Twenty-three contributions by leading archaeologists from across Europe explore the varied forms, functions and significances of fortified settlements in the 8th to 10th centuries AD. These could be sites of strongly martial nature, upland retreats, monastic enclosures, rural seats, island bases, or urban nuclei. But they were all expressions of control - of states, frontiers, lands, materials, communities - and ones defined by walls, ramparts or enclosing banks. Papers run from Irish cashels to Welsh and Pictish strongholds, Saxon burhs, Viking fortresses, Byzantine castra, Carolingian creations, Venetian barricades, Slavic strongholds, and Bulgarian central places, and coverage extends fully from north-west Europe, to central Europe, the northern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Strongly informed by recent fieldwork and excavations, but drawing also where available on the documentary record, this important collection provides fully up-to-date reviews and analyses of the archaeologies of the distinctive settlement forms that characterised Europe in the Early Middle Ages.

Quests for cod, herring and other sea fish had profound impacts on medieval Europe. This interdisciplinary book combines history, archaeology and zooarchaeology to discover the chronology, causes and consequences of these fisheries. It crosscuts traditional temporal and geographical boundaries, ranging from the Migration Period through the Middle Ages into early modern times, and from Iceland to Estonia, Arctic Norway to Belgium. It addresses evidence for human impacts on aquatic ecosystems in some instances and for a negligible medieval footprint on superabundant marine species in others (in contrast with industrial fisheries of the 19th–21st centuries). The book explores both incremental and punctuated changes in marine fishing, providing a unique perspective on the rhythm of Europe’s environmental, demographic, political and social history. The 21 chapters – by experts in their respective fields – cover a range of regions and methodological approaches, but come together to tell a coherent story of long-term change. Regional differences are clear, yet communities of the North Atlantic Ocean and the Baltic, North and Irish Seas also followed trajectories with many resonances. Ultimately they were linked by a pan-European trade network that turned preserved fish into wine, grain and cloth. At the close of the Middle Ages this nascent global network crossed the Atlantic, but its earlier implications were no less pivotal for those who harvested the sea or profited from its abundance.

The mosques of the Djebel Nafūsa, little known and under threat, personify the continuity of traditions and faith of the Ibadites, who have retained their grip over the centuries on this rugged landscape, despite their many trials and tribulations. This book is the result of a mission carried out in 2010 with the photographer Axel Derriks and examines twenty or so mosques, bringing to light their architectural features and linking them to medieval Ibadite texts.

This publication catalogues the British Museum’s uniquely important collection of coins from southern England of the period c. 760–880. During these years, the broad and thin silver penny became established as the standard denomination, used by multiple kingdoms including East Anglia, Kent, Mercia and Wessex, and issued in the names of kings such as Offa of Mercia and Alfred the Great. As a window onto the culture and ideology of Anglo-Saxon England at a time of impressive cultural achievement and increasing political complexity, the beautiful coins of this period are an indispensable resource, with value for all those interested in the art, history and archaeology of the eighth and ninth centuries. Containing more than 1,400 coins, the British Museum’s collection represents the single richest collection for the period, and stands out for its holdings of both famous rarities and large representative runs of numerous coin-types. This is the first catalogue of this part of the Museum’s collection to be published since the nineteenth century, since which time it has expanded dramatically in size. All coins are illustrated and described in full, and set into context with an introduction surveying their numismatic and historical background, including a description of the history of the collection itself.

This Gazetteer aims to be a comprehensive guide to places, artefacts and material of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Scandinavian (Viking) stone interest in Lincolnshire. Part 1 provides background material to put the Anglo-Saxons and Anglo-Scandinavians into their historical context, plus a glossary of terms, plans and features of Anglo-Saxon churches, and features relating to crossheads, cross-shafts, grave covers and grave markers.Part 2 identifies 117 “sites” with the aim of enabling the reader to know exactly what they are looking for and where exactly to find it: there is a site index. In alphabetical order each entry is:• Star rated to indicate the quality of what there is to see and how easy it is to find.• Precisely located and described, including measurements and descriptions of decoration where appropriate.

In 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, raised an army to invade England and to seize the throne. Maixent, a young boy from a poor family, became the unexpected companion of a nobleman named Tancrède de Hautmesnil on his way to join the Norman chief on the coast. From there, on the 28th of September and taking advantage of favourable winds, the fleet set off to launch the assault on England. Aboard the many ships, men feared the capricious seas, but, as soon as dawn broke, the enemy coast was already in sight. They would soon be in Hastings for the decisive battle.

Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary continue to intrigue and fascinate us to this day. Their appearances in the Bible are brief, piquing our curiosity and compelling speculation about the unknown years of their lives. This volume contains modern translations of plays performed during the late Middle Ages in England about the lives of the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene. These plays provide a link between canonical Scripture, apocryphal and gnostic materials from the first centuries of Christianity that survived secreted or in oral tradition, legendary materials that developed over the ensuing centuries, and contemporary medieval religious belief and practices. Materials from the N-Town Mary and other plays contain episodes about the childhood of the Virgin, her betrothal and marriage to Joseph, and her time after the death of Christ. The Digby Mary Magdalene begins with an account of the death of Mary Magdalene’s father, her subsequent fall into promiscuity, her redemption, her journey to convert Marseille and thus christianize France, her later years as a hermit and her death. These plays illustrate one way in which Biblical materials were available to lay people before the printing of the Bible. Reading these plays of the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene from the late Middle Ages increases our understanding of the history of the Marian and Magdalene traditions practiced in earlier centuries, as well as our understanding of what these women have come to represent today, shedding light on how their images have shaped the roles for women in the Church.

A Bronze Age barrow, one of several in the Rhee valley, was encircled by two concentric rings of posts in the early to middle Iron Age, and a single crouched inhumation was buried nearby. A small group of roundhouses and granaries was built on the clays c.100m from the river, and nearly 200 possible grain storage pits were dug on chalk deposits next to the river. Some of the pits contained human burials and animal bone groups of the pit burial tradition common in central southern and south-eastern England Significant assemblages of Chinnor-Wandlebury pottery and animal bone, including examples of rarely-found wild species, were also found. The site was unoccupied in the late Iron Age and Roman periods but still farmed, as evidenced by animal pens, field ditches and sparse domestic debris probably spread by manuring. During the later 6th century AD, a small open farming settlement of six sunken-featured buildings was established, akin to many similar settlements investigated in South Cambridgeshire. A substantial ditch enclosed the settlement in the 8th or 9th century, and occupation had shifted to Harston village by the 10th century.

This volume contains reports on excavations undertaken in the lower walled city at Lincoln, which lies on sloping ground on the northern scarp of the Witham gap, and its adjacent suburbs between 1972 and 1987, and forms a companion volume to LAS volumes 2 and 3 which cover other parts of the historic city. The earliest features encountered were discovered both near to the line of Ermine Street and towards Broadgate. Remains of timber storage buildings were found, probably associated with the Roman legionary occupation in the later 1st century AD. The earliest occupation of the hillside after the foundation of the colonia towards the end of the century consisted mainly of commercial premises, modest residences, and storage buildings. It seems likely that the boundary of the lower enclosure was designated before it was fortified in the later 2nd century with the street pattern belonging to the earlier part of the century. Larger aristocratic residences came to dominate the hillside with public facilities fronting on to the line of the zig-zagging main route. In the 4th century, the fortifications were enlarged and two new gates inserted. Examples of so-called ‘Dark Earth’ deposits were here dated to the very latest phases of Roman occupation.Elements of some Roman structures survived to be reused in subsequent centuries. There are hints of one focus in the Middle Saxon period, in the area of St Peter’s church, but occupation of an urban nature did not recommence until the late 9th century with the first phases of Anglo-Scandinavian occupation recorded here. Sequences of increasingly intensive occupation from the 10th century were identified, with plentiful evidence for industrial activity, including pottery, metalworking and other, crafts, as well as parish churches. Markets were established in the 11th century and stone began to replace timber for residential structures from the mid-12th century with clear evidence of the quality of some of the houses. With the decline in the city’s fortunes from the late 13th century, the fringe sites became depopulated and there was much rebuilding elsewhere, including some fine new houses. There was a further revival in the later post-medieval period, but much of the earlier fabric, and surviving stretches of Roman city wall, were swept away in the 19th century.

For over 35 years the author has travelled and researched extensively in the UK. His first publications were concise guides to historic Orkney and Shetland, and Northumberland and Tyne & Wear, covering places of interest from prehistory to the twentieth century. In the last 20 years he has focussed on the Anglo-Saxon period producing gazetteers of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Scandinavian sites as indicate above, as well as “The Combined Anglo-Saxon Chronicles: A Ready-Reference Abridged Chronology” a single narrative in chronological order of the information provided in the extant manuscripts identifying in the process the source manuscripts. His books are for those readers who wish to learn more about Anglo-Saxon church architecture and Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Scandinavian stone sculpture. Intended for the student and non-specialist alike, as well as those who already have some knowledge of the subjects covered, it bridges the divide between an academic approach and that of the interested general public. The aim is to provide an informed introduction to the subjects so that the reader will be able to confidently recognise Anglo-Saxon church architectural features and Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Scandinavian stone sculpture. The contents, including illustrations and photographs, all meticulously checked on site, are drawn from the author’s extensive research and travels over many years. All the sites mentioned have been personally visited and assessed by the author.

This PhD thesis discusses the practices of wealth depositing in the 1st–9th century AD eastern Baltic (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). Wealth deposits are one or more valued object/s that is/are hidden deliberately as an intended separate deposition in a selected place in a specific, distinguishable manner. Wealth depositing is regarded as an important cultural practice which relates to and derives from various past social phenomena and changes respectively in spatial and temporal terms. It is emphasised that wealth deposits should be analysed as a cohesive corpus of material, regardless of specific artefact types, functional groups, production material, environment of concealment, and most importantly without any predetermined interpretation categorisations.The dissertation presents different patterned practices of concealing valuables in the 1st–9th century AD eastern Baltic through a detailed contextual analysis of their main material characteristics: artefacts, their assemblages and appearance, environment of concealment, chronology and location in the cultural landscape. The study demonstrates how depositional practices change in time and space, and analyses relations between specific depositional practices and developments on a wider social scale. A comparative analysis of wealth deposits and important social changes in contemporary society based on overall archaeological material is presented. The key regional and cross-regional practices of wealth depositing in the 1st–9th century AD eastern Baltic are identified. Additionally, further comparisons are drawn between depositional practices in the eastern Baltic and other parts of the Baltic Sea region, especially Scandinavia.This thesis contributes to the discussions of concepts of value and depositional practices in a long-term and cross-regional perspective. A further aim is to look beyond the problematic ‘why?’-questions posed in the studies of wealth deposits, and move instead to more comprehensible questions of ‘how?’: how do depositional practices change in time and space, and how are these processes related to developments in a broader social context?The book contains a catalogue of all the 1st-9th century AD Eastern Baltic deposits analysed in the dissertation with descriptions of objects, environments of concealment, find circumstances, illustrations/photos and further references.

There has been a lot of new data discovered on Medieval Dutch cities in recent decades. This has provided new insights on the develeopment, topography, material culture and the functioning of cities. This study combines and synthesizes data from several Dutch Medieval cities. The focus of this data is an analysis of data retrieved from cesspools. Cesspools have reveiled a wealth of information in the form of artefacts which can shed light in daily life in the Medieval city. Cities included in this analysis are Alkmaar, Haarlem, Leiden, Amersfoort, Dordrecht, Deventer and ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

This book presents, in twenty international papers, the origin and development, and some of the main characteristics and diversities, of the academic discipline of medieval - and later - archaeology in a number of countries in northern Europe. Denmark is the main focus, together with the four other Scandinavian countries, the Faroes and Greenland. The book also provides an insight into some of the discipline's major achievements and fascinating discoveries in these parts of the world, as well as into some of the current research agendas, with their new perspectives, including developments towards the inclusion of the archaeology of more recent periods. The book is based on the proceedings of a conference held to celebrate 40 years of medieval archaeology as a university discipline in Denmark - one of the first countries to have a chair of medieval archaeology, established at Aarhus University, in 1971.

The Hundred Years’ War between England and France is a story of an epic conflict between two nations whose destinies became inextricably entwined throughout the later Middle Ages. During that time the balance of architectural power moved from religious to secular domination, the Gothic form continued to grow and the palace-fortress was in the ascendancy. Seats of Power in Europe is a major new study of the residences of the crowned heads and the royal ducal families of the countries involved in the Hundred Years’ War. Though they were the leading protagonists and therefore responsible for the course of the war, do their residences reflect an entirely defensive purpose, a social function, or the personality of their builders? As well as the castles of England and France it also looks at rulers residences in other European countries who supported one of the protagonists. They include Scotland, Castile, Aragon, Navarre, Portugal, the Low Countries, the imperial territories of Bohemia, and the papacy in Avignon and then Rome.The study concentrates on sixty properties extending from the castles at Windsor and Kenilworth to those at Saumur and Rambures, and from the palaces at Avignon and Seville to the manor-houses at Germolles and Launay. A number of subsidiary or associated properties are also considered in more broad-based sections. Each region and its residences are prefaced by supporting historical and architectural surveys to help position the properties against the contemporary military, financial, and aesthetic backgrounds. Extensively illustrated in full colour with over 120 photographs and over 70 plans this is an attractive and accessible overview of how architecture both shaped and was influenced by events during this tumultuous period in the history of Europe. Essential reading for students of architecture, architectural historians, historians and those interested in Medieval Europe.

This book, aimed at a general audience, presents the results of all archeological research performed in the Dutch city of Helmond during several decades. Starting in the early prehistory the authors present the earliest evidence of people living in the current region of Helmond, the rise of the city up until recent times.

What have a deaf nun, the mother of the first baby born to Europeans in North America, and a condemned heretic to do with one another? They are among the virtuous virgins, marvellous maidens, and fierce feminists of the Middle Ages who trail-blazed paths for women today. Without those first courageous souls who worked in fields dominated by men, women might not have the presence they currently do in professions such as education, the law, and literature. Focusing on women from Western Europe between c. 300 and 1500 CE in the medieval period and richly carpeted with detail, A Medieval Woman’s Companion offers a wealth of information about real medieval women who are now considered vital for understanding the Middle Ages in a full and nuanced way. Short biographies of 20 medieval women illustrate how they have anticipated and shaped current concerns, including access to education; creative emotional outlets such as art, theatre, romantic fiction, and music; marriage and marital rights; fertility, pregnancy, childbirth, contraception and gynecology; sex trafficing and sexual violence; the balance of work and family; faith; and disability. Their legacy abides until today in attitudes to contemporary women that have their roots in the medieval period. The final chapter suggests how 20th and 21st century feminist and gender theories can be applied to and complicated by medieval women's lives and writings. Doubly marginalised due to gender and the remoteness of the time period, medieval women’s accomplishments are acknowledged and presented in a way that readers can appreciate and find inspiring. Ideal for high school and college classroom use in courses ranging from history and literature to women's and gender studies, an accompanying website with educational links, images, downloadable curriculum guide, and interactive blog will be made available at the time of publication.