Britain after Rome: The Fall and Rise, 400 to 1070

Britain after Rome: The Fall and Rise, 400 to 1070

by Robin Fleming
Britain after Rome: The Fall and Rise, 400 to 1070

Britain after Rome: The Fall and Rise, 400 to 1070

by Robin Fleming

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Overview

The enormous hoard of beautiful gold military objects found in a field in Staffordshire has focused huge attention on the mysterious world of 7th and 8th century Britain. Clearly the product of a sophisticated, wealthy, highly militarized society, the objects beg innumerable questions about how we are to understand the people who once walked across the same landscape we inhabit, who are our ancestors and yet left such a slight record of their presence. Britain after Rome brings together a wealth of research and imaginative engagement to bring us as close as we can hope to get to the tumultuous centuries between the departure of the Roman legions and the arrival of Norman invaders nearly seven centuries later. As towns fell into total decay, Christianity disappeared, and wave upon wave of invaders swept across the island, it can be too easily assumed that life in Britain became intolerable—and yet this is the world in which modern languages and political arrangements were forged, a number of fascinating cultures rose and fell and tantalizing glimpses, principally through the study of buildings and burials, can be had of a surprising and resilient place. The result of a lifetime of work, Robin Fleming's major new addition to the Penguin History of Britain could not be more opportune. A richly enjoyable, varied, and surprising book, Britain after Rome allows its readers to see Britain's history in a quite new light.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780140148237
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date: 01/18/2012
Series: Penguin History of Britain Series
Pages: 480
Product dimensions: 5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Robin Fleming is the author of Domesday Book and the Law and Kings and Lords in Conquest England. She has taught for many years at Boston College and is currently Matina S. Horner Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements xi

Maps xiii

Introduction xix

1 The Rise and Fall of Late Antique Britain: The Second to Early Fifth Century 1

2 Life among the Ruins: The Fifth and Early Sixth Centuries 30

3 Making Peoples, Making Class: The Late Fifth and Sixth Centuries 61

4 Elites, Kingdoms and a Brand-New Past: The Later Sixth and Seventh Centuries 89

5 Belief and Ritual: The Fourth to Seventh Century 120

6 Missionaries and Converts: The Later Sixth to Early Eighth Century 152

7 The Rebirth of Trading Communities: The Seventh to Mid-Ninth Century 183

8 Norse and Natives: The Late Eighth to Late Ninth Century 213

9 New Towns: The Ninth to Eleventh Century 241

10 Kings and Surpluses: The Ninth to Eleventh Century 269

11 Selling Surplus and Buying Status: The Tenth and Eleventh Centuries 290

12 Clerics, Monks and the Laity: The Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Centuries 318

13 Living and Dying in Early Medieval Britain: The Fifth to Eleventh Century 345

Further Reading 367

Sources 427

Index 431

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