Late Saxon Research Articles

Положение жены правителя в Англии второй половины X века: королева Эльфтрида

The article focuses on the specifics of king’s wife position in England in the second half of the 10th century on the example of queen Aelfthryth. The research is based on the wide range of historical evidence dating back to Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman times. Aelfthryth was the first among Late Saxon queens, who were crowned and anointed. In the reign of her husband and son she enjoyed great power at court and showed high level of public activity. Aelfthryth was very likely involved in the conspiracy that resulted in the death of her stepson Edward the Saint. Her relations with the Church were contradictory. Ideological specificity of Benedictine reform in England provided the opportunity for Aelfthryth to make profit of her status of queen and mother. On the other hand, a number of Anglo-Norman narratives have preserved traces of hostile attitude to her in the monastic environment. The new features in the queen’s position in England in the reign of Edgar the Peaceful established an important political precedent. However, the changes did not affect all king’s wives. During the lifetime of queen mother the other royal women did not enjoy queenly status and stayed away from public affairs.

TORKSEY AFTER THE VIKINGS: URBAN ORIGINS IN ENGLAND

In ad 872–3 a large Viking Army overwintered at Torksey, on the River Trent in Lincolnshire. We have previously published the archaeological evidence for its camp, but in this paper we explore what happened after the Army moved on. We integrate the findings of previous excavations with the outcomes of our fieldwork, including magnetometer and metal-detector surveys, fieldwalking and targeted excavation of a kiln and cemetery enclosure ditch. We provide new evidence for the growth of the important Anglo-Saxon town at Torksey and the development of its pottery industry, and report on the discovery of the first glazed Torksey ware, in an area which has a higher density of Late Saxon kilns than anywhere else in England. Our study of the pottery industry indicates its continental antecedents, while stable isotope analysis of human remains from the associated cemetery indicates that it included non-locals, and we demonstrate artefactual links between the nascent town and the Vikings in the winter camp. We conclude that the Viking Great Army was a catalyst for urban and industrial development in Torksey and suggest the need to reconsider our models for Late Saxon urbanism.

The Old English Pronoun þæge: An Addendum to Michiko Ogura, ‘Late West Saxon Forms of the Demonstrative Pronouns as Native Prototypes of They’

The Old English Pronoun <i>þæge</i>: An Addendum to Michiko Ogura, ‘Late West Saxon Forms of the Demonstrative Pronouns as Native Prototypes of <i>They</i>’

The date and purpose of the Anglo-Saxon Chapel at Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire

ABSTRACT A recent argument that the surviving masonry of the late Saxon chapel at Bradford-on-Avon was left unfinished by its builders is challenged. Instead, it is proposed that the work had been done hurriedly. Fort-building by King Æthelred II (979–1014) in the early part of his reign is also questioned. The possible implications of a cist-burial excavated outside the west end of the chapel are considered.

The Haskins Society Journal 31 ed. by Laura L. Gathagan, William North and Charles C. Rozier

Reviewed by: The Haskins Society Journal 31 ed. by Laura L. Gathagan, William North and Charles C. Rozier Lindsay Diggelmann Gathagan, Laura L., William North, and Charles C. Rozier, eds, The Haskins Society Journal 31 (Studies in Medieval History), Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 2020; hardback; pp. 233; 6 b/w, 3 line illustrations; R.R.P. £50.00; ISBN 9781783275731. Volume 31 of The Haskins Society Journal presents essays from the organization’s 2018 conference, along with other contributions in related fields. The Journal honours the American scholar Charles Homer Haskins and is dedicated to those aspects of the history of the central Middle Ages in which he was prominent. Its ambit is somewhat wider than that of the comparable series Anglo-Norman Studies (see my review of the latest volume elsewhere in this issue of Parergon) but nonetheless takes Norman affairs as its central focus, in line with Haskins’s own interests. Four essays deal with the Crusades. Alheydis Plassmann revisits the much-debated question of Normannitas (Norman identity). By comparing the careers of the most prominent Norman First Crusade leaders from the north (Robert Curthose) and the south (Bohemond of Taranto) Plassmann proposes that contemporaries saw very little that was specifically ‘Norman’ in their character or achievements. While useful, this conclusion does not stray too far from the view of those such as John France who have written on the topic previously. Katherine Allen Smith observes how early crusade narratives are ‘replete with references to Babylon’ (p. 50) in opposition to Jerusalem. This, in Smith’s persuasive view, is a shorthand for a series of powerful dichotomies: Islam and Christianity; pride and humility; sin and righteousness; Augustine’s earthly and heavenly cities. Clerical authors who had been trained in scripture and theology brought this mindset to bear when describing the geopolitical rivalries of their own day. Andrew Buck’s study of women and power in the crusader principality of Antioch draws on recent debates that seek to remove the framework of exceptionalism from accounts of women’s political influence and economic agency in the Middle Ages. Examining both the ruling families and the wider nobility, Buck asserts that ‘the exercise of rulership in the principality was not simply a masculine space’ (p. 117). Theodore Evergates reflects on the creation and reception of the Memoirs of Geoffroy de Villehardouin, marshal of Champagne and later of ‘Romania’, a key figure in the Latin Empire of Constantinople after 1204. The Memoirs provide one of the standard accounts of the Fourth Crusade and the sack of the eastern Christian capital by western forces. Other contributions delve into Anglo-Norman dynastic affairs and their historiography. Alexandra Locking reminds us that the celebrated marriage of Henry I and Matilda of Scotland, so crucial to uniting the Norman and Saxon royal lines, nearly did not happen. Archbishop Anselm initially objected to the match, as Matilda had taken the veil as a child, before relenting. Locking examines the contemporary debate over this controversy and the way Matilda’s reputation was later transformed to position her as a powerful royal figure. Mark Blincoe traces the shifting dynastic identity in Henry II’s charters before and [End Page 238] after he became king in 1154. Having been recognized as Stephen’s heir in 1153, Henry acknowledged this at first, but soon ignored the reality of Stephen as his predecessor in official documents, emphasizing instead continuity with the reign of his grandfather Henry I, who had died in 1135. This much is well known, but Blincoe makes the cogent point that the strategy forced Henry to implicitly deny the legitimacy of earlier claims to power in England or Normandy by his mother, the Empress Matilda, and father, Geoffrey of Anjou. On the basis of the vernacular history known as the Chronique de Normandie, Alex Hurlow argues for the continued importance of Norman identity into the thirteenth century, even if more regional in nature and in competition with the growing power of the centralizing French monarchy. Three further essays discuss social and legal issues ‘from below’. Stuart Pracy examines evidence from witness lists for manumissions in late Saxon and early Norman England to suggest that opportunities for social mobility by...

Verbal Negative Contraction in Four Most Complete Witnesses to the Old English Bede

ABSTRACT The witnesses to the Old English Bede (OEB) should theoretically provide an excellent illustration of the generalization that while contracted negated verbs predominate in Old English prose, uncontracted are not infrequent in Anglian but almost exceptional in late West Saxon (Hogg and Fulk 2011; Levin 1958). This rule predicts that the uncontracted forms would be prevalent in the earlier copies T and O that preserve more Anglian features and rare in later and more thoroughly West-Saxonized B and Ca. However, this expectation is not sustained. Whereas B exhibits the highest proportion of the contracted forms among the OEB manuscripts, its rate of 41% is significantly lower than 96% of the Old English Gospels and 99% of Ælfric’s material (Levin 1958). To identify the factors apart from dialect that affect the distribution of the contracted and uncontracted forms in the OEB, the present article analyzes all instances of the negated verbs beon/wesan ‘be’, habban ‘have’, willan ‘will’, and witan ‘know’ in four most complete manuscripts. It demonstrates that negative contraction in the OEB is conditioned by morphology, syntax, scribal stylistic preferences, genre, translation technique, and possibly the growing impact of the West-Saxon and lingering prestige of the Mercian tradition.

Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Medieval Warhorse

The warhorse is arguably the most characteristic animal of the English Middle Ages. But while the development and military uses of warhorses have been intensively studied by historians, the archaeological evidence is too often dispersed, overlooked or undervalued. Instead, we argue that to fully understand the cultural significance and functional role of the medieval warhorse, a systematic study of the full range of archaeological evidence for warhorses (and horses more generally) from medieval England is necessary. This requires engagement with material evidence at a wide variety of scales — from individual artefacts through to excavated assemblages and landscape-wide distributions — dating between the late Saxon and Tudor period (c. AD 800–1600). We present here a case study of our interdisciplinary engaged research design focusing upon an important English royal stud site at Odiham in Hampshire. This brings together several fields of study, including (zoo)archaeology, history, landscape survey, and material culture studies to produce new understandings about a beast that was an unmistakable symbol of social status and a decisive weapon on the battlefield.

Synonyms and Lexical Substitutions in Texts of the Old English Life of Saint Mary of Egypt

ABSTRACT Among the unusually high number of variants in the three surviving texts of the Old English Life of Saint Mary of Egypt are many instances in which a scribe has changed an inherited reading by substituting one word for another. Many of the substitutions are the result of error or unconscious scribal preference but this article demonstrates that all three texts of the Old English Life, which is of likely Anglian origin, also reveal a pattern of deliberate rewording. This rewording arises from a desire to regularise and “improve” the language of the Life, bringing it more into line with the norms of Late West Saxon, the literary language generally in use in the period when our scribes were at work. No such pattern of substitution is evident in other hagiographical texts in the same manuscripts. The Life of Saint Mary of Egypt was clearly viewed by compilers of late Anglo-Saxon hagiographical manuscripts as a work worthy of inclusion but, unlike other lives, as one in need of some linguistic revision to make it fit in with accepted literary standards.

An Integrated Bioarchaeological Approach to the Medieval ‘Agricultural Revolution’: A Case Study from Stafford, England,c.ad800–1200

In much of Europe, the advent of low-input cereal farming regimes betweenc.ad800 and 1200 enabled landowners—lords—to amass wealth by greatly expanding the amount of land under cultivation and exploiting the labour of others. Scientific analysis of plant remains and animal bones from archaeological contexts is generating the first direct evidence for the development of such low-input regimes. This article outlines the methods used by the FeedSax project to resolve key questions regarding the ‘cerealization’ of the medieval countryside and presents preliminary results using the town of Stafford as a worked example. These indicate an increase in the scale of cultivation in the Mid-Saxon period, while the Late Saxon period saw a shift to a low-input cultivation regime and probably an expansion onto heavier soils. Crop rotation appears to have been practised from at least the mid-tenth century.

SITUATION VACANT: POTTER REQUIRED IN THE NEWLY FOUNDED LATE SAXONBURHOF NEWARK-ON-TRENT, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

The potters’ wheel was reintroduced to England in the late ninth century. It spread rapidly throughout eastern England, yet little is known about the mechanisms that facilitated its dissemination and success. This article presents the results of multidisciplinary research into the diffusion of this technology. Focusing on pottery production in late Saxon Newark, Nottinghamshire, an industry thought to have been founded by a potter(s) who had relocated from Torksey, Lincolnshire, this study offers a rare opportunity to examine the movements and craft practices of an individual artisan(s). By considering their manufacturing choices in the context of pottery distribution networks and the contemporary political, social and economic climate, it is demonstrated that the supply of pottery to Newark from regional production centres was restricted, creating a gap in the market and providing an incentive for a potter to relocate, encouraging the spread of the potters’ wheel throughout eastern England.

From wic to burh: a new approach to the question of the development of Early Medieval London

ABSTRACT During the ninth century the focus of occupation in Saxon London shifted eastwards from the Covent Garden area back to the former Roman city of Londinium. Combining detailed case studies with the results of correspondence analysis, this paper critically compares archaeological features and assemblages at sites dated c. AD 770 to c. AD 850 in Middle Saxon Lundenwic with sites dated c. AD 850 to c. AD 950 in Late Saxon Lundenburh. Differences in the archaeology of the two settlements are discussed. These distinctions reveal specific areas of discontinuity that strongly support current models of a hiatus between the decline of Lundenwic and renewed activity in Lundenburh.

Scientific analysis of a preserved head of hair at Romsey Abbey, UK

This paper presents the results of a scientific investigation on a preserved head of hair, discovered in 1839 inside a lead coffin beneath the Norman Abbey of Romsey (Hampshire, UK). Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating, modelled to account for dietary marine protein intake indicated by stable isotope analysis (δ13C and δ15N), suggests that this individual died between 895–1123calAD (95.4% probability). A wooden ‘pillow’ found supporting the hair produced a date of 895–1016calAD (95.4% probability). These results suggest that this burial dates from the end of the ninth century to the early twelfth century, placing it in the late Saxon or immediately post-Conquest era. Analysis by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) of residue adhering to the hair surface indicates the presence of Pinacea resin, deriving either from funerary ritual or hair care during life.

Technology, ritual and Anglo-Saxon agriculture: the biography of a plough coulter from Lyminge, Kent

Abstract

‘We'll have what they're having’, cultural identity through diet in the English Saxon Period

The roots of the English population lie in diverse cultural origins. Within the second half of the first millennium AD, there were two major migrations, firstly the Saxons in the immediate post-Roman period, and later following the ‘Viking’ incursions of the mid-9th century. This paper considers the visibility of these migrations in the animal economy. Zooarchaeological data from 141 Saxon sites within England were analysed for evidence of diet and animal husbandry. Results indicate that there were signatures specific to native British rural populations in the early Saxon phase, relying largely on a self-sufficient economy, consuming very few wild species or domestic birds. Saxon cultural differences were implied from a number of sites, dependant on the increased importance of cattle in the diet and as culturally symbolic animals signifying status and utilised for trade. There was also evidence for the earliest settlers to have used pigs as a ‘mobile larder’, to provide meat while they established herds and flocks of cattle and sheep. Regional differences were visible in the late Saxon phase, within Wessex and the Danelaw, related to agricultural changes in the midlands and central southern region, and cultural identity, particularly within the heartlands of the northern Danelaw, towards an increase in cattle production.

An Outstanding Hoard of Gold Objects Deposited in the Late Saxon Period

A HOARD OF FOUR GOLD FINGER-RINGS and other items discovered in West Yorkshire by a metal-detectorist is remarkable for the superb quality of the objects, their occurrence as a group and because some of the rings were probably never worn. Each piece is introduced and discussed against the relevant Anglo-Saxon, continental and Viking background, and a link to 10th-century Danelaw elites is proposed.

A Note on the Role of Dogs in Anglo‐Saxon Society: Evidence from East Anglia

This paper examines the roles that dogs played in Anglo-Saxon (420–1066 CE) society in East Anglia, drawing on data from the Late Roman site of Icklingham and the Anglo-Saxon sites of West Stow, Brandon and Ipswich in Suffolk, England. The archaeological context of these dog finds is described, along with zooarchaeological data on dog sizes, ages at death and paleopathology. The data indicate that Early and Middle Anglo-Saxon dogs are less varied than Late Roman dogs. Ageing and paleopathological data indicate that the West Stow dogs, in particular, had hard lives. Early and Middle Saxon dogs from East Anglia were relatively large, with an estimated withers height of about 60 cm. They may have served as guard dogs and herding dogs. The West Stow dogs may also have been involved in hunting and fighting. Late Saxon dogs from Ipswich reveal an increasing morphological diversity, suggesting that they played multiple roles in Late Anglo-Saxon urban sites. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Animal husbandry and farming in East Anglia from the 5th to the 10th centuries CE

Archaeological research that has been carried out in East Anglia since the 1960s has shed light on the changes in animal husbandry and farming that took place in eastern England between the 5th and the 10th centuries CE. The sites of West Stow and West Stow West have shed light on animal husbandry during the Early Saxon period. The rural estate centres of Brandon, Suffolk and Wicken Bonhunt, Essex provide evidence for Middle Saxon animal husbandry practices. Animal bones from the proto-urban ‘wic’ site of Ipswich in Suffolk show how this site was provisioned, while data from the Late Saxon contexts at Ipswich can shed light on the transition of this site from an emporium to a local market town. This paper takes a multi-proxy approach to changes in animal husbandry, farming, and landscape in Eastern England between the end of the Roman period and the 10th century, drawing on faunal data including species ratios, age profiles, biometrical data, and butchery patterns, as well as other classes of data that can inform us about changes in agriculture and landscape use.

A probable late Saxon burh at Ilchester

ABSTRACT Reasons are put forward for suggesting that a burh at Ilchester would have formed one element of the system of burhs built over the whole of Wessex by King Alfred in the late ninth century, which, apart from Ilchester, are included in the Burghal Hidage document. The principal argument is that it is necessary to postulate the existence of a burghal territory of several hundred hides in addition to those given for other Somerset burhs in the Burghal hidage, in order to make up a shortfall in the total hidage values from the shire given in the Burghal Hidage compared to those in Domesday Book. A methodology is suggested by which these values can be reconstructed. There are other characteristics pertaining to Ilchester itself which are indicative of its former burghal status: its tenurial heterogeneity and its dependence on the royal estate centre at Milborne Port shown in Domesday Book, and archaeological and other evidence for its importance as a significant settlement in the late Saxon landscape of Somerset.

Cottam, Cowlam and Environs: An Anglo-Saxon Estate on The Yorkshire Wolds

From 1993–95 investigation of a so-called ‘productive site’ known as Cottam B revealed an Anglo-Saxon settlement occupied during the eighth to ninth centuries AD, succeeded in the late ninth to early tenth century by an Anglo-Scandinavian farmstead. The final report (Richards 1999a) concluded that the Anglo-Saxon settlement may have been an outlying farming and hunting dependency set within a royal estate centred upon Driffield, but that following the Viking partition of East Yorkshire it developed into an independent proto-manor. In subsequent years, fieldwork was undertaken at other early medieval sites in the immediate locality. At Cottam A (in 1996) and later at Church Farm, Cowlam (in 2003), contemporary Anglo-Saxon occupation was revealed at both sites. These sites provide a local context for the results from Cottam B, and show widespread and dispersed settlement foci in this part of the Wolds in the eighth and ninth centuries. They illuminate how a number of outlying dependencies of a single estate were interrelated, and how they contributed to the evolution of the Late Saxon and medieval settlement pattern. This paper provides a summary report of the archaeology of Cottam A and Cowlam with a supporting digital archive, and draws conclusions about the nature of the activities and interrelationships within the proposed Anglo-Saxon estate in which these settlements were likely to have been situated.

The Walkhampton Enclosure (Devon)

ABSTRACT At Walkhampton, west Devon, a continuous line of field boundaries apparently represents the remains of two sides and three corners of a roughly rectangular enclosure of c. 175 hectares. We argue on stratigraphic grounds that the Walkhampton Enclosure (WE) pre-dates the Norman Conquest. It was sited strategically — defended by watercourses to the west and south, and located where two important long-distance roads merged to cross the River Walkham. At its centre lies Welltown Farm (probably once Bickwell), whose earliest known form was a twelfth-century hall; it is set within a pear-shaped embanked enclosure. It is likely that the WE played a key role in West Saxon control of the area in the early ninth century, before the establishment of the burh at Lydford. Walkhampton was a royal manor at the time of the Domesday survey; we suggest that the old territory of Roborough hundred was ‘royalised’ by a West Saxon king, with its centre transferred to Walkhampton. The WE may be interpreted as a late Saxon inland, administratively a royal manor liable to render a contribution to the ‘farm of one night’, supporting a peripatetic royalty and other important officials.