Research for and the writing of this book was funded by the award
of a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship. The period c.
AD300—1050, spanning the collapse of Roman rule to the coming of
the Normans, was formative in the development of Wales. Life in
Early Medieval Wales considers how people lived in late Roman and
early medieval Wales, and how their lives and communities changed
over the course of this period. It uses a multidisciplinary
approach, focusing on the growing body of archaeological evidence
set alongside the early medieval written sources together with
place-names and personal names. It begins by analysing earlier
research and the range of sources, the significance of the
environment and climate change, and ways of calculating time.
Discussion of the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries focuses on the
disintegration of the Roman market economy, fragmentation of power,
and the emergence of new kingdoms and elites alongside evidence for
changing identities, as well as important threads of continuity,
notably Latin literacy, Christianity, and the continuation of
small-scale farming communities. Early medieval Wales was an
entirely rural society. Analysis of the settlement archaeology
includes key sites such as hillforts, including Dinas Powys, the
royal crannog at Llangorse, and the Viking Age and earlier estate
centre at Llanbedrgoch alongside the development, from the seventh
century onwards, of new farming and other rural settlements.
Consideration is given to changes in the mixed farming economy
reflecting climate deterioration and a need for food security, as
well as craft working and the roles of exchange, display, and trade
reflecting changing outside contacts. At the same time cemeteries
and inscribed stones, stone sculpture and early church sites chart
the course of conversion to Christianity, the rise of monasticism,
and the increasing power of the Church. Finally, discussion of
power and authority analyses emerging evidence for sites of
assembly, the rise of Mercia, and increasing English infiltration,
together with the significance of Offa's and Wat's Dykes, and the
Viking impact. Throughout the evidence is placed within a wider
context enabling comparison with other parts of Britain and Ireland
and, where appropriate, with other parts of Europe to see broader
trends, including the impacts of climate, economic, and religious
change.
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