Late Saxon Research Articles

The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature ed. by David Wallace

‘ XEVl'EWS David Wallace, ed. The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.1043. Cloth. The Cambridge History of English Literature, begun in 1907 and finished twenty years later, remained a standard reference work for many decades after that. In his gracious Preface to this new history, David Wallace ventures to hope for a long shelf-life for his volume too, while he acknowledges that “it can scarcely hope to outlast its immediate predecessor” (xi). This is one of many such gestures throughout the volume as the con­ tributors, a dazzling roster of senior scholars and rising stars, acknowledge their own debts to the scholars of the past. But this new volume is not at all shy about challenging almost every paradigm and construct established in that past. Indeed, each main term of the title is immediately challenged. “Medieval” begins around 1050 and carries on well into the sixteenth cen­ tury. “English” means written in England, as essay after essay seeks to restore English vernacular literature to the multilingual contexts in which it was produced. And “literature,” too, means something quite different at the end of the twentieth century than it did at the beginning. In the Introduction to one section of the book, for example, Wallace writes that “Much of the writ­ ing considered here — classroom exercises, penitential manuals, legal transcripts, fragments of translation — may not be consid­ ered ‘literature’ at all: but the acknowledged canonical authors of Middle English writing [... ] can hardly be understood as medieval English texts without reference to this under-studied, under-edited corpus” (313). The reference to editing is telling; Wallace is clear about his desire to “ease the bottleneck that has formed, in literary criticism and in curricular design, around later fourteenth-century England” (xii). In this aim the volume should, by all rights, succeed brilliantly, and leave one, as it does, dizzied by the size and richness of the world it describes. ESC 26, 2000 ESC 26, 2000 The book is organized into five sections: After the Norman Conquest, Writing in the British Isles, Institutional Produc­ tions, After the Black Death, Before the Reformation. These imply a chronological organization, and there is a progression from the late Saxon world in the opening chapters to the early Tudor world in the final pages. But the volume’s five-hundredyear history is often repeated in the individual essays, regardless of their placement in the overall design. The reader is sometimes confused as a result, particularly through the first three sec­ tions. But resistance to neat narratives of progression is one of the volume’s hallmarks, and one does become habituated to the embedding of these miniature histories within the larger one. As with the chronology, so with the thematic emphases im­ plied by the section titles. While the section on Institutional Productions, for example, gives particular prominence to the monasteries, schools, courtrooms, and universities, the aware­ ness of modes of production is found in almost every essay in the book. It is no accident that Pierre Bourdieu is a touch­ stone for many of the essays: to take one at random, Sheila Lindenbaum’s chapter on “London Texts and Literate Prac­ tice” opens by stating its intention to study London as a site of social practice (285). This overarching concern with produc­ tion and circulation is one that Wallace notes at the outset: “It is perhaps through resisting the divorce of literature from history in literary history [... ] that this volume makes its most distinctive contribution. [... ] Medieval literature cannot be un­ derstood (does not survive) except as part of transmissive pro­ cesses” (xx-xxi). It is, then, no surprise that later chapters in the book, such as Steven Justice’s account of Lollardy, continue to offer accounts that are deeply embedded in historical and institutional contexts. The emphasis on medieval institutions is doubtless respon­ sible for another of the volume’s most distinctive features, its emphasis on Latinity. Christopher Baswell’s “Latinitas” ad­ dresses Latin culture directly, but Latin texts feature promi­ nently in many other chapters as well, among them Andrew Gal­ loway’s “Writing History in England,” Christopher Cannon’s “Monastic Productions,” John V. Fleming’s “The Friars and...

Cherchez la femme. Queens, Queens' Landsand Nunneries: Missing Links in the Foundation of Reading Abbey

In 1121 Henry I founded Reading abbey, an event closely connected in time to his second marriage. This article links the lands used to endow Reading with those of late Saxon queens and of female communities themselves linked to queens. It explores lay control of such communities and the circumstances in which such control came to be defined as unacceptable, and thus in which monastic reform advanced. The events of 1120-21, after the tragic death of Henry'’ only legitimate son, are seen as constituting just such a circumstance. The foundation of Reading abbey, as a male Cluniac house, used former queens' lands and freed the lands of older religious communities. It was simultaneously an act of penance, a celebration of queenship and legitimate dynastic continuity, and an offering for the purification and fertility of the king’s new marriage.

On the use of negative na and ne in the Regius Psalter

An introductory Old English grammar says that ne is a negative adverb when it precedes a finite verb but a conjunction when it occurs elsewhere. The negative adverb na generally precedes an element other than a verb. In this paper I pick out Old English glosses which correspond to the 'Latin negative + verb' construction in the thirteen Psalter versions (PsG1A to M) and try to show how often the Regius Psalter (PsG1D) uses the 'na + (Pron +) V' construction in contrast with the preference for the '(Pron +) ne + V' construction found in the Vespasian Pssalter (PsG1A) and even in the D-type Stowe Psalter (PsG1F) and Vitellius Psalter (PsG1G). My investigation will show not only the peculiarity of PsG1D but the morphological confusion of na and ne – which reflects the phonological indistinctness and leads to structural variety – in late West Saxon Psalter glosses.

Popular religion in late Saxon England. Elf charms in context. By Karen Louise Jolly. Pp. x+251 incl. 8 ills and 4 maps. Chapel Hill–London: University of North Carolina Press, 1996. $39.95 (cloth), $16.95 (paper). 0 8078 2262 0; 0 8078 4565 5

Popular religion in late Saxon England. Elf charms in context. By Karen Louise Jolly. Pp. x+251 incl. 8 ills and 4 maps. Chapel Hill–London: University of North Carolina Press, 1996. $39.95 (cloth), $16.95 (paper). 0 8078 2262 0; 0 8078 4565 5 - Volume 49 Issue 1

Towns and markets in a regional administrative landscape: the development of the late Saxon urban network in East Anglia

Towns and markets in a regional administrative landscape: the development of the late Saxon urban network in East Anglia

Popular Religion in Late Saxon England: Elf Charms in Context.

In tenth- and 11th-century England, Anglo-Saxon Christians retained an old folk belief in elves as extremely dangerous creatures capable of harming unwary humans. To ward off the afflictions caused by these invisible beings, Christian priests modified traditional elf charms by adding liturgical chants to herbal remedies. In this text Karen Jolly traces this cultural intermingling of Christian liturgy and indigenous Germanic customs and argues that elf charms and similar practices represent the successful Christianization of native folklore. Jolly describes a dual process of conversion in which Anglo-Saxon culture became Christianized but at the same time left its own distinct imprint on Christianity. Illuminating the creative aspects of this dynamic relationship, she identifies liturgical folk medicine as a middle ground between popular and elite, pagan and Christian, magic and miracle. Her analysis, drawing on the model of popular religion to redefine folklore and magic, reveals the richness and diversity of late Saxon Christianity.

Medieval settlement relocation in West Cambridgeshire: three case-studies

ABSTRACT Planned nucleated settlement (often hand in hand with the creation of open fields) and subsequent settlement shift is a recognised common component in the complex development of the medieval landscape in much of central and southern England. This paper takes three examples of settlement over earlier arable in west Cambridgeshire. In each case examination has suggested that sites, initially supposed to have represented the initial late Saxon nucleation, should be reinterpreted as relocations to new sites overlying open field furlongs, often soon after the Conquest. In each case, too, the evidence demonstrates a complex process in which the regularity of an underlying field system has been overlain by the additional regularity of a relocated planned settlement from a previous settlements), evidence for the site(s) of which is yet to be discovered. The sites discussed here suggest that in Cambridgeshire some settlement re-planning seems to have followed from the reorganisation of land—particularly sokeman land—into new Norman manors, hand in hand with the re-ordering of the social hierarchy. Until we know more about the predecessors of these secondary villages, we cannot say whether settlements in these parishes remained dispersed or were nucleated at the time that this open field landscape was laid out. Further, apparently primary nucleated settlements in open field areas need careful examination to distinguish them from settlements where villages appear to have moved or been moved onto open field land—in different periods and for a wide variety of reasons—from earlier dispersed and/or nucleated sites.

The excavation of a late 15th- to 17th-century tanning complex at The Green, Northampton

Excavations at The Green, Northampton, in 1983 revealed up to three tanneries. These are described and discussed. Earlier excavations immediately to the north at St Peter’s Street had uncovered evidence of two further tanneries. These are reassessed in the light of the evidence from The Green. The phase of tanning activity can be divided into two: sub-phase 1 (c. 1470-1550) comprises the Western, Northern (Phase 1) and North-Western Tanneries and sub-phase 2 (c. 1550-1700) is composed of the Northern (Phase 2), Eastern and Central Tanneries, although it is possible that all three formed a single tanning complex. Evidence of earlier activity in the area, principally of late Saxon - medieval date, was uncovered, but the main phase of tanning activity coincided with a period of dereliction.The tanneries were composed of circular and rectangular pits. The animal bone evidence would suggest that cattle and horse hides and sheep skins were all being processed, despite contemporary prohibitions of this practice. All of the tanneries were small, the largest, the Western Tannery, comprising 36-37 pits. Many of the pits contained deposits of lime and ash which were used in the de-hairing process. Chemical analyses of soil samples from the pits suggest that they were used both for pre-tanning operations and for tanning itself. A primitive form of tanning is suggested.The archaeological findings are amplified by documentary evidence that a number of tanners were working in the area from the 16th century onwards; it is likely that the Northern and Western Tanneries were in the tenure of one man, John Buckby, who was of some importance in the town. Two streets with names linked to tanning (Tanner Street and Barker Street) were located nearby.

A Pair of Late Saxon Strap-Ends From Ipsden Heath, Oxfordshire

(1994). A Pair of Late Saxon Strap-Ends From Ipsden Heath, Oxfordshire. Journal of the British Archaeological Association: Vol. 147, No. 1, pp. 122-127.

Late Saxon Balances and Weights from England

DISPERSED REFERENCES to weights and balances in England dating to the late Saxon period (9th to 11th centuries) are collated and assessed. A classification of types is presented, and comparisons drawn with Irish and Scandinavian material.

The Archaeology of Lincoln, vol. 17, fasc. 3:a late saxon kiln site at silver street, lincoln. By P. Miles, J. Young, and J. Wacher

The Archaeology of Lincoln, vol. 17, fasc. 3:<scp>a late saxon kiln site at silver street, lincoln</scp>. By P. M<scp>iles</scp>, J. Y<scp>oung</scp>, and J. W<scp>acher</scp>

Marriage in Pre-Industrial Warsaw in the Light of Demographic Studies

The study describes the marriages contracted in the Holy Cross parish, one of the largest parishes in pre-industrial Warsaw. On the basis of the eighteenth-century parish registers of marriages, baptism and burials, taxation documents and population censuses, an attempt is made to establish the proportion of full celibaterians, the social and territorial origin of the newlyweds, their age, the duration of marriage and widowhood, the time when the marriages were contracted and their frequency in the largest urban agglomeration of pre-industrial Poland. The data are examined on the basis of reconstituted marriages in two subperiods: the late Saxon (1740–1769) and the Enlightenment (1770–1799).

Marriage in Pre-Industrial Warsaw in the Light of Demographic Studies

The study describes the marriages contracted in the Holy Cross parish, one of the largest parishes in pre-industrial Warsaw. On the basis of the eighteenth-century parish registers of marriages, baptism and burials, taxation documents and population censuses, an attempt is made to establish the proportion of full celibaterians, the social and territorial origin of the newlyweds, their age, the duration of marriage and widowhood, the time when the marriages were contracted and their frequency in the largest urban agglomeration of pre industrial Poland. The data are examined on the basis of reconstituted marriages in two subperiods: the late Saxon (1740-1769) and the Enlightenment (1770-1799).

Anglo-Saxon Settlements

Introduction: Later Anglo-Saxon England. DELLA HOOKE 1. Pre-Conquest: Territorial and administrative organization in east Suffolk. PETER WARNER, Lecturer in History, Homerton College, Cambridge 2. Minster churches in the landscape. JOHN BLAIR, Lecturer in History, The Queen's College, Oxford OXl 4QW 3. Towards a chronology for English place-names. MARGARET GELLING, Lecturer, Department of Archaeology, University of Birmingham 4. Towards a model of Anglo-Scandinavian rural settlement in England. TIM UNWIN, Lecturer, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway & Bedford New College 5. The late Saxon countryside - villages and their fields. DAVID HALL 6. Regional variation in southern and central England in the Anglo-Saxon period and its relationship to land units and settlement. DELLA HOOKE 7. Settlement chronology and regional landscapes: the evidence from the claylands of East Anglia and Essex. TOM WILLIAMSON, Lecturer, Centre of East Anglian Studies, University of East Anglia 8. Countryside and town: the animal resources of Saxon Southampton. JENNIFER BOURDILLON, Faunal Remains Unit, Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton 9. Towns as structures and functioning communities through time: the development of central places from 600 to 1066. DAVID HILL, Department of Extra Mural Studies, University of Manchester 10. The Anglo-Saxon towns of Kent. TIM TATTON-BROWN 11. The making of Domesday York. RICHARD HALL, Lecturer, University of York 12. Settlement structures and settlement systems of the Frankish central state in Carolingian and Ottonian times (8th to 10th centuries). HANS-JURGEN NITZ, Professor, Geographisches Institut, Universitat Gottingen 13. Systems of agriculture in Central Europe up to the tenth and eleventh centuries. HELMUT HILDEBRANDT, Professor, Geographisches Institut, Universitat Mainz 14. Anglo-Saxon England and the origins of the modern world economy. RICHARD HODGES, Lecturer, Department of Archaeology & Prehistory, University of Sheffield.

Medieval pottery in Britain, AD 900-1600

The first regional assessment of pottery from late Saxon to Tudor times covers the technology, production and distribution, pottery and society, before providing a select gazetteer of sites and their main pottery types, arranged by region of England-Wales-Scotland within three broad time ranges. Dating problems are taken as less important than questions on industrial specialization and social structure.

A late Saxon logboat from Clapton, London Borough of Hackney

A late Saxon logboat from Clapton, London Borough of Hackney

Excavation of Prehistoric, Roman, and Saxon Deposits at Wraysbury, Berkshire

This report is concerned with a sampling excavation of Bronze Age, Roman and late Saxon/early medieval settlement traces near the church at Wraysbury, Berkshire. The most extensive evidence is for an agricultural settlement of the late ninth to twelfth centuries A. D. based on a series of ditched enclosures and trackways. The settlement moved location during the eleventh century. The environmental evidence is particularly important. A large faunal assemblage including extensive fish remains exists for the late Saxon and medieval phases as well as an unusual collection of charred plant remains. There are important groups of Late Bronze Age and Saxon pottery.

Archaeology at Barton Court Farm, Abingdon, Oxon: an Investigation of Late Neolithic, Iron Age, Romano-British and Saxon Settlements

Archaeology at Barton Court Farm, Abingdon, Oxon: an Investigation of Late Neolithic, Iron Age, Romano-British and Saxon Settlements

Archaeology at Barton Court Farm, Abingdon, Oxon:an investigation of late neolithic, iron age, romano-british, and saxon settlements. Edited by DavidMiles

Archaeology at Barton Court Farm, Abingdon, Oxon:<scp>an investigation of late neolithic, iron age, romano-british, and saxon settlements</scp>. Edited by D<scp>avid</scp>M<scp>iles</scp>

?Cledemutha: A Late Saxon Burh in North Wales

In A.D. 921 Edward the Elder is recorded as having built the borough or burh at Cledemutha. On the basis of excavations in 1979–82 it is argued that a three-sided earthwork enclosing a large area to the south of modern Rhuddlan, Clwyd (Flintshire), forms the defences of this late Saxon burh. Evidence is presented for the dating, method of construction, original appearance and subsequent slighting of the defences. Comparisons are made with other large, late Saxon burhs and reasons are given both for the foundation and the failure of this planted borough in N. Wales.