"From the Baltic to the Black Sea" offers a rare insight into the closed world of medieval Eastern Europe and opens up a neglected archaeological tradition to English-speaking readers.
Suggesting new approaches to the period when written history begins and the early medieval states emerge, the book examines early European ethnic formations and states, the demography of medieval populations and the nature of rural settlement and urban development. There are chapters on the contact between Byzantium and medieval Hungary and Scandinavia. There is also analysis of the medieval populations of Czechoslovakia and Denmark, of social organization in Poland and cultural conflict in Livonia. Studies of early settlements in Bohemia and the Danube are complemented by detailed accounts of the origin and growth of three great medieval cities--Lubeck, Prague and Kiev. This book will provoke a fresh debate about Europe's medieval past.

Over 400 recent finds associated with horses and excavated in London, from the utilitarian to the highly decorated, illustrated and discussed. Whether knight's charger or beast of burden, horses played a vital role in medieval life. The wealth of medieval finds excavated in London in recent years has, not surprisingly, included many objects associated with horses. This catalogue illustrates and discusses over four hundred such objects, among them harness, horseshoes, spurs and curry combs, from the utilitarian to highly decorative pieces. London served by horse traffic comes vividly in view. The introductory chapter draws on historical as well as archaeological sources to consider the role of the horse in medieval London. It looks at the price of horses and the costs of maintaining them, the hiring of 'hackneys' forriding, the use of carts in and around London, and the work of the 'marshal' or farrier. It discusses the evidence for the size of medieval horses and includes a survey of finds of medieval horse skeletons from London. It answersthe key questions, how large a 'Great Horse' was, and why it took three horses to pull a cart. This is a basic work of reference for archaeologists and those studying medieval artefacts, and absorbing reading for everyone interested in the history of the horse and its use by humankind. JOHN CLARK is Curator (Medieval) at the Museum of London.

Wessex -- the ancient counties of Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Berkshire -- is remarkable for its economic and social cohesion as a region, and for the extraordinary wealth of its ancient remains. In this authoritative survey, Barry Cunliffe sets the great monuments and famous sites in their full cultural context. His chief concern, however, is to interpret the landscape of the region, and the people who over so many centuries created it. In his hands it becomes an archaeological artefact as eloquent as Avebury and Stonehenge themselves.

A striking and famous feature of the English landscape, Dartmoor is a beautiful place, with a sense of wildness and mystery. This book provides a new perspective on an important aspect of Dartmoor's past. Its focus is transhumance: the seasonal transfer of grazing animals to different pastures. In the Middle Ages, intensive practical use was made of Dartmoor's resources. Its extensive moorlands provided summer pasture for thousands of cattle from the Devon lowlands, which flowed in a seasonal tide, up in the spring and down in the autumn. This book describes, for the first time, the social organisation and farming practices associated with this annual transfer of livestock. It also presents evidence for a previously unsuspected Anglo-Saxon pattern of transhumance in which lowland farmers spent the summers living with their cattle on the moor. Winner of the Devon Book of the Year Award 2013.

Since its invention by Renaissance humanists, the myth of the "Middle Ages" has held a uniquely important place in the Western historical imagination. Whether envisioned as an era of lost simplicity or a barbaric nightmare, the medieval past has always served as a mirror for modernity. This book gives an eye-opening account of the ways various political and intellectual projects-from nationalism to the discipline of anthropology-have appropriated the Middle Ages for their own ends. Deploying an interdisciplinary toolkit, author K. Patrick Fazioli grounds his analysis in contemporary struggles over power and identity in the Eastern Alps, while also considering the broader implications for scholarly research and public memory.

First published in 2001, this is the first reference work to cover the archaeology of medieval Europe. No other reference can claim such comprehensive coverage -- from Ireland to Russia and from Scandinavia to Italy, the archaeology of the entirety of medieval Europe is discussed. With coverage ranging from the fall of the western Roman empire in the 5th century CE through the end of the high Middle Ages in 1500 CE, Medieval Archaeology: An Encyclopedia answers the needs of medieval scholars from a variety of backgrounds, including archaeologists, historians and classicists. Featuring over 150 entries by an international team of leading archaeologists, this unique reference is soundly based on the most important developments and scholarship in this rapidly growing field.

The Viking Age was a period of profound change in Scandinavia. As kingdoms were established, Christianity became the encompassing ideological and cosmological framework and towns were formed. This book examines a central backdrop to these changes: the economic transformation of West Scandinavia. With a focus on the development of intensive and organized use of woodlands and alpine regions and domestic raw materials, together with the increasing standardization of products intended for long-distance trade, the volume sheds light on the emergence of a strong interconnectedness between remote rural areas and central markets. Viking-Age Transformations explores the connection between legal and economic practice, as the rural economy and monetary system developed in conjunction with nascent state power and the legal system. Thematically, the book is organized into sections addressing the nature and extent of trade in both marginal and centralized areas; production and the social, legal and economic aspects of exploiting natural resources and distributing products; and the various markets and sites of trade and consumption. A theoretically informed and empirically grounded collection that reveals the manner in which relationships of production and consumption transformed Scandinavian society with their influence on the legal and fiscal division of the landscape, this volume will appeal to scholars of archaeology, the history of trade and Viking studies.

A study of the closed world of medieval Eastern Europe which opens up a neglected archaeological tradition to English-speaking readers. It suggests new approaches to the formative period when migrating tribes emerged into the light of written history and founded the states on which the nationalities of modern Europe are based. The book examines early European ethnic formations and states, the demography of medieval populations and the nature of rural settlement and urban development. There are chapters on the contact between Byzantium and medieval Hungary and Scandinavia, with an assessment of the Byzantine influence on Avar goldsmiths, as well as descriptions of new research into Avar chieftan-burials and into coinage in the late Viking Age. There is also analysis of the medieval populations of Czechoslovakia and Denmark, of social organization in Poland and cultural conflict in Livonia. Finally studies of early settlement in Bohemia and the Danube valley are complemented by detailed accounts of the origin and growth of three great medieval cities - Lubeck, Prague and Kiev. "From the Baltic to the Black Sea" challenges the intellectual assumptions of medieval archaeology, question

Medieval Archaeology has developed as a distinctive academic domain in the last fifty years or so. It is now taught widely at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and learned societies for Medieval Archaeology flourish across Europe. The subject is more interdisciplinary than most types of archaeology, engaging critically with fields such as History and Art History to provide fresh and independent insights to the medieval world. It draws on sources of evidence that are unique to Medieval Archaeology, such as extant medieval churches. Medieval Archaeology is literally history 'from below'; it offers unique access to people and practices that were never documented by medieval elites. (Medieval Archaeology also has relevance beyond academia. Indeed, much of the commercial archaeology that now takes place in Europe seeks to record and conserve medieval towns in advance of new developments.) Focusing on the archaeology of medieval Europe (c. 1000-1550AD), this new four-volume collection from Routledge enables researchers and advanced students to make better sense of a vast-and rapidly growing-corpus of scholarship. The gathered materials have been carefully selected to highlight the key issues and debates in the development and contemporary practice of Medieval Archaeology, and each volume includes a comprehensive introduction newly written by the editor. Medieval Archaeology is an essential work of reference. It is destined to be valued by specialists-as well as those working in allied areas such as Medieval Studies, History, and Art History-as a vital one-stop research tool.

The dramatic story of Richard III, England's last medieval king, captured the world's attention when an archaeological team led by the University of Leicester identified his remains in February 2013. The Bones of a King presents the official behind-the-scenes story of the Grey Friars dig from the team of specialists who discovered and identified his remains * The most extensive and authoritative book written for non-specialists by the expert team who discovered and analysed the remains of Richard III * Features more than 40 illustrations, maps and photographs * Builds an expansive view of Richard's life, death and burial, as well as accounts of the treatment of his body prior to burial, and his legacy in the public imagination from the time of his death to the present * Explains the scientific evidence behind his identification, including DNA retrieval and sequencing, soil samples, his wounds and his scoliosis, and what they reveal about his life, his health and even the food he ate * A behind-the-scenes look at one of the most exciting historical discoveries of our time

This volume explores the importance of Norwich as the second city of England for 500 years. It addresses two of the most ambitious Romanesque buildings in Europe: cathedral and castle, and illuminates the role of Norwich-based designers and makers in the region.

This book explores social cohesion in rural settlements in western Europe from 700-1050, asking to what extent settlements, or districts, constituted units of social organisation. It focuses on the interactions, interconnections and networks of people who lived side by side - neighbours. Drawing evidence from most of the current western European countries, the book plots and interrogates the very different practices of this wide range of regions in a systematically comparative framework. It considers the variety of local responses to the supra-local agents of landlords and rulers and the impact, such as it was, of those agents on the small-scale residential group. It also assesses the impact on local societies of the values, instructions and demands of the wider literate world of Christianity, as delivered by local priests. -- .

In the preceding 25 years to this book s publication in 1985 there was an extensive and unprecedented burst of archaeological activity in evidence from below-ground deposits, above-ground structures, and artefacts. During the boom of the late 1960s and 1970s, which led to go much central town redevelopment, it was buried remains which yielded the most dramatic information. In the recession of the 1980s it was realised that upstanding remains had a lot to offer as well and they were being subject to ever more sophisticated study techniques. This book examines those recent developments in archaeology and assesses their bearing on the study of medieval English and Welsh history. Taking a series of important themes such as government, religion and the countryside, the book offers a chronological approach from the coming of the Vikings, 850 AD, to the Reformation in 1530. This approach focuses on the impact of man on the urban and rural landscape. An important text for students of ancient history."

Medieval archaeology is a relatively young discipline. It relies heavily on and contributes to the neighbouring disciplines of history and geography as well as certain of the natural sciences. The kinds of sources investigated in the context of medieval archaeology also cast light on many aspects of life in later centuries. The main sources used are: graveyards, churches and churchyards; castles and fortifications; rural and urban settlements; technical production sites and routes of communication. Closely allied to these are the numerous finds of small objects of everyday life, from cutlery and tools to animal remains and grain. This book is a comprehensive discussion of what can be established from the use of such materials about the culture and daily life of medieval Germany. Each subject is augmented with the use of many illustrations. Besides methodological questions, the author considers what can be learnt about the history of settlement and architecture, of technology, of economic and social matters, of churches and missions, and of population, diet and vegetation.

This is an immensely fascinating work, published originally in 1968, which is of great value in understanding London s past. The immediate background to the excavations was the bombing of London during the Second World War, which led to the destruction of more than fifty of the three hundred and fifty or so acres that make up the walled city. The interval before rebuilding was a magnificent opportunity for archaeological excavation. The Royal Society of Antiquaries of London established the Roman and Mediaeval London Excavation Council to organise an extended programme which began in July 1947 and went on until 1962. This volume reports on the major series of excavations and deals in detail with Cripplegate, the Temple of Mithras and many mediaeval churches including St Bride s, Fleet Street."

The papers in this volume, which were presented in 2011, at the first conference the British Archaeological Association held in Poland, explore the medieval art, architecture and archaeology of the city of Cracow and the surrounding region of Lesser Poland, as well as venturing into southern Silesia and the Baltic coast of the country. The contributors study a wide range of subjects, from the Italian influences on Polish Romanesque architecture and the originality of Cracow's Romanesque churches to the impact of astronomical treatises on ecclesiastical sculpture and patronage. The cultural influence of the Cistercians is considered in four papers that highlight the contribution of the abbeys in Lesser Poland to the study of Cistercian monasticism and architecture, and the life of the Order. The fascinating topics of patronage, ceremony and power politics are studied in papers that explore foundations connected to Casimir the Great, the most celebrated of the Polish kings, and Zbigniew Olesnicki, one of the most prolific episcopal patrons of the era. The volume highlights the role of Cracow and Lesser Poland as a vibrant artistic centre fostering links with Italy, Bohemia, Germany and France, but also touches on the cultural significance of two other important Hanseatic cities of medieval Poland - Wroclaw and Gdansk. The contributors embrace a wide selection of media and approaches, from church architecture and monastic archaeology to sculpture, micro-architecture, manuscripts, and even medieval clocks. The papers raise issues not only of style, iconography, ceremony and patronage, but also of politics, economy, law, philosophy and theology, as well as horology, trade and shipbuilding. This collection, which brings together the work of British, Polish, French, German and Italian scholars on this artistically important yet little-studied region of medieval Europe, will be of lasting value to scholarship.

This book argues that Robert Willis's presentations were fundamental to the format of British Archaeological Association meetings and to the creation of medieval architectural history. It discusses the background to his study of Canterbury in terms of his own research.

Sam Turner's important new interpretation of early medieval patterns of landscape development traces landscape change in the South West from the introduction of Christianity to the Norman Conquest (AD c. 450-1070). 16 pages of colour illustrations. The book stresses the significance of political and religious ideology in both the 'Celtic' west (especially Cornwall) and the 'Anglo-Saxon' east (especially the Wessex counties of Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset). Using innovative new research methods, and making use of archaeology, place-name evidence, historical sources and land-use patterns, it challenges previous work on the subject by suggesting that the two regions have much in common. Using modern mapping techniques to explore land-use trends, Turner advances a new model for the evolution of ecclesiastical institutions in south-west England. He shows that the early development of Christianity had an impact on the countryside that remains visible in the landscape we see today. Accessibly written with a glossary of terms and a comprehensive bibliography, the book will appeal to both veterans and newcomers to landscape archaeology.

The Viking ship is one of the most iconic images of the Viking Age. As well as including well-known vessels such as the spectacular ship-burials from Gokstad and Oseberg in southern Norway, Viking Ships introduces the newly-conserved Roskilde 6 ship from Denmark. Measuring at over 37 metres, this is the longest Viking ship ever discovered and will form the core of the touring exhibition Vikings: life and legend. The Vikings used their shipbuilding skills to command the sea; their famous ships permitted the exploration, colonization and the raids for which they are best known. This book will explore the evolution of their sea-going vessels and celebrate this outstanding feature of the Viking Age.

This monograph is the definitive survey of iron tools and other fittings in use during the period c1066 to 1540AD. Exceptional in a north-western European context for its range and coverage of artefacts from both rural and urban excavations, much of the material described here was recovered during 'rescue' projects in the 1960s and 1970s funded by the State through the Ministry of Public Works and Buildings and their successors. The text contains almost everything necessary to identify, date and understand medieval iron objects. In scope and detail there is still no published parallel and, as such, it will be essential for almost any archaeologist working in later medieval archaeology, particularly in the fields of excavation, finds study, museums and research.

The essays in this volume are devoted to the art and architecture of Munster, one of the four ancient provinces of Ireland. A major theme underpinning many of the essays is the degree to which Irish craftsmen and builders engaged with the rest of Europe, and the nature of their relationship with English practice. The extent to which the advent of Gothic was a colonial phenomenon, an inevitable consequence of the Anglo-Norman conquest of Ireland after 1170, is likewise considered, so too the extent to which Ireland developed its own identity in architecture and sculpture in the later middle ages. While travellers from abroad regarded Ireland as one of the most remote regions of the western world, situated at the end of the earth, these essays make it clear that the province of Munster was still very much an integral part of Christian Europe.

The British Archaeological Association's 2007 conference celebrated the material culture of medieval Coventry, the fourth wealthiest English city of the later middle ages. The nineteen papers collected in this volume set out to remedy the relative neglect in modern scholarship of the city's art, architecture and archaeology, as well as to encompass recent research on monuments in the vicinity. The scene is set by two papers on archaeological excavations in the historic city centre, especially since the 1970s, and a paper investigating the relationships between Coventry's building boom and economic conditions in the city in the later middle ages. Three papers on the Cathedral Priory of St Mary bring together new insights into the Romanesque cathedral church, the monastic buildings and the post-Dissolution history of the precinct, derived mainly from the results of the Phoenix Initiative excavations (19992003). Three more papers provide new architectural histories of the spectacular former parish church of St Michael, the fine Guildhall of St Mary and the remarkable surviving west range of the Coventry Charterhouse. The high-quality monumental art of the later medieval city is represented by papers on wall-painting (featuring the recently conserved Doom in Holy Trinity church), on the little-known Crucifixion mural at the Charterhouse, and on a reassessment of the working practices of the famous master-glazier, John Thornton. Two papers on a guild seal and on the glazing at Stanford on Avon parish church consider the evidence for Coventry as a regional workshop centre for high quality metalwork and glass-painting. Beyond the city, three papers deal with the development of Combe Abbey from Cistercian monastery to country house, with the Beauchamp family's hermitage at Guy's Cliffe, and with a newly identified stonemasons' workshop in the 'barn' at Kenilworth Abbey. Two further papers concern the architectural patronage of the earls and dukes of Lancaster in the 14th century at Kenilworth Castle and in the Newarke at Leicester Castle.

This volume is dedicated to the remarkable flourishing of art and architecture in Bohemia, and Prague in particular, as it became the political centre of Charles IV's Holy Roman Empire. A focus is on cultural exchange, and the links which can be traced through the artwork across Europe. Topics and buildings under discussion include Prague Cathedral, St Bartholomew's in Kyje, Karlstein Castle, St Stephen's Vienna, aristocratic patronage, chasuble iconography and the Zderad column in Brno.

The fourteen papers collected in this volume explore the medieval art, architecture and archaeology of King's Lynn and the Fens. They arise out of the Association's 2005 conference, and reflect its concern to engage with a broad range of monuments and themes, rather than focusing on a single major building. Within King's Lynn contributors consider the superb 14th-century enamelled drinking vessel popularly known as 'King John's Cup', the former Hanseatic 'Steelyard', the Red Mount Chapel, and the oak furnishings of the chapel of St Nicholas, while the pine standard chest from St Margaret's church is assessed in terms of the importation and distribution of similar chest across England as a whole.Outside King's Lynn there are articles on the historical manipulation of landscapes and buildings at Kirkstead, the 13th-century architecture and sculpture of Croyland Abbey, the 14th-century parish church of St Mary at Snettisham, the tomb of Sir Humphrey de Littlebury at All Saints, Holbeach, the overlooked medieval wall paintings in the Prior's Chapel at Castle Acre, and the late medieval stained glass at Wiggenhall St Mary Magdalen. Finally, there are three papers that look at particular aspects of the ways in which parish churches were financed, embellished and used across the region - in terms of late-12th and early-13th-century patronage, their 12th-century deployment of architectural sculpture, and the types and arrangements of choir stalls that appeared at a parochial level during the later Middle Ages.

The Shapwick Project began in 1989 as a ten-year, multi-disciplinary landscape investigation of the evolution of early and late medieval settlement patterns. This volume sets out the methods used in the exploration of this wetland-edge landscape and summarises the long term micro-history of a community and its lands from early prehistory to the present day. Shapwick was granted to the abbey at Glastonbury in the first half of the 8th century and, as a consequence, there are numerous later medieval surveys, demesne accounts and court rolls. Together with an unusually long sequence of post-medieval and modern maps, these sources illuminate themes as diverse as building history and farming practice. At the same time, aerial photography, fieldwalking, shovel-pitting and topographical survey create a picture of the distribution and date of archaeological monuments across the parish while garden bed collections and test pitting are used to evaluate the archaeology underlying the modern village. Other innovative techniques described here include large-scale geophysical survey and the geochemical techniques of heavy metal analysis together with detailed surveys of historic buildings, botany and hedgerow invertebrates. The results from these surveys are at least as important as the excavations undertaken at sites of prehistoric-to-19th-century date. Stratigraphies, chronologies and features are all detailed in this volume, with important collections of objects from prehistory to the end of the 19th century and accompanying specialist reports which illuminate environment and diet. Highlights include a combination of pollen analysis and lithic distributions which add significantly to our understanding of the context of prehistoric waterlogged trackways within the peat zone, and striking evidence for the intensification of settlement and land use in the later pre-Roman Iron Age and later Roman period. The modern village was in existence by the 10th century when a dispersed population was apparently re-housed in a compact, nucleated village with open field systems to east and west and various models for this process are debated. Among the later medieval sites excavated are two manorial centres of Glastonbury Abbey, industrial evidence, and well-preserved palaeoenvironmental material. In the 18th and 19th centuries outlying farms were built and the housing stock transformed at the same time as parts of the village were emparked. This post-medieval and early modern evidence is given equal weight in the volume.