"Monarchies and Monasteries" Christianisation and Centralisation Along Anglo-Saxon Waterways

Abstract

This project aims to incorporate urban settlement data within a framework of landscape archaeology approaches to map the effects of Christianisation on town development in Anglo-Saxon England from the 7th-11th centuries A.D. With the introduction of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England came churches, this coincided with increasing productivity and trade which necessitated the growth of towns and larger settlements. The great dynamism of this period both socially and economically has meant that previously studies have focused on single aspects of the changing Anglo-Saxon world, however this study aims to use multi-proxy evidence to demonstrate the need for more comparative and collaborative approaches. From the 7th century onward land ownership and estate management changed in England, shifting not long after the arrival of missionaries. There were also changes in elite sedentism, dynastic power shifts, and increasing settlement and economic centralisation. This project investigates the links between Christianisation and centralisation in Anglo-Saxon England. Links between placement of churches, town development, and changes in funerary behaviour are illuminated. One unifying factor in these settlements is waterways. The essential nature of these riverine and coastal landscapes highlights the multi-factorial nature of the Christianisation process from c. 600-1000 AD and beyond. The process of Christianisation is not a solely religious question, it affected most aspects of early medieval society, and lasted far longer than what has been historically accepted (c. 8th century A.D.). These questions of changing land ownership and settlement development are multi-faceted and intertwined.