Britons In Anglo Saxon England

The question of the British presence in Anglo-Saxon England readdressed by archaeologists, historians, linguists, and place-name specialists. The number of native Britons, and their role, in Anglo-Saxon England has been hotly debated for generations; the English were seen as Germanic in the nineteenth century, but the twentieth saw a reinvention of the German "past". Today, the scholarly community is as deeply divided as ever on the issue: place-name specialists have consistently preferred minimalist interpretations, privileging migration from Germany, while other disciplinary groups have been less united in their views, with many archaeologists and historians viewing the British presence, potentially at least, as numerically significant or even dominant. The papers collected here seek to shed new light on this complex issue, by bringing together contributions from different disciplinary specialists and exploring the interfaces between various categories of knowledge about the past. They assemble both a substantial body of evidence concerning the presence of Britons and offer a variety of approaches to the central issues of the scale of that presence and its significance across the seven centuries of Anglo-Saxon England. NICK HIGHAM is Professor of Early Medieval and Landscape History at the University of Manchester. Contributors: RICHARD COATES, MARTIN GRIMMER, HEINRICH HARKE, NICK HIGHAM, CATHERINE HILLS, LLOYD LAING, C.P. LEWIS, GALE R. OWEN-CROCKER, O.J. PADEL, DUNCANPROBERT, PETER SCHRIJVER, DAVID THORNTON, HILDEGARD L.C. TRISTRAM, DAMIAN TYLER, HOWARD WILLIAMS, ALEX WOOLF

Britons and Anglo-Saxons offers an interdisciplinary approach to the history of the Lincoln region in the post-Roman period, drawing together a wide range of sources. In particular, it indicates that a British polity named *Lindēs was based at Lincoln into the sixth century, and that the seventh-century Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Lindsey (Lindissi) had an intimate connection to this British political unit. The picture that emerges is also of importance nationally, helping to answer key questions regarding the nature and extent of Anglian-British interaction and the origins of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

The principal issue with which these essays are concerned is the nature of relations between the English and the British in the period from the collapse of Roman authority in Britain to the end of the first Viking-Age. As in the previous collection, Histories and Pseudo-Histories of the Insular Middle Ages, Dr Dumville emphasises the central importance of close study of manuscripts and texts as the key to understanding the early history of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and the 9th-to 13th-century perceptions of these. Among the studies, several deal with the historical evaluation of Beowulf and other works of Old English and Welsh literature; others illustrate the need to include the Britons across the Channel, in Brittany, in any full consideration of Insular culture.La question principale à laquelle ces essais se rattachent est celle de la nature des rapports entre les Anglais et les Britanniques autochtones durant la période allant de la chute de l'autorité romaine en Grande-Bretagne jusqu'à la fin du premier âge viking. Ainsi qu'il l'avait déjà fait dans une collection précédente, Histories and Pseudo-Histories of the Insular Middle Ages le Dr Dumville souligne la prime importance d'une étude minutieuse des textes manuscrits en tant qu'éléments clef dans la compréhension du début de l'histoire des royaumes anglo-saxons et de la perception qu'on en avait entre le 9e et le 13e siècle. Parmi les études, plusieures traitent de l'évaluation historique de travaux provenant de la littérature galloise et anglaise ancienne, notamment de Beowulf; d'autres font état du besoin d'inclure les Britanniques établis de l'autre côté de la Manche, en Bretagne, dans toute considération de la culture insulaire se voulant complète.

This second book in the Origins of England trilogy examines the organization and make-up of Anglo-Saxon England in the early 7th century, taking as its starting point the highly rhetorical account of Britain's ecclesiastical history written by Bede.

The series, planned to contain eight volumes, presents a supplement to conventional history texts with biographical sketches of about a page each. The entries are arranged chronologically, with similar classes of people grouped together to facilitate research on a particular subject or event. The treatment is appropriate to general readers or undergraduate students but refers to more specific and detailed material. The subjects include political and religious leaders, intellectuals, writers, and artists. Each volume is separately indexed. (See also following entries.) Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

James Campbell's work on the Anglo-Saxons is recognised as being some of the most original of recent writing on the period; it is brought together in this collection, which is both an important contribution to Anglo-Saxon studies in itself and also a pointer to the direction of future research.