Tradition and transformation in Anglo-Saxon England archaeology, common rights and landscape Susan Oosthuizen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Oosthuizen, Susan, author.

Series:

Debates in Archaeology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Land tenure--Law and legislation--Great Britain.

Land tenure.

Inclosures--Great Britain--History.

Inclosures.

Commons--Great Britain--History.

Commons.

Agriculture--Great Britain--History.

Agriculture.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (437 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York Bloomsbury Academic 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Most people believe that traditional landscapes did not survive the collapse of Roman Britain, and that medieval open fields and commons originated in Anglo-Saxon innovations unsullied by the past. The argument presented here tests that belief by contrasting the form and management of early medieval fields and pastures with those of the prehistoric and Roman landscapes they are supposed to have superseded. The comparison reveals unexpected continuities in the layout and management of arable and pasture from the fourth millennium BC to the Norman Conquest. The results suggest a new paradigm: the collective organisation of agricultural resources originated many centuries, perhaps millennia, before Germanic migrants reached Britain. In many places, medieval open fields and common rights over pasture preserved long-standing traditions for organising community assets. In central, southern England, a negotiated compromise between early medieval lords eager to introduce new managerial structures and communities as keen to retain their customary traditions of landscape organisation underpinned the emergence of nucleated settlements and distinctive, highly-regulated open fields

Contents:

List of figures

Acknowledgements

Prologue

Introduction

Tradition

Common pasture

Arable laid out in open fields

Transformation

Explaining continuities and transformations

Continuities in common pasture and open-field systems under narrow CPRS

Transformation into open-field systems under wide CPRS

Epilogue

Bibliography

Index

Prologue

Common Pasture

Arable

Explaining Tradition

Innovation

A Joint Endeavour?

Notes

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index

ISBN:

9781472555861

1472555864

9781472509475

1472509471

9781472505361

1472505360

OCLC:

841809748