The Status of Secular Musicians in Early Medieval England: Ethnomusicology and Anglo-Saxon Musical Culture

Mediaevalia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-39
Author(s):  
Steven Breeze
Keyword(s):  
Medieval England ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Musical Culture ◽  
The Status

scholarly journals Elitism and Status: Reassessing Settlement Hierarchy in Early Medieval England

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-42
Author(s):  
Hana Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Hierarchical Model ◽  
Medieval England ◽  
Rural Settlements ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
The Status ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Scholarly Attention

The complexities of identifying and understanding settlement hierarchy in early medieval England (c. 5th–11th centuries) is the focus of much debate. Within this field of enquiry, settlement arrangements, architecture, landholding patterns and material culture are commonly used in the identification of a range of settlement types. These include royal complexes, monastic institutions, towns and trading/production sites such as emporia. This same evidence is also used to interpret the status and role of these sites in early medieval England. This paper advances the current understanding of settlement hierarchy through an assessment of rural settlements and their material culture. These settlements have received comparatively less scholarly attention than higher profile early medieval sites such as elite, ecclesiastical and urban centres, yet represent a rich source of information. Through analysis of material culture as evidence for the consumption, economic and social functions which characterise rural settlements, a picture of what were inherently complex communities is presented. The findings further support the need to reassess settlement hierarchy in early medieval England and a new hierarchical model is proposed.  

scholarly journals Archaeology and the built environment of early medieval England

Antiquity ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 93 (368) ◽  
pp. 537-539
Author(s):  
Duncan W. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Medieval England ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Broken Bones ◽  
Literary Sources

The bulk of people we can now be assured, were content with something that hardly deserves a better title than that of a hovel […] in such cabins, with bare head room, amid a filthy litter of broken bones, of food and shattered pottery […] lived the Anglo-Saxons (Leeds 1936: 25–26). This quote from E.T. Leeds, a pioneer of Anglo-Saxon archaeology during the first half of the twentieth century, was inspired by his excavation of settlement remains at Sutton Courtenay, then in Berkshire. Leeds's excavations were actually a breakthrough moment, resulting in the first identification of early medieval settlement structures other than those associated with ecclesiastical sites. In spite of this, the frustration and disappointment with the character and quality of the Sutton Courtenay site are all too apparent in Leeds's assessment. As an expert in Anglo-Saxon artwork, how could he reconcile the skill and craft of fine metalwork, with the ephemeral and impoverished settlement with which he was now dealing? Likewise, where were the great charismatic halls of monumental construction that populated such literary sources as Beowulf? The excavation of the graves of Sutton Hoo, two years after investigations at Sutton Courtney came to a close, served only to amplify the disparity between settlement and burial archaeology—put simply, burials were viewed as richer, grander and far more interesting.

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