Ebook: Early Medieval History

The principal concern of these papers is the role of Anglo-Saxon England in Europe. They follow a path marked out by Wilhelm Levison and others, who have held that, for all its idiosyncracies, Anglo-Saxon society was part of a wider culture, and moved in a direction not very different from that of other Germanic societies rooted in former imperial provinces; like them, it was compelled to face the consequences of conversion by the Roman church. What emerged was the civilisation of early medieval Europe.

After an opening chapter which considers some of the groupings of early medieval society, successive papers discuss individual themes: Sutton Hoo is related to the European background; Bede to Rome, Europe, and to Gregory of Tours (the only medieval historian who approaches him in stature); St. Boniface serves as a link between the age of Bede and that of Offa, who had to stand up to Charlemagne himself; and the ninth century sees their successors, Alfred and Charles the Bald, facing common problems that affect their outlook on kingship and their capacity to deal with the Vikings.