A Social History of England, 900–1200

by Edited by Julia Crick , Elisabeth van Houts

• ISBN13: 9780521885614
• ISBN10: 0521885612
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-06-06
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The years between 900 and 1200 saw transformative social change in Europe, including the creation of extensive town-dwelling populations and the proliferation of feudalised elites and bureaucratic monarchies. In England these developments were complicated and accelerated by repeated episodes of invasion, migration and changes of regime. In this book, scholars from disciplines including history, archaeology and literature reflect on the major trends which shaped English society in these years of transition and select key themes which encapsulate the period. The authors explore the landscape of England, its mineral wealth, its towns and rural life, the health, behaviour and obligations of its inhabitants, patterns of spiritual and intellectual life and the polyglot nature of its population and culture. What emerges is an insight into the complexity, diversity and richness of this formative period of English history.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Land Use and People

Water and land

Forest and upland

Mineral resources

Health and disease

Authority and Community

Lordship and labour

Order and justice

War and violence

Family, marriage, kinship

Poor and powerless

Towns and their Hinterlands

Commerce and markets

Urban planning

Urban populations and association

Invasion and Migration

Ethnicity and acculturation

Intermarriage

The Jews

Religion and Belief

Rites of passage and pastoral care

Saints and cults

Public spectacle

Textual communities (Latin)

Textual communities (vernacular)

Learning and Training

Information and its retrieval

Esoteric knowledge

Medical practice and theory

Subversion

Glossary

Timeline

Further reading

Index

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