A Companion to the Early Middle Ages: Britain and Ireland c.500 – c.1100

This collection of 28 original essays by leading scholars covers the key debates and issues involved in writing a history of Britain and Ireland in the early middle ages. It moves away from the Anglo–centrism which has often characterised accounts of the centuries from the end of the Roman occupation of Britain up to the Norman Conquest of England and its aftermath. The essays combine inclusive and comparative approaches with the questioning of artificial distinctions of modern national boundaries. They are written in a clear, provocative, and lively manner and, taken as a whole, provide both a sophisticated and authoritative overview of the scholarship that has shaped our current understanding of the early medieval History of Britain and Ireland and a new view of that history.

Drawing on the range of current historical scholarship, A Companion to the Early Middle Ages is the first reference work of its kind to demonstrate how such a genuinely inclusive approach to the history of Britain and Ireland from c.500 to c.1100 can transform our understanding of the period.

Notes on Contributors ix

List of Abbreviations xiii

Maps xv

PART I INTRODUCTORY MATTER 1

1 Introduction 3
Pauline Stafford

2 Historiography 9
Pauline Stafford

3 Sources 23
Pauline Stafford

PART II BRITAIN AND IRELAND, C.500 C.750 39

4 Britain and Ireland, c.500 41
Barbara Yorke

5 Economy 57
Howard B. Clarke

6 Kings and Kingship 76
Barbara Yorke

7 Communities and Kinship 91
David E. Thornton

8 Social Structure 107
Thomas M. Charles–Edwards

9 Britain, Ireland, and Europe, c.500 c.750 126
Paul Fouracre

10 Conversions to Christianity 143
Huw Pryce

11 Church Organization and Pastoral Care 160
Thomas Pickles

12 Latin Learning and Christian Art 177
Martin J. Ryan

PART III BRITAIN AND IRELAND IN THE LONG NINTH CENTURY, C.750 C.900 193

13 Viking Raids and Conquest 195
Dawn Hadley

14 Scandinavian Settlement 212
Dawn Hadley

15 Britain, Ireland, and Europe, c.750 c.900 231
Janet L. Nelson

PART IV BRITAIN AND IRELAND, C.900 C.1100 249

16 Scotland 251
Alex Woolf

17 Ireland, c.900 c.1000 268
Edel Bhreathnach

18 Ireland, c.1000 c.1100 285
Seán Duffy

19 Northumbria 303
William M. Aird

20 Southumbria 322
Charles Insley

21 Wales and West Britain 341
John Reuben Davies

22 Britain, Ireland, and Europe, c.900 c.1100 358
Simon MacLean

23 The Institutional Church 376
Catherine Cubitt

24 Pastoral Care and Religious Belief 395
Catherine Cubitt

25 Nobility 414
Julia Crick

26 Settlement and Social Differentiation 432
Sally Crawford

27 Localities 446
David E. Thornton

28 Queens and Queenship 459
Pauline Stafford

Bibliography 477

Index 524

Pauline Stafford is Professor Emerita at Liverpool University, previously Professor of Medieval History. She is a specialist in the history of Anglo–Saxon England and of women and gender in England and Europe from the eighth to twelfth centuries. Her previous publications include Queens, Concubines and Dowagers, the King s Wife in the Early Middle Ages (1983, 1998), Unification and Conquest, a Political and Social History of England in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries (1989), Queen Emma and Queen Edith (1997, 2001), Law, Laity and Solidarities (2001), Gender, Family and the Legitimation of Power: England from the Ninth to Early Twelfth Century (2006), and the jointly edited Gendering the Middle Ages (2000).