The Anglo-Saxon StateThe power, sophistication, unity and wealth of the late Anglo-Saxon state have been underestimated. The shadow of defeat in 1066, and an assumption that the Normans brought about strong government and a unification that had not previously been there, has prevented many of the remarkable features of Anglo-Saxon society from being seen. In The Anglo-Saxon State James Campbell shows how strong, unified and well-governed Anglo-Saxon England was and how numerous and wealthy were its inhabitants. Late Anglo-Saxon England was also a country with a political class considerably wider than just the earls and thegns. William Stubbs’s vision of Anglo-Saxon England as a country with real representative institutions may indeed be truer than that of his denigrators. James Campbell’s work demands the rethinking of Anglo-Saxon history. |
Contents
A Maximum View | 1 |
The Impact of the Sutton Hoo Discovery on | 55 |
Elements in the Background to the Life of St Cuthbert | 85 |
The East Anglian Sees before the Conquest | 107 |
Assers Life of Alfred | 129 |
England c 991 | 157 |
Was it Infancy in England? Some Questions | 179 |
Some Agents and Agencies of the Late | 201 |
The Sale of Land and the Economics of Power | 227 |
Stubbs and the English State | 247 |
Stentons AngloSaxon England | 269 |
Common terms and phrases
abbey Æthelmaer Æthelred Æthelweard Alfred Alfred's Anglo Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Anglo-Saxon England Anglo-Saxon History annals Archaeology archbishop areas Asser assessment authority Battle of Maldon Bede Bede's bishop Bruce-Mitford burial Cambridge Carolingian charters Chronicle church Cnut Conquest Constitutional History courts Cuthbert Danegeld Danelaw described document Domesday Book Dommoc earls East Anglia ecclesiastical Edward eighth century Einhard element eleventh century emphasises English Historical estates evidence example extent Fossier Frankish geld gold Heregeld Hidage hides historians housecarls hundred Ibid important indicates king king's kingdom land later Latin London major Maldon ment Mercia Merovingian monasteries monastic ninth Norman Northumbria Norwich organisation Oxford period Plummer poem possibility probably Professor question reeves reference reign relation relationship royal rulers Sawyer Saxon says seventh shire significance Society South Elmham Stenton Stubbs Studies Suffolk suggests survival Sutton Hoo tenth century thegns tion treasures Tribal Hidage vols wealth Wessex Whitelock Wormald writs