A Social History of England, 900-1200

✍ Scribed by Julia Crick, Elisabeth van Houts (eds.)

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 474
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The years between 900 and 1200 saw transformative social change in Europe, including the creation of extensive town-dwelling populations and the proliferation of feudalised elites and bureaucratic monarchies. In England these developments were complicated and accelerated by repeated episodes of invasion, migration and changes of regime. In this book, scholars from disciplines including history, archaeology and literature reflect on the major trends which shaped English society in these years of transition and select key themes which encapsulate the period. The authors explore the landscape of England, its mineral wealth, its towns and rural life, the health, behaviour and obligations of its inhabitants, patterns of spiritual and intellectual life and the polyglot nature of its population and culture. What emerges is an insight into the complexity, diversity and richness of this formative period of English history.

✦ Table of Contents

List of figures viii
List of maps and tables ix
List of contributors x
Acknowledgements xi
List of abbreviations xii
I. Introduction / Julia Crick and Elisabeth van Houts 1
I.1. Land use and people / Robin Fleming 15
I.2. Water and land / Stephen Rippon 38
I.3. Forest and upland / Oliver Rackham 46
I.4. Mineral resources / Peter Claughton 56
I.5. Health and disease / Carole Rawcliffe 66
II.1. Authority and community / Bruce O'Brien 76
II.2. Lordship and labour / Stephen Baxter 98
II.3. Order and justice / John Hudson 115
II.4. War and violence / John Hudson 124
II.5. Family, marriage, kinship / Elisabeth van Houts 133
II.6. Poor and powerless / David A. E. Pelteret 142
III.1. Towns and their hinterlands / David Griffiths 152
III.2. Commerce and markets / Richard Britnell 179
III.3. Urban planning / Julia Barrow 188
III.4. Urban populations and associations / Charles West 198
IV.1. Invasion and migration / Elisabeth van Houts 208
IV.2. Ethnicity and acculturation / D. M. Hadley 235
IV.3. Intermarriage / Elisabeth van Houts 247
IV.4. The Jews / Anna Sapir Abulafia 256
V.1. Religion and belief / Carl Watkins 265
V.2. Rites of passage and pastoral care / Sarah Hamilton 290
V.3. Saints and cults / Paul Antony Hayward 309
V.4. Public spectacle / Tom Licence 321
V.5. Textual communities (Latin) / Teresa Webber 330
V.6. Textual communities (vernacular) / Elaine Treharne 341
VI.1. Learning and training / Julia Crick 352
VI.2. Information and its retrieval / Nicholas Karn 373
VI.3. Esoteric knowledge / Andy Orchard 381
VI.4. Medical practice and theory / Carole Rawcliffe 391
VI.5. Subversion / Martha Bayless 402
Glossary 412
Time line 900-1200 420
Further reading 427
Index 446