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Durham E-Theses Material Belief: A Critical History of Archaeological Approaches to Religious Change in Anglo-Saxon England DOOLEY-FAIRCHILD, SIRA,MADDALENA How to cite: DOOLEY-FAIRCHILD, SIRA,MADDALENA (2012) Material Belief: A Critical History of Archaeological Approaches to Religious Change in Anglo-Saxon England, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5899/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Abstract Material Belief: A Critical History of Archaeological Approaches to Religious Change in Anglo-Saxon England Sira Maddalena Dooley Fairchild This thesis aims to explore the long-term historical background for the archaeological study of the Anglo-Saxon conversion to Christianity in seventh century England. Following the recent work that has been done on the context and motivations of the migration debate within Anglo-Saxon archaeology (Lucy 2002, Hills 2003) this project has looked at the ways in which contemporary socio-cultural, religious and political factors have shaped the study of early medieval religion in Britain. Beginning with the early modern period, this study traces the history of the material of conversion through subsequent generations of scholars, exposing the historical and religious motivations behind each new interpretation. A careful critical reading of the published texts was performed, covering both antiquarian and archaeological interpretations of the subject. It was found that the study of the conversion and the wider topic of early medieval religion, both before and after the coming of Christianity, has been very much contingent on the historical context in which it has been undertaken. Several common threads have been identified throughout the period, including a consistent focus on the graves and grave- goods as the best way of accessing religious information about individuals and a frequent tendency toward the unquestioning acceptance of the historical truth of the written sources. Following the recent suggestion by Ronald Hutton (2010) that we will likely never fully understand the Anglo-Saxon conversion, this thesis explores the many attempts that have been made to explain the conversion and its implications. This in- depth study of the past of the subject calls into question not only received ideas about the Conversion passed down through generations of scholars, but also the theoretical and methodological lenses through which it is studied today. 1 Title Page Material Belief: A Critical History of Archaeological Approaches to Religious Change in Anglo-Saxon England Sira Maddalena Dooley Fairchild Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Archaeology Durham University 2012 2 Table of Contents Abstract 1 Title Page 2 Table of Contents 3 List of Figures 5 List of Tables 6 Statement of Copyright 7 Acknowledgements 8 Introduction 9 Aims and Objectives 9 Research Context 12 Theoretical Background 13 Parameters of the Study 15 Methods and Sources 18 Definition of Terms 27 Chapter One: Literature Review 31 History of Archaeology 32 The History of Medieval Archaeology 37 Medievalism and Anglo-Saxonism 39 Anglo-Saxon Archaeology in Historiographical Perspective 43 Historiography of the Archaeology of Early Medieval Religion 47 Conclusion 53 Chapter 2: Medieval Textual Sources 55 Bede’s Ecclesiastical History 56 The Afterlife of Bede’s Text 65 Paganism in the Written Record 67 Beowulf 69 Other Early Texts 71 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 73 The Lives of the Early Saints 74 Later Medieval Sources 76 Access to the Texts 78 Conclusion 84 Chapter 3: Early Modern Approaches 1500-1750 85 Historical Background 87 Antiquarians and Historians 89 The Origin of the Society of Antiquaries 93 Medieval Texts in the Early Modern Period 94 Conversion in Context 99 Contemporary Christianity and the Anglo-Saxon past 102 The English Christian Self and the Material World 107 Conclusion 110 Chapter 4: Material Transitions 1750-1830 112 Enlightenment, Romanticism and the Development of Historical Consciousness 113 Museums and Heritage 122 Pagans and Druids in the Eighteenth Century Imagination 125 The Material Culture of Religious Change 129 The Use of Previous Scholarship 139 Conclusion 141 3 Chapter 5: The Early Victorian Period 1830-1880 143 The Development of Archaeology in Victorian England 145 Victorian Anglo-Saxonism 151 John Mitchell Kemble 158 Race and Migration in Victorian Anglo-Saxonism 161 The Material of the Anglo-Saxon Conversion 165 Conclusion 172 Chapter 6: The Later Victorian Period and the World Wars 1880-1950 174 Modernism, Futurism and the Past 175 Archaeology at the Turn of the Century 176 Anglo-Saxon Archaeology 182 The Great Wars and the End of Teutonism 186 The Archaeology of Conversion 192 Text and Archaeology 203 Conclusion 205 Chapter 7: 1950 to the Present Day 207 Post-War Approaches 210 Art and Sculpture 220 Archaeology and Text 222 Case Study 1: The ‘Final Phase’ 224 Case Study 2: Sutton Hoo 226 Neopagan Archaeology of the Conversion 232 Looking Forward 234 Conclusion 236 Conclusion 238 Suggestions for Future Study 239 Conclusion 241 Bibliography 244 4 List of Figures Figure 1: Number of primary sources per 25-year period ........................................................................... 19 Figure 2: Articles found in Archaeologia in the period between 1770 and 1779 ................................... 23 Figure 3: Comparison between articles in Archaeologia in 1770-1779, 1870-1879 and 1970-1979 .. 23 Figure 4: Number of articles published in the journal Medieval Archaeology between 1957 and 2006 ....................................................................................................................................................................... 25 Figure 5: Goodmanham Church, East Yorkshire (Semple 2010: 28) ........................................................ 60 Figure 7: A reconstruction of the monastery at St Paul's, Jarrow (Cramp 2005: 25) ............................ 64 Figure 8: The cabinet of Ferdinando Cospi, 1677 (Schnapp 1993: 171) ................................................... 92 Figure 9: Elizabeth Elstob by an unknown artist (E. Elstob 1715: i) ........................................................ 96 Figure 10: Stonehenge by Stukeley (Stukeley 1740: unpaginated)............................................................ 98 Figure 11: Verstegan's Woodcuts of "Anglo-Saxon" Idols (Verstegan 1605: 55, 57) ........................ 109 Figure 12: The Chancel and Crossing of Tintern Abbey, Looking towards the East Window, J.M.W. Turner 1794 .............................................................................................................................................. 115 Figure 13: Old Sarum, John Constable 1834 ................................................................................................ 117 Figure 14: Rievaulx Abbey, J.M.W. Turner 1825 ....................................................................................... 117 Figure 15: Wells Cathedral Section from East to West, John Carter 1807/1808 ............................... 118 Figure 16: An Arch Druid in his Juidical Dress, Robert Havell 1815 (Meyrick and Smith 1815: pl. x) ..................................................................................................................................................................... 126 Figure 17: Greensted Church as it appears today, from www.greenstedchurch.co.uk ........................ 135 Figure 18: Fairholt's Illustration of the Kingston Broach, excavated by Faussett in Kent (Faussett 1856: 29) .................................................................................................................................................... 150 Figure 19: St Augustine Preaching to Ethelbert and Bertha, J.C. Horsley, Exhibited in Westminster Hall in 1843. .............................................................................................................................................. 153 Figure 20: Victoria and Albert in Anglo-Saxon dress, by William Theed 1868 ................................... 154 Figure 21: Saulos and Paulos spoons from mound 1 at Sutton Hoo (Bruce-Mitford 1947: 48)......... 199 Figure 22: British religious affiliation (Park et al. 2012: 173) ........................................................... 207 Figure 23: Extent of the excavated cemetery at Spong Hill, Norfolk (Hills et al. 1987: unpaginated) ..................................................................................................................................................................... 212 Figure 24: The mounds at Gamla Uppsala as they appear today, photo courtesy of S. Semple ....... 215 Figure 25: Reconstruction of the temple at Uppåkra by Löic Lecareux (Walker 2010: 94) .............. 216 Figure 26: Plan of excavated
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