Citadel of the Saxons: The Rise of Early London

by Rory Naismith

With a past as deep and sinewy as the famous River Thames that twists like an eel around the jutting peninsula of Mudchute and the Isle of Dogs, London is one of the world's greatest and most resilient cities. Born beside the sludge and the silt of the meandering waterway that has always been its lifeblood, it has weathered invasion, flood, abandonment, fire and bombing. The modern story of London is well known. Much has been written about the later history of this megalopolis which, like a seductive dark star, has drawn incomers perpetually into its orbit. Yet, as Rory Naismith reveals – in his zesty evocation of the nascent medieval city – much less has been said about how close it came to earlier obliteration.

Following the collapse of Roman civilization in fifth-century Britannia, darkness fell over the former province. Villas crumbled to ruin; vital commodities became scarce; cities decayed; and Londinium, the capital, was all but abandoned. Yet despite its demise as a living city, memories of its greatness endured like the moss and bindweed which now ensnared its toppled columns and pilasters. By the 600s a new settlement, Lundenwic, was established on the banks of the River Thames by enterprising traders who braved the North Sea in their precarious small boats. The history of the city's phoenix-like resurrection, as it was transformed from an empty shell into a court of kings – and favoured setting for church councils from across the land – is still virtually unknown. The author here vividly evokes the forgotten Lundenwic and the later fortress on the Thames – Lundenburgh – of desperate Anglo-Saxon defenders who retreated inside their Roman walls to stand fast against menacing Viking incursions.

Recalling the lost cities which laid the foundations of today's great capital, this book tells the stirring story of how dead Londinium was reborn, against the odds, as a bulwark against the Danes and a pivotal English citadel. It recounts how Anglo-Saxon London survived to become the most important town in England – and a vital stronghold in later campaigns against the Normans in 1066. Revealing the remarkable extent to which London was at the centre of things, from the very beginning, this volume at last gives the vibrant early medieval city its due.

Table of Contents:
Preface
List of Maps and Figures
Abbreviations
Timeline
Introduction

1. Roman London and its End: First to Fifth Centuries AD
2. Among the Ruins: Post-Roman London
3. London between Kingdoms: c.600–800
4. Lundenwic: 'An Emporium for Many Nations'
5. Alfred the Great and the Vikings
6. London in the Tenth Century: c.900–75
7. Late Anglo-Saxon London
8. London in 1066: The Battle of Hastings and After

Notes
Select Bibliography
Where to See Anglo-Saxon London
Index

Genres: History, London, Nonfiction, Medieval, Anglo Saxon

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 10, 2019

Reviews

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond what may be considered a flashy title (which is what drew me to the book in the first place), what Rory Naismith has written here is a book which neatly treads the line between widely accessible and academically reserved. Poetic flourishes (descriptions which appeal to the mind's eye) alongside pragmatic reasoning (well-referenced arguments and measured speculation).

The book can be praised for its scope, bridging Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages, without ever losing sight of the subject matter. Although it would be difficult to speak of any particular continuity in the city between 400 AD and 1066, the intervening periods in the city's life that Naismith lays out provide the tools to associate one period with another.

[Peter Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rory Naismith, Citadel of the Saxons – The rise of early London, 2019, 195 pages plus endnotes,

This is a good book and I'm glad that I read it. I very nearly didn't. If it hadn't been for Dr Levi Roach recommending it (his comments also appear within the cover, too), then I'd probably have passed it by. The reason for this was that, without noticing the name of the author, I literally judged the book by its cover, or at least its title. 'Citadel of the Saxons' sounded to me as if it was probably the work of an armchair general, maybe one who had imaginative ideas about King Arthur being based in 5th century London or something like that. Ironically, if it had had a plain stodgy title, like: A history of early medieval London discovered through archaeology, charters, coins and landscape', then I'd have been all over it.

This is written in a very accessible style and the pages almost turn themselves. Naismith uses endnotes to supply the evidence for which he speaks and this means that the (linear) narrative flow isn't broken up with references. Personally I prefer footnotes, as they save a lot of going back and forth.

It's a well thought out book with the different ages and aspects of London clearly presented. You certainly come away with a great sense of the processes that shaped it through the various stages of Anglo-Saxon England and also an idea of whilst its rise was probably inevitable, it wasn't a smooth process.

Particular highlights include: the section on the Peace Gild of London, a late coin hoard found in Rome ('means, motive and opportunity' are words that should appear in more history books) and obviously anything to do with coins and financial matters.

One problem I had was in getting a grasp on the geographical context of where places were in relation to each other and to the London of today. As a happy Northerner, unless somewhere from Monopoly is mentioned, then I've no idea about areas of London. Just a small matter and it didn't detract from this book.

This is certainly worth buying.

[Ash Ottaway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Naismith is one of those rare academics who can make 'scholarly history' readable. This is a really thorough overview of London's Anglo-Saxon past, about which there is more to be said than I would have thought!