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The Kingdom of Northumbria, AD 350 - 1100
A reprint of this very popular survey of the history and archaeology of Northumbria, which emerged during the early seventh century as one of three great Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
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About the author
Nicholas J. Higham
33 books24 followersLibrarian note: There are other authors with the same name.
Dr. Nicholas John Higham, aka N.J. Higham, is Professor in Early Medieval and Landscape History in the History Subject Area in the School of Arts, Histories and Cultures at the University of Manchester. His research interests focus on two interrelated areas: the History and Archaeology of the Early Middle Ages in Britain, and the Landscape and Settlement History of North West and North England in the Middle Ages. He has supervised many successful research students in both areas and is always interested in enquiries concerning future research.
Dr. Nicholas John Higham, aka N.J. Higham, is Professor in Early Medieval and Landscape History in the History Subject Area in the School of Arts, Histories and Cultures at the University of Manchester. His research interests focus on two interrelated areas: the History and Archaeology of the Early Middle Ages in Britain, and the Landscape and Settlement History of North West and North England in the Middle Ages. He has supervised many successful research students in both areas and is always interested in enquiries concerning future research.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 12, 2020
The first thing that strikes you about this book is its bulk. Hardback, bigger than A4 and just over an inch thick. Picture something you could use in the billiard room to brain Dr Black with and you won't be far wrong. It's lavishly illustrated with colour photos, maps and lots of lovely aerial photos showing landscape features that really require a bucket and spade excavation. Surprisingly there aren't any footnotes, which is amazing considering Higham's renown as a historian.
The chapters include:
Before the English
Catastrophe or Continuity?
The English takeover
Politics and the Conversion
A Christian kingdom
The Viking Age
Northumbria and England
The Destruction of Northumbria
Settlement and landscape, a postscript
It's nice to see a work take the story from the Roman age into post-Roman through all of Anglo-Saxon England and just a bit beyond the conquest. This allows a greater appreciation of the continuities than many books. As is usual with Higham's work, he does have some challenging ideas that may be true, but are probably unprovable and this contains earlier versions of the ones pursued in his later books, English Empire and Convert Kings. Ie, the notion of Edwin being gifted Cearl's overlordship by Raedwald and the Tribal Hidage being a product of Paulinus for Edwin and the attacks on British kings being part revenge for Augustine's Oak.
This book is no longer a spring chicken and some of the archaeological evidence could be updated in detail, but I don't think any conclusions would require redrawing. It was a blast from the past to hear the place-name Leningrad being used (a copy of Bede's EH ended up there). This is a well written book and despite the size, it doesn't take too long to read and take in. The section on the dynastic shenanigans of the 8th and 9th centuries is very short. I'll grant the sources aren't overly detailed for those years, but more could have been added to this. However, the post Viking arrival chapters are fuller and add a lot to the Wessex centric accounts of these years. One thing that I wasn't sold on were the two off the cuff comments that polygamy produced greater population numbers and hence warriors.
Three things you'll take away from this book:
1, how much of an economic backwater Northumbria was after the tribute stopped rolling in.
2, the small numbers of Angles, Danes and Norse who made an impact.
3, the sense of separateness to the rest of England.
The chapters include:
Before the English
Catastrophe or Continuity?
The English takeover
Politics and the Conversion
A Christian kingdom
The Viking Age
Northumbria and England
The Destruction of Northumbria
Settlement and landscape, a postscript
It's nice to see a work take the story from the Roman age into post-Roman through all of Anglo-Saxon England and just a bit beyond the conquest. This allows a greater appreciation of the continuities than many books. As is usual with Higham's work, he does have some challenging ideas that may be true, but are probably unprovable and this contains earlier versions of the ones pursued in his later books, English Empire and Convert Kings. Ie, the notion of Edwin being gifted Cearl's overlordship by Raedwald and the Tribal Hidage being a product of Paulinus for Edwin and the attacks on British kings being part revenge for Augustine's Oak.
This book is no longer a spring chicken and some of the archaeological evidence could be updated in detail, but I don't think any conclusions would require redrawing. It was a blast from the past to hear the place-name Leningrad being used (a copy of Bede's EH ended up there). This is a well written book and despite the size, it doesn't take too long to read and take in. The section on the dynastic shenanigans of the 8th and 9th centuries is very short. I'll grant the sources aren't overly detailed for those years, but more could have been added to this. However, the post Viking arrival chapters are fuller and add a lot to the Wessex centric accounts of these years. One thing that I wasn't sold on were the two off the cuff comments that polygamy produced greater population numbers and hence warriors.
Three things you'll take away from this book:
1, how much of an economic backwater Northumbria was after the tribute stopped rolling in.
2, the small numbers of Angles, Danes and Norse who made an impact.
3, the sense of separateness to the rest of England.
January 28, 2020
A very useful summary of the sweep of history of Northumbria in this period. It helped me in bringing the whole together. Keeping some of the detail to a minimum made this overview possible.
January 15, 2013
Comprehensive, thorough but not particularly well written. However, the standard work on the kingdom.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews