Marc Morris - The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England

To my father

TOM MORRIS

My thanks to everyone who helped with the creation of this book. To Sophie Ambler, Mark Edwards, Helen Gittos, Ryan Kemp and Melanie Marshall for supplying advice, articles and translations, and to Rory Naismith for his expert assistance in tracking down images of coins. I should particularly like to thank Richard Abels, Guy Halsall, Charles Insley, John Maddicott and Howard Williams, who kindly read various chapters of the book in draft and offered valuable criticisms. Most especially, I must thank Levi Roach, who read almost half the whole book, and patiently answered many emails over the years it took me to write it.

At Hutchinson it has been a great pleasure to work with Anna Argenio, who edited the book with rigour, intelligence and good humour, and with David Milner, who copy-edited the finished draft with his usual keen-eyed professionalism. My thanks also to Josh Ireland for proof-reading the whole text, to Martin Lubikowski for drawing the maps, and to Rose Waddilove for her patient pursuit of all the pictures. I am very grateful to Sarah Rigby and Jocasta Hamilton for commissioning the book back in 2016, and to my agent, Julian Alexander, for almost twenty years of guidance and friendship.

Lastly, thanks to Cie, Peter and William, for their love and support.

• . The Sutton Hoo helmet. The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved.
• . Detail of the Bayeux Tapestry: the death of King Harold. With special permission from the City of Bayeux.
• . Richborough Roman fort, reconstruction, circa AD 120. Historic England Archive.
• . Richborough Roman fort, reconstruction, mid-third century. Artist: Ivan Lapper (English Heritage/Heritage Images/Getty Images).
• . Richborough Roman fort, aerial photograph. Historic England Archive.
• . Three coins from the Hoxne Hoard. Photograph taken by Chris Keating during British Museum/Wikipedia workshop. Public domain.
• . Cadbury Castle. Historic England Archive.
• . Prittlewell barrow burial. Museum of London Archaeology, reproduced with permission.
• . Excavation of the Sutton Hoo ship. The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved.
• . Great hall at Cowderys Down. Artist: Simon James. Used with kind permission.
• . Lindisfarne aerial photograph. Northumberland County Council. Used with kind permission.
• . Dedication stone, Jarrow. Public domain.
• . Lundenwic. Museum of London Archaeology, reproduced with permission.
• . The Pillar of Eliseg. Photograph by Howard Williams. Used with kind permission.
• . Silver penny depicting King Offa. The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
• . Silver penny depicting Queen Cynethryth. Classical Numismatic Group, LLC. Used with kind permission.
• . Commemorative stone from Lindisfarne. Historic England Archive.
• . Gokstad Ship. LHismanto/Shutterstock.
• . King Alfred statue, Wantage. Greg Balfour Evans/Alamy Stock Photograph.
• . Wallingford burh. Environment Agency. Used with kind permission.
• . Alfreds translation of Pastoral Care. Photograph: Bodleian Libraries/MS. Hatton 20, fol. 1r, courtesy of Bodleian Images.
• . Coin of thelstan. The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
• . Glastonbury abbey reconstruction. The Centre for the Study of Christianity and Culture, University of York. Used with kind permission.
• . Image from the Regularis Concordia. British Library Board, BL Cotton Tiberius A III, fol. 2v.
• . Winchester reconstruction. Oxford Archaeology. Used with kind permission.
• . Ploughmen. Cotton Julius A. VI, fol.3/Album/Alamy Stock Photograph.
• . Mass grave at Ridgeway Hill, Dorset. Oxford Archaeology. Used with kind permission.
• . Coin of thelred with helmet. Classical Numismatic Group, LLC. Used with kind permission.
• . Coin of thelred with Lamb and Dove. Gabriel Hildebrand, The Royal Coin Cabinet/Statens Historika Museer (Stockholm). Public domain.
• . King Cnut and Queen Emma. British Library Board, BL Stowe MS 944, fol. 6.
• . Queen Emma, her encomiast and her sons. British Library Board, Add MS 33241 (Encomium Emmae reginae).
• . Detail of the Bayeux Tapestry: Harold swears to uphold Williams claim. With special permission from the City of Bayeux.
• . Detail of the Bayeux Tapestry: the Coronation of Harold Godwineson. With special permission from the City of Bayeux.
• . Great and Little Domesday. From W. Andrews, Historic Byways and Highways of Old England (1900).

• ). Public domain.
• . Hadrians Wall. Kevin Standage/Shutterstock.
• . Roman Canterbury, about AD 300, and Roman Canterbury abandoned, by Ivan Lapper. Canterbury Museums and Galleries.
• . Kingston Down brooch. Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool/Bridgeman Images.
• . Sutton Hoo belt buckle. The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved.
• . Staffordshire Hoard. Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery/Bridgeman Images.
• . St Cuthberts pectoral cross. Owen Humphreys/PA Images/Alamy Stock Photograph.
• . Hexham Abbey crypt. Reproduced with kind permission from the British Pilgrimage Trust.
• . Church at Bradwell-on-Sea. Photograph by Colm OLaoi. Public domain.
• . Lindisfarne Gospels. British Library Board, Cotton Nero D. IV.
• . Offas Dyke. Photograph by David Jones PA Images.
• . All Saints Church, Brixworth. Baz Richardson All rights reserved.
• . Gold dinar of King Offa. Courtesy of the Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles.
• . Carved animal head from Oseberg ship. Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway/Kirsten Helgeland. Public domain.
• . Codex Aureus, ff. 9v & 10r. The Picture Art Collection/Alamy Stock Photograph.
• . Alfred Jewel. Heritage Image Partnership Ltd/Alamy Stock Photograph.
• . Gilling Sword. Image courtesy of York Museums Trust (yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk). Public domain.
• . King thelstan and St Cuthbert. The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Used with permission.
• . Embroidery from Cuthberts tomb. Reproduced by kind permission of the Chapter of Durham Cathedral.
• . Glastonbury Tor. Stephen Govan All rights reserved. Used with kind permission.
• . Cheddar Gorge. James Loveridge/Alamy Stock Photograph.
• . New Minster Charter. British Library Board, BL Cotton MS Vespasian A VIII.
• . Earls Barton. Laurence Burridge. Reproduced with kind permission.
• . Domesday folio. Mary Evans/The National Archives, London.

• . Cremation cemeteries.

  After H. Williams, Cemeteries as Central Places Place and Identity in Migration Period Eastern England, Central Places in the Migration and Merovingian Periods, ed. L. Larsson and B. Hrdh (Stockholm, 2002), 344.

• . Saxon Relief Style v. Quoit Brooch Style.

  After S. Laycock, Britannia The Failed State: Tribal Conflict and the End of Roman Britain (Stroud, 2008), 171 (fig. 74) and S. Suzuki, The Quoit Brooch Style and Anglo-Saxon Settlement (Woodbridge, 2000), 195 (fig. 78).