Description
Book SynopsisThis book deals with the rise and fall of the kingdom of Northumbria, examining the mechanisms of ethnic, political, social and religious change which welded the large and disparate area between the Humber and the Firth of Forth into one of the most powerful kingdoms of early medieval England.
Trade Review'This is an erudite volume.' Journal of Ecclesiastical History
'This book is an important contribution to the history both of Britain and Europe in the Early Middle Ages, and particularly significant for focusing on a failed State in a period when the success stories - such as Frankia, Wessex and, later, England - get most attention … this is a major and generally well-produced work and is to be welcomed.' N. J. Higham University of Manchester, Northern History
'… displays the clarity, coherence and matured thinking which are the best fruits of good teaching … For students this book will be immensely useful, and it contains arguments and judgments with which specialists will have to engage from now on.' History
Table of ContentsList of illustrations; List of figures; List of maps; Preface; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Northumbria: map for general reference; Part I. The Kingdom of Northumbria: 1. Kingdoms, peoples and nations: Northumbria in context; 2. The kingdom of Northumbria: frontiers and heartlands; Part II. The Creation of Northumbria: 3. The Northumbrians: origins of a people; 4. Culture and identity in pre-Viking Northumbria; 5. The framework of power: government, aristocracy and the church; Part III. The Destruction of Northumbria: 6. The Northumbrian 'successor states' - (a) The fragmentation of Northumbria, 866/7–c. 1100; (b) The Viking kingdom of York: political transformation?; (c) The Viking kingdom of York: ethnic transformation?; (d) The Viking kingdom of York: cultural transformation?; (e) North of the river Tees: the 'liberty' of the community of St Cuthbert and the earls of Bamburgh; (f) Cumbria; 7. The English and Scottish impact: partition and absorption of the Northumbrian 'sucessor states' - (a) The west Saxon kings and the kings of England; (b) The kings of Scots and the origins of the Scottish border; (c) The Norman kings of England; (d) The shadow of the past; References; Index.
