N. J. Higham

A fine academic work, perhaps a little too academic for a thicky like me so it took me long to work through it, but it was interesting.

This excellent book is a VERY detailed history of the Anglo-Saxon world. It is up-to-date, beautifully illustrated, scholarly and very well researched. It also shows that there are still many areas of debate where the experts on this period of history disagree amongst themselves.

In fact the only real problem with the book is that it is perhaps TOO detailed for the general reader who wants an introduction to the Anglo-Saxons. For example, after the introduction, the book starts with a first show more chapter on Roman Britain which goes on for 37 detailed pages. I know that it is necessary to set the scene by outlining what the situation was before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons, but I felt that there was more than necessary here.

Also, again because of the wealth of detail, I found it difficult to “see the wood for the trees” - in other words to find answers to the particular questions I am interested in. As well as wanting a general overview of Anglo-Saxon history and society, I was particularly interested in two questions:

(1) Was the Anglo-Saxon invasion a mass influx which pushed the native Britons out to the “Celtic fringe” through a process of ethnic cleansing, in the same way that Europeans did with the native populations in North America and Australia? Or was it more like the Roman and Norman invasions, with a small new Anglo-Saxon ruling class of warriors coming in and dominating a native population which remained the majority but which gradually adopted Anglo-Saxon culture?

(2) In relation to the class structure of society, did the 600 years of the “Dark Ages” see a gradual change from a tribal system dominated by chieftains and a warrior aristocracy to a much more rigid and even more unequal feudal system?

I did find some answers to these questions, but they took some finding in all the detail that surrounded them. And the fact that the index did not include entries for “class”, “status”, “inequality”, “aristocracy” or “invasion” didn’t help.

In relation to my first question, I found that “the evidence favours large-scale population continuity alongside significant migration.” It is also stated that “On balance, scientific approaches tend to favour an “English Settlement” characterised as much by acculturation as migration, and with a majority of the population indigenous.”

But it seems that “While Britons were probably numerous – arguably the majority – within early Anglo-Saxon society, they were characteristically of low status.”

In relation to my second question, it does seem that there was a shift from chieftainships to more feudal-like kingships. “Ceorls” had been freemen who had the right to possess weapons and attend assemblies, but then, “As kings and nobles gained increasing control of the sources of wealth, so the ceorl class was slowly reduced in status, eventually becoming a peasantry; the word “ceorl” began its long slide to the status of an un-free peasant, a ‘churl’”.

So, overall, this is a very good book, but one which requires you to put in a lot of effort and serious study time. show less

This tome sways more towards archaeology than history and, as a result, I found it hard to digest. In fact, I skipped many pages because the narrative didn’t hold my attention.

I saw no point in the first chapter about Roman Britain, so skipped this entirely. It’s not what I expected to encounter in a book about Anglo-Saxons, plus Roman Britain is the period of my country’s history that I’m least interested in.

The introduction hooked me 100 per cent, and I thought I was in store for a show more great read, but it turned out otherwise. Sections here and there caught my interest, and scanning the other reviews, I see I’m in the minority with my opinion. show less

Rather than a traditional biography, which is not possible due to the relative paucity of evidence from the first quarter of the tenth century, this book is instead a collection of papers by different academics presented at a conference in 1999, which was convened for the 1100th anniversary of Edward the Elder's accession to the throne of the emerging Anglo-Saxon kingdom of "Wessex plus", the forerunner of the English kingdom more fully established in the reign of his son Athelstan. It is show more thus rather dry in places for the amateur reader and contains a lot of repetition of those basic facts that are known. So a bit frustrating, but this is as good as it is ever going to get for this ruler. He is unfortunately sandwiched between his legendary father and his son who was the first king to rule over an area approximating to modern day England, but nevertheless deserves recognition as the bridge between the kingdom of Wessex and the rest of the country, especially its Mercian heartland. 3.5/5 show less