Mercian Society in the Long Eighth Century Flashcards
Which English kingdom was the most powerful een between 679-829?
Mercia
What was Mercia referred to by contemporaries?
Mierce (“Marchers”)
Mercia was the last kingdom to convert to Christianity
Yes
Describe the 3 obligations in 749
Military Service; Bridge building; Fortress building
What is interesting about the obligation of fortress building?
Not many forts found for that period except Offa’s dyke
- Could be to maintain Roman walls or Iron age hillforts?
- Fortresses may have been much smaller than our conception of them
What was Offa always referred to as?
‘Grace of God’ - Christian kingship ideal?
What was a phenomena found in SE but nowhere else?
No enclosures
Under whose reign was Offa’s dyke built and who first tells us this?
Whilst maybe named after the legendary Offa, built in real Offa’s time
Asser first asserts the connection in ~810
When did Offa rule?
757-796
Primogeniture not a thing in EM cos kings had to be competent
Yes
When was the Tribal Hideage written?
Mid 7thCE or Late 7thCE - disputed as to when written
Could there be an ecclesiastical function for the Tribal Hideage?
Found with a lot of ecc stuff - could be Canterbury assessing land for Papal tax (doesn’t include ‘lands’ of York)
Why might Wessex be way bigger than everywhere else (100,000 hides)?
Could be copied out after Wessex became dominant and wanted to be seen as a big one
Or could be punished and fragmented (Isle of Wight mentioned separate to Wessex even though Wessex took it in 680’s) - maybe why Ine wrote lawcode; to secure the kingdom
What indicates tribal hideage is notional value?
TH may show that 300 hides the most basic unit of measurement
Mercia exactly 100x that - just showing theyre real big
–> Round value, administratively convenient but doesn’t reflected reality (like 50yrs = ‘ages’)
Later English 5 hides enough to be a noble
Yes
