Where the Middle Ages Begin
With a population of almost 10,000, Bristol was later medieval England’s second or third biggest urban place, and the realm’s second port after London. While not particularly large or wealthy in comparison with the great cities of northern Italy, Flanders or the Rhineland, it was a metropolis in the context of the British Isles.
The Origins of Local Society in late Anglo-Saxon England Hirokazu Tsurushima Paper given at: The Third Japanese-Korean Conference of British History (2008) Abstract The purpose of this paper is to show the issues surrounding the origins of local society in late ‘Anglo-Saxon’ England, by examining a single original document from 968. A local society not […]
Examining the conversion of the kingdom of Mercia from the perspective of that kingdom’s origins and development and its rulers’ interests and concerns will enable us to understand both resistance and conversion to Christianity in seventh-century England.
The coinage of England in the third quarter of the ninth century was extensive. Dominated by the Lunettes type struck by a number of authorities (Kings of Wessex, Burgred of Mercia and Archbishop Ceolnoth of Canterbury) it presents a daunting quantity of material. However, the authors believe that focusing on the coinage of iEthelred I and Archbishop Ceolnoth provides the opportunity to concentrate on a key five to six year period in the devel- opment of the Anglo-Saxon coinage and specifically of the Lunettes type.
Do the variations reflect changes in purpose, patronage, doctrine, liturgy, or intended audience? Are they due to differences in authorship, geographical origin, or regional preferences? Analysis of the variations introduced into the corpus of materials, both narrative and visual, for a given saint over the course of the Middle Ages in England can elucidate the social, cultural, and historical significance of these changes.
Regicide was a common occurrence in the early Middle Ages. It was a fairly routine way for a victorious usurper or conqueror to rid himself of a potential source of trouble. Penda’s reputation in this field would almost certainly have been viewed with some approval had he been a Christian, and his foes pagan…
The creation of a new burh in London is seen as a natural development of the system of burhs which had been established by Alfred all over Wessex in the previous two years, following his victory over Guthrum’s forces at Edington
The Mercian Connection, Harold Godwineson’s Ambitions, Diplomacy and Channel-crossing, 1056 -1066 VAN KEMPEN,AD F. J. (Tilburg, The Netherlands) History, Volume 94, Issue 313 (2009) Abstract It is supposed that the Vita Ædwardi contains some information about Harold’s dealings with William of Normandy in 1064. This article links these covert references with William of Poitiers’ statements […]
All the Queen’s Men: Perceptions of Women in Power Burkett, Mona Master’s Thesis, University of Minnesota, (2009) Abstract Throughout the middle Ages, women were in a subordinate position to their male counterparts. At the same time, however, they could also hold positions of authority that conferred power. This paradox, women who were both weak and […]
After an exploration of the sources available for Penda’s kingship the central section of the piece consists of a consideration of the extent of Penda’s hegemony, followed by a detailed analysis of the mechanisms sustaining it.
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