This special issue has been curated by Dr Irene Bavuso, Economic History Society Postan Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research. The selection provides an overview of research on Anglo-Saxon England published over the last decade (2008-2018). Many of the selected works propose new approaches for the study of this period, providing a wide-ranging picture on Anglo-Saxon England. The included works cover a broad range of themes, often offering challenging perspectives on debated topics. The books and the electronic resource span from Christianisation and the influence of Christian theology and religion on Anglo-Saxon society, the Viking ages in England, law and social order, prosopography, and political and socio-economic developments during the Late Anglo-Saxon period. Other contributions, although not specifically on England, offer thought-provoking perspectives on fundamental topics, such as slavery, kingship, and the Anglo-Saxon cultural influence on the Continent, helping us to situate England in its broader European context.
The World Before Domesday: The English Aristocracy 900–1066 / Ann Williams
Review Date: 01 December 2010
This is an accessible and engaging book about the ranks, obligations, and image of the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy, written by one of the leading historians of the period. Ann Williams is the author of The English and the Norman Conquest, Kingship and Government in Pre-Conquest England c. 500–1066 and Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King (1), not to mention numerous articles.
The Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons c. 597-c. 700. Discourses of Life, Death and Afterlife / Marilyn Dunn
Review Date: 28 February 2010
The publisher’s blurb for Marilyn Dunn’s new book claims that it is ‘the first work on the subject to combine a historical approach with insights provided by ethnography and anthropology’. As is often the case with publisher’s statements, this is something of an exaggeration.
