From Roman Britain to Norman England

London: Methuen. Very Good/Very Good. 1978. First Edition. Hard Cover. 8vo 0416716105 Dust jacket complete. Original cloth boards with bright gilt titling on spine. Previous owner's name, place & date on ffep. 294 pages. Recent discoveries by archaeologists, numismatists and students of place-names have greatly enlarged our knowledge of early English history and have caused historians to re-examine many familiar sources and to question some of the basic assumptions made in the study of the period. The British background has been illuminated by the remarkable advances made lately in the study of early Irish society, and an important contribution has also been made by social anthropologists, whose observations on the working of pre-industrialized societies have provided keys to many features of early English society. Professor Sawyer, in this stimulating survey of the period, offers an interpretation of early English history that attempts to take account of these discoveries and ideas. This new and comprehensive study of the period provides both the student and specialist with an informative account of post-Roman English society. After a general survey of the main developments from the fourth century to the eleventh, the approach is analytical, with chapters devoted to social organization, the changing character of kingship and of royal government and the influence of the church. Particular attention is paid to the history of settlement and the making of the landscape, and to the growth of towns and trade that made eleventh-century England one of the most highly urbanized areas of western Europe. The last chapter is a discussion of the consequences of the Norman Conquest. Throughout, the main emphasis is on the English but attention is also paid to the various influences, British, Roman, Frankish, Viking and Christian, that helped shape English society and contributed to the making of a united kingdom. There is a full bibliography and the text is complemented by excellent maps. This book can hardly fail to be an important influence on our view of early medieval England, providing, as it does, a fundamental introduction to the period, coupled with illuminating research on many sections of early society. Contents: THE SEVENTH CENTURY AND BEFORE -- The sources for early English history -- Seventh-century Britain -- Britain and the Romans -- Britain after the Romans -- The conversion of the English -- THE MAKING OF ONE KINGDOM -- The Mercian hegemony -- The Vikings -- The West Saxon empire -- THE MAKING OF THE LANDSCAPE -- LORDS, KINSMEN AND NEIGHBOURS -- KINGSHIP AND GOVERNMENT -- TOWNS AND TRADE -- Towns in Domesday Book -- Origins -- THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY -- THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST. .