Description

From shortly before AD 800 until the Norman conquest, England was subject to raids from seafaring peoples from Scandinavia – the Vikings. They were not only raiders but also traders and settlers. During this period the English state was unified under a single ruler for the first time and Anglo-Saxon society underwent great changes. Results from major excavations in both the countryside and in towns, such as London, Lincoln and York, mean that it is now possible to reassess the Viking contribution to the history of Late Anglo-Saxon England and to examine the creation of a new mixed Anglo-Scandinavian identity. In this updated and re-illustrated edition of his best-selling textbook, Julian Richards shows how far local developments responded to these events, and he uses the latest archaeological evidence (especially fieldwork in the Danelaw) to examine various aspects of Anglo-Scandinavian society – rural settlement and the economy, the growth of towns, trade and exchange, craft and industry, burial rituals and stone memorials.