The Anglo-Saxon World Pdf, Epub, Ebook
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THE ANGLO-SAXON WORLD PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Nicholas Higham,M. J. Ryan | 496 pages | 01 Nov 2015 | Yale University Press | 9780300216134 | English | New Haven, United States The Anglo-Saxon World 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.