Lords and Communities in Early Medieval East Anglia

Description

East Anglian warriors, monks and peasants toiled, fought and prayed during the tenth and eleventh centuries in order to establish the medieval landscape of East Anglia constructed around great royal abbeys, castles and manor houses. This book discusses the contexts which led to the creation of the medieval built environment from a regional and comparative perspective, following through the lives and initiatives of English, Scandinavian, Norman and Breton lords and their families. It analyses themes such as alliance and unification strategies, social mobility, ethnicity, the formation of lineages, and draws upon the disciplines of anthropology, economics and prosopography in order to further historical knowledge. Perhaps somewhat unusually it highlights the differences and similarities between the experiences of these lords and communities with aristocracies and social groupings in regions of Europe shaped by the feudal transformation. Yet the book also differs from its French and German counterparts through its discussion of the interconnections between social, political, economic and cultural processes, and linking such enquiries to topographical analysis. This monograph thereby builds up an image of the past 'from the ground' and draws upon neglected sources, such as commemorative records. It will be of interest not only to professionals and students who debate the making of the medieval world, but also to those readers who want to know more about East Anglia's great royal abbeys, churches, manor houses and castles.