Helena Hamerow
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199203253
- eISBN:
- 9780191741760
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199203253.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
In the course of the fifth century, the Roman farms and villas of lowland Britain were replaced by the new, distinctive settlements of Anglo-Saxon communities. This volume presents a major synthesis ...
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In the course of the fifth century, the Roman farms and villas of lowland Britain were replaced by the new, distinctive settlements of Anglo-Saxon communities. This volume presents a major synthesis of the evidence, now rapidly growing, for such settlements from across England and throughout the Anglo-Saxon period. Its aim is to explore what this evidence reveals about the communities who lived in them and whose daily lives went almost wholly unrecorded. The book examines the appearance, ‘life-cycles’ and function of their buildings; the relationship of Anglo-Saxon settlements to the Romano-British landscape and to later medieval villages; the role of ritual in daily life; what distinguished ‘rural’ from ‘urban’; and the relationship between farming regimes and settlement forms. A central theme throughout the book is the impact on rural producers of the rise of lordship and markets, and how this impact is reflected in the remains of their settlements.Less
In the course of the fifth century, the Roman farms and villas of lowland Britain were replaced by the new, distinctive settlements of Anglo-Saxon communities. This volume presents a major synthesis of the evidence, now rapidly growing, for such settlements from across England and throughout the Anglo-Saxon period. Its aim is to explore what this evidence reveals about the communities who lived in them and whose daily lives went almost wholly unrecorded. The book examines the appearance, ‘life-cycles’ and function of their buildings; the relationship of Anglo-Saxon settlements to the Romano-British landscape and to later medieval villages; the role of ritual in daily life; what distinguished ‘rural’ from ‘urban’; and the relationship between farming regimes and settlement forms. A central theme throughout the book is the impact on rural producers of the rise of lordship and markets, and how this impact is reflected in the remains of their settlements.
Paul J. E. Kershaw
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198208709
- eISBN:
- 9780191594731
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208709.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
What did early medieval authors think about when they thought about peace? Early medieval political culture is impossible to understand without a full awareness of the foundations upon which it was ...
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What did early medieval authors think about when they thought about peace? Early medieval political culture is impossible to understand without a full awareness of the foundations upon which it was constructed, and the inherited thought and imagery with which it was built. Briefly discussing the linguistic issues involved in the subject, this chapter uses Bede's famous image of the peace of King Edwin of Northumbria's reign as a means to explore the various currents that fed into the early medieval political imagination. Biblical material, and the forms of its re‐use in early medieval culture is addressed — with emphasis upon the treatment of Solomon — as is the legacy of antiquity through an examination of the late history of the ara pacis of Augustus and the reconfiguration of Rome's central precincts. Byzantine, Augustinian, early Irish, and ‘Germanic’ notions of peace also come under scrutiny.Less
What did early medieval authors think about when they thought about peace? Early medieval political culture is impossible to understand without a full awareness of the foundations upon which it was constructed, and the inherited thought and imagery with which it was built. Briefly discussing the linguistic issues involved in the subject, this chapter uses Bede's famous image of the peace of King Edwin of Northumbria's reign as a means to explore the various currents that fed into the early medieval political imagination. Biblical material, and the forms of its re‐use in early medieval culture is addressed — with emphasis upon the treatment of Solomon — as is the legacy of antiquity through an examination of the late history of the ara pacis of Augustus and the reconfiguration of Rome's central precincts. Byzantine, Augustinian, early Irish, and ‘Germanic’ notions of peace also come under scrutiny.
John Marenbon
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691142555
- eISBN:
- 9781400866359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691142555.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter looks at the ease with which the ancient pagan culture was adopted and adapted to fit into a Christian world (without in many cases being actually Christianized) during the Early Middle ...
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This chapter looks at the ease with which the ancient pagan culture was adopted and adapted to fit into a Christian world (without in many cases being actually Christianized) during the Early Middle Ages. In writing which was not strictly theological or philosophical, early medieval scholars used ancient models and language freely within a Christian context. They took the compatibility of pagan culture and Christian belief so much for granted that the Problem of Paganism did not arise; and the same is true for their predecessors in the sixth and seventh centuries as for some tenth- and eleventh-century writing. This broad, unproblematic acceptance of classical culture set what would remain the mainstream view throughout the Middle Ages. The chapter also looks at how Christian Europe came about only as the result of a long process.Less
This chapter looks at the ease with which the ancient pagan culture was adopted and adapted to fit into a Christian world (without in many cases being actually Christianized) during the Early Middle Ages. In writing which was not strictly theological or philosophical, early medieval scholars used ancient models and language freely within a Christian context. They took the compatibility of pagan culture and Christian belief so much for granted that the Problem of Paganism did not arise; and the same is true for their predecessors in the sixth and seventh centuries as for some tenth- and eleventh-century writing. This broad, unproblematic acceptance of classical culture set what would remain the mainstream view throughout the Middle Ages. The chapter also looks at how Christian Europe came about only as the result of a long process.
Christina Harrington
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208235
- eISBN:
- 9780191716683
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208235.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
Monasteries in early medieval Ireland resembled nothing so much as slightly miniaturised villages. By the 7th century, there were many places resembling this general description, so successful had ...
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Monasteries in early medieval Ireland resembled nothing so much as slightly miniaturised villages. By the 7th century, there were many places resembling this general description, so successful had Christian evangelism been. A handful were women's monasteries, and one at least was a double house. Though the sources on large female monasteries are patchy, a good deal can be gleaned: the rules, daily activities, ministry to the laity, as well as attitudes on nuns' chastity. This chapter looks at nuns in large women's monasteries in Kildare, Killeedy, Killevy, and Clonbroney. Ceremonials in large Irish nunneries are also discussed, along with claustration, and the openness of nunneries in the 7th to 9th centuries.Less
Monasteries in early medieval Ireland resembled nothing so much as slightly miniaturised villages. By the 7th century, there were many places resembling this general description, so successful had Christian evangelism been. A handful were women's monasteries, and one at least was a double house. Though the sources on large female monasteries are patchy, a good deal can be gleaned: the rules, daily activities, ministry to the laity, as well as attitudes on nuns' chastity. This chapter looks at nuns in large women's monasteries in Kildare, Killeedy, Killevy, and Clonbroney. Ceremonials in large Irish nunneries are also discussed, along with claustration, and the openness of nunneries in the 7th to 9th centuries.
Paul J. E. Kershaw
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198208709
- eISBN:
- 9780191594731
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208709.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
The preface sets out the historical questions pursued through the rest of the book: what did it mean to talk about peace in the centuries following the end of the Roman Empire in the West? What role ...
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The preface sets out the historical questions pursued through the rest of the book: what did it mean to talk about peace in the centuries following the end of the Roman Empire in the West? What role did it play in the wider conception of rulership? Beginning with a single case‐study — the coronation of Charles the Bald in Metz in 869, and the poetry written for the occasion by Sedulius Scottus, an Irish scholar — this opening sketches the modes by which early medieval kings and their theorists worked. Competing treatments of peace in the same year are explored, as are the means of making peace (oaths, hostages, treaties) to reveal the diversity of attitudes even within a single year. Peace in wider time and space is addressed. So, too, is earlier scholarship on the field. The chapter closes with an investigation of the place of peace in the early medieval imagination more broadly (Beowulf, the Waltharius).Less
The preface sets out the historical questions pursued through the rest of the book: what did it mean to talk about peace in the centuries following the end of the Roman Empire in the West? What role did it play in the wider conception of rulership? Beginning with a single case‐study — the coronation of Charles the Bald in Metz in 869, and the poetry written for the occasion by Sedulius Scottus, an Irish scholar — this opening sketches the modes by which early medieval kings and their theorists worked. Competing treatments of peace in the same year are explored, as are the means of making peace (oaths, hostages, treaties) to reveal the diversity of attitudes even within a single year. Peace in wider time and space is addressed. So, too, is earlier scholarship on the field. The chapter closes with an investigation of the place of peace in the early medieval imagination more broadly (Beowulf, the Waltharius).
Joyce Hill
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263518
- eISBN:
- 9780191734021
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263518.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This lecture discusses the intellectual and textual systems within which Ælfric and his Carolingian models were working. It focuses on Ælfric's cultural context, compositional process, and his ...
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This lecture discusses the intellectual and textual systems within which Ælfric and his Carolingian models were working. It focuses on Ælfric's cultural context, compositional process, and his interaction with his textual community. The sources are considered to be simply forms of evidence for interpretation. The author uses two main investigation procedures: a critical examination of the efficacy of the models of interpretation used in modern source-study scholarship, and an analysis of the construction of the early medieval system of intertextual discourse.Less
This lecture discusses the intellectual and textual systems within which Ælfric and his Carolingian models were working. It focuses on Ælfric's cultural context, compositional process, and his interaction with his textual community. The sources are considered to be simply forms of evidence for interpretation. The author uses two main investigation procedures: a critical examination of the efficacy of the models of interpretation used in modern source-study scholarship, and an analysis of the construction of the early medieval system of intertextual discourse.
Joe Cribb and Georgina Herrmann (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263846
- eISBN:
- 9780191734113
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263846.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Asian and Middle Eastern History: BCE to 500CE
This is a study of the history, archaeology, and numismatics of Central Asia, an area of great significance for our understanding of the ancient and early medieval world. This vast, land-locked ...
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This is a study of the history, archaeology, and numismatics of Central Asia, an area of great significance for our understanding of the ancient and early medieval world. This vast, land-locked region, with its extreme continental climate, was a centre of civilization with great metropolises. Its cosmopolitan population followed different religions (Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Buddhism), and traded extensively with China, India, the Middle East, and Europe. The millennium from the overthrow of the first world empire of Achaemenian Persians by Alexander the Great to the arrival of the Arabs and Islam was a period of considerable change and conflict. The book focuses on investigations in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, providing a complex analysis of the symbiosis between the city life based on oases, and the nomadic peoples grazing their animals in the surrounding semi-deserts. Other topics include the influence of the Greek colonists on military architecture, and the major impact of the Great Kushans on the spread of Buddhism and on the development of the Central Asian metropolis. Although written documents rarely survive, coinage has provided essential evidence for the political and cultural history of the region.Less
This is a study of the history, archaeology, and numismatics of Central Asia, an area of great significance for our understanding of the ancient and early medieval world. This vast, land-locked region, with its extreme continental climate, was a centre of civilization with great metropolises. Its cosmopolitan population followed different religions (Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Buddhism), and traded extensively with China, India, the Middle East, and Europe. The millennium from the overthrow of the first world empire of Achaemenian Persians by Alexander the Great to the arrival of the Arabs and Islam was a period of considerable change and conflict. The book focuses on investigations in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, providing a complex analysis of the symbiosis between the city life based on oases, and the nomadic peoples grazing their animals in the surrounding semi-deserts. Other topics include the influence of the Greek colonists on military architecture, and the major impact of the Great Kushans on the spread of Buddhism and on the development of the Central Asian metropolis. Although written documents rarely survive, coinage has provided essential evidence for the political and cultural history of the region.
Christina Harrington
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208235
- eISBN:
- 9780191716683
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208235.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
If the Irish attitudes were increasingly mixed on the subject of men and women sharing space in the religious life, this ambivalence is nowhere clearer than in one new and most extraordinary type of ...
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If the Irish attitudes were increasingly mixed on the subject of men and women sharing space in the religious life, this ambivalence is nowhere clearer than in one new and most extraordinary type of narrative. It both epitomises the issues and reveals the underlying common lines of thinking and rationalisation. The Irish consort stories have perplexed historians for nearly a hundred years, and the discussions have so far produced no plausible explanation. In 1968, Roger Reynolds suggested that it was likely for female consorts to live with holy men in early medieval Ireland. According to Reynolds, Celtic syneisactism represented one of the most primitive aspects of Christianity to survive in medieval Western Europe. This chapter discusses cohabitation between female consorts and holy men in early medieval Ireland, the crackdown on nicolaitism, and clerical marriage.Less
If the Irish attitudes were increasingly mixed on the subject of men and women sharing space in the religious life, this ambivalence is nowhere clearer than in one new and most extraordinary type of narrative. It both epitomises the issues and reveals the underlying common lines of thinking and rationalisation. The Irish consort stories have perplexed historians for nearly a hundred years, and the discussions have so far produced no plausible explanation. In 1968, Roger Reynolds suggested that it was likely for female consorts to live with holy men in early medieval Ireland. According to Reynolds, Celtic syneisactism represented one of the most primitive aspects of Christianity to survive in medieval Western Europe. This chapter discusses cohabitation between female consorts and holy men in early medieval Ireland, the crackdown on nicolaitism, and clerical marriage.
T. M. Charles-Edwards
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780198217312
- eISBN:
- 9780191744778
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198217312.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This is a history of the Welsh in the centuries in which Wales acquired the shape it was to retain until the present day. In 350 what is now Wales was just one part of Roman Britain: contemporaries ...
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This is a history of the Welsh in the centuries in which Wales acquired the shape it was to retain until the present day. In 350 what is now Wales was just one part of Roman Britain: contemporaries had no notion of Wales or the Welsh in the later-medieval or modern sense. The inhabitants of what is now Wales were just Britons; and, in the early middle ages, the Welsh remained one part of a larger group, the Britons, called Walas or Wealas by the English. The book thus includes the Britons of North Britain, of Cornwall, and of Brittany, although its main focus is the Britons of Wales. The period saw, first, the creation of an English people and, later, of an English state; relations with the Britons of Wales were an essential strand in these developments. For the Britons themselves relations with the English shaped the political and military side of their history; but, in the cultural and religious sphere relations with Ireland were usually more important. For relations of power the Britons of Wales looked east; in the intellectual and spiritual sphere they mostly looked west. The book is divided into four parts: the Post-Roman period, approximately 400–600; early Welsh society; relations with the English; and the religious organization and culture, both in Latin and the vernacular.Less
This is a history of the Welsh in the centuries in which Wales acquired the shape it was to retain until the present day. In 350 what is now Wales was just one part of Roman Britain: contemporaries had no notion of Wales or the Welsh in the later-medieval or modern sense. The inhabitants of what is now Wales were just Britons; and, in the early middle ages, the Welsh remained one part of a larger group, the Britons, called Walas or Wealas by the English. The book thus includes the Britons of North Britain, of Cornwall, and of Brittany, although its main focus is the Britons of Wales. The period saw, first, the creation of an English people and, later, of an English state; relations with the Britons of Wales were an essential strand in these developments. For the Britons themselves relations with the English shaped the political and military side of their history; but, in the cultural and religious sphere relations with Ireland were usually more important. For relations of power the Britons of Wales looked east; in the intellectual and spiritual sphere they mostly looked west. The book is divided into four parts: the Post-Roman period, approximately 400–600; early Welsh society; relations with the English; and the religious organization and culture, both in Latin and the vernacular.
T. M. Charles-Edwards
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780198217312
- eISBN:
- 9780191744778
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198217312.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
The chapter considers the different senses of ‘Britain’. ‘the Britons’, ‘the Welsh’, and ‘Cymry’ in the early medieval period. It also surveys the lands that remained British up to c. 600. These ...
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The chapter considers the different senses of ‘Britain’. ‘the Britons’, ‘the Welsh’, and ‘Cymry’ in the early medieval period. It also surveys the lands that remained British up to c. 600. These extended southwards from the Firth of Forth (which divided the territory of the Picts to the north from the British people known as the Votadini, later Gododdin) and proceeds from one people and kingdom to another down the west side of Britain, including the Isle of Man, to Wales, Dumnonia and Cornwall in the south‐west, and across the sea to Brittany.Less
The chapter considers the different senses of ‘Britain’. ‘the Britons’, ‘the Welsh’, and ‘Cymry’ in the early medieval period. It also surveys the lands that remained British up to c. 600. These extended southwards from the Firth of Forth (which divided the territory of the Picts to the north from the British people known as the Votadini, later Gododdin) and proceeds from one people and kingdom to another down the west side of Britain, including the Isle of Man, to Wales, Dumnonia and Cornwall in the south‐west, and across the sea to Brittany.
Andrew Reynolds
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199544554
- eISBN:
- 9780191720390
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199544554.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This book is the first to investigate how Anglo‐Saxon society dealt with social outcasts. The study begins in the period immediately following Roman rule and ends in the century following the Norman ...
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This book is the first to investigate how Anglo‐Saxon society dealt with social outcasts. The study begins in the period immediately following Roman rule and ends in the century following the Norman Conquest. This period, the 5th to 11th centuries, witnessed the conversion to Christianity, the emergence of the late Saxon state, and the development of the landscape of Domesday Book. While the study of early Anglo‐Saxon cemeteries and churchyards of the Christian period is well established, a substantial body of excavated and documented evidence for human burial in a range of other contexts has remained neglected until now. This book thus reveals for the first time a nuanced and varied approach to burial rites in Anglo‐Saxon England, particularly relating to individuals cast out from mainstream society. Although impressive written evidence survives, archaeology is uniquely placed to investigate the earliest period of post‐Roman society, the 5th to 7th centuries, where documents are lacking and to provide an independent assessment of documented situations in the later part of the period. The landscape setting of unusual human burials provides insights into the chronology of territorial arrangements and how features such as boundaries and pre‐existing monuments, such as barrows and linear earthworks, were perceived by the Anglo‐Saxons. Overall, the book argues that modes of outcast burial show a clear pattern of development from the pre‐Christian centuries, where deviant burials are found only in community cemeteries, to a situation whereby locally determined rites, such as crossroads burial, existed alongside formal measures imposed from the 7th century ad in the context of kingdom formation.Less
This book is the first to investigate how Anglo‐Saxon society dealt with social outcasts. The study begins in the period immediately following Roman rule and ends in the century following the Norman Conquest. This period, the 5th to 11th centuries, witnessed the conversion to Christianity, the emergence of the late Saxon state, and the development of the landscape of Domesday Book. While the study of early Anglo‐Saxon cemeteries and churchyards of the Christian period is well established, a substantial body of excavated and documented evidence for human burial in a range of other contexts has remained neglected until now. This book thus reveals for the first time a nuanced and varied approach to burial rites in Anglo‐Saxon England, particularly relating to individuals cast out from mainstream society. Although impressive written evidence survives, archaeology is uniquely placed to investigate the earliest period of post‐Roman society, the 5th to 7th centuries, where documents are lacking and to provide an independent assessment of documented situations in the later part of the period. The landscape setting of unusual human burials provides insights into the chronology of territorial arrangements and how features such as boundaries and pre‐existing monuments, such as barrows and linear earthworks, were perceived by the Anglo‐Saxons. Overall, the book argues that modes of outcast burial show a clear pattern of development from the pre‐Christian centuries, where deviant burials are found only in community cemeteries, to a situation whereby locally determined rites, such as crossroads burial, existed alongside formal measures imposed from the 7th century ad in the context of kingdom formation.
Bonnie Effros
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520232440
- eISBN:
- 9780520928183
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520232440.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
Clothing, jewelry, animal remains, ceramics, coins, and weaponry are among the artifacts that have been discovered in graves in Gaul dating from the fifth to eighth century. Those who have unearthed ...
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Clothing, jewelry, animal remains, ceramics, coins, and weaponry are among the artifacts that have been discovered in graves in Gaul dating from the fifth to eighth century. Those who have unearthed them, from the middle ages to the present, have speculated widely on their meaning. This book contributes to the study of death and burial in late antique and early medieval society with its long overdue systematic discussion of this mortuary evidence. Tracing the history of Merovingian archaeology within its cultural and intellectual context, the book exposes biases and prejudices that have colored previous interpretations of these burial sites and assesses what contemporary archaeology can tell us about the Frankish kingdoms. Working at the intersection of history and archaeology, and drawing from anthropology and art history, it emphasizes in particular the effects of historical events and intellectual movements on French and German antiquarian and archaeological studies of these grave goods. The discussion traces the evolution of concepts of nationhood, race, and culture and shows how these concepts helped shape an understanding of the past. It then turns to contemporary multidisciplinary methodologies and finds that we are still limited by the types of information that can be readily gleaned from physical and written sources of Merovingian graves. For example, since material evidence found in the graves of elite families and particularly elite men is more plentiful and noteworthy, mortuary goods do not speak as directly to the conditions in which women and the poor lived.Less
Clothing, jewelry, animal remains, ceramics, coins, and weaponry are among the artifacts that have been discovered in graves in Gaul dating from the fifth to eighth century. Those who have unearthed them, from the middle ages to the present, have speculated widely on their meaning. This book contributes to the study of death and burial in late antique and early medieval society with its long overdue systematic discussion of this mortuary evidence. Tracing the history of Merovingian archaeology within its cultural and intellectual context, the book exposes biases and prejudices that have colored previous interpretations of these burial sites and assesses what contemporary archaeology can tell us about the Frankish kingdoms. Working at the intersection of history and archaeology, and drawing from anthropology and art history, it emphasizes in particular the effects of historical events and intellectual movements on French and German antiquarian and archaeological studies of these grave goods. The discussion traces the evolution of concepts of nationhood, race, and culture and shows how these concepts helped shape an understanding of the past. It then turns to contemporary multidisciplinary methodologies and finds that we are still limited by the types of information that can be readily gleaned from physical and written sources of Merovingian graves. For example, since material evidence found in the graves of elite families and particularly elite men is more plentiful and noteworthy, mortuary goods do not speak as directly to the conditions in which women and the poor lived.
Wendy Davies
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198201533
- eISBN:
- 9780191674921
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198201533.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This chapter investigates the practice of power within early medieval Wales. It begins with an overview of the political history until the late eleventh century. It then considers the pre-ninth ...
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This chapter investigates the practice of power within early medieval Wales. It begins with an overview of the political history until the late eleventh century. It then considers the pre-ninth century background, and goes on to examine the relationships between Welsh rulers in the ninth- to eleventh-century period. It focuses specifically on the Welshmen's relationships with, and reactions to, each other. It also describes three aspects of political relationships within Wales: the rulers and regions, the territorial range of rulers, and segmentation.Less
This chapter investigates the practice of power within early medieval Wales. It begins with an overview of the political history until the late eleventh century. It then considers the pre-ninth century background, and goes on to examine the relationships between Welsh rulers in the ninth- to eleventh-century period. It focuses specifically on the Welshmen's relationships with, and reactions to, each other. It also describes three aspects of political relationships within Wales: the rulers and regions, the territorial range of rulers, and segmentation.
Martin Carver
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748624416
- eISBN:
- 9780748670703
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748624416.003.0004
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
How the monastery began. On the sandy ridge overlooking the Dornoch Firth was an Iron Age cemetery containing burials lined with stone slabs. Christian burials were added to these from the 6th ...
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How the monastery began. On the sandy ridge overlooking the Dornoch Firth was an Iron Age cemetery containing burials lined with stone slabs. Christian burials were added to these from the 6th century onwards – the time of Columcille's expedition up the Great Glen. But the main monastic flowering was not until the early 8th century when the whole site was developed.Less
How the monastery began. On the sandy ridge overlooking the Dornoch Firth was an Iron Age cemetery containing burials lined with stone slabs. Christian burials were added to these from the 6th century onwards – the time of Columcille's expedition up the Great Glen. But the main monastic flowering was not until the early 8th century when the whole site was developed.
Martin Carver
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748624416
- eISBN:
- 9780748670703
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748624416.003.0009
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This chapter describes the history of the Tarbat peninsula, where the Pictish monastery at Portmahomack was sited. The peninsula was once more nearly an island, and boats were towed across its ...
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This chapter describes the history of the Tarbat peninsula, where the Pictish monastery at Portmahomack was sited. The peninsula was once more nearly an island, and boats were towed across its isthmus, used as a portage (Gaelic tairbeart). The coast was used for burial from the Bronze Age into the Iron Age. The monastery grew rich and powerful in the 8th century and the whole peninsula was probably its estate. Grand cross slabs marked its landing places, at Nigg, Shandwick, Hilton of Cadboll and Portmahomack – each looking out onto a different area of sea. In the Middle Ages, even if the Pictish monastery had been forgotten after the Viking raid, a new Premonstratensian monastery was founded in the centre of the peninsula at Fearn. Tarbat also had a very large number of chapels and holy wells, witness to a tradition of hermits and seers.Less
This chapter describes the history of the Tarbat peninsula, where the Pictish monastery at Portmahomack was sited. The peninsula was once more nearly an island, and boats were towed across its isthmus, used as a portage (Gaelic tairbeart). The coast was used for burial from the Bronze Age into the Iron Age. The monastery grew rich and powerful in the 8th century and the whole peninsula was probably its estate. Grand cross slabs marked its landing places, at Nigg, Shandwick, Hilton of Cadboll and Portmahomack – each looking out onto a different area of sea. In the Middle Ages, even if the Pictish monastery had been forgotten after the Viking raid, a new Premonstratensian monastery was founded in the centre of the peninsula at Fearn. Tarbat also had a very large number of chapels and holy wells, witness to a tradition of hermits and seers.
James Graham-Campbell and Michael Ryan (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264508
- eISBN:
- 9780191734120
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264508.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Although there has been much recent interest in the interaction of England and Ireland in the Viking Age, the links between the Anglo-Saxons and the Irish in the period before 800 have been much less ...
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Although there has been much recent interest in the interaction of England and Ireland in the Viking Age, the links between the Anglo-Saxons and the Irish in the period before 800 have been much less studied. This book provides an interdisciplinary assessment of these connections. The chapters range widely in their scope. Seven chapters look at issues of language and literature, legal traditions, and ecclesiastical history; a further ten consider the evidence of material culture, through art history and archaeology. This overview of the field of Anglo-Saxon/Irish relations will be of use to people interested in early medieval studies.Less
Although there has been much recent interest in the interaction of England and Ireland in the Viking Age, the links between the Anglo-Saxons and the Irish in the period before 800 have been much less studied. This book provides an interdisciplinary assessment of these connections. The chapters range widely in their scope. Seven chapters look at issues of language and literature, legal traditions, and ecclesiastical history; a further ten consider the evidence of material culture, through art history and archaeology. This overview of the field of Anglo-Saxon/Irish relations will be of use to people interested in early medieval studies.
Paul J. E. Kershaw
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198208709
- eISBN:
- 9780191594731
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208709.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Bede's image of Edwin of Northumbria's peaceful reign was a central component of Chapter I. Here, the focus falls fully upon the political ideas of Anglo‐Saxon England, between AD 600 and Alfred's ...
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Bede's image of Edwin of Northumbria's peaceful reign was a central component of Chapter I. Here, the focus falls fully upon the political ideas of Anglo‐Saxon England, between AD 600 and Alfred's death in 899. Bede's broader vision of kingship in his exegesis and historical works is explored, together with his treatment of Solomon. The First English Ordo — the earliest extant text of a king‐making ritual — is examined in depth. Finally, Alfred the Great's political thought and the Solomonic aspects of his rule are analysed.Less
Bede's image of Edwin of Northumbria's peaceful reign was a central component of Chapter I. Here, the focus falls fully upon the political ideas of Anglo‐Saxon England, between AD 600 and Alfred's death in 899. Bede's broader vision of kingship in his exegesis and historical works is explored, together with his treatment of Solomon. The First English Ordo — the earliest extant text of a king‐making ritual — is examined in depth. Finally, Alfred the Great's political thought and the Solomonic aspects of his rule are analysed.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824836023
- eISBN:
- 9780824869601
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824836023.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
In early medieval China hundreds of Buddhist miracle texts were circulated, inaugurating a trend that would continue for centuries. Each tale recounted extraordinary events involving Chinese persons ...
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In early medieval China hundreds of Buddhist miracle texts were circulated, inaugurating a trend that would continue for centuries. Each tale recounted extraordinary events involving Chinese persons and places—events seen as verifying claims made in Buddhist scriptures, demonstrating the reality of karmic retribution, or confirming the efficacy of Buddhist devotional practices. This book presents the first complete, annotated translation, with in-depth commentary, of the largest extant collection of miracle tales from the early medieval period, Wang Yan's Records of Signs from the Unseen Realm, compiled around 490 C.E. In addition to the translation, the book provides a substantial study of the text and its author in their historical and religious settings. It shows how these lively tales helped integrate Buddhism into Chinese society at the same time that they served as platforms for religious contestation and persuasion. The book offers a methodological discussion of how such narratives, being products of social memory, may be read as valuable evidence for the history of religion and culture.Less
In early medieval China hundreds of Buddhist miracle texts were circulated, inaugurating a trend that would continue for centuries. Each tale recounted extraordinary events involving Chinese persons and places—events seen as verifying claims made in Buddhist scriptures, demonstrating the reality of karmic retribution, or confirming the efficacy of Buddhist devotional practices. This book presents the first complete, annotated translation, with in-depth commentary, of the largest extant collection of miracle tales from the early medieval period, Wang Yan's Records of Signs from the Unseen Realm, compiled around 490 C.E. In addition to the translation, the book provides a substantial study of the text and its author in their historical and religious settings. It shows how these lively tales helped integrate Buddhism into Chinese society at the same time that they served as platforms for religious contestation and persuasion. The book offers a methodological discussion of how such narratives, being products of social memory, may be read as valuable evidence for the history of religion and culture.
David Hall
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198702955
- eISBN:
- 9780191772429
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198702955.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology, British and Irish Medieval History
This chapter collects together additional types of physical and historical evidence that have a bearing on field origins. Firstly the archaeological evidence relating to the distribution and dating ...
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This chapter collects together additional types of physical and historical evidence that have a bearing on field origins. Firstly the archaeological evidence relating to the distribution and dating of settlements associated with early medieval (Saxon-period) occupation is presented. Environmental data provided by alluvium and pollen indicate that large-scale changes in the management of the countryside took place, as does information collected by the archaeological survey of open-field earthwork remains. Possible antecedents of the field forms that existed by the twelfth century are discussed, as is the early dating of intermixed strip and dispersed holdings. Terms relevant to field systems found in Anglo-Saxon charters is reviewed.Less
This chapter collects together additional types of physical and historical evidence that have a bearing on field origins. Firstly the archaeological evidence relating to the distribution and dating of settlements associated with early medieval (Saxon-period) occupation is presented. Environmental data provided by alluvium and pollen indicate that large-scale changes in the management of the countryside took place, as does information collected by the archaeological survey of open-field earthwork remains. Possible antecedents of the field forms that existed by the twelfth century are discussed, as is the early dating of intermixed strip and dispersed holdings. Terms relevant to field systems found in Anglo-Saxon charters is reviewed.
Stephen D. White
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300091397
- eISBN:
- 9780300129113
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300091397.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Anglo-Saxon / Old English Literature
This chapter examines the story of Sigeberht, Cynewulf, and Cyneheard to understand kinship and lordship in early medieval England. It analyzes the plot of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 757 and ...
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This chapter examines the story of Sigeberht, Cynewulf, and Cyneheard to understand kinship and lordship in early medieval England. It analyzes the plot of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 757 and argues against the claim that this story sketches a conflict of kinship and kingship, loyalty to family or leader, which many have likened to the stark tales of the Icelandic sagas. It suggests that modern readings of the story depend on the assumptions of nineteenth-century historiography and on readers' acceptance of its ideology.Less
This chapter examines the story of Sigeberht, Cynewulf, and Cyneheard to understand kinship and lordship in early medieval England. It analyzes the plot of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 757 and argues against the claim that this story sketches a conflict of kinship and kingship, loyalty to family or leader, which many have likened to the stark tales of the Icelandic sagas. It suggests that modern readings of the story depend on the assumptions of nineteenth-century historiography and on readers' acceptance of its ideology.
