The English Settlements

Description

This entirely new work is the last volume to be published in the 'Oxford History of England', and replaces J. N. L. Myres's own part of the first volume in the series, 'Roman Britain and the English Settlements' — the classic 'Collingwood and Myres'. The author returns to the subject of his earlier contribution — the dark centuries of English history between the collapse of Roman rule in the early fifth century and the emergence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the seventh — but considers the period afresh in the light of the rapid proliferation of work on the subject in the half-century since the first volume was published. Much new evidence on the literary sources, on the archaeological evidence both in England and on the continent, and on place names and other linguistic developments has led to significant changes in emphasis: Dr Myres now draws attention to some little-understood factors which seem to link Roman Britain with Anglo-Saxon England, and so suggests strands of political and social continuity which may help to explain this complex and traumatic period of our history. Introduction xvii 1: The Nature of the Evidence. I. The Literary Sources 1 2: The Nature of the Evidence. II. Archaeology and Place-Names 21 3: The Continental Background 46 4: The Romano-British Background and the Saxon Shore 74 5: Saxons, Angles, and Jutes on the Saxon Shore 104 6: The Formation of Wessex 144 7: The Humbrenses and the North 174 8: Change and Decay 202 Appendices 220 Bibliography 224 Index 237