The Anglo-Saxon State

Description

The power, sophistication, unity and wealth of the late Anglo-Saxon state have been underestimated. The shadow of defeat in 1066, and an assumption that the Normans brought about strong government and a unification that had not previously been there, has prevented many of the remarkable features of Anglo-Saxon society from being seen. In The Anglo-Saxon State James Campbell shows how strong, unified and well-governed Anglo-Saxon England was and how numerous and wealthy were its inhabitants. Late Anglo-Saxon England was also a country with a political class considerably wider than just the earls and thegns. William Stubbs's vision of Anglo-Saxon England as a country with real representative institutions may indeed be truer than that of his denigrators. James Campbell's work demands the rethinking of Anglo-Saxon history. Contents Acknowledgements Introduction 1 The Late Anglo-Saxon State: A Maximum View 2 The United Kingdom of England: The Anglo-Saxon Achievement 3 The Impact of the Sutton Hoo Discovery on the Study of Anglo-Saxon History 4 Elements in the Background to the Life of St Cuthbert and his Early Cult 5 The East Anglian Sees before the Conquest 6 Asser’s Life of Alfred Appendix: Inconsistencies in Asser 7 England, c. 991 8 Was it Infancy in England? Some Questions of Comparison 9 Some Agents and Agencies of the Late Anglo-Saxon State 10 The Sale of Land and the Economics of Power in Early England: Problems and Possibilities 11 Stubbs and the English State 12 Stenton’s Anglo-Saxon England Index