Monasteries and Places of Power in Pre Viking England: Trajectories
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Monasteries and places of power in pre- Viking England: trajectories, relationships and interactions Book or Report Section Published Version Thomas, G. (2017) Monasteries and places of power in pre- Viking England: trajectories, relationships and interactions. In: Thomas, G. and Knox, A. (eds.) Early medieval monasticism in the North Sea Zone: proceedings of a conference held to celebrate the conclusion of the Lyminge excavations 2008-15. Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History, 20. Oxford University School of Archaeology, Oxford, pp. 97-116. ISBN 9781905905393 Available at http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/70249/ It is advisable to refer to the publisher's version if you intend to cite from the work. Publisher: Oxford University School of Archaeology All outputs in CentAUR are protected by Intellectual Property Rights law, including copyright law. Copyright and IPR is retained by the creators or other copyright holders. Terms and conditions for use of this material are defined in the End User Agreement . www.reading.ac.uk/centaur CentAUR Central Archive at the University of Reading Reading's research outputs online An offprint from Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 20 EARLY MEDIEVAL MONASTICISM IN THE NORTH SEA ZONE Proceedings of a conference held to celebrate the conclusion of the Lyminge excavations 2008–15 Edited by Gabor Thomas and Alexandra Knox General Editor: Helena Hamerow Oxford University School of Archaeology Published by the Oxford University School of Archaeology Institute of Archaeology Beaumont Street Oxford Distributed by Oxbow Books The Old Music Hall, 106–108 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1JE, UK Tel: 01865 241249 Fax: 01865 794449 Distributed in North America by Casemate Academic 1950 Lawrence Rd, Havertown PA 19083, USA www.oxbowbooks.com © Oxford University School of Archaeology and individual authors, 2017 ISBN 978 1 905905 39 3 ISSN 0264 5254 A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library Cover image: view of the 2014 excavations on Tayne Field, Lyminge, looking south-west with the parish church captured in the background Designed and typeset by Oxford Book Projects Printed in Great Britain by Short Run Press, Exeter Editor’s Foreword Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History is a series concerned with the archaeology and history of England and its neighbours during the Anglo-Saxon period. ASSAH offers researchers an opportunity to publish new work in an inter- and multi-disciplinary forum that allows for a diversity of approaches and subject matter. Contributions placing Anglo-Saxon England in its international context are as warmly welcomed as those that focus on England itself. Papers submitted to ASSAH must be comprehensible to non-specialist readers. They must, furthermore, conform to the journal’s house style. A copy of the style-sheet is available on-line, at: http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/assah. A hard copy can be obtained from the Editorial Assistant, Dr. Laura Morley ([email protected]). All papers are peer-reviewed. The Editor is grateful to the contributors to this volume for their prompt and efficient responses, and to those peer reviewers who have taken the time to read and comment upon submissions. All papers for consideration for future volumes should be sent to the Editor. Professor Helena Hamerow ([email protected]) Institute of Archaeology 34–6 Beaumont Street Oxford OX1 2PG Contents List of Contributors vii Foreword by John Blair ix Gabor Thomas Introduction: early medieval monasticism in the North Sea zone: recent research and new perspectives 1 Part I: Continental connections: re-examining the Frankish background to monasticism in Anglo-Saxon Kent Barbara Yorke Queen Balthild’s ‘monastic policy’ and the origins of female religious houses in southern England 7 Ian Wood Merovingian monasticism and England 17 Part II: Re-conceptualizing early medieval monastic space: comparative archaeological approaches Rosemary Cramp New perspectives on monastic buildings and their uses 27 David Petts Places and spaces: some reflections on reconstructing the spatial organization of Northumbrian monasteries 43 Elisabeth Lorans Marmoutier (Tours), a late Roman and early medieval monastery in the Loire Valley (fourth–eleventh centuries) 55 Tomás Ó Carragáin Vernacular form, monastic practice in the early Middle Ages: evidence from Toureen Peakaun 67 Tony Wilmott The Anglian abbey of Streonæshalch-Whitby: new perspectives on topography and layout 81 Part III: From tribal centre to royal monastery: Anglo-Saxon Lyminge explored through its archaeology Gabor Thomas Monasteries and places of power in pre-Viking England: trajectories, relationships and interactions 97 Rose Broadley Preliminary observations on the Anglo-Saxon glass from Lyminge 117 Mark McKerracher Seeds and status: the archaeobotany of monastic Lyminge 127 Zoe Knapp Changing tastes: farming, feasting and fasting at Lyminge 135 Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 20, 2017 Monasteries and places of power in pre-Viking England: trajectories, relationships and interactions Gabor Thomas Abstract a deficit of Anglo-Saxon settlement archaeology. Originally Recent archaeological studies conducted at different scales, conceived to improve archaeological understanding of a from the level of site through to landscapes and regions, documented pre-Viking monastery, the Lyminge Project has have focused critical attention on the connections and subsequently gone on to uncover the remains of a separate interactions existing between secular and religious realms and spatially distinct royal focus – a rare example of a sev- of life in Anglo-Saxon England. Settlement archaeology has enth-century ‘great hall complex’ – grafted onto an earlier made an important contribution to this re-evaluation by fifth–sixth-century settlement. A provisional interpretation drawing attention to a series of high-status residences of the of these results was published in 2013, but it is now possible seventh–ninth centuries AD whose trajectories and lifestyle to offer a more nuanced and richly textured account in the blur the boundaries between monastic and secular aristo- light of more recent findings and radiocarbon dating. This cratic culture in pre-Viking England. Recent excavations in paper draws upon these new insights to reassess the settle- the Kentish village of Lyminge extend an appreciation of ment sequence and to evaluate Lyminge’s wider contribu- this theme into a region which has hitherto suffered from tion to relevant debates in early medieval studies. Introduction concluding discussion which draws out the key strands of Three seasons of excavation have passed since the last interpretation and examines their implications for future synthetic overview of the Lyminge Archaeological Project analysis and wider research agendas. was submitted for publication in 2012.1 This was written when the ink was barely dry on the first campaign in a new scheme of excavation designed to channel the momentum Establishment and consolidation: Lyminge of previous fieldwork into the investigation of a large, before the seventh century AD centrally located open space within the village known as In 2012, it was already possible to make some clear state- Tayne Field (Figs 1 and 3). The conclusions put forward ments on Lyminge’s early, pre-Christian, development in this earlier paper were necessarily provisional and, in based upon fresh archaeological discoveries. At that a strong measure, predictive – hypothesizing what might point in the project, domestic settlement remains of char- be found in future years on the then available evidence. acteristic early Anglo-Saxon type had been identified As a consequence, it is hardly surprising that parts of the at two sites within the village: a cluster of four sunken- synthesis advanced in 2012 require revision in the light featured buildings and a rectangular ground-level build- of new archaeological discoveries and changes in per- ing of post-hole construction at the bottom of Rectory spective. With the final campaign of excavations now at Lane, and a fifth sunken-featured building investigated an end, this contribution takes the opportunity to review as part of the inaugural season on Tayne Field (Figs 2 what new evidence has been found and to evaluate its and 3). The wide separation of these two sites suggested wider significance for Anglo-Saxon studies. The first part that occupation of this period formed a spatially diffuse of the discussion reviews the evidence for two successive, sprawl straddling the headwater of the River Nailbourne. but chronologically distinct, phases of Anglo-Saxon occu- While the structural remains seemed fairly typical of the pation unearthed on Tayne Field, together offering vital period, albeit if evincing some regional tendencies, the evidence for Lyminge’s embryonic development and con- rich cultural assemblages recovered from the backfilled solidation as a theatre of royal power. This is followed by a remains of the sunken-featured buildings clearly marked 98 Gabor Thomas Fig. 1 Map showing location of excavations in relation to the modern-day topography of Lyminge village. Monasteries and places of power in pre-Viking England: trajectories, relationships and interactions 99 Fig. 2 Map showing different phases of excavation with Anglo-Saxon archaeology highlighted in bold. sixth–seventh-century Lyminge out as a prosperous and non-structural, character (Fig. 4); typological and radio- socially pre-eminent community.2 carbon dating indicates that