Anglo-Saxon England

The period c550-1087, from the earliest English kingdoms to the establishment of the Anglo-Norman monarchy is covered in this volume. In the field of political history it covers the unification of Britain begun by the kings of Mercia and completed by the kings of Wessex, the Scandinavian settlements of the 9th century, the annexation of England to Denmark by Cnut and the overthrow of the old English state by William of Normandy. The development of English society is traced from the age of the oldest Anglo-Saxon laws, through the changes brought about by the growth of royal power and the extension of private lordship, to the establishment of feudalism after the Norman Conquest. The volume describes the conversion of the English kingdoms and the chief phases in the Anglo-Saxon Church, with particular reference to the enterprise of Anglo-Saxon missionaries in the 8th century, the monastic revival inspired by Dunstan and the ecclesiastical organization carried through by Lanfranc. An account is also given of the literature written in the English language, which forms a distinctive achievement of the Anglo-Saxon peoples. Place-names, coins and charters, wills and pleas, archaeology and the laws of the Anglo-Saxons are used to produce a narrative, supported by the Domesday Book and the 12th century charters.