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Overview
The early Middle Ages, between the withdrawal of Roman authority at the start of the fifth century and the establishment of French-speaking aristocracies in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, was a key period in the history of the island of Britain. For it was then that the English, Welsh and Scots defined and distinguished themselves in language, customs and territory; it was then that successive conquests and settlements lent distinctive Irish, Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian and Norman elements to the British ethnic mix; it was then that royal dynasties were established, that most of the surviving rural and urban settlements of Britain were created and named, and the landscape took a form that can still be recognized today; it was then too that Christian churches were established with lasting consequences for our cultural, moral, legal and intellectual perspectives.The Studies in Early Medieval Britain will illuminate the history of Britain during this defining period and reveal its roots. Books in the series will be written, individually or in collaboration, by historians, archaeologists, philologists and literary and cultural scholars and are aimed at a wide readership of scholars, students and lay people.
About the volume:
There is no published account of the history of religious women in England before the Norman Conquest. Yet, female saints and abbesses, such as Hild of Whitby or Edith of Wilton, are among the most celebrated women recorded in Anglo-Saxon sources and their stories are of popular interest. This books offers the first general and critical assessment of female religious communities in early medieval England. It transforms our understanding of the different modes of religious vocation and institutional provision and thereby gives early medieval women's history a new foundation.
Synopsis
The early Middle Ages, between the withdrawal of Roman authority at the start of the fifth century and the establishment of French-speaking aristocracies in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, was a key period in the history of the island of Britain. For it was then that the English, Welsh and Scots defined and distinguished themselves in language, customs and territory; it was then that successive conquests and settlements lent distinctive Irish, Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian and Norman elements to the British ethnic mix; it was then that royal dynasties were established, that most of the surviving rural and urban settlements of Britain were created and named, and the landscape took a form that can still be recognized today; it was then too that Christian churches were established with lasting consequences for our cultural, moral, legal and intellectual perspectives.
The Studies in Early Medieval Britain will illuminate the history of Britain during this defining period and reveal its roots. Books in the series will be written, individually or in collaboration, by historians, archaeologists, philologists and literary and cultural scholars and are aimed at a wide readership of scholars, students and lay people.
About the volume:
There is no published account of the history of religious women in England before the Norman Conquest. Yet, female saints and abbesses, such as Hild of Whitby or Edith of Wilton, are among the most celebrated women recorded in Anglo-Saxon sources and their stories are of popular interest. This books offers the first general and critical assessment of female religious communities in early medieval England. It transforms our understanding of the different modes of religious vocation and institutional provision and thereby gives early medieval women's history a new foundation.
Booknews
This is the first volume of a two-volume study which launches a new series devoted to studies of Britain from the collapse of the Roman authority at the beginning of the fifth century to the establishment of French-speaking aristocracies in different parts of the island in the 11th and 12th centuries, with contributions by historians, archaeologists, philologists, and literary or cultural scholars. Foot (U. of Sheffield) investigates why there seem to have been fewer religious houses for women for the period 900-1066 than for the years before that. She admits the possibility that contemporary writers deliberately purged any mention of them, but doubts it because the accounts of the earlier pre-viking ones would probably have been expunged as well. The first volume is a narrative of the period as a whole. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)