Michaelmas Lectures

Question 1

1.1 - Iron and Bronze-Age Britain

Answer 1

• Hierachy of kings from 7 kingdoms
• Northumbria and Mercia older
• Wessex and Kent probably younger
• Kent dominant from about 600 - Æthelbert ruled “all of England south of the Humber” - Bede
• London Very important as a trading centre, esp. as not central within a kingdom
• Furnished graves very common
• Missions from Rome wanted to convert the kings, thinking that then their people would follow the example

Question 2

1.2: From Roman Britian to Anglo-Saxon England

- Narratives of settlement

Answer 2

• Narratives of settlement
  *

Question 3

Gildas’ narrative of settlement

Answer 3

• Gildas
• 5th/6th century
• ‘On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain’.
• Not v. specific.
• Describes arrival of the Saxons (probably a catch-all term).
• Distinguishes the Britons from the Romans which is problematic

Question 4

Bede’s narrative of settlement

Answer 4

• Invitation of Saxons into England by Vortigern
• Names Angles, Saxons and Jutes in different areas of England
• Only specifically describes the origin story of Kent
• Kent inhabited by Jutes, however archaeology suggests southern Germany and France as settlers rather than English or Danish

Question 4

Historia Britania narrative of settlement

Answer 4

• 829
• By now is a myth
• Contains remnants of an origin story about Northumbria

Question 5

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

Answer 5

repetition of stories

Question 6

What shows the interest in this period

Answer 6

• Beowulf
• King Arthur
• Welsh origin stories also from this period

Question 7

Why are the tales of the settlement unreliable

Answer 7

• Very violent
• Idea of a time of chaos and mayhem
• Already a period of myth by the time these texts are written
• Often seem to project their own concerns onto the historic period
• When interpreting the world as groups of people, predisposed to think in terms of migration
• Migration also thought of as an event rather than a process
• Evidence of Anglo-Saon kingdoms allying with Briton kingdoms against other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms

Question 8

Roman mint

Answer 8

Only had one in England that collapsed in the 300s
Money imported from the mainland

Question 9

What roman elements collapsed

Answer 9

Most pottery (or at least became much more simple and localised)
Money - More money and precious metals buried than before
Villas
Towns

Question 10

Evidence of continuity

Answer 10

• Military buildings sometimes have continuity into the 5th century.
  This may have been roman military groups attempting to become warlords and using their buildings as bases.
• Continuity of agriculture