisions with them. This arrangement did not always function well. On one occasion a division on service went home in the middle of blockading a Danish army on Thorney Island; its provisions were consumed and its term had expired before the king came to relieve them. In , when armies from Wessex and Mercia were in the field from early April until November, one division went home and another took over. Again, in when Edward's fleet was waiting at Sandwich to intercept Godwine's return, the ships returned to London to take on new earls and crews. Military training and strategy are two important matters on which the sources are typically silent. There are no references in literature or laws to men training, and so it is necessary to fall back on inference. For the noble warrior, his childhood was of first importance in learning both individual military skills and the teamwork essential for success in battle. Perhaps the games the youthful Cuthbert played 'wrestling, jumping, running, and every other exercise' had some military significance. Battle was risky and best avoided unless all the factors were on your side. But if you were in a position so advantageous that you were willing to take the chance, it is likely that your enemy would be in such a weak position that he would avoid battle and pay tribute. Battles put the princes' lives at risk, as is demonstrated by the Northumbrian and Mercian overlordships brought to an end by a defeat in the field. Gillingham has shown how few pitched battles Charlemagne and Richard I chose to fight. A defensive strategy becomes more apparent in the later part of Alfred's reign. It was built around the possession of fortified places and the close pursuit of the Danes to harass them and impede their preferred occupation of plundering. Alfred and his lieutenants were able to fight the Danes to a standstill by their repeated ability to pursue and closely besiege them in fortified camps throughout the country. The fortification of sites at Witham, Buckingham, Towcester and Colchester persuaded the Danes of the surrounding regions to submit. It is clear that the new fortresses had permanent garrisons, and that they were supported by the inhabitants of the existing burhs when danger threatened. In , a single currency was introduced into England in order to bring about political unification, but by concentrating bullion production at many coastal mints, the new rulers of England created an obvious target which attracted a new wave of Viking invasions, which came close to breaking up the kingdom of the English. From onwards, the Anglo -Saxon Chronicle records renewed raiding against England. At first, the raids were probing ventures by small numbers of ships' crews, but soon grew in size and effect, until the only way of dealing with the Vikings appeared to be to pay protection money to buy them off: "And in that year [] it was determined that tribute should first be paid to the Danish men because of the great terror they were causing along the coast. The first payment was 10, pounds. This affected everyone in the kingdom. Helena Hamerow suggests that the prevailing model of working life and settlement, particularly for the early period, was one of shifting settlement and building tribal kinship. The mid-Saxon period saw diversification, the development of enclosures, the beginning of the toft system, closer management of livestock, the gradual spread of the mould-board plough, 'informally regular plots' and a greater permanence, with further settlement consolidation thereafter foreshadowing post-Norman Conquest villages. The later periods saw a proliferation of service features including barns, mills and latrines, most markedly on high-status sites. Throughout the Anglo-Saxon period as Hamerow suggests, "local and extended kin groups remained This is very noticeable in the early period. However, by the tenth and eleventh centuries, the rise of the manor and its significance in terms of both settlement and the management of land, which becomes very evident in the Domesday Book. The collection of buildings discovered at Yeavering formed part of an Anglo-Saxon royal vill or king's tun. These 'tun' consisted of a series of buildings designed to provide short-term accommodation for the king and his household. It is thought that the king would have travelled throughout his land dispensing justice and authority and collecting rents from his various estates. Such visits would be periodic, and it is likely that he would visit each royal villa only once or twice per year. The Latin term villa regia which Bede uses of the site suggests an estate centre as the functional heart of a territory held in the king's demesne. The territory is the land whose surplus production is taken into the centre as food-render to support the king and his retinue on their periodic visits as part of a progress around the kingdom. This territorial model, known as a multiple estate or shire , has been developed in a range of studies. Colm O'Brien, in applying this to Yeavering, proposes a geographical definition of the wider shire of Yeavering and also a geographical definition of the principal estate whose structures Hope- Taylor excavated. People came together not only to give the king and his entourage board and lodging; but they attended upon the king in order to have disputes settled, cases appealed, lands granted, gifts given, appointments made, laws promulgated, policy debated, and ambassadors heard. People also assembled for other reasons, such as to hold fairs and to trade. The first creations of towns are linked to a system of specialism at individual settlements, which is evidenced in studying place-names. Sutterton, "shoe-makers' tun" in the area of the Danelaw such places are Sutterby was so named because local circumstances allowed the growth of a craft recognised by the people of surrounding places. Similarly with Sapperton, the "soap-makers' tun". While Boultham, the "meadow with burdock plants", may well have developed a specialism in the production of burrs for wool-carding, since meadows with burdock merely growing in them must have been relatively numerous. From places named for their services or location within a single district, a category of which the most obvious perhaps are the Eastons and Westons, it is possible to move outwards to glimpse component settlements within larger economic units. Names betray some role within a system of seasonal pasture, Winderton in Warwickshire is the winter tun and various Somertons are self-explanatory. Hardwicks are dairy farms and Swinhopes the valleys where pigs were pastured. Settlement patterns as well as village plans in England fall into two great categories: scattered farms and homesteads in upland and woodland Britain, nucleated villages across a swathe of central England. Yet there is strong evidence to support the view that nucleation occurred in the tenth century or perhaps the ninth, and was a development parallel to the growth of towns. Alfred's reference to 'praying men, fighting men and working men' is far from a complete description of his society. Women in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms appear to have enjoyed considerable independence, whether as abbesses of the great 'double monasteries' of monks and nuns founded during the seventh and eighth centuries, as major land-holders recorded in Domesday Book , or as ordinary members of society. They could act as principals in legal transactions, were entitled to the same weregild as men of the same class, and were considered 'oath- worthy', with the right to defend themselves on oath against false accusations or claims. Sexual and other offences against them were penalised heavily. There is evidence that even married women could own property independently, and some surviving wills are in the joint names of husband and wife. The latter became the woman's personal property, but the former may have been paid to her relatives, at least during the early period. Widows were in a particularly favourable position, with inheritance rights, custody of their children and authority over dependents. However, a degree of vulnerability may be reflected in laws stating that they should not be forced into nunneries or second marriages against their will. The system of primogeniture inheritance by the first-born male was not introduced to England until after the Norman Conquest, so Anglo-Saxon siblings — girls as well as boys — were more equal in terms of status. The age of majority was usually either ten or twelve, when a child could legally take charge of inherited property, or be held responsible for a crime. Laws also make provision for orphaned children and foundlings. The traditional distinction in society, amongst free men, was expressed as eorl and ceorl 'earl and churl' though the term 'Earl' took on a more restricted meaning after the Viking period. After the Norman Conquest the title 'thegn' was equated to the Norman 'baron'. Again these would have been subject to local variation, but one text refers to the possession of five hides of land around acres , a bell and a castle-gate, a seat and a special office in the king's hall. In the context of the control of boroughs , Frank Stenton notes that according to an 11th-century source, "a merchant who had carried out three voyages at his own charge [had also been] regarded as of thegnly status. A further division in Anglo-Saxon society was between slave and free. Slavery was not as common as in other societies, but appears to have been present throughout the period. Both the freemen and slaves were hierarchically structured, with several classes of freemen and many types of slaves. These varied at different times and in different areas, but the most prominent ranks within free society were the king, the nobleman or thegn, and the ordinary freeman or ceorl. They were differentiated primarily by the value of their weregild or 'man price', which was not only the amount payable in compensation for homicide, but was also used as the basis for other legal formulations such as the value of the oath that they could swear in a court of law. Slaves had no weregild, as offences against them were taken to be offences against their owners, but the earliest laws set out a detailed scale of penalties depending both on the type of slave and the rank of owner. However, slavery was not always permanent, and slaves who had gained their freedom would become part of an underclass of freedmen below the rank of ceorl. Early Anglo-Saxon buildings in Britain were generally simple, not using masonry except in foundations but constructed mainly using timber with thatch roofing. Generally preferring not to settle within the old Roman cities, [ citation needed ] the Anglo-Saxons built small towns near their centres of agriculture, at fords in rivers, or near natural ports. In each town, a main hall was in the centre, provided with a central hearth. Only ten of the hundreds of settlement sites that have been excavated in England from this period have revealed masonry domestic structures and confined to a few specific contexts. Timber was the natural building medium of the age: [] the Anglo-Saxon word for "building" is timbe. Unlike in the Carolingian world, late Anglo-Saxon royal halls continued to be of timber in the manner of Yeavering centuries before, even though the king could clearly have mustered the resources to build in stone. Even the elite had simple buildings, with a central fire and a hole in the roof to let the smoke escape; the largest homes rarely had more than one floor and one room. Buildings varied widely in size, most were square or rectangular, though some round houses have been found. Frequently these buildings have sunken floors, with a shallow pit over which a plank floor was suspended. The pit may have been used for storage, but more likely was filled with straw for insulation. A variation on the sunken floor design has been found in towns, where the "basement" may be as deep as 9 feet, suggesting a storage or work area below a suspended floor. Another common design was simple post framing, with heavy posts set directly into the ground, supporting the roof. The space between the posts was filled in with wattle and daub, or occasionally, planks. The floors were generally packed earth, though planks were sometimes used. Roofing materials varied, with thatch being the most common, though turf and even wooden shingles were also used. Stone was sometimes used to build churches. Bede makes it clear that the masonry construction of churches, including his own at Jarrow, was undertaken morem Romanorum , 'in the manner of the Romans,' in explicit contrast to existing traditions of timber construction. Even at Canterbury, Bede believed that St Augustine's first cathedral had been 'repaired' or 'recovered' recuperavit from an existing Roman church, when in fact it had been newly constructed from Roman materials. The belief was "the Christian Church was Roman therefore a masonry church was a Roman building". The building of churches in Anglo-Saxon England essentially began with Augustine of Canterbury in Kent following ; for this he probably imported workmen from Frankish Gaul. The cathedral and abbey in Canterbury , together with churches in Kent at Minster in Sheppey c. A simple nave without aisles provided the setting for the main altar; east of this a chancel arch separated the apse for use by the clergy. Flanking the apse and east end of the nave were side chambers serving as sacristies; further porticus might continue along the nave to provide for burials and other purposes. In Northumbria the early development of Christianity was influenced by the Irish mission, important churches being built in timber. Masonry churches became prominent from the late 7th century with the foundations of Wilfrid at Ripon and Hexham , and of Benedict Biscop at Monkwearmouth-Jarrow. These buildings had long naves and small rectangular chancels; porticus sometimes surrounded the naves. Elaborate crypts are a feature of Wilfrid's buildings. The best preserved early Northumbrian church is Escomb Church. From the mid-8th century to the midth century, several important buildings survive. One group comprises the first known churches utilizing aisles: Brixworth , the most ambitious Anglo-Saxon church to survive largely intact; Wareham St Mary's ; Cirencester; and the rebuilding of Canterbury Cathedral. These buildings may be compared with churches in the Carolingian Empire. Other lesser churches may be dated to the late eighth and early ninth centuries on the basis of their elaborate sculptured decoration and have simple naves with side porticus. In plan, however, the churches remained essentially conservative. From the monastic revival of the second half of the tenth century, only a few documented buildings survive or have been excavated. The majority of churches that have been described as Anglo-Saxon fall into the period between the late 10th century and the early 12th century. During this period, many settlements were first provided with stone churches, but timber also continued to be used; the best wood-framed church to survive is Greensted Church in Essex, no earlier than the 9th century, and no doubt typical of many parish churches. On the continent during the eleventh century, a group of interrelated Romanesque styles developed, associated with the rebuilding of many churches on a grand scale, made possible by a general advance in architectural technology and mason-craft. However, at Stow Minster the crossing piers of the early s are clearly proto- Romanesque. A more decorative interpretation of Romanesque in lesser churches can be dated only somewhere between the mid and late 11th century, e. At St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury c. Anglo-Saxon churches of all periods would have been embellished with a range of arts, [] including wall-paintings, some stained glass , metalwork and statues. Early Anglo-Saxon art is seen mostly in decorated jewellery, like brooches, buckles, beads and wrist-clasps, some of outstanding quality. Characteristic of the 5th century is the quoit brooch with motifs based on crouching animals, as seen on the silver quoit brooch from Sarre, Kent. While the origins of this style are disputed, it is either an offshoot of provincial Roman, Frank, or Jute art. One style flourished from the late 5th century and continued throughout the 6th and is on many square-headed brooches, it is characterised by chip-carved patterns based on animals and masks. A different style, which gradually superseded it, is dominated by serpentine beasts with interlacing bodies. By the later 6th century, the best works from the south-east are distinguished by greater use of expensive materials, above all gold and garnets, reflecting the growing prosperity of a more organised society which had greater access to imported precious materials, as seen in the buckle from the Taplow burial and the jewellery from Sutton Hoo , [] c. The possible symbolism of the decorative elements like interlace and beast forms that were used in these early works remains unclear. These objects were the products of a society that invested its modest surpluses in personal display, who fostered craftsmen and jewellers of a high standard, and in which the possession of a fine brooch or buckle was a valuable status symbol. The Staffordshire Hoard is the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork yet found [update]. Discovered in a field near the village of Hammerwich , it consists of over 3, items [] that are nearly all martial in character and contains no objects specific to female uses. It also shows that the value of such items as currency and their potential roles as tribute or the spoils of war could, in a warrior society, outweigh appreciation of their integrity and artistry. The Christianization of the society revolutionised the visual arts, as well as other aspects of society. Art had to fulfil new functions, and whereas pagan art was abstract, Christianity required images clearly representing subjects. The transition between the Christian and pagan traditions is occasionally apparent in 7th century works; examples include the Crundale buckle [] and the Canterbury pendant. In these Germanic motifs, such as interlace and animal ornament along with Celtic spiral patterns, are juxtaposed with Christian imagery and Mediterranean decoration, notably vine-scroll. The jamb of the doorway at Monkwearmouth , carved with a pair of lacertine beasts, probably dates from the s; the golden, garnet-adorned pectoral cross of St Cuthbert was presumably made before ; while his wooden inner coffin incised with Christ and the Evangelists' symbols , the Virgin and Child, archangels and apostles , the Lindisfarne Gospels , and the Codex Amiatinus all date from c. The fact that these works are all from Northumbria might be held to reflect the particular strength of the church in that kingdom. Lindisfarne was an important centre of book production, along with Ripon and Monkwearmouth-Jarrow. The Lindisfarne Gospels might be the single most beautiful book produced in the Middle Ages, and the Echternach Gospels and probably the Book of Durrow are other products of Lindisfarne. The Anglo-Saxon World - Nicholas J. Higham, M. J. Ryan - Google книги

As Britain's own empire disintegrated, so did attitudes to the Roman World begin to change. The main outline of Britain's provincial history is easy to summarise: the island lay on the edge of Julius Caesar's conquests in Gaul 58—51 bc. He crossed the Channel in force in the summers of 55 and 54 bc, but Britain was not permanently annexed until the next century, following invasion in ad 43 by the armies of the emperor Claudius. Conquest took several generations but gradually brought under control the resources of an island which the Roman author Tacitus, for one, considered rich. In fact, it was probably a drain on imperial resources for a century and more. Although several British products were highly valued — such as pearls, hounds and tin — the island was economically marginal. In terms of its agricultural climate, it lay on the very edge of the Roman World. The north and west were incapable of supporting wide-scale arable farming. High rainfall, impervious soils and low temperatures meant that here even most low-lying areas were ill-suited to the sort of agrarian regimes characteristic of more southerly climes. Many standard crops of the Empire, such as olives, simply could not be grown in Britain; others, such as vines, were only established in particularly favourable localities in the south and east of the island. Difficulties of the topography had consequences for the expansion of Roman political power. Despite periodic efforts to conquer the whole island and even threaten Ireland, successive land frontiers were established on Hadrian's Wall —38 and then the Antonine Wall —58 , which excluded the more northerly, mountainous areas. In the second half of the second century the Hadrianic frontier was re-occupied and would henceforth provide a northern boundary. Scotland would not be conquered and incorporated into the Empire, albeit Roman influence there was considerable; Ireland too stayed outside. In that sense, the Roman conquest of the British Isles remained an unfinished project. In the mid-second century about 10 per cent of the entire Roman Army, some 40,, troops, were stationed in Britain, giving a very 'military' character to the province. The troops were not distributed evenly, with hardly any stationed east of the Severn or south of the Humber. The largest concentrations were at the three great legionary fortresses of Caerleon south Wales , Chester and York, each capable of accommodating some 5, soldiers though only rarely were more than a fraction present. Stretching across Wales and the north of Roman Britain lay a network of auxiliary forts, each holding , men. Following the withdrawal from southern Scotland, auxiliaries were concentrated along the Hadrianic frontier from the Solway to the Tyne estuary, and in its hinterland. In Wales and northern England a distinctive, 'frontier' society evolved. At its core was an economy centred on soldiers, whom the imperial government paid and supplied. Markets at the gates of most forts gradually became permanent settlements, known as vici , dominated by shops and trading booths. Outside lay parade grounds, small temples, shrines and cemeteries, many with stone memorials. The army controlled extensive grazing lands, made numerous demands on local communities, and exercised authority over the tribes of the north and west. The military garrisons were in some respects, however, only small islands of governmental influence within the wider landscape. Rural settlements lay scattered across the better drained lowlands, valley sides and hill slopes up to around the metre contour. The indigenous population lived in enclosed settlements that changed little in consequence of Roman occupation beyond the appearance of a few pots, small items of metalwork and cheap jewellery. Such settlements retained pre-Roman characteristics throughout much of the period, with roundhouses still in use, for example, and enclosures and small fields with clear debts to the Iron Age. Military garrisons in their stone forts seem somewhat isolated amidst a settlement pattern which otherwise consisted almost entirely of extended family farms and without much in the way of towns Carlisle, Corbridge and Carmarthen were small-scale exceptions , rural shrines or villas. Local elites are barely visible archaeologically, very few coins were lost in the countryside and there was little indigenous investment in Roman culture, perhaps because the pressure of taxation and requisitioning by or on behalf of the army left little surplus in the hands of the local population. Within this 'upland' or 'military' zone, the army was dominant, with its own cultural apparatus, epigraphic and religious traditions, expertise in masonry and metalworking, and appetite for foodstuffs, drink and leather. Comparatively high levels of literacy have been revealed by writing tablets from around ad excavated at Vindolanda just south of Hadrian's Wall. The army was initially drawn primarily from Gaul, with some units from more distant parts of the Empire and on occasion from outside, although recruitment became far more local in the third century. Similarly, prominent members of the civilian community servicing the army's needs in the vici seem to have been in large part incomers, such as Barathes from Palmyra in Syria , who buried his British wife outside the fort at South Shields. The contribution of the local community was mostly in the form of labourers, recruits to the army early generations of whom were sent to the Continent , slaves and prostitutes. Part of what had driven the Roman conquest of Britain was its mineral wealth, and therefore extractive industries were active from the early years, particularly in upland areas. Tin in Cornwall, gold at Dolaucothi Wales , lead and silver in eastern and north- eastern Wales, the Peak District and the northern Pennines, salt at Droitwich, in Cheshire and on the coasts, coal in the East Midlands and iron in the Weald and southeast Midlands — these were all exploited, although none developed into major industries by Continental standards. Management was largely via imperial monopolies or concessions, so the profits from these activities rarely fed back into local communities, but they probably helped to offset the considerable costs to the imperial government of garrisoning the island province. The British lowlands developed in rather different ways to the uplands, although still much affected by the unusually heavy Roman army presence. A network of roads was constructed, centred on London which rapidly became the principal port through which trade and supplies for the army entered Britain. London Londinium emerged as the provincial capital in the aftermath of the Boudiccan revolt in ad 60—1. Before the Roman Conquest there were no towns in Britain, though there were some coastal trading sites and quite numerous oppida — massively ditched and embanked settlements of high status. Three colonial towns coloniae were quickly established by the settlement of retired soldiers at Colchester, Gloucester and Lincoln; York and London were later accorded comparable status in recognition of their size and roles as provincial capitals. As the conquest proceeded and the military zone pushed northwards and westwards, civil government was gradually transferred to newly constituted tribal territories civitates and the towns which developed as their centres. These were very variable in size: the provincial capital London was by far the largest, covering some hectares, but most civitas centres were only about 40 hectares and northern or western examples, such as Carmarthen, as small as 6 hectares. Most of these towns lie beneath later cities that have obscured the Roman levels. Since the late s, however, excavation has achieved new understandings of the Roman towns of Britain, nowhere more so, perhaps, than at London itself. London was unusual in not being a tribal centre but bordering several civitates. Ryan is a former lecturer in early medieval history, University of Manchester. Drawing on a rich array of sources and disciplines such as historical genetics, paleobotany, and numismatics, the authors use primary material, illustrations, maps, photographs and genealogies to bring alive a part of history which 'witnessed the birth of the English people, the establishment of Christianity and the development of the English language. Satisfyingly detailed, the authors assume no specialist knowledge on the part of their readers, but do not talk down to them either. It is an interdisciplinary work, combining lively analysis of written sources with archaeological discoveries, linguistic evidence, landscape archaeology, palaeobotany, genetics, and more. The scope is broad but often zooms in on interesting digressions Complementing this treasure trove of information is a series of superb maps, we well as generous quantities of big, coloum either. But this is no picture book. Higham and Ryan do not dumb down for their readers. The authors demonstrate that they are writing about a serious subject worthy of serious consideration. Higham and Ryan, marshalling the latest research from archaeology, genetics, paleobotany, and even plain old literary studies By its very nature, The Anglo Saxon World represents a factual advance over all similar volumes that have preceded it, but the passion of its enthusiasms is its main recommendation. Our authors have a big, sprawling story to tell — of ornate tombs and sword-hacked skulls, of gorgeous handcrafts and marauding Vikings, and of some remarkable warrior-kings who stitched a country together out of fragments left behind by the most powerful empire the world had ever seen — and they tell it exceedingly well. You could hardly have a better, more timely, and more attractive demonstration of why the Anglo-Saxons still matter to us. The book is immensely readable, and the new scientific and archaeological evidence it presents is bound to fascinate students. Karkov, University of Leeds, UK. Anglo-Saxon World | Yale University Press

Since the late s, however, excavation has achieved new understandings of the Roman towns of Britain, nowhere more so, perhaps, than at London itself. London was unusual in not being a tribal centre but bordering several civitates. It developed rapidly as a trading port around a mid-first- century fort guarding the river crossing, then, following the destruction caused by the revolt in ad 60, was rebuilt as a planned town with large-scale public buildings. By the late first century, an auxiliary fort had been constructed at Cripplegate and there were impressive concentrations of buildings. Emperor Hadrian's visit in ad boosted civic construction and London had become a major city by the mid-second century, with perhaps 50, inhabitants. A substantial complex beneath Cannon Street station has been interpreted as the governor's palace. The largest forum north of the Alps lay at the centre of the city and several temples have been identified. This is the only site in Britain exhibiting extensive use of imported high-quality Roman building stone. London's wealth and magnificence reflected its administrative functions and its role as the principal centre of Continental trade via extensive harbour facilities that have been excavated on both sides of the Thames around London Bridge. London entered a recession from which it never fully recovered in this period, with continuing shrinkage in the number of buildings and a drop in population, although claims that it shrank to a mere 'administrative village' are exaggerated. London was walled on the landward side, probably by the imperial usurper Clodius Albinus, before his death in civil war in ad London Wall is massive: at around 3 kilometres long, 6 metres high and 2. It was extended along the river front in the second half of the third century, perhaps to counter seaborne raiders. London was by far Britain's grandest urban settlement, but others which were not later built over have much better preserved archaeology, particularly Verulamium St Albans , Silchester Hampshire and Wroxeter Shropshire , where excavation over many decades has revealed much of their complex history. Street grids were fundamental to the early towns, with central provision for a forum and basilica where government and trade were centred. Although early digs focused exclusively on stone foundations, timbered or half-t imbered buildings predominated throughout, with utilitarian structures giving way to civic buildings in stone in the second century, accompanied by the construction of numerous townhouses, also increasingly in stone or with stone foundations. Compared to other Western provinces, however, urban development was slow. Major towns are more thinly distributed, building inscriptions far fewer and bath suites, piped water and facilities for entertainment more modest. The only circus identified in Britain, albeit the largest so far discovered outside Italy, lies outside the early capital, Colchester, and was clearly part of the imperial project. Similarly, Britain's only front-ranking classical temple is there. Elsewhere the Romano-Celtic temples typical of northern Gaul were copied both in town and country, although Bath itself, where the indigenous cult of Sulis was conjoined with that of the Roman goddess Minerva, is an exception. Towns were, however, walled unusually early in Britain, some being equipped with earthwork circuits with a stone facia even in the late first century ad. This style was unusual in Gaul, where only the grandest towns were fortified before the third century. It is unclear why this occurred in Britain and why so early. One might suppose that walls were built primarily to provide defence against raiders from outside Britain or protection against rebellion within, but this may be too simplistic. The emphasis on gateways may best be explained as a means of self-advertisement to compete for trade and status. The suggestion that walls appeared particularly early close to tribal boundaries would support such a view if we had a clearer grasp of where such divisions lay. Perhaps urban defences served multiple functions to do with the separation of urban and rural spaces, policing, defence, security and civic status, though it is difficult to see this as any different from towns in Gaul. Excepting London and the other coloniae , walls were paid for by local subscription, so they were necessarily something which local communities wanted. A 'British' impulse is suggested by the similarity between some town walls and the defences of the great pre-Roman oppida which preceded several such walls as at Colchester. The impulse to equip new towns with walls is one of many factors which differentiate Britain from its Continental neighbours. The urge to build defences is visible too at many minor towns. Institutional Login. LOG IN. Volume 31, Number 2, pp. In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by:. Higham, Nicholas J. John Kennedy. If you would like to authenticate using a different subscribed institution or have your own login and password to Project MUSE. Additional Information. Project MUSE Mission Project MUSE promotes the creation and dissemination of essential humanities and social science resources through collaboration with libraries, publishers, and scholars worldwide. And that is why it is brilliant. They split the book into narrative chapters exploring the 'history' of the Anglo Saxon period. In between are shorter chapters exploring elements of evidence. This decision allows the reader to understand not just the narrative of the Anglo Is this book the easiest introduction to the Anglo Saxons? This decision allows the reader to understand not just the narrative of the Anglo Saxon period but also the evidence. It is a great book not just for telling you what happened, but why we think it happened, and the limitations of the sources preventing us from knowing more. All that said, I do have two criticisms. First of all, the shape of the book. They've made it so that they can fit in as many gorgeous pictures as possible as well as providing ample margins for marginalia, which is appropriate considering how important marginalia was in the medieval period. However, because it is fat, heavy and square, it is physically difficult to read. Second of all, Martin Ryan, in particular, shifts the book in its later stages to a much more historical approach. The book still subscribes to a view that archaeology 'fills' in the gaps. That should not be the case. This means that the development of towns and the developments in material culture are ignored for the political narrative. If I could give this book 4. The choices are understandable. I believe it is a must-read for all those who want to know more about the Anglo Saxon period and the cultural foundations of England and the USA. May 11, Wilfried rated it really liked it Shelves: geschiedenis. The book is quite voluminous pages and well-illustrated. It gives an up to date overview of what we know about this obscure time in history. The latest findings of different sciences that can help the historians are explained. At regular intervals, the authors have inserted articles about special topics like the Domesday Book, the Anglo-Saxons Chronicles or some interesting excavations. All by all pleasant reading. The only problem is that the authors seem to be afraid of possible critics from their colleagues. They are very cautious not to mention data that could be discussed. Not even a chronological overview of the different kings in the most important kingdoms is given. For a book that is aimed at a more general public, this is a flaw. Remains the question, what we have learned by the end of the day. The answer is: very little. The more science tries to shed light on this dark period, the more confusing it becomes! But for that the authors are not to blame. Aug 13, Anne rated it it was amazing Shelves: history. My only complaint about this book is that I wish there was more detail - which is not to say it was short on detail at all! I have searched long and hard for a definitive history of post-Roman, pre-conquest Britain, and I am delighted that I have finally found it. Chronologically organized with supplemental sections on sources and on particular institutions, the authors include a wealth of names, relationships, and explanations about the development and change of Anglo-Saxon society and instituti My only complaint about this book is that I wish there was more detail - which is not to say it was short on detail at all! Chronologically organized with supplemental sections on sources and on particular institutions, the authors include a wealth of names, relationships, and explanations about the development and change of Anglo-Saxon society and institutions in Britain. The photographs include maps, diagrams of archeological sites and gorgeous full-color plates of artifacts, buildings, landscapes, archaeological sites, and art. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about Anglo-Saxon England. An eminently readable, thorough and fascinating insight into the Anglo Saxon World. The former Dark Ages, being dark no more, throw up an intriguing interweaving of the history of Britain immediately following the Roman occupation. An earlier absence of scholarship in this area has given way to in depth analysis of the foundation of the kingdoms we know today. The book throws up many questions and invites reflection into the differing strands that made up society then and how these are reflected An eminently readable, thorough and fascinating insight into the Anglo Saxon World. The book throws up many questions and invites reflection into the differing strands that made up society then and how these are reflected in the 21st century. Jan 14, James Junke rated it it was amazing. A superb work of scholarship. Deeply researched, very well written, balanced, informative, fascinating. Assumes a knowledge of UK geographic minutiae which this non UK reader found challenging. View 1 comment. May 07, Riversue rated it really liked it. Excellent resource on Anglo Saxon England. May 29, Tomas Doolaar rated it really liked it. Highly informative work. It doesn't read like a novel, but it's still way easier and more fun to read than most textbooks with this information density. Contains great images as well. Jan 31, Joe Tristram rated it really liked it. Comprehensive, with sensible starting and finishing points, but perhaps a not entirely happy half way house between popular history and a need to be thorough and complete. Some chapters, particularly later on when the written source material is much greater, I found turgid with names, and I therefore lost my sense of overview. I very much liked the suggested ways of understanding what it may actually have been like at the ending of the Roman period as the Saxons arrived. The writing is not brilli Comprehensive, with sensible starting and finishing points, but perhaps a not entirely happy half way house between popular history and a need to be thorough and complete. The writing is not brilliant however, and would have benefitted from some editorial oversight, if only to cut down the number of times a sentence begins with "such"! Jul 07, Kate rated it really liked it Shelves: nonfiction , history. This book was infinitely more readable than other books on the same subject. The logical breakdowns of sections in the chapters, the pictures, and the language used all make the book more accessible. I liked the end sections on the things that were tangentially related to the topic of the chapter because I felt like it added more without distracting from the main points. Nov 19, Scriptor Ignotus rated it really liked it Shelves: general-history. Great resource. Lucidly written. Kathryn rated it it was amazing Sep 30, Ken rated it it was amazing Aug 03, Ian Welke rated it really liked it Jan 11, David Akeroyd rated it liked it Feb 20,

The Anglo-Saxon World by Nicholas J. Higham

Masonry churches became prominent from the late 7th century with the foundations of Wilfrid at Ripon and Hexham , and of Benedict Biscop at Monkwearmouth-Jarrow. These buildings had long naves and small rectangular chancels; porticus sometimes surrounded the naves. Elaborate crypts are a feature of Wilfrid's buildings. The best preserved early Northumbrian church is Escomb Church. From the mid-8th century to the midth century, several important buildings survive. One group comprises the first known churches utilizing aisles: Brixworth , the most ambitious Anglo-Saxon church to survive largely intact; Wareham St Mary's ; Cirencester; and the rebuilding of Canterbury Cathedral. These buildings may be compared with churches in the Carolingian Empire. Other lesser churches may be dated to the late eighth and early ninth centuries on the basis of their elaborate sculptured decoration and have simple naves with side porticus. In plan, however, the churches remained essentially conservative. From the monastic revival of the second half of the tenth century, only a few documented buildings survive or have been excavated. The majority of churches that have been described as Anglo-Saxon fall into the period between the late 10th century and the early 12th century. During this period, many settlements were first provided with stone churches, but timber also continued to be used; the best wood-framed church to survive is Greensted Church in Essex, no earlier than the 9th century, and no doubt typical of many parish churches. On the continent during the eleventh century, a group of interrelated Romanesque styles developed, associated with the rebuilding of many churches on a grand scale, made possible by a general advance in architectural technology and mason-craft. However, at Stow Minster the crossing piers of the early s are clearly proto- Romanesque. A more decorative interpretation of Romanesque in lesser churches can be dated only somewhere between the mid and late 11th century, e. At St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury c. Anglo-Saxon churches of all periods would have been embellished with a range of arts, [] including wall-paintings, some stained glass , metalwork and statues. Early Anglo-Saxon art is seen mostly in decorated jewellery, like brooches, buckles, beads and wrist-clasps, some of outstanding quality. Characteristic of the 5th century is the quoit brooch with motifs based on crouching animals, as seen on the silver quoit brooch from Sarre, Kent. While the origins of this style are disputed, it is either an offshoot of provincial Roman, Frank, or Jute art. One style flourished from the late 5th century and continued throughout the 6th and is on many square-headed brooches, it is characterised by chip-carved patterns based on animals and masks. A different style, which gradually superseded it, is dominated by serpentine beasts with interlacing bodies. By the later 6th century, the best works from the south-east are distinguished by greater use of expensive materials, above all gold and garnets, reflecting the growing prosperity of a more organised society which had greater access to imported precious materials, as seen in the buckle from the Taplow burial and the jewellery from Sutton Hoo , [] c. The possible symbolism of the decorative elements like interlace and beast forms that were used in these early works remains unclear. These objects were the products of a society that invested its modest surpluses in personal display, who fostered craftsmen and jewellers of a high standard, and in which the possession of a fine brooch or buckle was a valuable status symbol. The Staffordshire Hoard is the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork yet found [update]. Discovered in a field near the village of Hammerwich , it consists of over 3, items [] that are nearly all martial in character and contains no objects specific to female uses. It also shows that the value of such items as currency and their potential roles as tribute or the spoils of war could, in a warrior society, outweigh appreciation of their integrity and artistry. The Christianization of the society revolutionised the visual arts, as well as other aspects of society. Art had to fulfil new functions, and whereas pagan art was abstract, Christianity required images clearly representing subjects. The transition between the Christian and pagan traditions is occasionally apparent in 7th century works; examples include the Crundale buckle [] and the Canterbury pendant. In these Germanic motifs, such as interlace and animal ornament along with Celtic spiral patterns, are juxtaposed with Christian imagery and Mediterranean decoration, notably vine-scroll. The jamb of the doorway at Monkwearmouth , carved with a pair of lacertine beasts, probably dates from the s; the golden, garnet-adorned pectoral cross of St Cuthbert was presumably made before ; while his wooden inner coffin incised with Christ and the Evangelists' symbols , the Virgin and Child, archangels and apostles , the Lindisfarne Gospels , and the Codex Amiatinus all date from c. The fact that these works are all from Northumbria might be held to reflect the particular strength of the church in that kingdom. Lindisfarne was an important centre of book production, along with Ripon and Monkwearmouth-Jarrow. The Lindisfarne Gospels might be the single most beautiful book produced in the Middle Ages, and the Echternach Gospels and probably the Book of Durrow are other products of Lindisfarne. A Latin gospel book , the Lindisfarne Gospels are richly illuminated and decorated in an Insular style that blends Irish and Western Mediterranean elements and incorporates imagery from the Eastern Mediterranean, including Coptic Christianity. Bede probably had something to do with it. The production of the Codex shows the riches of the north of England at this time. We have records of the monastery needing a new grant of land to raise 2, more cattle to get the calf skins to make the vellum for the manuscript. The copy ended up in Florence, where it still is today — a ninth-century copy of this book is in the possession of the pope. In the 8th century, Anglo-Saxon Christian art flourished with grand decorated manuscripts and sculptures, along with secular works which bear comparable ornament, like the Witham pins and the Coppergate helmet. This manuscript was decorated and embellished with four painted full-page miniatures, major and minor letters, and continuing panels. There was demonstrable continuity in the south, even though the Danish settlement represented a watershed in England's artistic tradition. Wars and pillaging removed or destroyed much Anglo-Saxon art, while the settlement introduced new Scandinavian craftsmen and patrons. The result was to accentuate the pre-existing distinction between the art of the north and that of the south. The Wessexan hegemony and the monastic reform movement appear to have been the catalysts for the rebirth of art in southern England from the end of the 9th century. Here artists responded primarily to continental art; foliage supplanting interlace as the preferred decorative motif. Key early works are the Alfred Jewel , which has fleshy leaves engraved on the back plate; and the stole and maniples of Bishop Frithestan of Winchester, which are ornamented with acanthus leaves, alongside figures that bear the stamp of Byzantine art. The surviving evidence points to Winchester and Canterbury as the leading centres of manuscript art in the second half of the 10th century: they developed colourful paintings with lavish foliate borders, and coloured line drawings. By the early 11th century, these two traditions had fused and had spread to other centres. Although manuscripts dominate the corpus, sufficient architectural sculpture, ivory carving and metalwork survives to show that the same styles were current in secular art and became widespread in the south at parochial level. The wealth of England in the later tenth and eleventh century is clearly reflected in the lavish use of gold in manuscript art as well as for vessels, textiles and statues now known only from descriptions. Widely admired, southern English art was highly influential in Normandy, France and Flanders from c. Surveying nearly years of continuous change, three common strands stand out: lavish colour and rich materials; an interplay between abstract ornament and representational subject matter; and a fusion of art styles reflecting English links to other parts of Europe. It was brought to Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers, and was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland until the midth century, by which time it had evolved into Middle English. The language was fully inflected , with five grammatical cases , three grammatical numbers and three grammatical genders. Over time, Old English developed into four major dialects: Northumbrian, spoken north of the Humber; Mercian, spoken in the Midlands; Kentish, spoken in Kent; and West Saxon, spoken across the south and southwest. All of these dialects have direct descendants in modern England. Standard English developed from the Mercian dialect, as it was predominant in London. It is generally held that Old English received little influence from the Common Brittonic and British Latin spoken in southern Britain prior to the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons, as it took in very few loan words from these languages. Though some scholars have claimed that Brittonic could have exerted an influence on English syntax and grammar, [] [] [] these ideas have not become consensus views, [] and have been criticized by other historical linguists. Old English was more clearly influenced by Old Norse. Scandinavian loan words in English include place names , items of basic vocabulary such as sky , leg and they , [] and words concerned with particular administrative aspects of the Danelaw that is, the area of land under Viking control, including the East Midlands and Northumbria south of the Tees. Old Norse was related to Old English, as both originated from Proto-Germanic , and many linguists believe that the loss of inflectional endings in Old English was accelerated by contact with Norse. Local and extended kin groups were a key aspect of Anglo-Saxon culture. Kinship fueled societal advantages, freedom and the relationships to an elite, that allowed the Anglo-Saxons' culture and language to flourish. This explains why dynasties waxed and waned so quickly, since a kingdom was only as strong as its leader-king. There was no underlying administration or bureaucracy to maintain any gains beyond the lifetime of a leader. Their role instead was to uphold and clarify previous custom and to assure his subjects that he would uphold their ancient privileges, laws, and customs. Although the person of the king as a leader could be exalted, the office of kingship was not in any sense as powerful or as invested with authority as it was to become. One of the tools kings used was to tie themselves closely to the new Christian church, through the practice of having a church leader anoint and crown the king; God and king were then joined in peoples' minds. The ties of kinship meant that the relatives of a murdered person were obliged to exact vengeance for his or her death. This led to bloody and extensive feuds. As a way out of this deadly and futile custom the system of weregilds was instituted. The weregild set a monetary value on each person's life according to their wealth and social status. This value could also be used to set the fine payable if a person was injured or offended against. Robbing a thane called for a higher penalty than robbing a ceorl. On the other hand, a thane who thieved could pay a higher fine than a ceorl who did likewise. Men were willing to die for the lord and to support their comitatus their warrior band. Evidence of this behavior though it may be more a literary ideal than an actual social practice can be observed in the story, made famous in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for , of Cynewulf and Cyneheard, in which the followers of a defeated king decided to fight to the death rather than be reconciled after the death of their lord. This emphasis on social standing affected all parts of the Anglo-Saxon world. The courts, for example, did not attempt to discover the facts in a case; instead, in any dispute it was up to each party to get as many people as possible to swear to the rightness of their case, which became known as oath-swearing. The word of a thane counted for that of six ceorls. Anglo-Saxon society was also decidedly patriarchal, but women were in some ways better off than they would be in later times. A woman could own property in her own right. She could and did rule a kingdom if her husband died. She could not be married without her consent, and any personal goods, including lands, that she brought into a marriage remained her own property. If she were injured or abused in her marriage, her relatives were expected to look after her interests. The most noticeable feature of the Anglo-Saxon legal system is the apparent prevalence of legislation in the form of law codes. The early Anglo- Saxons were organised in various small kingdoms often corresponding to later shires or counties. The kings of these small kingdoms issued written laws, one of earliest of which is attributed to Ethelbert, king of Kent, ca. These legal systems should not be thought of as operating like modern legislation, rather they are educational and political tools designed to demonstrate standards of good conduct rather than act as criteria for subsequent legal judgment. Although not themselves sources of law, Anglo-Saxon charters are a most valuable historical source for tracing the actual legal practices of the various Anglo-Saxon communities. A charter was a written document from a king or other authority confirming a grant either of land or some other valuable right. Their prevalence in the Anglo-Saxon state is a sign of sophistication. They were frequently appealed to and relied upon in litigation. Making grants and confirming those made by others was a major way in which Anglo-Saxon kings demonstrated their authority. The royal council or witan played a central but limited role in the Anglo-Saxon period. The main feature of the system was its high degree of decentralisation. The interference by the king through his granting of charters and the activity of his witan in litigation are exceptions rather than the rule in Anglo-Saxon times. Many shires such as Kent and Sussex were in the early days of the Anglo-Saxon settlement the centre of small independent kingdoms. As the kings first of Mercia and then of Wessex slowly extended their authority over the whole of England, they left the shire courts with overall responsibility for the administration of law. The meeting of the shire court was presided over by an officer, the shire reeve or sheriff, whose appointment came in later Anglo-Saxon times into the hands of the king but had in earlier times been elective. The sheriff was not the judge of the court, merely its president. The judges of the court were all those who had the right and duty of attending the court, the suitors. These were originally all free male inhabitants of the neighbourhood, but over time suit of court became an obligation attached to particular holdings of land. The sessions of a shire court resembled more closely those of a modern local administrative body than a modern court. It could and did act judicially, but this was not its prime function. In the shire court, charters and writs would be read out for all to hear. Below the level of the shire, each county was divided into areas known as hundreds or wapentakes in the north of England. These were originally groups of families rather than geographical areas. The hundred court was a smaller version of the shire court, presided over by the hundred bailiff, formerly a sheriff's appointment, but over the years many hundreds fell into the private hands of a local large landowner. Little is known about hundred court business, which was likely a mix of the administrative and judicial, but they remained in some areas an important forum for the settlement of local disputes well into the post-Conquest period. The Anglo-Saxon system put an emphasis upon compromise and arbitration: litigating parties were enjoined to settle their differences if possible. If they persisted in bringing a case for decision before a shire court, then it could be determined there. The suitors of the court would pronounce a judgment which fixed how the case would be decided: legal problems were considered to be too complex and difficult for mere human decision, and so proof or demonstration of the right would depend upon some irrational, non-human criterion. The normal methods of proof were oath- helping or the ordeal. The number of helpers required and the form of their oath differed from place to place and upon the nature of the dispute. As "wager of law," it remained a way of determining cases in the common law until its abolition in the 19th century. The ordeal offered an alternative for those unable or unwilling to swear an oath. The two most common methods were the ordeal by hot iron and by cold water. The former consisted in carrying a red-hot iron for five paces: the wound was immediately bound up, and if on unbinding, it was found to be festering, the case was lost. In the ordeal by water, the victim, usually an accused person, was cast bound into water: if he sunk he was innocent, if he floated he was guilty. Although for perhaps understandable reasons, the ordeals became associated with trials in criminal matters. They were in essence tests of the truth of a claim or denial of a party and appropriate for trying any legal issue. The allocation of a mode of proof and who should bear it was the substance of the shire court's judgment. Old English literary works include genres such as epic poetry , hagiography , sermons , Bible translations , legal works, chronicles , riddles and others. In all there are about surviving manuscripts from the period, a significant corpus of both popular interest and specialist research. The manuscripts use a modified Roman alphabet , but Anglo-Saxon runes or futhorc are used in under inscriptions on objects, sometimes mixed with Roman letters. This literature is remarkable for being in the vernacular Old English in the early medieval period: almost all other written literature was in Latin at this time, but because of Alfred's programme of vernacular literacy, the oral traditions of Anglo-Saxon England ended up being converted into writing and preserved. Much of this preservation can be attributed to the monks of the tenth century, who made — at the very least — the copies of most of the literary manuscripts that still exist. Manuscripts were not common items. They were expensive and hard to make. The leather was then scraped, stretched, and cut into sheets, which were sewn into books. Then inks had to be made from oak galls and other ingredients, and the books had to be hand written by monks using quill pens. Every manuscript is slightly different from another, even if they are copies of each other, because every scribe had different handwriting and made different errors. Individual scribes can sometimes be identified from their handwriting, and different styles of hand were used in specific scriptoria centres of manuscript production , so the location of the manuscript production can often be identified. The Franks Casket also has carved riddles, a popular form with the Anglo-Saxons. Old English secular poetry is mostly characterized by a somewhat gloomy and introspective cast of mind, and the grim determination found in The Battle of Maldon , recounting an action against the Vikings in This is from a book that was lost in the Cotton Library fire of , but it had been transcribed previously. Rather than being organized around rhyme, the poetic line in Anglo-Saxon is organised around alliteration, the repetition of stressed sounds; any repeated stressed sound, vowel or consonant, could be used. Anglo-Saxon lines are made up of two half-lines in old-fashioned scholarship, these are called hemistiches divided by a breath-pause or caesura. There must be at least one of the alliterating sounds on each side of the caesura. The line above illustrates the principle: note that there is a natural pause after 'hondum' and that the first stressed syllable after that pause begins with the same sound as a stressed line from the first half-line the first halfline is called the a-verse and the second is the b-verse. There is very strong evidence that Anglo-Saxon poetry has deep roots in oral tradition, but keeping with the cultural practices seen elsewhere in Anglo-Saxon culture, there was a blending between tradition and new learning. The most famous works from this period include the epic poem Beowulf , which has achieved national epic status in Britain. There are about 30, surviving lines of Old English poetry and about ten times that much prose, and the majority of both is religious. The prose was influential and obviously very important to the Anglo-Saxons and more important than the poetry to those who came after the Anglo-Saxons. Anglo-Saxon clergy also continued to write in Latin, the language of Bede's works, monastic chronicles, and theological writing, although Bede's biographer records that he was familiar with Old English poetry and gives a five line lyric which he either wrote or liked to quote — the sense is unclear. Symbolism was an essential element in Anglo-Saxon culture. Julian D. Richards suggests that in societies with strong oral traditions , material culture is used to store and pass on information and stand instead of literature in those cultures. This symbolism is less logical than literature and more difficult to read. Anglo-Saxons used symbolism to communicate as well as to aid their thinking about the world. Anglo-Saxons used symbols to differentiate between groups and people, status and role in society. The visual riddles and ambiguities of early Anglo-Saxon animal art, for example, has been seen as emphasing the protective roles of animals on dress accessories, weapons, armour and horse equipment, and its evocation of pre-Christian mythological themes. However Howard Williams and Ruth Nugent have suggested that the number of artefact categories that have animals or eyes—from pots to combs, buckets to weaponry—was to make artefacts 'see' by impressing and punching circular and lentoid shapes onto them. This symbolism of making the object seems to be more than decoration. Conventional interpretations of the symbolism of grave goods revolved around religion equipment for the hereafter , legal concepts inalienable possessions and social structure status display, ostentatious destruction of wealth. There was multiplicity of messages and variability of meanings characterised the deposition of objects in Anglo-Saxon graves. The proportion of adult weapon burials is much too high to suggest that they all represent a social elite. However, a systematic comparison of burials with and without weapons, using archaeological and skeletal data, suggests that this assumption is much too simplistic and even misleading. This symbol continued until c. The word bead comes from the Anglo-Saxon words bidden to pray and bede prayer. The vast majority of early Anglo-Saxon female graves contain beads, which are often found in large numbers in the area of the neck and chest. Beads are sometimes found in male burials, with large beads often associated with prestigious weapons. A variety of materials other than glass were available for Anglo-Saxon beads, including amber, rock crystal, amethyst, bone, shells, coral and even metal. Anglo-Saxon glass beads show a wide variety of bead manufacturing techniques, sizes, shapes, colours and decorations. Various studies have been carried out investigating the distribution and chronological change of bead types. Symbolism continued to have a hold on the minds of Anglo- Saxon people into the Christian eras. The interiors of churches would have glowed with colour, and the walls of the halls were painted with decorative scenes from the imagination telling stories of monsters and heroes like those in the poem Beowulf. Although nothing much is left of the wall paintings, evidence of their pictorial art is found in Bibles and Psalters, in illuminated manuscripts. The poem The Dream of the Rood is an example how symbolism of trees was fused into Christian symbolism. Richard North suggests that the sacrifice of the tree was in accordance with pagan virtues and "the image of Christ's death was constructed in this poem with reference to an Anglian ideology of the world tree". The most distinctive feature of coinage of the first half of the 8th century is its portrayal of animals, to an extent found in no other European coinage of the Early Middle Ages. Some animals, such as lions or peacocks, would have been known in England only through descriptions in texts or through images in manuscripts or on portable objects. The animals were not merely illustrated out of an interest in the natural world. Each was imbued with meanings and acted as a symbol which would have been understood at the time. Anglo-Saxon is still used as a term for the original Old English-derived vocabulary within the modern English language, in contrast to vocabulary derived from Old Norse and French. Throughout the history of Anglo-Saxon studies, different narratives of the people have been used to justify contemporary ideologies. In the early Middle Ages, the views of Geoffrey of Monmouth produced a personally inspired and largely fictitious history that was not challenged for some years. In the Reformation , churchmen looking for signs of an English church reinterpreted Anglo-Saxon Christianity. In the 19th century, the term Anglo-Saxon was broadly used in philology , and is sometimes so used at present, though the term 'Old English' is more commonly used. Freeman [] used the term Anglo-Saxon to justify racism and imperialism, claiming that the Anglo-Saxon ancestry of the English made them racially superior to the colonised peoples. The term Anglo-Saxon is sometimes used to refer to peoples descended or associated in some way with the English ethnic group , but there is no universal definition for the term. In contemporary Anglophone cultures outside Britain, "Anglo-Saxon" may be contrasted with "Celtic" as a socioeconomic identifier, invoking or reinforcing historical prejudices against non-English British immigrants, such as the Irish. As such, WASP is not a historical label or a precise ethnological term but rather a reference to contemporary family-based political, financial and cultural power e. Outside Anglophone countries, the term Anglo-Saxon and its direct translations are used to refer to the Anglophone peoples and societies of Britain, the United States, and other countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand - areas which are sometimes referred to as the Anglosphere. The term Anglo-Saxon can be used in a variety of contexts, often to identify the English-speaking world's distinctive language, culture, technology, wealth, markets, economy, and legal systems. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article is about Anglo-Saxon culture and society. For other uses, see Anglo-Saxon disambiguation. Germanic tribes who started to inhabit parts of Great Britain from the 5th century onwards. Main article: Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. Main article: Mercian Supremacy. Main articles: Viking Age and Danelaw. Main article: Anglo-Saxon architecture. Main article: Anglo-Saxon art. Main article: Old English. Main article: Anglo-Saxon laws. Main article: Anglo-Saxon literature. Anglo-Saxon England portal. But, all these terms are interchangeably used by scholars. The Anglo-Saxon World. Yale University Press, Hogg, ed. Oxford University Press, Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 March Origins of the English. Duckworth Pub, Translated by Williams, Hugh. Felinfach: Llanerch. Retrieved 6 September Signal Books. Palgrave Macmillan. Archived from the original on Retrieved From Roman Britain to Norman England. New York: St. Essays in Anglo-Saxon history. London: Hambledon Press. Manchester University Press. Meller, F. Daim, J. Frause and R. BBC News. Paper circulated in connection with the conference Britons and Saxons, 14—16 April. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Oxford University Press, pp. Nature Communications. January 19, Byrne, Rui Martiniano, Lara M. Bradley, Russell L. Vol 2 p. Bloomsbury Academic, Routledge, The essential history of Anglo-Saxon England, brought completely up to date with new discoveries and interpretations The Anglo-Saxon period, stretching from the fifth to the late eleventh century, begins with the Roman retreat from the Western world and ends with the Norman takeover of England. Chapter 1 Britain in and out of the Roman Empire. Chapter 2 The Origins of England. Chapter 4 The Mercian Supremacies. Chapter 5 The AngloSaxons and the Vikings c Chapter 6 Conquest Reform and the Making of England. Higham is professor emeritus, School of Arts, University of Manchester. Ryan is a former lecturer in early medieval history, University of Manchester. Drawing on a rich array of sources and disciplines such as historical genetics, paleobotany, and numismatics, the authors use primary material, illustrations, maps, photographs and genealogies to bring alive a part of history which 'witnessed the birth of the English people, the establishment of Christianity and the development of the English language. Satisfyingly detailed, the authors assume no specialist knowledge on the part of their readers, but do not talk down to them either. It is an interdisciplinary work, combining lively analysis of written sources with archaeological discoveries, linguistic evidence, landscape archaeology, palaeobotany, genetics, and more. The scope is broad but often zooms in on interesting digressions Complementing this treasure trove of information is a series of superb maps, we well as generous quantities of big, coloum either. But this is no picture book. Higham and Ryan do not dumb down for their readers. The authors demonstrate that they are writing about a serious subject worthy of serious consideration. Higham and Ryan, marshalling the latest research from archaeology, genetics, paleobotany, and even plain old literary studies https://files8.webydo.com/9589810/UploadedFiles/16AE3CA4-DF77-8770-02B9-410C0249A9E0.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4641620/normal_601eeaa998117.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9586272/UploadedFiles/BBE7FFCD-91CE-67D5-9D4B-3993F65998C8.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9589883/UploadedFiles/6D0C64F0-4705-D282-3D42-7CD27A778918.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9586116/UploadedFiles/EAC7D4B3-23D7-9065-8424-4BDDE20E8BB9.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9587223/UploadedFiles/4CD1E4BC-3100-43E4-3BC1-C788BEA62EB5.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4643984/normal_601f7551dba69.pdf