An English Empire: Bede, the Britons and the Anglo-Saxon Kings (Origins of England S.) - Softcover

Higham, Nick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0719044243 ISBN 13: 9780719044243

Publisher: Manchester University Press, 1995

Synopsis

This second book in the "Origins of England" trilogy examines the organization and make-up of Anglo-Saxon England in the early 7th century, taking as its starting point the highly rhetorical account of Britain's ecclesiastical history written by Bede. Bede made efforts to legitimise the English domination of his own day by comparing it to the Roman rule of Britain in the past. N.J. Higham re-examines and reinterprets the principal literary sources for an English "empire": Bede's famous list of "overkings" in Historical Ecclesiastica, and the Tribal Hidage. He argues that a comparatively stable and long-lived pattern of regional "overkingships" existed in early England. King Raedwald's career as a king and "overking" is described in detail. The book closes with an account of relations between the Anglo-Saxons and Britons in early England which provides insights into the structure of rural society in the age of Bede.

About this edition

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0719044243
• ISBN 13: 9780719044243
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224