Scavenging in the ruins of empire, with Robin Fleming
A conversation with Robin Fleming about how the lives and material circumstances of people in Roman Britain changed when the imperial state and…
Roman statues discovered under medieval church in England
Archaeologists in central England working on the HS2 project have uncovered a set of incredible rare Roman statues whilst excavating a Norman Church in Stoke Mandeville.
Fourth-century mosaic to stay in England
The Dewish mosaic will remain in the United Kingdom, as the Dorset County Museum has successfully raised £150,000 to purchase the artefact.
Early Medieval Christian artefact uncovered at Hadrian’s Wall
They believe the artefact dates back to the 5th or 6th century, and is the only surviving object of its kind from this period in Britain and a rare example of early medieval Christian artwork.
Anglo-Saxon hegemony in Early Medieval Britain
The evidence presented in this thesis, however, rather point to a large degree of continuity between Roman and Anglo-Saxon Britain, both when it comes to the rural population and the elite.
Medievalists at the Movies: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword premiered May 2017 MAN CANDY ALERT! When I sat down to watch “King Arthur” over this past…
Book Excerpt: Warriors and Kings The 1500-Year Battle For Celtic Britain by Martin Wall
For those of you looking for something Celtic to read this spring, author Martin Wall brings us Warriors and Kings: The 1500-Year Battle for Celtic Britain.
Soldiers to Warriors: Renegotiating the Roman Frontier in the Fifth Century
There has been a presumption that only the poorest soldiers remained in very small numbers by the end of the Roman period, c ad 410, if not withdrawn completely at the command of an emperor or usurper; but there are no documentary sources that validate this, and there is a considerable amount of archaeological evidence that disproves it.
Early Medieval Celtic Art in Britain and Ireland: A Curator’s Perspective
Martin Golberg, Senior Curator at the National Museums of Scotland, travelled to the British Museum to give audiences perspective on the various pieces in the exhibit as well as an introduction to what constitutes “Celtic” art.
Who Were The Celts? The British Museum Offers Answers with New Exhibition
The British Museum just opened its latest exhibit, Celts: Art and Identity this past Thursday, covering 2,500 years of Celtic history. The exhibit explores Celtic identity and how it eveolved from the time of the Ancient Greeks to the present through art, culture, daily life, religion and politics.
Picts offer historians a picture of non-Roman Briton culture
History has never been too kind to a group of early British Isle inhabitants referred to as the Picts, but the often mischaracterized, always mysterious people may serve as a historical laboratory to explore how the island’s culture might have developed without Roman intervention, according to a Penn State historian.
A British legion stationed near Orléans c. 530?
Several recent books lead the reader to believe that Vita sancti Dalmatii, written in c. 800, records a legio Britannica (a British army) stationed near Orléans in c. 530.
Anglo-Saxon smiths and myths
Knowledge of the metalworking and jewellery-making abilities of the Anglo-Saxons has been much enhanced in recent years by metallurgical and other technical studies.
Archaeology, common rights and the origins of Anglo-Saxon identity
It is generally accepted that rights over land, especially rights of pasture, played a formative role in establishing the identity of early Anglo-Saxon ‘folk groups’, the predecessors of the middle Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
Rethinking Hardown Hill: Our Westernmost Early Anglo-Saxon Cemetery?
This paper reassesses the early Anglo-Saxon assemblage from Hardown Hill, Dorset. Wingrave excavated the objects in 1916 but apart from his 1931 report, and Evison’s 1968 analysis, there has been little subsequent discussion.
Quid Tacitus . . . ? The Germania and the Study of Anglo-Saxon England
This paper considers the vexed historiography of Tacitus’s Germania and its reception history, first among German and other European historians and then among Anglo-Saxonists.
‘Royal’ pediculosis in Renaissance Italy: lice in the mummy of the King of Naples Ferdinand II of Aragon (1467-1496)
Pediculosis seems to have afflicted humans since the most ancient times and lice have been found in several ancient human remains. Examination of the head hair and pubic hair of the artificial mummy of Ferdinand II of Aragon (1467-1496), King of Naples, revealed a double infestation with two different species of lice…
Christmas Books: Great Medieval Fiction Reads for the Christmas Holidays!
Some medieval stocking stuffers for the historians on your Christmas list!
Piracy in Late Roman Britain: A Perspective from the Viking Age
In contrast to Romano-British studies, the scholar of the Viking Age is well served by detailed discussions of piracy, in large part driven by the considerable number of primary historical sources.
A Revival of Female Spirituality: Adaptations of Nuns’ Rules during the Hiberno-Frankish Monastic Movement
Before Columbanus, Irish abbots demonstrated little interest in producing monastic rules as we know them from the traditions of Benedict of Nursia and Caesarius of Arles. Preferring instruction by example to any documented tenets, Irish monasticism emphasized the conduct of the founding or ruling abbot or abbess as a model to imitate.
The Anglo-Saxon influence on Romano-Britain : research past and present
The Romano-British to Anglo-Saxon transition in Britain is one of the most striking transitions seen in the archaeological record. Changes in burial practice between these periods, along with historical, anthropological, environmental and linguistic evidence have all been thought to indicate that a mass migration of Angles and Saxons into Britain occurred in the 5th century A.D.
Lincolnshire and the Arthurian Legend
This article is intended to rectify this, proceeding from the widely-held assumption of the existence of a genuinely ‘historical Arthur’, before going on to consider the even more fundamental question of whether we ought to believe in Arthur’s existence at all.
Tenebrae Refulgeant: Celestial Signa in Gregory of Tours
Celestial portents appear frequently in the Historiae of Bishop Gregory of Tours (ca. 539–94). Gregory carefully distinguished between the interpretation of celestial signs and horoscopic astrology by describing signs as natural, albeit miraculous, elements of God’s Creation.
A tale of Wade: The Anglo-Saxon origin myth in an East Saxon setting
In the past Walter Map’s tale of Gado, included in his De Nugis Curialium, written towards the end of the twelfth century, has been merely regarded as a Medieval Latin version of a pre-conquest lay concerning the exploits of the Germanic hero Wade. However, if we look past the fantastic elements which surround him we are left with what appears to be an East Saxon version of the English settlement myth most familiar in the Kentish form involving Hengist and Vortigern, which itself seems to have been adopted from a common Germanic theme.