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Daily Life in Anglo-Saxon England
In addition to its unshakeable position on academic History curricula, Anglo-Saxon England remains popular with the general public. However, despite numerous specialist volumes on the political and economic history of the period, there are no books currently on the market which offer an overview of Anglo-Saxon daily life. This book fills that gap, covering a great range of common life experiences of individuals in England, AD c. 450-c.1066, including domestic and family life, work and leisure, education, clothing and housing, food, religion, magic and superstition, health and sickness, warfare, crime and punishment, ethnic and national identity, the creation of kingship, slavery, urban life, and political life for men, women and children.
Archaeological evidence gives a dramatic picture of social organization in Anglo-Saxon towns, and sources such as wills provide insight into the way families were structured and organized. Evidence in the law codes and literature shows how Anglo-Saxons experienced childhood, youth, marriage, adulthood, parenthood and old age; how they were educated and engaged in trades, and what they did in their leisure time. Archaeological and documentary evidence, including pictorial representations in sculpture and manuscripts, give a vivid picture of Anglo-Saxon food and dress, and also of the military and governmental forces of Anglo-Saxon England. Religion was an important part of daily life, and so was crime, justice, punishment and slavery. Indeed, the struggle to survive meant that health and sickness were crucial everyday concerns. All these aspects of daily life are examined in Sally Crawford's book, creating a rich picture of ordinary, but complex, life in Anglo-Saxon England.
Archaeological evidence gives a dramatic picture of social organization in Anglo-Saxon towns, and sources such as wills provide insight into the way families were structured and organized. Evidence in the law codes and literature shows how Anglo-Saxons experienced childhood, youth, marriage, adulthood, parenthood and old age; how they were educated and engaged in trades, and what they did in their leisure time. Archaeological and documentary evidence, including pictorial representations in sculpture and manuscripts, give a vivid picture of Anglo-Saxon food and dress, and also of the military and governmental forces of Anglo-Saxon England. Religion was an important part of daily life, and so was crime, justice, punishment and slavery. Indeed, the struggle to survive meant that health and sickness were crucial everyday concerns. All these aspects of daily life are examined in Sally Crawford's book, creating a rich picture of ordinary, but complex, life in Anglo-Saxon England.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published November 30, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 28, 2020
It’s a great introduction to different facets of Anglo-Saxon daily life with enough depth to use as a starter for further research. I could have used a clearer demarcation between early and later Anglo-Saxon practices, and would have loved to see more citations in the text to help with further reading.
December 3, 2014
I love this author's work and have readChildhood In Anglo Saxon England also which was totally fascinating. Although at times she makes minor factual errors, this in no way takes anything away from her work in general. I felt that the overall evidence and information presented is well written and structured, however on certain subjects I felt there could have been more content.
If you're looking for a book that tells you the story of daily life in AS England, then this is not the book you're looking for. In this book, the author provides us with documented and archaeological evidence and pieces the two together to make the jigsaw of AS life as we know it fit. What it does do also, is present the facts and where interpretation is needed, she gives a plausible account which is based on tangible evidence, otherwise, we see the evidence for what it is and interpret it for ourselves based on its presentation in the book.
This book is for people who desire authenticity and is a useful guide for writers, re-enactors and people who are genuinely interested in how things really were in AS England. What it isn't, as I have said, is somebody's colourful picturesque story of how things might have been.
If you're looking for a book that tells you the story of daily life in AS England, then this is not the book you're looking for. In this book, the author provides us with documented and archaeological evidence and pieces the two together to make the jigsaw of AS life as we know it fit. What it does do also, is present the facts and where interpretation is needed, she gives a plausible account which is based on tangible evidence, otherwise, we see the evidence for what it is and interpret it for ourselves based on its presentation in the book.
This book is for people who desire authenticity and is a useful guide for writers, re-enactors and people who are genuinely interested in how things really were in AS England. What it isn't, as I have said, is somebody's colourful picturesque story of how things might have been.
March 15, 2019
The price was staggering, but the book itself is well worth it. If you study these people long enough you start wondering about what they eat and how they dressed. This book covers all that.
November 21, 2022
I found Crawford's work to be full of interesting details. I have one significant reservation in recommending it. There were no footnotes or even endnotes to point the reader to sources. The bibliography was nice, but I was hoping for some very particular citations, and they were lacking.
October 4, 2022
The first good thing to note about this book is that is doesn't open with an off-topic chapter on Roman Britain like several other works I've read on the Anglo-Saxons.
Although a little dull and bland at times, "Daily Life in Anglo-Saxon England" is worthwhile reading if this topic is to your interest. It should've been "Britain", though, not "England", considering England didn't come into being until the latter stages of the AS period. The author also refers to Alfred the Great as the King of England before England was formed, which is a careless error.
I'm pleased the author spent a lot of time focusing on the earlier AS centuries. Many other books focus more on the Roman period than they do on the first 300 years of AS settlement.
Overall, then, this is an informative read.
Although a little dull and bland at times, "Daily Life in Anglo-Saxon England" is worthwhile reading if this topic is to your interest. It should've been "Britain", though, not "England", considering England didn't come into being until the latter stages of the AS period. The author also refers to Alfred the Great as the King of England before England was formed, which is a careless error.
I'm pleased the author spent a lot of time focusing on the earlier AS centuries. Many other books focus more on the Roman period than they do on the first 300 years of AS settlement.
Overall, then, this is an informative read.
January 30, 2016
Who were the Anglo-Saxons? For a people conquered in 1066, their culture seems strangely dominant; the land the Normans conquered remains England, not Greater Normandy, and Norman French is only an influence on the more native English, never having displaced the old language. Daily Life in Anglo-Saxon England examines the earthy details of the Anglo-Saxons’ lives; the construction of their homes, the styles of dress, the culture they practiced at home and in community with one another. Separate chapters address both the material, like tools and towns, and cultural (religion and governance). While some sections are based on physical artifacts, other evidence is documentary, taken from older histories like Bede’s, or inferred from miscellaneous documents. The assertion that the Anglo-Saxons valued family care is drawn both from the presence of an adult skeleton who was born missing an arm and various descriptions of personalities in histories and graves as doting kinsmen and the like. The book has a somewhat slow start (save for readers who are utterly fascinated by the difference between sunken-earth homes and free-standing houses as archaeological sites), but on the whole is quite engaging. The main point of the author’s writing is to rescue the Saxons from the perception that they were filthy peasants, knuckle-dragging their way around mud huts until the arrival of Christianity and the Norman French. Her survey of their social life certainly illustrates how rich a life their culture possessed, and how sympathetic they can be even to modern readers.
October 2, 2013
The only reason this is not a five-star book is that for the price (£32!!!!) I'd have expected lots of illustrations and a colour section: there's a few black and white photos, and 25 or so illustrations, but that's it. Leaving that aside, the actual text provides a wealth of information about the culture and environment of Anglo-Saxon England, from birth to death to burial (a lot on this, of course, as dead bodies are among the most eloquent of remains). A must read for anyone interested in the period.
December 10, 2014
EXcellent book! Daily life is exactly what reenactors want to read about
dnf
March 17, 2015*whispers* maybe someday...
January 8, 2018
A well-written though somewhat scholarly/dry book ... a bit too much emphasis on specific archaeological finds and I wish it could have been slightly longer, but definitely worthwhile.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews