Description
Book SynopsisInvestigation of the growing regional power of the English aristocracy in the central middle ages. The period between the late tenth and late twelfth centuries saw many changes in the structure and composition of the European and English aristocracy. One of the most important is the growth in local power bases and patrimonies at the expense of wider property and kinship ties. In this volume, the author uses the organisation of aristocracy in East Anglia as a case-study to explore the issue as a whole, considering the extent to which local families adopted national and European values, and investigating the role of local circumstances in the formulation of regional patterns and frameworks. The book is interdisciplinary in approach, using anthropological, economic and prosopographical research to analyse themes such as marriage and kinship, social mobility, relations between secular and ecclesiastical lords, ethnic groups, and patterns of economic growth amongst social groupings; there is a particular focus too on how different landscapes - fenland, upland, coastal and urban - affected the pattern of aristocratic experience. Dr ANDREW WAREHAM is a Research Associate at the Centre for Computing in the Humanities at King'sCollege London.
Trade ReviewWareham's case-studies are well-researched and analyzed, and thus valuable contributions to later Anglo-Saxon and East Anglian history. * MEDIEVAL REVIEW *
Students of regional landscape history in East Anglia will find much useful documentation here. * LANDSCAPE HISTORY *
This book should provide much of interest to the scholar of Early English social history and will repay very careful reading. NEWSLETTER, Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society * . *
Attractive and readable, a very substantial and stimulating contribution to knowledge of tenth to twelfth century East Anglia. * SUFFOLK INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY & HISTORY NEWSLETTER *
A challenging book that may well lead you to regard the early medieval period as more fascinating then ever. NEWSLETTER, The Friends of Historic Essex * . *
