Has the Battle of Brunanburh been discovered?
The famous medieval battlefield has been lost for centuries. Has new archaeological research discovered the site?
Has the Battle of Brunanburh battlefield been discovered?
The famous medieval battlefield has been lost for centuries. Has new archaeological research discovered the site?
New Medieval Books: Early Medieval Britain
Five new books that look at England, Scotland and Wales in the Early Middle Ages
Mægð Modigre or Þeodnes Mægð: Judith’s Heroism in the Anonymous Anglo-Saxon Judith
The Old English Judith tells the story of a Jewish virgin whose people, the Bethulians, are subjugated under the Assyrian King Holofernes by the orders of the great King Nebuchadnezzar.
Memories of migration? The ‘Anglo-Saxon’ burial costume of the fifth century AD
It is often claimed that the mortuary traditions that appeared in lowland Britain in the fifth century AD are an expression of new forms of ethnic identity, based on the putative memorialisation of a ‘Germanic’ heritage.
The Emergence of the English – a new interpretation and an old conundrum
In the past decade or so a number of works have taken a fresh look at post-Roman Britain, in particular at the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in what is now England
The Beowulf Manuscript
Beowulf may be one of the world’s most famous poems, but there’s a lot more to its manuscript than this poem alone. This week, Danièle looks into the other content of the Beowulf manuscript, its history, and what makes it both unique and special.
Sutton Hoo site transformed thanks to £4 million project
The experience for visitors at the site of one of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever made has been transformed at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, to bring the story of a spectacular King’s ship burial and his treasures to life.
Remains of early Anglo-Saxon church discovered
One of the first stone churches built in England has been unearthed, revealing details of early Christianity in England and connections between Anglo-Saxon Kent and the Kingdom of the Franks.
England and the Irish Sea Zone in the Eleventh Century
In this paper I seek to highlight Ireland’s significance in English affairs from the reign of Æthelred the Unready to that of William Rufus.
10 Videos about Anglo-Saxon England
Looking to learn about the history of Anglo-Saxon England? Here is our playlist of Youtube videos about England between the fifth and eleventh centuries.
The First Battle of Lindisfarne: Where History and Legend Meet
Long before Lindisfarne became known as one of the most isolated holy islands in Britain — second perhaps only to Iona — it was an area of great strategic importance.
10th Anniversary of the Staffordshire Hoard discovery celebrated
It’s the treasure that unearthed the dramatic history of seventh century England and the world of its warrior elite. Ten years ago on 5 July 2009, the Staffordshire Hoard was discovered in a farmer’s field near Lichfield.
Religion on the Frontier: Identity and Ritual Adaptations after the Anglo-Saxon migration
This paper will explore what it meant to practice religion on a frontier compared to the core, where the religion was based, by contrasting Anglo-Saxon ritual practices in Britain and the Continent.
Astronomical and Atmospheric Observations in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and in Bede
Chronicles and narrative histories of the Early Middle Ages contain a number of entries relating to astronomical events and atmospheric phenomena.
The Politics of Hegemony and the ‘Empires’ of Anglo-Saxon England
This examination does not intend to add to that ‘wild confusion’ by proposing a new definition of empire to encompass the hegemonies of Æthelstan and Cnut, nor does it seek to force those disparate kingships into an existing definition of the term. Rather, it simply questions whether it makes sense for historians to use the term ’empire’ to denote a distinct and coherent category of political power in the context of Anglo-Saxon monarchical hegemonies.
The Reuse of ‘Antiques’ in Anglo-Saxon Graves
Were these curated or items ‘won or stolen’ from earlier sites? At a different level, it is suggested that a type of Iron Age ‘safety pin’ brooch became popular at this time in the mid- 7th century.
Romans, Britons or Anglo-Saxons in Fifth Century Britain: How do we know, why should we care?
Romans, Britons or Anglo-Saxons in Fifth Century Britain: How do we know, why should we care? Paper by Paul Gorton Given at the Theoretical…
Close to Home or Far Away? Exploring identity in early Medieval Suffolk
What do changes in the material expression of identity tell us about social dynamics in 5th to 9th century Eastern England? Do wider geographic patterns show influences shifting from east to west, or is societal change a localized process
The Origins of Wessex – Archaeology and Landscape in the Upper Thames Valley, 5th-7th centuries AD
Most people are very well aware that the kingdom of the West Saxons – Wessex -was ultimately the most successful of all the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms … but a lot of people are unaware that the heartland of early Wessex wasn’t in fact around Winchester which of course became its later capital but rather it lay in the Upper Thames Valley.
King Alfred, Mercia and London, 874-86: A reassessment
The status of London in the later ninth century has for some time been the subject of enquiry by historians, numismatists and archaeologists
Etheldreda: Queen, Abbess, Saint
Saint Etheldreda / Ӕthelthryth / Audrey (636 -679 AD) was an East-Anglian princess who became the Queen of Northumbria and later the founder and abbess of a monastery at Ely in Cambridgeshire.
How to be a Holy Man and a Pragmatist: The story of Hybald
Any type of leader will often have to balance their convictions with pragmatism. For a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon abbot, perhaps there could be a way to display both.
Collapse, Reconfiguration or Renegotiation? The Strange End of the Mercian Kingdom, 850-924
The Kingdom of Mercians is generally assumed to have come to an end, largely as a result of Viking incursions, in the late ninth century
“In the resurrection, no weakness will remain”: Perceptions of disability in Christian Anglo-Saxon England
This paper will focus on perceptions of physical impairment in the later Anglo-Saxon period (c. 800–1066 AD).