The Anglo Saxons by James Campbell

The Anglo Saxons, the most recent edition of which was published in 1991, is a dense survey by James Campbell of the history of England from the end of Roman control around 400 A.D. to the Norman conquest in 1066. I read the gorgeous folio edition, which includes a small companion volume of very high quality photographs of various artifacts (e.g. coins, jewelry from archaeological finds) mentioned in the primary text. It can less expensively be found here.

The lovely folio edition--image pulled from their twitter.

This volume is usable by general readers, but it assumes a fairly high level of background knowledge about the events that it describes. The introduction is written by a specialist in this area, and even he says that he refers to this volume whenever he tackles a new subject. The text is interspersed with essays from other scholars in the field to provide additional detail about various topics, most commonly archaeological evidence. For example, there is an essay with more detail regarding the archaeological site of Sutton Hoo, which includes an intact ship burial, along with many pagan artifacts such as weapons and jewelry.

I have a pretty good historical grounding, but, being American, not for English history in this period. I recommend reading at least a wikipedia article or a generalist survey of English history to get the main points before you tackle this. I was helped by having read The Last Kingdom, an historical fiction novel which deals with the time of Alfred the Great fighting Vikings in the late 9th century. I also recommend reading the epilogue first, because it's a great summary of some of the author's arguments and conclusions and will make you enjoy the whole better. The epilogue probably should have been at the start of the book rather than at the end.

Statue of King Alfred in Wantage Market Square

Here’s a few pieces of background knowledge that the book is going to assume that you’ve got, from things you’re most likely to least likely to remember.

· Charlemagne united western and central Europe under the Carolingian Empire and was crowned Emperor of the Romans in 800 A.D. There was close ties between Charlemagne’s empire and successor states and the English. Everyone knows this, but it did make me want to read more about Charlemagne.

· St. Patrick was a Christian missionary who Christianized Ireland, which almost everyone knows, but what I’d forgotten is how early he was there—likely about the mid-5th Century.

· The Battle of Stamford Bridge (the other battle of 1066) preceded the Battle of Hastings and was fought between rival claimants to the English throne following the death of Edward the Confessor. Harold Godwinson won only to be defeated by William the Conqueror weeks later.

· Hadrian’s Wall was a defensive fortification built across England beginning in 122 A.D. to guard the northern boundary of the Roman Empire in England at that time. There’s also a Roman Antonine Wall further north, which most people (like me) don’t remember.

· King Cnut, was king of Denmark, Norway, and England (by conquest, having landed in 1015). This I definitely did not know about. The book assumes that the reader has a general handle on the identity of the English kings.

A general understanding of England’s pre-reformation ecclesiastical governance system, as well as the shire system which continued from this period until the 1970s with various modifications, would have been helpful. Much of this information is the sort of thing that imagine you learn growing up in England. Reading this without that knowledge was a bit like an English person reading a book about the American Civil War without a clear idea of what a state is in the United States.

I enjoyed reading this, but it is very dense and can be dry. You really have to like history to tackle it. The author's analysis of events and sources is impressive, and his conclusions that many of England's government institutions can be traced to dark age roots is persuasive. It has an extensive bibliography, citations, and notes. I would like to have more maps—the Landmark editions of Greek classics (e.g. Herodotus) absolutely spoil the reader with maps every few page, and I’d love this to become the new standard. Lacking any familiarity with English geography or place names, I had to spend a lot of time flipping back and forth or on my Ipad.

Shoulder Clasp from Sutton Hoo

This book raised a few different areas of interest for future research. One thing I didn’t realize is that the relationship between state and church and the tension between the two started very early in Christendom. Grants of land by the crown to the church could both weaken the throne and oddly strengthen it by enhancing its legitimacy. Issues over who has the power to appoint ecclesiastical authorities (the King or the church?) started in this period and continued for centuries. There was a push for ecclesiastical and monastery reform during this period, often to strengthen the purity of the church and render it less secular, which I didn’t know about. Early on, for example, monks were apparently allowed to marry. I’d be interested in reading more about the history of Christian monasticism and church governance prior to the reformation.

Some other interesting areas for research would be to learn more about the Vikings and to (re)read Beowulf and similar epics.

All in all, I do recommend this book, but would strongly encourage you to get the background knowledge that I’ve outlined before you try to tackle it.

Image Credits:

• Cover image is photograph of helmet from Sutton Hoo by Wikipedia user Geni at the British Museum under this CC License; pulled from wikimedia.

• King Alfred Statue photo by Steve Daniels; this CC License.

• Shoulder Clasp at British Museum; photo by Rob Roy found here; CC license.