What do you think?
Rate this book
The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society
From the impact of the first monasteries in the seventh century, to the emergence of the local parochial system five hundred years later, the Church was a force for change in Anglo-Saxon society. It shaped culture and ideas, social and economic behaviour, and the organization of landscape and settlement. This book traces how the widespread foundation of monastic sites ('minsters') during c.670 - 730 gave the recently pagan English new ways of living, of exploiting their resources, and of absorbing European culture, as well as opening new spiritual and intellectual horizons.
624 pages, Hardcover
First published January 20, 2005
2 people are currently reading
124 people want to read
About the author
John Blair
17 books7 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
William John Blair, FSA, FBA is a British historian, archaeologist, and academic, who specialises in Anglo-Saxon England. He is Professor of Medieval History and Archaeology at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford. (Source: Wikipedia)
William John Blair, FSA, FBA is a British historian, archaeologist, and academic, who specialises in Anglo-Saxon England. He is Professor of Medieval History and Archaeology at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford. (Source: Wikipedia)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 14, 2020
John Blair, The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society, 2006, 512 pages
This is a brick of a book. 512 pages is a heck of a lot to concentrate on, especially as it is bursting with interesting stuff. Blair has that rare talent of being able to write clearly enough to make detail accessible, yet to also write tightly, so that every sentence conveys a lot. Due to his elegant writing style, this is a book that you can read at a fair old rate, even when taking notes. However, due to the size of the book, you do become worn down through the sheer amount to take in. After 400 or so pages a certain level of fatigue sets in. Arguably I could have read this more slowly, but given the size, that would have just elongated the process without making it any happier. This work might have been better as two separate books.
This book is not about church archaeology, but instead is about how the church fitted into Anglo-Saxon society and there is a lot to be said about that over 500 or so years. Blair not only shows the centrality of minsters, but also how the church was in an almost constant state of flux. Things changed slowly, but inexorably over time. The minsters (a term that covers a wide variety of religious establishments) rose and fell during this period. This book doesn't get bogged down too deeply with the 10th century monastic reformation, but stays with the church and society. It was interesting to see just how much of an asset (in every sense of the word) the minster came to be seen as.
Some of the aspects mentioned in here may not be totally new to you, as they will have been mentioned in passing in other works when they've butted up against a political matter. However, Blair brings out the significance of the church at every stage of Anglo-Saxon society. Perhaps my favourite line is his summing up of the diocesan structure upon the arrival of Archbishop Theodore: three bishops present, one simoniacal, one uncanonical and one uncontrollable and without a see.
There's a lot to ponder in this book. At 512 detailed pages, though, it is definitely a big read and would have been a lot more easier to digest as two books.
This is a brick of a book. 512 pages is a heck of a lot to concentrate on, especially as it is bursting with interesting stuff. Blair has that rare talent of being able to write clearly enough to make detail accessible, yet to also write tightly, so that every sentence conveys a lot. Due to his elegant writing style, this is a book that you can read at a fair old rate, even when taking notes. However, due to the size of the book, you do become worn down through the sheer amount to take in. After 400 or so pages a certain level of fatigue sets in. Arguably I could have read this more slowly, but given the size, that would have just elongated the process without making it any happier. This work might have been better as two separate books.
This book is not about church archaeology, but instead is about how the church fitted into Anglo-Saxon society and there is a lot to be said about that over 500 or so years. Blair not only shows the centrality of minsters, but also how the church was in an almost constant state of flux. Things changed slowly, but inexorably over time. The minsters (a term that covers a wide variety of religious establishments) rose and fell during this period. This book doesn't get bogged down too deeply with the 10th century monastic reformation, but stays with the church and society. It was interesting to see just how much of an asset (in every sense of the word) the minster came to be seen as.
Some of the aspects mentioned in here may not be totally new to you, as they will have been mentioned in passing in other works when they've butted up against a political matter. However, Blair brings out the significance of the church at every stage of Anglo-Saxon society. Perhaps my favourite line is his summing up of the diocesan structure upon the arrival of Archbishop Theodore: three bishops present, one simoniacal, one uncanonical and one uncontrollable and without a see.
There's a lot to ponder in this book. At 512 detailed pages, though, it is definitely a big read and would have been a lot more easier to digest as two books.
August 9, 2011
Blair's study is a much-needed book-length examination of the Anglo-Saxon church that updates several decades of scholarship. In many ways, this is a direct descendant of Stenton's Anglo-Saxon England, but with direct attention aimed specifically at the church. His work thus pulls together the last few generations of studies focused on the subject, drawing on intellectual history, archaeology, and anthropology to flesh out the details. The results are, as Blair himself indicates in the introduction, a topographical approach, a reading of the landscape as a type of "document" (2) in order to provide an array of information on the role of the church within the localities of England.
Essentially, the book is divided into two parts: the first part (chapters 1-5) exploring church growth and organization in England from the Christianization of the Saxons up through the middle of the ninth century; and the second part (chapters 6-8) exploring the shift of organization toward smaller and more local sites. In the center of all of this, Blair's protagonist is the great minster, the churches associated with monastic foundations. These minsters are, for all intents and purposes, the heroes of Blair's narrative. As he sees it, the English church organized around monastic centers, forming "monastic networks" or power (80), creating both local diversity and a vast "monastic landscape" around which the church was ordered by the middle of the ninth century. The socio-political shifts of the late ninth through the eleventh centuries, however, brought increased localization along with shifting emphasis on smaller and more numerous foundations by aristocrats across England.
In all of this, Blair synthesizes recent work on the role of the church in Anglo-Saxon England, offers new modes of viewing the developments, and challenges previous studies emphasizing only the great names of the period. Especially insightful are the archaeological details (with accompanying figures for support and visualization) and the reconstruction of common practices with the help of anthropology. Thus, the study is not only one of great names but also of localities and commoners--a much needed historical narrative that is provided, literally, from the ground up.
Essentially, the book is divided into two parts: the first part (chapters 1-5) exploring church growth and organization in England from the Christianization of the Saxons up through the middle of the ninth century; and the second part (chapters 6-8) exploring the shift of organization toward smaller and more local sites. In the center of all of this, Blair's protagonist is the great minster, the churches associated with monastic foundations. These minsters are, for all intents and purposes, the heroes of Blair's narrative. As he sees it, the English church organized around monastic centers, forming "monastic networks" or power (80), creating both local diversity and a vast "monastic landscape" around which the church was ordered by the middle of the ninth century. The socio-political shifts of the late ninth through the eleventh centuries, however, brought increased localization along with shifting emphasis on smaller and more numerous foundations by aristocrats across England.
In all of this, Blair synthesizes recent work on the role of the church in Anglo-Saxon England, offers new modes of viewing the developments, and challenges previous studies emphasizing only the great names of the period. Especially insightful are the archaeological details (with accompanying figures for support and visualization) and the reconstruction of common practices with the help of anthropology. Thus, the study is not only one of great names but also of localities and commoners--a much needed historical narrative that is provided, literally, from the ground up.
April 27, 2009
Many historians of medieval religion focus solely on the monastic life, to the detriment of our understanding of parish life and lay ministry. Blair attempts to tell the whole story, and the result is a very valuable contribution to medieval religious studies. (Read it in conjunction with Sarah Foot's Monastic Life in Anglo-Saxon England for the most complete picture.)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews