The Anglo-Saxon Fenland (Windgather) - Softcover

Oosthuizen, Susan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1911188089 ISBN 13: 9781911188087

Publisher: Windgather Press, 2017

Synopsis

Archaeologies and histories of the fens of eastern England, continue to suggest, explicitly or by implication, that the early medieval fenland was dominated by the activities of north-west European colonists in a largely empty landscape. Using existing and new evidence and arguments, this new interdisciplinary history of the Anglo-Saxon fenland offers another interpretation. The fen islands and the silt fens show a degree of occupation unexpected a few decades ago. Dense Romano-British settlement appears to have been followed by consistent early medieval occupation on every island in the peat fens and across the silt fens, despite the impact of climatic change. The inhabitants of the region were organised within territorial groups in a complicated, almost certainly dynamic, hierarchy of subordinate and dominant polities, principalities and kingdoms. Their prosperous livelihoods were based on careful collective control, exploitation and management of the vast natural water-meadows on which their herds of cattle grazed. This was a society whose origins could be found in prehistoric Britain, and which had evolved through the period of Roman control and into the post-imperial decades and centuries that followed. The rich and complex history of the development of the region shows, it is argued, a traditional social order evolving, adapting and innovating in response to changing times.

About this title

Review:

The book has much to recommend it as a convenient summary of much of the evidence and a detailed description of how land-use and water management worked in the fens, Medieval Archaeology 16/10/2018

This important and thoroughly researched book makes a very good case for long-term continuity in the specialised management needed for the Fenland., British Archaeology 05/12/2017

A comparatively slim book, but in any roll call of regional histories, also comparatively significant., Current Archaeology 06/12/2017

...offers a fresh perspective on a relatively poorly defined period, usefully questioning established views, long taken for granted, and generating a new set of carefully argued hypotheses that should focus attention for a new generation of researchers., Medieval Settlement Research Group 16/11/2017

...full of provoking ideas., Landscape History 05/12/2017

This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the East Anglian Fenland in the early medieval period... This is probably one of the most important books to appear in recent years on the East Anglian Fenland, but the arguments presented here may also hold relevance to an understanding of the cultural background of a much wider area., The Antiquaries Journal 10/12/2018

From the Publisher:

Susan Oosthuizen is Reader in Medieval Archaeology in the Institute of Continuing Education at the University of Cambridge. She has a special interest in the origins and development of Anglo-Saxon and medieval pastures, fields and settlement. She is the author of several books and numerous papers on landscape history, including rights of common and the East Anglian fenland.

About this edition

• Publisher: Windgather Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1911188089
• ISBN 13: 9781911188087
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160