Subscribe now for full access and no adverts
REVIEW BY CH
Nicholas Higham’s comprehensive exploration of how ‘Roman Britain’ transitioned into ‘Anglo-Saxon England’ brings with it a wealth of topics that still resonate today – discussions of migration, integration, and cultural influences; Britain’s relationship with continental Europe; and ideas of identity and hostility towards ‘otherness’.
It is an ambitious work, densely detailed and covering a diverse range of subjects – but that is not to suggest that the book is heavy going: Higham writes with a brisk confidence and clarity, and he has a particular knack for summarising how interpretative trajectories have evolved over time. The book is scholarly and thoroughly referenced, with almost 100 pages of endnotes and bibliography – rich ground for those wanting to delve even more deeply into a particular topic, but there is an impressive level of detail already packed into the preceding pages.
Higham (who is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Manchester) shows an almost effortless command of written sources, marshalling Classical accounts and inscriptions, early medieval chronicles, and saints’ lives. As a historian, he also makes a plea for these sources to be more prominent in discussions about the period. Several chapters include a suggestion that a focus on archaeological evidence is dominating current scholarship of this period, and Higham states that ‘part of this book’s purpose… is to reclaim for the historian and their written sources a role in discussing the Roman-British-Saxon interfaces… alongside other, equally valid disciplines’.
Archaeologists may take issue with the idea that ‘people have given way to objects… as the narrative focus’, but Higham’s ultimate aim is a more collaborative approach, and he does highlight that material evidence ‘offers all sorts of new and exciting ways forward and provides opportunities to access sectors of society that left no writing behind.’
Certainly, what follows is an indisputably interdisciplinary account, combining written, excavated, and scientific evidence. It draws on influential excavations of the past, quotes archaeologists working today, and mentions very up-to-date discoveries including the great hall at Rendlesham (CA 430), the Sarmatian burial identified at Offord Cluny (CA 408), the ‘Trojan War’ mosaic excavated in Rutland (CA 383), and dating evidence suggesting that one of Chedworth Roman Villa’s mosaics is from the 5th century (CA 373).
Higham’s discussion of written evidence is similarly thoughtful, always mindful of the motivations and circumstances of authors and noting that ‘it is, of course, a disadvantage that surviving texts all derive from a few middle-aged-to-elderly, celibate males, steeped in late Latin culture and Christian thought, creating obvious privilege, age, and gender biases.’
The first chapter sets out a Romano-British context with a very wide view, including a thought-provoking section on how Britain was perceived by Rome; population numbers and demographics; language; taxation, coin use, and administrative divisions; the evolution of villa estates; burial practices; and the impact of Roman religion and Christianity.
Chapter 2 looks at what came next, setting out different models for the end of Roman administration, while Chapter 3 tests the evidence for each, including an in-depth account of late 4th- and early 5th-century political and military machinations, and a usefully nuanced overview of the surviving 5th-century sources relevant to these events. Chapters 4 and 5, meanwhile, are devoted to Gildas, first offering a deep dive into his On the Ruin of Britain (not just its contents and historical value, but also its structure and form) and then investigating the man himself, including where and when he was writing.
The Anglo-Saxons arrive in Chapter 6, which brings together Bede, cemetery and settlement evidence, DNA and isotope analysis, and land divisions and law codes (with interesting insights into regional variations), while Chapter 7 considers the ‘return of Rome’ with the Augustinian mission.
Above all, Higham argues for an evolution – not a sudden collapse or short-term catastrophe (what he calls ‘the 410 syndrome’), but ‘a society in transition.’ This idea is explored further in the final chapter, which includes a discussion of the influence of language, comparing the take-up of Latin in Roman Britain to the eventual dominance of English in the early medieval period, and what it meant for ideas of identity. This is a wide-ranging work that is certain to spark important new conversations.
How England Began: From the Romans to the Anglo-Saxons
Nicholas J Higham
Yale, £25
ISBN 978-0300254921
You must be logged in to post a comment.