Cultures in Contact
Scandinavian Settlement in England in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries
D. Hadley,
J. D. Richards (eds.)
VIII+331 p., 26 b/w ill., 156 x 234 mm, 2000
ISBN: 978-2-503-50978-5
Languages: English
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Online content: http://brepols.metapress.com/content/p715v0/
This volume examines the Scandinavian
impact on England in the ninth and tenth centuries, with particular
reference to Scandinavian settlement and the diverse ways in which the
Scandinavians and the native populations responded to each
other.
This volume examines the Scandinavian
impact on England in the ninth and tenth centuries, with particular
reference to Scandinavian settlement and the diverse ways in which the
Scandinavians and the native populations responded to each other. Many
previous studies have described the settlement as involving a rapid
assimilation of the settlers with native society and culture, and a
swift process of integration. This volume challenges that view and
shows that the processes of assimilation, integration and accommodation
were gradual and complex, displaying important regional variations.
Where did the Scandinavians come from? What type of society did they
eventually settle into? What were the implications of the drawing of
different cultures in contact, and how is this portrayed in the
surviving material? An important aim of this volume is to open up new
interdisciplinary dialogue in Viking Studies, and it analyses
documentary, archaeological, artefactual and linguistic evidence. The
volume also seeks to develop more theoretically sophisticated accounts
of Scandinavian settlement, and brings the study of this subject
up-to-date in terms of developments in other branches of history,
archaeology and linguistics. Recent discussion in other fields
concerning, for example, material culture and language have shown that
they did not simply reflect changes in society but were also active,
constituent elements in creating and re-creating social and cultural
identities. The volume focuses on the creation of local and regional
identities and affinities, and moves on from the traditional depiction
of the issues in terms of a simple dichotomy of 'Scandinavian'
and 'English'. It takes a more rigorously contextual approach
than has hitherto been the case in the study of Scandinavian
settlement, and seeks to throw new light on the consequences of
cultures in contact.
Review
'[...] an important collection of papers with much of interest
in terms of approaches and interpretations' (A. Reynolds:
Medieval Archaeology 45 (2001)).
'The volume itself is effectively edited and the individual
papers well-focused and referenced. [...] this collection usefully
pulls together several quite disparate approaches, and the results
make an important contribution to our understanding of England in
the Viking Age' (N. J. Higham: Northern History, 39
(2002), p. 128).
"This is an important collection of essays taking a revisionist
and interdisciplinary approach to the subject of the Scandinavian
migrations to England in the ninth and tenth centuries. (...) It is
to be hoped that new research on Scandinavian migrations will
proceed from the insights and ambitions of this book." (S. Yarrow:
Early Medieval Europe, 2003, 12 (2), p.183-185)
"This is an important collection of essays taking a revisionist
and interdisciplinary approach to the subject of the Scandinavian
migrations to England in the ninth and tenth centuries." ( S.
Yarrow in Early Medieval Europe, N° 12, 2003,
p183-185)
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