Settlements and strongholds in Early Medieval England : texts, landscapes, and material culture / Michael D.J. Bintley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bintley, Michael D. J., author.

Series:

Studies in the early Middle Ages ; 45.

Studies in the Early Middle Ages, 1377-8099 ; volume 45

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Landscape archaeology.

Civilization.

Great Britain--History--Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066.

Great Britain.

History.

England--Civilization--To 1500.

England.

Landscape archaeology--England.

Church history--Middle Ages, 600-1500.

Church history.

Church history--Middle Ages.

Civilization, Medieval.

Antiquities.

Civilization, Anglo-Saxon.

Physical Description:

231 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, [2020]

Summary:

The first interdisciplinary study of settlements and strongholds in early medieval England through their representation in literary and material culture. In recent years numerous advances in archaeological and historical studies have enhanced our understanding of the form and function of settlements and strongholds in the landscapes of early medieval England. Until now, this groundbreaking work has not been matched in studies of early English literature, where no concerted effort has been made to investigate how these findings can inform our understanding of their representation in texts--and vice versa. This study shows that literary works offer considerable insight into the ways their authors, readers, and other audiences thought and felt about the constructed places and spaces in which they lived their lives. Covering a broad range of evidence from the end of Roman rule to the Norman Conquest, it is the first study of its kind to offer an interdisciplinary account of the relationship between the built environment as it appears in the material record, and in a range of textual productions. Settlements and Strongholds interrogates correlations and disjunctions between the stories found in the soil and in written works of various kinds, focusing on vernacular texts and Latin works that informed their development. It argues for a deeper appreciation of the relationship between imaginative works and the material contexts in which they were created, revealing the parallel development of ideas and concepts that were fundamental in shaping early medieval England.

Contents:

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

Abbreviations of Key Texts

Introduction : Texts and Landscapes in Early Medieval England

Texts

Materials

Contexts

Ruin Mythologies

The Desolation of Britain

Origin Mythologies

Roman Buildings in the Exeter Book Elegies

Roman Buildings in Andreas

Rural Settlements in Early-Saxon England

Loci Amoeni in the Vernacular Tradition

Conclusion

Settlements Before the 'Viking Age'

Rebuilding Christendom in the Ruins of Rome

Cosmic Halls in Beowulf and Cædmonʼs Hymn

Minster Authority : Cædmon in the Historia Ecclesiastica

Building the English Church in De Templo

Structuring the Everyday in the Exeter Book Elegies

Wīcs in Old English Poetry?

Burhs in Middle-Saxon England

Settlements, Strongholds, and the Alfredian Reinvention

Reclaiming the Urban Landscape in Andreas

The Archaeology of the Burghal Hidage

Society, Settlements, and the 'Alfredian' Translations

Society, Settlements, and Asserʼs Vita Alfredi

Spiritual Strongholds in Late-Saxon England

Bethulia as Burh in the Old English Judith

Cities of G̦ood and Evil in Elene, Juliana, and Daniel

Ælfric, Wulfstan, and the Building of Christendom

The Anglo-Norman City in Durham

Afterword

Of Time and the City

Earth, Wood, and Stone

Structures of Community

Works Cited

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

2503583849

9782503583846

OCLC:

1135411363