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Pre-Conquest History and its Medieval Reception
Offers insights into the political, social and cultural interests that
informed the shaping of England's pre-Conquest history.The Norman Conquest brought about
great change in new customs, a new language, and new political and ecclesiastical
hierarchies. It also saw the emergence of an Anglo-Norman intellectual culture, with an
innate curiosity in the past. For the pre-eminent twelfth-century English historians - such
as Eadmer of Canterbury, William of Malmesbury and Henry of Huntingdon - the pre-Conquest
past was of abiding interest. While they recognised the disruptions of the Conquest, this
was accompanied by an awareness that it was but one part of a longer story, stretching back
to sub-Roman Britain. This concept of a continuum of English history that traversed the
events of 1066 would prove enduring, being transmitted into and by the works of successive
generations of medieval English historians. This collection sheds new light on the
perceptions and uses of the pre-Conquest past in post-Conquest historiography, drawing on a
variety of approaches, from historical and literary studies, to codicology, historiography,
memory theory and life writing. Its essays are arranged around two main interlinked
post-Conquest historiographical practice and how identities - institutional, regional and
personal - could be constructed in reference to this past. Alongside their analyses of the
works of Eadmer, William and Henry, contributors offer engaging studies of the works of such
authors as Aelred of Rievaulx, Orderic Vitalis, Gervase of Canterbury, John of Worcester,
Richard of Devizes, and Walter Map, as well as numerous anonymous hagiographies and
histories.
informed the shaping of England's pre-Conquest history.The Norman Conquest brought about
great change in new customs, a new language, and new political and ecclesiastical
hierarchies. It also saw the emergence of an Anglo-Norman intellectual culture, with an
innate curiosity in the past. For the pre-eminent twelfth-century English historians - such
as Eadmer of Canterbury, William of Malmesbury and Henry of Huntingdon - the pre-Conquest
past was of abiding interest. While they recognised the disruptions of the Conquest, this
was accompanied by an awareness that it was but one part of a longer story, stretching back
to sub-Roman Britain. This concept of a continuum of English history that traversed the
events of 1066 would prove enduring, being transmitted into and by the works of successive
generations of medieval English historians. This collection sheds new light on the
perceptions and uses of the pre-Conquest past in post-Conquest historiography, drawing on a
variety of approaches, from historical and literary studies, to codicology, historiography,
memory theory and life writing. Its essays are arranged around two main interlinked
post-Conquest historiographical practice and how identities - institutional, regional and
personal - could be constructed in reference to this past. Alongside their analyses of the
works of Eadmer, William and Henry, contributors offer engaging studies of the works of such
authors as Aelred of Rievaulx, Orderic Vitalis, Gervase of Canterbury, John of Worcester,
Richard of Devizes, and Walter Map, as well as numerous anonymous hagiographies and
histories.
361 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 14, 2025
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