The Vikings in England: Settlement, Society and Culture

by Dawn M. Hadley

The viking invasion and settlement in England has been the subject of a large and complex body of scholarship, with the consensus of opinion among scholars as to its exact nature and influence shifting considerably over the years.

This is a fascinating new study which will make an important addition to the literature on the Scandinavians and the settlement in England in the ninth and tenth centuries. D. M. Hadley offers a focused and interdisciplinary discussion of often neglected sources. Topics covered include the development of current debates regarding the settlement, Anglo-Scandinavian political accommodation, the differences and similarities between Scandinavian rural settlement and Scandinavians in the urban environment, the conversion of Scandinavians to Christianity, and burial practices and associated issues of ethnicity, gender and social status.

A clear and exhaustive summary of the available archaeological, historical and linguistic evidence, this book offers a comprehensive and authoritative starting point for all researchers and students investigating the viking settlement of Britain.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published March 6, 2007

About the author

Writes as D.M. Hadley and Dawn M. Hadley.

Dawn Marie Hadley (born 1967) is a British historian and archaeologist, who is best known for her research on the Anglo-Saxon and Viking Age periods, the study of childhood, and gender in medieval England. She is a member of the Centre for Medieval Studies and the department of archaeology at the University of York and co-director of the Tents to Towns project.

Reviews

[Peter Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Vikings in England, settlement, society and Culture, D M Hadley, 2006, 279 pages including notes,

This book is a deceptively easy read. The paragraphs go by quickly enough, but there is a lot of detail and it's not one where you can afford to let your attention wander.
Chapters include an introduction (with talk on the historiography),
Anglo Scandinavian political accommodation
Scandinavian rural settlement
Scandinavians in the urban environment
Churches and the Scandinavians – chaos, conversion and change
Burial practices: ethnicity, gender and social status
Epilogue

Its frame of reference is more or less from 878 to 950, give or take, and it isn't concerned with campaigns and warfare, but instead with what the Danes did when they settled, where they did it, how they did it and how they got on with their neighbours. This makes for a more nuanced work than a list of towns ravaged.

Hadley takes the line that the incomers assimilated pretty rapidly in every way once they settled and that a lot of people basing their thoughts on differences between the Danes and the Anglo-Saxons have been barking up the wrong tree.

Despite being written in 2006, it's a tiny bit dated with respects to coins. Mark Blackburn is the go to coinage expert, whereas a later book would probably cite Naismith. There was a lot that I enjoyed within this. Political accommodation was very clear and I learnt a lot from it. The various problems matching Scandinavian place-names and settlement dates was gone into very well. It's also good on the early urban history of Danelaw. When it comes to the survival of the church in Danelaw, Hadley really brings out the fact that there is widespread evidence suggesting survival scattered throughout different areas, but nothing really proving the point beyond dispute for any one church. The paucity of acknowledged viking burials in England was examined and he suggests that given assimilation, many could be mistaken for Anglo-Saxon graves.

Hadley makes a persuasive argument that large scale integration took place relatively swiftly. This is a book definitely worth a read.

[Marissa Sobel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative about the Scandinavian settlements in the Uk and the various cultural influences spread from both nations.