The English Settlements

Oxford History of England #1b

by John Nowell Linton Myres

This entirely new work replaces Myres' own part of the classic 'Collingwood and Myres'. The author has considered the period afresh in the light of the rapid proliferation of work on the subject since the eralier volume was published.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature, Anglo Saxon

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 23, 1986

Reviews

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 410AD the Roman garrison left Britain, never to return. In the next three centuries Britain changed from being the northern boundary of a settled empire to a cauldron of competing statelets that would eventually coalesce to become England.

After the Romans left their cities were largely abandoned, the great estates were left untended and society went backwards into what is often called the Dark Ages. Settlers from what is now Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands (Angles, Jutes and Saxons) followed a path across the North Sea set by kinsmen who had soldiered for the Romans, gradually displacing the Romano-British elites that had ruled the place.

Myres does a great job in marshalling the fragmentary evidence to provide a sense of what went on, though this is obscured by the fog of history - written evidence is scant, often partial and usually written long after the events described. To supplement the documentary evidence, broad trends are determined by reference to place names, pottery and funerary practice.

I particularly liked mention of Ambrosius Aurelianus, a Romano British leader who halted the invaders for a time, and who may just have been the kernel for the myth of King Arthur.

By the end of the book new kingdoms are emerging from the churn, soon to compete and ultimately merge to form a new entity - England, the country of the Angles.

A slow read as this book is information rich but fascinating nonetheless.

[Henry Gee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This tome in the Oxford History of England series was originally presented as the final few chapters in a much longer work about Roman Britain, and now offered as a separate volume. The current edition is much less hoary than others in the series (it was published in 1986). It covers the very darkest of the Dark Ages (my favorite part), from the first appearance of the Angles and Saxons in Britain in the fifth century to the establishment of the earliest Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the seventh.

With scant contemporary literature, and archaeological remains not much better, much has to be pieced together from studies of landforms. To understand early Anglo-Saxon Britain, you have to walk it - some of the bones of this landscape can still be found, though recent building has obscured much. From this work, though, I learned a great deal: for example, that the Anglo-Saxon invasion was probably more gradual than we imagine. Quite a few Anglo-Saxons were probably settled as foederati on the eastern shores of Roman Britain as they were in other parts of the Imperial periphery. The system of Roman coastal defences known as the 'Saxon Shore' wasn't to defend against any Saxon incursion, but was manned by Saxons to control the incursion of any more of them.

Some essential questions, though, remain unanswered - for example, why the populous and civilized society of Roman Britain collapsed to almost nothing within a century, leaving an empty land with hardly a scrap of literature or native tradition. I shall revisit this book often.

[John Ashtone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written books on a very hazy subject. This deals with the transition from Roman Britannia around 360ad through to around the time of St Augustine, in 600ad. There is by the admission of the book any clear period, because we are in the Dark Ages, and they have that name because of the lack of written records.

Myres tackles the problem in a number of ways, so that she is not totally reliant on Archaeological evidence. Inferences from abroad, backed up by the few written fragments that are contemporary, and then using the jigsaw pieces of later writings, to tie in with the Archaeology. also she is wise enough not to make assumptions, without some firm evidence to back it up. And also to leave questions open, where there are no concrete answers.

[Millstone · Rating 5 out of 5]

A work of considerable scholarship which makes it clear how little is known of the subject under discussion by going at an appropriate level of depth into the evidence that knowledge is based on - not too far for the general reader, but with lots of references to that extra level of detail for those who want it. I now realize, if nothing else, why the term the Dark Ages arises. I also realize that to be a proper historian of this period you need to master several languages and have acquired a particular interest in ceramics and jewellery styles, which must be a very rare combination in itself.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a confusing and difficult book. But only because this two hundred years of history has no written records. It manages that as well as can be and describes how a prosperous Britain (not matched again for probably 1,000 more years) collapsed and was replaced by tribes from Denmark and north west Germany. You probably don't need this book if you read the prior and successive ones in the series but I thought it was worth it.

[Olly Colluphid · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read combining archaeological and historical evidence to flesh out the transition from Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England.

Some of the conclusions may be debatable but he argues well in favour of his interpretation.

Not as readable as Stenton (volume 2), but shorter!

[Flint Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the accumulated knowledge of an archeologist's career, summed up in one lovely book. One problem: He assumes that the standard chronology for the period -- 449 for initial settlement at the behest of island-wide king Vortigern, rise of Ambrosius, unlikely career of Arthur, etc. Modern scholarship has determined that 449 is a derived date from a few assumptions made from Bede, and Bede's estimate is based on an assumed reading of Gildas. The original interpretation was incorrect, and Gildas knowledge of the period was demonstrably weak.

With that in mind, Myres' work here is seen for what it is, a great deal of useful and intelligently understood information stacked on top of a foundation of cards. Read his descriptions, understand the development of styles and technology, but do not pay any attention to the dates or anything that can be connected to the dates. They are manufactured and hopelessly wrong.

[Colin Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating to find out what can be dug up from such an obscure period of history. Obvious that the author likes his pottery, and perhaps too much on this, but you can forgive that!