HST204: Warriors, Saints and Heroes in Early Medieval Britain
20 credits (semester 1)
Module Leader: Dr Helena Carr
| Pre-requisites |
Pass in at least two of the Level One modules offered by the Department of History.
| Module Summary |
This module explores patterns of power in the early medieval British Isles from the late seventh to the ninth centuries, casting a comparative eye at northwestern Europe in the same period. Centrally the module will focus on Anglo-Saxon England and the relationships between its independent kingdoms. Warfare was central to this culture and we shall explore the ways in which a Germanic notion of an heroic warrior-elite continued to dominate the political behaviour of kings in this period. Conflict and alliances between English kingdoms and between the English and their Celtic neighbours will be explored in detail; we shall also look at overlordship and the opportunities for kings to expand their realms. There will also be the opportunity to explore the different expressions of power in the Celtic world, in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. In the immediate aftermath of the conversion of the English to Christianity, the role of the Church became significant in reshaping ideas of royal power. We shall look at the role of bishops and clerics in articulating and legitimising royal power and at the ways in which individual prominent churchmen and women tried to set new ideals of behaviour for society at large. Ecclesiastical ideals will be compared with secular expressions of rulership made through contemporary architecture, high-status burials, coins and vernacular poetry. Heroic ideals will explored through secular poems such as Beowulf, and we shall discuss whether the saints could replace pagan heroes in contemporary culture.
| Teaching |
| Lectures | Seminars | |
| 1 | The collapse of Roman Britain | King Arthur: fact and (mostly) fiction |
| 2 | Wolves into the fold: Angles and Saxons (and Jutes) | Anglo-Saxon apartheid? |
| 3 | The origins of early English kingdoms | Ban the Bretwalda! |
| 4 | The Conversion of the English | Paganism and pastoral care |
| 5 | Celtic Connections | The Synod of Whitby, 664 |
| 6 | Dalriada and the Picts | The Problem of the Picts |
| 7 | The Golden Age of Northumbria | Bede's World |
| 8 | Wider Horizons | An Englishman in Jerusalem |
| 9 | The Mercian Supremacy | Markets and merchants (and Marx) |
| 10 | Beowulf | Legendary heroes |
| 11 | An heroic age: beginnings and ends | Heroes, saints and warriors |
| Assessment |
The word limit for essays includes footnotes, but excludes the bibliography.
| Selected Reading |
- J Campbell, (ed.) The Anglo-Saxons (1982, republished Penguin, 1991; with pictures) [recommended]
- Beowulf: a verse translation : authoritative text, contexts, criticism, edited by Daniel Donoghue, translated by Seamus Heaney (London and New York, 2002) [recommended]
- Thomas Charles-Edwards, After Rome, c. 400-c800: Short Oxford History of the British Isles (Oxford, 2004) [recommended]
- Robin Fleming, Britain after Rome: the fall and rise, 400-1070 (London, 2011) [recommended]
- Edward James, Britain in the First Millennium (London, 2001) [recommended]
| Intended Learning Outcomes |
Students completing this module will have developed:
- A broad understanding of significant issues in a substantial period of medieval British history, enabling the identification of major historical debates.
- An informed understanding of the contrasting ways in which secular and ecclesiastical power found expression in the British Isles during a critical period in the history of early medieval Europe.
- A sense of the contrasts and similarities between Germanic and Celtic cultures in Britain and their relationship to contemporary political developments in continental Europe, notably the Frankish world.
- Their ability to present coherent arguments in seminars, exchanging views with both the tutor and other students.
- Their ability to analyse and contextualise translated primary sources, both narrative and documentary, and interpret them to the seminar group.
- Their ability to synthesise different interpretations and argue effectively from the evidence.
- Their ability to research particular historical issues and debates in a more detailed form for essay writing, coming to independent conclusions of the basis of the literature.
- Their ability to use the International Medieval Bibliography on-line as a tool for identifying relevant bibliographical material.