Sub-Roman Britain (AD 400-600): A gazetteer of sites by Christopher A. Snyder (review)

Abstract

Reviews christopher a. snyder, Sub-Roman Britain (AD 400—600): A gazetteer ofsites. BAR British Series 247. Oxford: Tempvs Reparatvm, 1996. Pp. 70. isbn: 0-86054-824-4£17. Christopher Snyder's gazetteer of British sites inhabited during the Arthurian era will be welcomed by Arthurians at several levels ofexpertise and research orientation; it will probably prove most useful to the informed amateur traveler, but will also serve the serious scholar specializing in other fields as a reliable checklist for rapid reference. Although far from exhaustive, its author's gift for the concise entry makes it a genuine asset. This book opens with a brief(pp. 6-13) but thoughtful discussion ofthe nature of archeological evidence available for this period ofmaximum transition. Part II, fourfifths of the whole, consists of more than a hundred entries from five regions of Roman Britain, classified by Snyder as the East, the Southwest (the densest, with twenty-five entries), Wales, the Midlands (only twelve entries), and the North. The longer entries (such as South Cadbury and Tintagel) each occupy on the average a full, two-column, atlas-sized page. On South Cadbury Castle, Snyder offers his readers an eighteen-item bibliography, most ofit by Leslie Alcock, precisely cited in thirteen endnotes. That entry surveys with commendable dispassion the issue of that site's identification with Camelot, from John Leland to Alcock and Ashe. Unfortunately, the tamparts are cited as examples of 'murrus [sic] gallicus' construction, one ofthe infrequent misspellings in this carefully prepared edition. Would that the editors' care with typography had been matched by a modicum of imagination in visual design! Tintagel, the subject of Snyder's 1994 Emory Ph.D dissertation, is treated more richly. Eight authors—Ian Burrow, Kenneth Dark, OD. Morris, Jacqueline Nowakowski, Oliver Padel, C.A.R. Radford, Michael Swanton, Charles Thomas— figure in the bibliography, and Snyder's presentation ofcurrent theories—monastic centet, royal fortress, long-distance trading port—is remarkably even-handed. The numerous inevitable omissions from this selective list are occasionally regrettable. One misses some reference to the much-visited and somewhat controversial Chedworth villa, the latest wing of which has been claimed as lateRoman . The excellent discussion ofLate-Roman, Romano-British, and barely Roman Celtic evidence from Silchester, which Snyder sees as remaining the centet ofa 'Saxonfree zone' well into the seventh century, makes all the more disappointing the lack of arthuriana 8.2(1998) reviews143 reference to parallel evidence from nearby Dorchester-on-Thamcs, which Sonia Chadwick Hawes has proposed as the possible seat ofa late Romano-British prince supported by Saxon mercenaries (see her Chapter 6 in Archaeology ofthe Oxford Region, Grace Briggs, Jean Cook, and Trevor Rowley, eds.: Oxford U.P., 1986). It is pleasant to reflect that the tapid progress of British archeology makes an occasional assessment of Snyder's no longer accurate (certainly through no fault of his own). The most striking instance may well be the announcement in the summer of1997 ofthe spectaculat discovery ofa hoard offifth-century gold coins in Sussex, which requires emendation of his remark on p. 7 of the prolegomenous Part I that 'Britain betrays a unique pattern ofhoarding, for gold coins are almost nonexistent, while silver and bronze boards are quite numerous.' It is safe to suppose that the author will amend that judgment soon in subsequent editions of this very handy compendium. JEREMY duQ. ADAMS Southern Methodist University Robert E. bjork and john D. niles, A BeowulfHandbook. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1977. Pp. 466. isbn: 0-8032-1237-2. $60. A BeowulfHandbook makes a timely, perhapscrucial appearance in an oddly inconstant age for Old English studies. The first-rank essayists of this collection honor the distinguished history of their field of inquiry even as they and their fellow AngloSaxonists are also retooling their field for rapidly expanding electronic scholarship. Taken collectively, the essays in this volume communicate the excitement of their moment. Ironically it is the same moment when many American graduate programs ofvarying distinction have marginalized Old English and scholarly study ofBeowulf. As a result, too many English departments teach a drasticallyabridged literary tradition that offers diminished opportunity for growth ofindividual talent. If, as it seems, the energy to reverse...