Author: Richard Hodges Publisher: Bristol Classical Press ISBN: 9780715622599 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 224
Book Description
The year 1066 has been regarded traditionally as a great divide in English history, an apparent break with the past which has gained even greater status recently as historians have pushed back the origins of English society to earlier and earlier medieval generations. Further than 1066 it is difficult to go, for this marks the point beyond which the English peasantry cannot be identified from written sources. Archaeology, however, concerned as it is mainly with small farms and simple town dwellings, has yielded a wealth of data on life in pre-Conquest England, opening a vista on the Anglo-Saxon peasantry, the Anglo-Saxon state and the Anglo-Saxon social and economic structure as a whole which alters radically our perspective of England's past. In this book Dr Hodges draws on the growing archaeological record to trace the genesis of English Culture right back to King Alfred, and even to the Anglo-Saxon migrations that followed the end of Roman occupation. In a profound analysis of what gave the English their individuality he offers a new assessment of the achievements of the first millennium, showing that a more of less continuous line connects the age of Bede with the Industrial Revolution.
Author: J. Douglas Woods Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press ISBN: 1554588243 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 199
Book Description
The popular notion that sees the Anglo-Saxon era as “The Dark Ages” perhaps has tended to obscure for many people the creations and strengths of that time. This collection, in examining many aspects of pre-Norman Britain, helps to illuminate how Anglo-Saxon society contributed to the continuity of knowledge between the ancient world and the modern world. But as well, it posits a view of that society in its own distinctive terms to show how it developed as a synthesis of radically different cultures. The Bayeux Tapestry is examined for its underlying political motivations; the study of Old English literature is extended to such works as laws, charters, apocryphal literature, saints’ lives and mythologies, and many of these are studied for the insight they provide into the social structures of the Anglo-Saxons. Other essays examine both the institution of slavery and the use of Germanic warrior terminology in Old Saxon as a contribution towards the descriptive analysis of that society’s social groupings. The book also presents a perspective on the Christian church that is usually overlooked by historians: that its existence was continuous and influential from Roman times, and that it was greatly affected by the Celtic Christian church long after the latter was thought to have disintegrated.
Author: Marc Morris Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 164313535X Category : History Languages : en Pages : 452
Book Description
A sweeping and original history of the Anglo-Saxons by national bestselling author Marc Morris. Sixteen hundred years ago Britain left the Roman Empire and swiftly fell into ruin. Grand cities and luxurious villas were deserted and left to crumble, and civil society collapsed into chaos. Into this violent and unstable world came foreign invaders from across the sea, and established themselves as its new masters. The Anglo-Saxons traces the turbulent history of these people across the next six centuries. It explains how their earliest rulers fought relentlessly against each other for glory and supremacy, and then were almost destroyed by the onslaught of the vikings. It explores how they abandoned their old gods for Christianity, established hundreds of churches and created dazzlingly intricate works of art. It charts the revival of towns and trade, and the origins of a familiar landscape of shires, boroughs and bishoprics. It is a tale of famous figures like King Offa, Alfred the Great and Edward the Confessor, but also features a host of lesser known characters - ambitious queens, revolutionary saints, intolerant monks and grasping nobles. Through their remarkable careers we see how a new society, a new culture and a single unified nation came into being. Drawing on a vast range of original evidence - chronicles, letters, archaeology and artefacts - renowned historian Marc Morris illuminates a period of history that is only dimly understood, separates the truth from the legend, and tells the extraordinary story of how the foundations of England were laid.
Author: Nicholas J. Higham Publisher: Yale University Press ISBN: 0300125348 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 495
Book Description
Presents the Anglo-Saxon period of English history from the fifth century up to the late eleventh century, covering such events as the spread of Christianity, the invasions of the Vikings, the composition of Beowulf, and the Battle of Hastings.
Author: James Campbell Publisher: A&C Black ISBN: 9781852851767 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 340
Book Description
These essays make a case for how unified and well-governed Anglo-Saxon England was, and how numerous and wealthy its inhabitants were.
Author: Sarah Foot Publisher: Yale University Press ISBN: 0300160372 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 487
Book Description
The powerful and innovative King AEthelstan reigned only briefly (924-939), yet his achievements during those eventful fifteen years changed the course of English history. He won spectacular military victories (most notably at Brunanburh), forged unprecedented political connections across Europe, and succeeded in creating the first unified kingdom of the English. To claim for him the title of "first English monarch" is no exaggeration.In this nuanced portrait of AEthelstan, Sarah Foot offers the first full account of the king ever written. She traces his life through the various spheres in which he lived and worked, beginning with the intimate context of his family, then extending outward to his unusual multiethnic royal court, the Church and his kingdom, the wars he conducted, and finally his death and legacy. Foot describes a sophisticated man who was not only a great military leader but also a worthy king. He governed brilliantly, developed creative ways to project his image as a ruler, and devised strategic marriage treaties and gift exchanges to cement alliances with the leading royal and ducal houses of Europe. AEthelstan's legacy, seen in the new light of this masterful biography, is inextricably connected to the very forging of England and early English identity.
Author: S.A.J. Bradley Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson ISBN: 1780223854 Category : Poetry Languages : en Pages : 624
Book Description
Anglo-saxon poetry was circulated orally in a preliterate society, and gathered at last into books over some six centuries before the Norman Conquest ended English independence. Against the odds some of these books survive today. This anthology of prose translations covers most of the surviving poetry, revealing a tradition which is outstanding among early medieval literatures for its sophisticated exploration of the human condition in a mutable, finite, but wonderfully diverse and meaning-filled world.
Author: Michael Lapidge Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 9780521652032 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 464
Book Description
This volume is framed by articles that throw interesting light on the achievement and reputation of the greatest of Anglo-Saxon kings - Alfred.
Author: Richard Hodges
Author: Richard Hodges
Author: J. Douglas Woods
Author: Marc Morris
Author: Nicholas J. Higham
Author: James Campbell
Author: Sarah Foot
Author: Peter Hunter Blair
Author: S.A.J. Bradley
Author: Michael Lapidge